Amanda Waller may not have superpowers, but she has proven over and over that she is a powerful force in the DC Universe. Nicknamed “the Wall,” she debuted 40 years ago in Legends #1 (November 1986), and was created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and John Byrne. She is often a powerful antagonist or antihero who has been affiliated with Checkmate, the Suicide Squad, the US government, Agency, and Shadow Fighters. Waller is best known for being in charge of Task Force X, aka the Suicide Squad, the government run group of supervillains who work on extremely dangerous mission in a bid for amnesty.

Amanda Waller Gaining Power

Waller wasn’t always a powerful force of nature. She lived in the Chicago Cabrini-Green housing projects where one son, one daughter, and her husband were murdered. She earned a doctorate in political science then became a congressional aide and government agent. Waller served as Secretary of Metahuman Affairs under President Lex Luthor then she was arrested after his fall from power. She was assigned as the White Queen, the leader of Checkmate, but was forced to resign due to her involvement in Operation Salvation Run.

After Waller learned about the Suicide Squad, she crafted the team’s third incarnation and became its leader. She reorganized the Squad as a group of freelance mercenaries who performed often politically motivated missions. Waller became close with some of her operatives, joining them for some field missions. Though she bonded with them, she retained a dominate position. Waller quit after taking down a South American dictator by tricking him into a form of assisted suicide.

In The New 52 DC reboot she was directly in charge of the Suicide Squad with full control over the agents and their missions. Prior to this, she had been involved in an operation that resulted in the deaths of all squad members. Because of that, Waller wanted the new Squad to be operatives she could send to their deaths without remorse. Along with choosing the members she also implanted small explosives in their necks and threatened to detonate if they did not execute directed missions. The Squad she recruited included Deadshot, Harley Quinn, King Shark, Captain Boomerang, Black Manta, and several others.

Amanda Waller’s Villainous Turn

In the DC Rebirth, Waller was confronted by the president about Task Force X. She convinced him that it was needed because there were threats the president and the Justice League either shouldn’t deal with or shouldn’t know about. Waller agreed to appoint a non-criminal as the field leader and gave the job to Rick Flag.

Following Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths, Waller talked to the Council of Light about targeting metahumans because she considered them a danger to humanity. Waller gained more power and support for her cause when the world started to fear superheroes after Knight Terrors. Then she stole the Nightmare Stone and Doctor Fate’s helmet to create Doctor Hate. She used Doctor Hate to spread mutagenic spores around the world by using Beast Boy who had turned into Starro. Then she blamed the Titans for the event and took over the Hall of Justice.

It was then revealed that Waller’s extreme hatred of metahumans stemmed from the deaths of her daughter and husband at the hands of Candyman. Other unfortunate encounters hardened her opinion, and she tried to drain metahuman powers with Brainiac Queen and Failsafe. When Waller was stopped, she was put in Belle Reve and sentenced to life in prison.