Throughout the Dawn of DC, it has been clear that Amanda Waller is building her power. She’s been at the heart of the Titans: Beast World crisis manipulating events to make Earth’s heroes look bad. Now, the woman they call “the Wall” is changing up her trademark Suicide Squad and how she works with supervillains.
Green Arrow #8 by Joshua Williamson and Phil Hester opens with Connor Hawke tracking Onomatopoeia. The sound-oriented supervillain apparently killed the original Green Arrow, Oliver Queen. Figuring that Onomatopoeia was just a trigger-man, Hawke seeks those responsible for hiring him. This leads the young hero and his father (who faked his death) to the supervillain gangster Brick. However, their quest also exposes Amanda Waller, and her plans to revamp the Suicide Squad.
How Amanda Waller is Replacing the Suicide Squad
Based in the super-max prison Belle Reve, the Suicide Squad was built on forced servitude. In exchange for accomplishing covert missions for the American government, supervillains would be given time off their sentences. Bombs implanted in their brains would keep them under control, or, at least, give Amanda Waller the ability to kill any convict who became a liability.
Brick explains that Amanda Waller reached out to the villain community in secret with a new deal. Reportedly, any supervillain who killed a superhero would be given a full pardon for their crimes. She also promised “no more brain-bombs” and “no more Belle Reve.” This would effectively mean an end to the Suicide Squad as it operated in the past.
Naturally, the villains didn’t trust Amanda Waller any further than they could throw her. This led Brick to set up the hit on Oliver Queen as a test run, to see if she honored her promise before they declared open season on all superheroes. Unfortunately for Brick, his testing the waters only got the Emerald Archers’ attention and set father and son on the trail of the Wall.
Green Arrow #8 is now available in comic shops everywhere.
