Amanda Waller

Amanda Blake Waller (née White), also known as "the Wall", is a fictional main character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Legends #1 in 1986, and was created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and John Byrne.

Amanda Waller is a villain and sometimes ally to the superheroes of the DC Universe. She created the anti-hero group Suicide Squad.

Fictional character biography

Though lacking superpowers, Amanda Waller is often portrayed as a ruthless, high-ranking government official who uses guile, political connections, and intimidation to achieve her goals, often in the name of national security. Waller is commonly associated with the fictional government agencies Checkmate and A.R.G.U.S.

Waller is a former congressional aide and government agent in charge of the Suicide Squad, a quasi-secret government-run group of former supervillains working in return for amnesty. She later serves as Secretary of Metahuman Affairs under President Lex Luthor before being arrested because of Luthor's public fall from grace. She later serves in leadership roles in Checkmate and A.R.G.U.S. In 2020s comic books, she heads up more ambitious attacks on the superhero community, serving as the primary antagonist of the Absolute Power event.

In other media

The character has been adapted into other media on a number of occasions, notably voiced by CCH Pounder in her animated debut in the DC Animated Universe, with Pam Grier originating the character in live action on the TV show Smallville. She first appears in film played by Academy Award winner Angela Bassett in Green Lantern. Waller is played by Viola Davis in the live-action DC Extended Universe movie Suicide Squad (2016). Davis returned to portray the role in the sequel The Suicide Squad (2021), Black Adam (2022), the HBO Max streaming television series Peacemaker (2022-present). Davis is set to voice the character in the upcoming animated miniseries Creature Commandos (2024) and will return in the live-action series Waller (2024).

Other websites

• Amanda Waller's "official blog" (via archive.org)
• DCU Guide: Amanda Waller Archived 2016-05-19 at the Wayback Machine
• Comic Book Awards Almanac