Warning: Spoilers for Absolute Power #2!
Summary
Amanda Waller, one of James Gunn’s favorite characters atDC Comics, is proving to be a formidable adversary in the comics. It’s no secret that the new CEO of DC Studios thinks highly of Amanda Waller as a character — to the point that Gunn is currently working on aWallerspinoff show, priming her to beDC’s answer to Thanos.
The timing of Gunn’s Waller appreciation is especially interesting considering thatAmanda Waller is quickly becoming the Big Bad of DC’s comic-book universe, particularly inAbsolute Power#2 by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. This issue arrives not long after Gunn posted onX, calling out Waller’s first DC appearance on its anniversary — which, in a twist of fate, falls on the same day as Gunn’s birthday.
Both Gunn andAbsolute Power#2’s core understanding of Amanda Waller highlights an oft-forgotten fact about her character:she’s not as much of a monster as she’s sometimes stereotyped as being.
The Suicide Squad Just Became DC’s Most Important Villains Yet
Amanda Waller and her ultra-powerful new Suicide Squad have a new mission: eradicate every superhuman in the DC universe with extreme prejudice.
“I’m Not a Sociopath,” She Says
For the past couple of years, no one has benefited more fromthe disbandment of the Justice Leaguethan Amanda Waller. Ever since the conclusion of 2022’sDark Crisis on Infinite Earthsby Joshua Williamson and Daniel Sampere,Waller has quietly built her forces from the comfort of the shadows, slowly preparing for something big. It was never clear exactly what she was planning, but it was evident that this something would have astronomical effects on the DC Universe. Then, Waller made her first big move in last year’sTitans: Beast Worldevent by Tom Taylor, Ivan Reis, and Lucas Meyer.
Waller orchestrated the mind wipe of the Titans' Beast Boy,turning him into Garroand kickstarting a catastrophic worldwide event involving human-animal mutations. After lying to the public and convincing the President of the United States to give her unlimited power to avert any current and future crisis,Amanda Waller’s days in the shadows were over. With plans to eliminate superhumans across the globe,Amanda Waller officially became DC’s new Big Badand its newest major threat.
Waller’s Role inAbsolute PowerHas Been Building for Years
She’s Doing What’s Necessary - In Her Eyes
That Big Bad status is officially ushered in through the currentAbsolute Powerstoryline, which has been building for years. Amanda Waller has already rebranded the JLA’s Hall of Justice intoher personal Hall of Order, has formed a newdream team version of Suicide Squad- featuring the likes of Green Arrow, Dreamer, Brainiac Queen, Failsafe - and is starring in an updated, definitive origin story. All of these elements set the stage for Waller going all-in on her operation to kill all the DCU’s metahumans. However, she makes it clear in this issue thatshe will not kill anyone outside of her metahuman targets.
Brainiac Queen suggests that their Task Force should lure out the remaining superhuman survivors by targeting the heroes' loved ones. Waller immediately takes umbrage with the idea of harming or even killing innocent people, pointing out:“I’m not a sociopath.“Some readers may beg to differ, but this hard line has been part of Waller’s characterization since the very beginning. The very roots of Amanda Waller as a character are that,as hard-edged as she can be, she’d never go too far.Readers can examine her earliest stories as proof.
Amanda Waller’s Never Been a Sociopath
As Gunn’s X post reminds readers, Amanda Waller first debuted in 1986’sLegends#1 by John Ostrander, Len Wein, John Byrne, Karl Kessel, Tom Ziuko, and Steve Haynie. Amanda Waller establishes her authority immediately by recruiting Rick Flag and making it clear what her intentions are for the concept in her mind: Task Force X. She is immediately set up to be a hard-as-nails, take-no-nonsense woman — butnot a cruel woman.At least, she’s not the type of cruel woman that some readers mistake her for being.
A year later, in 1987’sSuicide Squad#8, Task Force X — otherwise known as the Suicide Squad — is still a new idea in the DC mythos and, simultaneously, Amanda Waller is incredibly protective of her team. At the mere insinuation that the Suicide Squad recruits are all expendable,theSuicide Squad’s government liaison Dexter Tolliver earns a punch in the face from Amanda Waller. She makes it clear that regardless of their role, her Suicide Squad is not to be treated or dumped away like garbage.
Amanda Waller’s most recent — andAbsolute Power-related — Task Force X “adventure” can be found inSuicide Squad: Dream Teamby Nicole Maines and Eddy Barrows, which is available now from DC Comics.
Readers can say what they want about Amanda Waller and her methods, but she does draw lines, and she does have morals. Her morals may be thin, but they’re not independent of the mission. At the end of the day,she values humanity, even that of her Suicide Squad cohorts. She keeps them at arms' length, but that doesn’t stop her from valuing them as people, not willing to discard them as if they were anything less. She’d even defend them as such when someone disrespects her team.
DC’s New Evil Trinity Reveal Their True Power, Surpassing the Justice League
Amanda Waller, Brainiac, and Zur-En-Arrh’s Trinity of Evil just got a whole lot more dangerous with the addition of a new powerful player.
Understanding Amanda Waller as a Character Is Essential for Her Future
How Will She Be Depicted Onscreen and On-Panel?
Suicide Squad#8 speaks tothe larger complexities of the Amanda Waller characterbut also to who she truly is at her roots. It’s easy to oversimplify her character as being a cold megalomaniac or an outright sociopath, but neither are qualities that speak to the root of who she is. The power she tries to cling to is the power she feels she needs to protect the planet. She doesn’t trust anyone else to protect the planet in ways that need to be done, so she grasps power out of necessity, not greed.
For more about Waller’s motivations and origins, especially as they relate toAbsolute Power, fans should check out the currently-releasing miniseriesAbsolute Power: Originsby John Ridley and Alitha Martinez from DC Comics.
Everything that Waller has done and said is for what she considers the greater good, or even a necessary evil. Critics can call her what they will, but at the end of the day, she’s human, and her decisions keep the human population in mind.Waller’s most unruly decisionsare driven out of a fear that something bigger and badder is out there to take everyone out, including herself.Amanda Wallerappoints herself the Big Bad ofDC Comics, fulfilling the role that no one else is willing to do in order to ensure humanity’s safety.
ABSOLUTE POWER #2 (2024)
