Dr. Amanda Blake Waller is a fictional character published by DC Comics. She first appeared in Legends #1 in 1986, and was created by John Ostrander, Len Wein and John Byrne. DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company. ... In comic books, first appearance refers to first comic book to feature a character. ... Legends was a six issue comic book limited series published in 1986-1987 by DC Comics, which had plot threads running through several other DC comic titles, crossing over into them (each individual crossover/tie-in had a Legends Chapter # header on the cover). ... John Ostrander is an American writer of comics. ... Len Wein (born June 12, 1948, New York City, New York) is an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics Swamp Thing and for reviving Marvel Comics X-Men. ... For other uses of John Byrne, see John Byrne (disambiguation). ... Checkmate is a fictional covert operations agency within the DC Comics universe. ... Suicide Squad is a name for a number of fictional organizations created for and owned by DC Comics. ... The government of the United States, established by the United States Constitution, is a federal republic of 50 states, a few territories and some protectorates. ... All comic book fictional universes depict their own versions of our reality except with the added complication of men and women who exhibit superhuman abilities. ... All comic book fictional universes depict their own versions of our reality except with the added complication of men and women who exhibit superhuman abilities. ... The Shadow Fighters were a group of superpowered and non-superpowered DC Comics characters brought together, under the supervision of Amanda Waller, for the sole purpose of battling Eclipso in the Eclipso comic series. ... Look up Logistics in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Spy and Secret agent redirect here. ... Alice, a fictional character based on a real character from the work of Lewis Carroll. ... DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company. ... Legends was a six issue comic book limited series published in 1986-1987 by DC Comics, which had plot threads running through several other DC comic titles, crossing over into them (each individual crossover/tie-in had a Legends Chapter # header on the cover). ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ... John Ostrander is an American writer of comics. ... Len Wein (born June 12, 1948, New York City, New York) is an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics Swamp Thing and for reviving Marvel Comics X-Men. ... For other uses of John Byrne, see John Byrne (disambiguation). ...

Publication history

The people most responsible for shaping the character in her earliest appearances were John Ostrander and Kim Yale in the pages of the second Suicide Squad series in the late 1980s. John Ostrander is an American writer of comics. ... Kim Yale was a writer and editor of comic books for multiple comic book companies, including Marvel, DC, First and Warp Graphics. ... Suicide Squad is a name for a number of fictional organizations created for and owned by DC Comics. ...

Nicknamed "the Wall", she is a former congressional aide and government agent often placed in charge of the Suicide Squad, a semi-secret government-run group of former supervillains working in return for amnesty. She also was the former leader (code rank: White Queen) of the covert-ops organization, Checkmate. She later served as Secretary of Metahuman Affairs under President Lex Luthor, before being arrested in the wake of Luthor's public fall from grace. Currently, Waller has been reassigned to the leadership of Checkmate as White Queen. Suicide Squad is a name for a number of fictional organizations created for and owned by DC Comics. ... Checkmate is a fictional covert operations agency within the DC Comics universe. ... Lex Luthor is a fictional DC Comics supervillain and a prominent member of Supermans rogues gallery. ...

Fictional character biography

Early history

Amanda has been established as a widow who escaped Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing projects with her surviving family after one of her daughters and her husband were murdered, Waller eventually obtained a doctorate in Political science (as revealed in Checkmate v.2 # 1 where she is addressed as "Doctor Waller") and became a congressional aide. During that work, she discovered the existence of the first two incarnations of the Squad. Taking elements from both of these, she proposed the development of its third incarnation to the White House and was placed in charge upon its approval. Nickname: Motto: Urbs in Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois Coordinates: , Country State Counties Cook, DuPage Settled 1770s Incorporated March 4, 1837 Government  - Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area  - City  234. ... Cabrini-Green is one of the most notorious and infamous housing projects in the world. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Political Science is the field concerning the theory and practice of politics and the description and analysis of political systems and political behaviour. ...

Federal service years

The Agency was formed by Amanda Waller to serve as a small, quasi-independent branch of Task Force X. Valentina Vostok brought former NYPD Lieutenant Harry Stein into the Agency as an operative. Amanda Waller later promoted Stein to the command position and demoted Vostok. Harry Stein would later re-organize the Agency and name it Checkmate. All comic book fictional universes depict their own versions of our reality except with the added complication of men and women who exhibit superhuman abilities. ... Suicide Squad is a name for a number of fictional organizations created for and owned by DC Comics. ... Valentina Vostok is a fictional character by DC Comics. ... The New York City Police Department (NYPD) , the largest police department in the United States, has primary responsibility for law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City. ... King Faraday is a fictional policeman and secret agent feature in DC Comics. ... Checkmate is a fictional covert operations agency within the DC Comics universe. ...

Waller's tenure as the official in charge of the third Suicide Squad was tumultuous and controversial. Despite many successes, she developed a habit of defying her superiors in Washington in order to achieve goals both legitimate and personal on more than one occasion. The earliest conflict between her and her superiors revolved around the leadership of the Suicide Squad. Although she proposed that the Bronze Tiger, the man she had helped out of his brainwashing, lead the team he was instead relegated to second-in-command, and Rick Flag Jr. was made the leader. Waller feared the situation to be racially charged, related to not only her own status as a black woman, but also Bronze Tiger's own skin tone. Bronze Tiger (Ben Turner) is a fictional character in the DC Universe. ... Rick Flag is the name of three fictional characters in the DC Comics universe. ...

Her relationship with the Squad itself was one of mutual dislike. Most of the team's criminal members didn't really take to Waller's methods (most notably Captain Boomerang), and even the team's heroes were often at odds with Waller. Waller's inability to deal and compromise with her people led to the departure from the team of Nemesis, the death of a US senator and thereby indirectly to the death of Rick Flag Jr. Those type of conflicts, however, were not only limited to her superiors and her team, but also extended to Batman, who opposed the forming of the Suicide Squad (although he would later help to re-form it). Nonetheless, the team remained loyal to her, often choosing to side with her instead of the government. George Digger Harkness and his son Owen Mercer, both known as Captain Boomerang, are fictional characters in the DC Universe. ... Nemesis is the name of two fictional characters in the DC Comics universe. ... Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman) is a DC Comics fictional superhero who first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. ...

It was ultimately revealed that the reason that Amanda Waller even kept the heroes such as Nightshade around, was in order for them to act as her conscience. Over the course of her first run with the Suicide Squad her actions became increasingly erratic as she fought to retain control of the Squad. This was heightened by the public reveal of the Suicide Squad, and her being officially replaced, although her 'replacement' was in fact an actor, and Waller remained the team's director. Nightshade (Eve Eden) is a fictional character, a superheroine who was owned and published by Charlton Comics and was later acquired by DC Comics. ...

Amanda Waller and her operatives having massacred the LOA.

Even that secret would eventually be revealed and Amanda Waller would be put on trial. During this time, the Squad also became involved in an inter-agency conflict in a crossover between the Checkmate and Suicide Squad titles called the Janus Directive. Image File history File links Ravan3. ... Image File history File links Ravan3. ...

She eventually found herself serving prison time for her pursuit of an organized crime cartel based in New Orleans called the LOA and killing its leadership, using Squad operatives in the process. NOLA redirects here. ...

The Squad's rebirth

Waller was eventually pardoned and released a year later to reorganize the Squad as a freelance mercenary group at the behest of Sarge Steel to deal with a crisis in Vlatava, Count Vertigo's home country. Afterwards the Suicide Squad performed a variety of missions, but were ultimately disbanded when Waller became disillusioned with her life. Sarge Steel was a detective/spy character published by Charlton Comics during the 1960s. ... Vlatava is a fictional country in the DC Comics Universe. ... Count Werner Vertigo is a DC Comics supervillain. ...

During the course of her renewed tenure with this team, Amanda Waller became closer to her operatives, even accompanying them on their field missions. This allowed for her and her team to bond more effectively, although she retained her dominant and threatening personality.

Around this time Amanda Waller would organize many superheros to confront the villain Eclipso. Again she would confront Sarge Steel. Her first attempt at a team did not go well as most of the them were brutally murdered. Her second attempt with a much larger team had much more success. Eclipso is a fictional character, a villain in the DC Comics Universe. ...

She would eventually rejoin federal service, initially as Southeastern regional director for the Department of Extranormal Operations, and eventually got promoted to Secretary of Metahuman Affairs as a member of the Luthor Administration. Luthor would use her as he saw fit, one of the few who could. The Department of Extranormal Operations (or DEO) is a fictional government agency in the DC Universe appearing in several comic books published by DC Comics. ...

International Service

In the wake of being jailed briefly for her alleged connections to Luthor's illicit activities whilst in office, she was released yet again and ordered by President Jonathan Vincent Horne to take command of Checkmate in the wake of the Omac Project debacle as a placeholder "Black King" until the United States and United Nations could decide what to do with that organization. The OMAC Project #1; cover by Jose Ladronn. ...

In the revamped Checkmate series, Waller is shown to have been assigned by the UN to serve as Checkmate's White Queen, a member of its senior policy-making executive, although she appears to have her own (as yet undisclosed) agenda, blackmailing Fire into committing murder on her behalf during Checkmate missions. Waller's assignment as White Queen was chronicled in the latter issues of 52, in which Waller is shown commissioning the imprisoned Atom Smasher to organize a new Suicide Squad to attack Black Adam. Fire is a fictional superheroine published by DC Comics. ... 52 is the title of a comic book limited series published by DC Comics, which debuted on May 10, 2006, one week after the conclusion of the seven-issue Infinite Crisis. ... Albert Rothstein (known by the aliases Nuklon and Atom Smasher -- sometimes spelled Atom-Smasher) is a fictional superhero in the DC Comics Universe. ... Black Adam is a fictional comic book character whose morally ambiguous nature has his character fall between the lines of heroism and villainy; as a result, he has associated himself with both superheroes and supervillains at different times. ...

As leader of the reformed Checkmate in the One Year Later continuity, Waller has continued to use morally ambiguous methods to achieve her agenda, ranging from secretly authorizing a "take no prisoners" mandate in an attack on a Kobra stronghold (which leaves as many as 50 Kobra operatives and one Checkmate agent dead), blackmailing Beatriz da Costa, a former assassin, into returning to her old murderous ways, and executing a female Kobra operative herself when she foils an assassination attempt, all within the first few issues of the Checkmate series that launched in 2006. One Year Later event logo. ... Fire is a fictional superheroine published by DC Comics. ...

In other media

DC Animated Universe

Amanda Waller as depicted in Justice League Unlimited.

Amanda Waller appears in the animated television show Justice League Unlimited, voiced by actress CCH Pounder. Screen Capture Still from the Justice League Unlimited Television series This work is copyrighted. ... Screen Capture Still from the Justice League Unlimited Television series This work is copyrighted. ... Justice League Unlimited (or JLU) was the name of an American animated television series that was produced by and aired on Cartoon Network. ... Justice League Unlimited (or JLU) was the name of an American animated television series that was produced by and aired on Cartoon Network. ... Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder (born December 25, 1952) is an American film and television actress. ...

This version of the character leads the top secret Project Cadmus, a group that was formed at the behest of the United States government to create a counterforce to the Justice League should they go rogue. To that end, the project creates the Ultimen. Perhaps the most profound relationship she has is one of mutual enmity and respect with Batman. She knows about his secret identity of Bruce Wayne which she revealed when she called Batman "rich boy" in the episode "Ultimatum," just as he was able to gather intel on her past. She however has chosen to keep his secret. This was also shown in the episode "The Doomsday Sanction" in which Amanda is clearly shaken after talking to Batman, and he has seen her point by the end of the episode. Most interaction between Cadmus and the Justice League is via these two individuals. Project Cadmus is a fictional government genetic engineering project in the DC Comics Universe. ... The Ultimen are a fictional superhero group featured in the animated series Justice League Unlimited. ...

As detailed in "Ultimatum," the Ultimen is a team of artificial superhumans with implanted memories, created to be loyal to the government. In addition, the project includes a clone of Supergirl named Galatea (effectively a disguised version of Power Girl), revealed in "Fearful Symmetry." For other uses, see clone. ... For other uses, see Supergirl (disambiguation). ... Galatea Galatea (or Tea, for short) is a fictional supervillain in the animated series Justice League Unlimited. ... Power Girl (real name Kara Zor-L, also known as Karen Starr) is a DC Comics superhero, making her first appearance in All Star Comics #58 (January/February 1976). ...

When The Question discovers the project and is captured, Waller and Lex Luthor give orders to Dr. Moon to run a full interrogation on The Question which is interrupted by Superman and the Huntress who rescue him. Lex Luthor takes advantage of the incident to momentarily hijack the League's satellite headquarters' binary fusion cannon to fire on the now abandoned Cadmus base with massive collateral damage to falsely implicate the League. While the government investigates the firing, Waller decides to take action. It is revealed that Cadmus created dozens of clone copies of the Ultimen team in order to attack the Watchtower; with Galatea leading them, they mount a full offensive against League HQ, intending to overload the reactor and destroy the Watchtower with the team on it. However, when Batman presents evidence of Luthor's deception, Waller calls off the attack and releases the senior Leaguers, who had turned themselves in as an act of good faith. With the Leaguers in tow, she personally goes to arrest Luthor and stops his attempt to transfer his consciousness into a potentially invincible copy of Amazo. It is revealed that Brainiac implanted a nano-holistic copy of himself within Luthor's body years earlier, during the Superman: The Animated Series episode "Ghost in the Machine", and the Justice League is forced to defeat the two of them combined. Unknown to them during this battle, Waller had ordered a massive airstrike on standby to kill the combined villains, the Leaguers as well as herself should the heroes had failed to stop the menace. All this occurred in the four-part arc in the first season, including the episodes "Question Authority", "Flashpoint", "Panic in the Sky", and "Divided We Fall". The Question is an American comic book superhero. ... Lex Luthor is a fictional DC Comics supervillain and a prominent member of Supermans rogues gallery. ... Dr. Moon is a scientist from the DC Comics universe who first appeared in Batman #240. ... Superman is a fictional character and comic book superhero , originally created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian artist Joe Shuster and published by DC Comics. ... The Huntress is a fictional character in the DC Universe. ... Collateral damage is a U.S. Military term for unintended or incidental damage during a military operation. ... Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman) is a DC Comics fictional superhero who first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May 1939. ... Amazo is a fictional android from DC Comics. ... Brainiac is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillain and frequent opponent of Superman. ... Superman: The Animated Series is the unofficial title given to Warner Bros. ... Airstrike in Kosovo War An airstrike is a military strike by air forces on either a suspected or a confirmed enemy ground position, which depending on the selected tactics may or may not be followed up by artillery, armor, or infantry units. ...

The final episode of JLU's second season, "Epilogue", is set sixty-five years past the current Justice League timeline — years after even the events of the Batman Beyond series, as we see Bruce Wayne further deteriorated and Terry McGinnis an adult. Here, McGinnis discovers that he is a partial genetic copy of Bruce Wayne; knowing that the Cadmus Project was the only group to have technology advanced enough to alter DNA, he seeks out Waller to find out about his own origins. She reveals some of the future of the Justice League — at some point, the government will appoint a liaison with the League (a post Waller will fill for some time) and they will fight a reconstituted Royal Flush Gang, with Ace, from the Justice League episode "Wild Cards", leading them. Waller also reveals that she was responsible for changing Terry's father's genes; knowing that Batman would never have children of his own, she used Cadmus technology to create a child with his DNA, so the world would not be without a Batman. List of Justice League episodes Epilogue (airdate July 23, 2005) is the season finale of season two of the animated series Justice League Unlimited. ... Batman Beyond (known as Batman of the Future in Europe, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and India) is an American animated television series created by The WB Television Network in collaboration with DC Comics as a continuation of the Batman legacy. ... For other uses, see Batman (disambiguation). ... Terrence Terry McGinnis (Batman IV) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the television series Batman Beyond. ... The Royal Flush Gang are fictional characters in DC comics. ... Ace is a member of the Royal Flush Gang, which is group of villains modeled on the cards in a royal flush in poker. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

"Epilogue" shows the complexity of the character; at the same time she is talking about the world needing a hero like Batman and about her faith in God, she also calmly explains that her plan to ensure Terry became a new Batman was to have Terry's parents murdered by Andrea Beaumont also known as the Phantasm from the 1993 animated film Batman: Mask of the Phantasm whilst he watched. Waller is one step away from being a supervillain, yet her motivations — and even, perhaps, her actions — are understandable to the viewer. She even admits that many of her actions have been reprehensible, and will have much to account for with God when her time comes, so she is not a self-deluding villain. All of this makes Waller among the most morally complex characters featured on Justice League Unlimited. List of Justice League episodes Epilogue (airdate July 23, 2005) is the season finale of season two of the animated series Justice League Unlimited. ... Spoiler warning: Andrea Beaumont, also known as The Phantasm, is a fictional DC Comics femme fatale. ... Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is an animated film first released in 1993. ...

External links

• DCU Guide: Amanda Waller
• Comic Book Awards Almanac