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"Embrace your inner darkness."
— Amanda Waller to Oliver Queen[src]

Amanda Waller (died January 27, 2016), also known as her codename Mockingbird and her nickname The Wall, was the corrupt director of A.R.G.U.S. and the leader of Task Force X. She was killed by Shadowspire during their attack on the organization.

Biography[]

Association with Edward Fyers[]

Edward Fyers's employer

Edward Fyers's employer.

In order to eliminate China White, Amanda Waller sought out Yao Fei Gulong on the island of Lian Yu. She maintained radio contact with mercenary Edward Fyers. Amanda began shipping military weapons to the island in order to shoot down a Ferris Air plane headed for China, which was carrying China White. Right before this, Edward contacted her and told her how the plan was coming together.[1] However, the plan soon failed due to Oliver Queen, Slade Wilson, and Shado's intervention, and Fyers and all of his men were killed.[2]

Association with Oliver Queen[]

Alpha-Omega bioweapon attack[]

Amanda witnessed Oliver's combat abilities on the island via a Keyhole Hexagon satellite, including his battle with Slade on the Amazo. After the Amazo was destroyed and sank, Amanda sent in a team to rescue Oliver, seeing him as a potential asset to A.R.G.U.S.. Once Oliver was secured, she moved him to Hong Kong.

Oliver wakes up in Hong Kong

Oliver wakes up in Hong Kong.

Waller tried to force Oliver to work for her. She assigned Agent Maseo Yamashiro to be his handler. After numerous failed attempts to escape, Oliver agreed to proceed with his training to prevent Waller from killing Maseo's family as punishment for his failure in restraining Oliver.[3] Later, Amanda ordered Oliver to kill Tommy Merlyn after Oliver tried to access his email account during his previous failed escape attempt. Oliver, with Maseo's help, found a way around it so that Tommy could be spared.[4]

Waller told Maseo to order Oliver to kill "a terrorist". She is summoned to meet with Oliver to her annoyance. She revealed to Oliver she knows he prevented Ferris Air flight 637, Paris to Hong Kong from being blown up over Lian Yu. However, Oliver revealed he knew Waller was the one who ordered Edward Fyers to shoot down the plane, based on the data from a USB drive he picked off of Adam Catswidth, the "terrorist" she had him murder. He knows that Catswidth was Fyers's handler and that Waller wanted him silenced. Oliver threatened to expose her actions if anything were to happen to Maseo's family. Waller admitted and revealed to Oliver that Fyers's operation was to assassinate one target; Chien Na Wei AKA China White, and he saved her life. Waller told him that she needed to know why Chien is in Hong Kong.[5]

Oliver and Maseo were able to discover that White was after the Alpha-Omega Virus, which she planned to sell to the highest bidder. They failed to recover the Alpha half of the virus, but Waller gave them another chance. She revealed that Omega was in the possession of the Hong Kong military. After recovering Omega, Maseo asked when A.R.G.U.S. would rescue his wife, Tatsu Yamashiro, after she was kidnapped by White. Waller revealed that she had no intention of doing so. She suspected a betrayal and switched the Omega with a fake, which Maseo and Oliver would try to trade for his wife's life.

Waller gave the two men a chance to redeem themselves. White had flown to Starling City in order to sell the Alpha half of the virus, surmising that the other half could be recreated later. The two men were successful in taking down White and attaining Alpha. They were then approached by Waller and General Matthew Shrieve, who revealed that they had to be debriefed back in Hong Kong.

After General Shrieve removed her authority as the leader of A.R.G.U.S. for committing unspeakable acts,[6] Waller was then held hostage by Shrieve who planned on using the bioweapon on Hong Kong, in order to destabilize the Chinese economy. Waller revealed she had no involvement with Shrieve and told Oliver to get as far away from Hong Kong, hoping they could meet again one day. She also revealed the existence of a vaccine, which ended up saving Oliver, Tatsu, and Maseo.[7]

Shadowspire operation[]

Oliver and Waller on Lian Yu

Oliver and Waller on Lian Yu

Over five months later, Waller once again sent Oliver on another mission to return to Lian Yu and investigate a drug harvesting operation on the island from a criminal organization called Shadowspire.[8] After killing Baron Reiter and his army, Amanda visited Oliver on Lian Yu and he realized that the true purpose of this mission was to retrieve a mystical idol for A.R.G.U.S.. Oliver no longer cooperated with her, but Amanda assured they would see each other again a few years later.[9]

Assembling the Suicide Squad[]

Waller captured John Diggle, telling him that she needed his help to rescue Lyla Michaels, who had gone dark in Moscow. She parted with a statement saying that A.R.G.U.S. was aware of what Oliver and he did at night.[10]

Waller offered Ben Turner an employment opportunity for a "squad" in order to shorten his prison sentence.[11]

Waller visited Lyla and Diggle at a hotel and requested both of their assistance to handle a chemical weapon situation organized by Gholem Qadir, an old friend/enemy of Diggle whilst stationed in Markovia. Waller then tasked them with getting Task Force X aka Suicide Squad into position to take down the chemical weapons and terminate Qadir. Phase one of the plan, getting Qadir's phone from him at an art exhibition, succeeded, but Shrapnel attempted to flee and Waller activated the bomb in his head as punishment. Later, when the squad found the chemical weapons, Waller sent in a drone strike to terminate the threat but intended to take Deadshot and dozens of civilians with it. However, Diggle convinced Deadshot to flee with him. Since Waller's drone was homed in on Deadshot's tracking chip, Lyla was forced to cut it out of his neck and throw it away. The re-directed strike caused Waller to have to deal with the Markovian government on "unprovoked drone attack". Later, Oliver Queen visited Waller in her office and the two meet since he quit working for A.R.G.U.S., to inform her that Slade Wilson, who Waller believed to be dead just like Oliver did is still alive. When Oliver asked for information on Slade, Waller told him about a new mercenary named "Deathstroke" who she believed could be their old nemesis.[12]

Amanda Waller and Harley Quinn

Amanda and Harley Quinn.

John Diggle and Felicity Smoak contacted Waller to find Oliver after he had disappeared after Moira Queen's death,[13] Amanda revealed that Oliver was at his second base. She sends A.R.G.U.S. soldiers to Starling City to cut off Slade Wilson's army from leaving the city when his invasion begins and was soon contacted by Oliver demanding she call off her men, but she retaliated by reminding him that she must do what she has to in order to defend the country and that was to send an armed drone to Starling City.[14]

She oversaw the operation of A.R.G.U.S. soldiers in Starling, unaware of a squad she sent was killed by Slade's army, she is soon held hostage by Diggle, Lyla and Deadshot where she revealed to Diggle that Lyla was pregnant with his child. She called off the drone after Oliver called her again and told her that Slade and his army were defeated.[15]

Mission in Kahndaq[]

This section is considered non-canon, due to the fact that it occurred in Arrow: Season 2.5​​​.
Obama is visited by Amanda Waller

Obama is visited by Amanda Waller.

On October 13, 2014 in Washington, D.C., Amanda discussed the problem of Onslaught with President Obama. He claimed partial responsibility for it all, though admitted that he'd never publicly say anything of the sort. Obama asked for Amanda to put a stop to Onslaught to prevent any wars, and she claimed to have the perfect team.[16]

After this incident, Waller sent the Suicide Squad to deal with a situation in Kahndaq where terrorist members of Onslaught begin executing a lot of people under the leadership of Khem-Adam, who claimed to be "saving" his country from foreign influence. Her squad succeeded in destroying Onslaught, except for Adam, who was taken away by Nyssa al Ghul and Sara Lance to Nanda Parbat and apparently executed by a new member of League of Assassins. Also, one member of the team, Ben Turner, was killed in this mission.[17]

Taking advantage of King Shark[]

This section is considered non-canon, due to the fact that it occurred in The Flash: Season Zero​​​.

After the Suicide Squad, consisting of Cupid, Captain Boomerang and Floyd Lawton, surveyed King Shark destroying an aquarium, Waller decided to send them in to extract him.[18] Waller took Lamden to an A.R.G.U.S. detention center to be chained up. She took a woman to see him, before cutting him open to carefully dissect him.[19] After dissection, she sent him across the other side of the country to begin as part of the Suicide Squad. Soon, The Flash came to try and rescue King Shark. However, Waller sent some drones after him, created by General Eiling. They eventually found where King Shark had been, but Barry was quickly captured and was told of what had happened to Lamden.[20]

Kasnian extract mission[]

Waller sent Suicide Squad (consisting of John, Lyla, Floyd Lawton, and Carrie Cutter) in Kasnia to release Senator Joseph Cray who was held as hostage by terrorists, but this was revealed to be a ruse by Cray, who wanted to be a hero in Kasnia so that he could get presidential election in the USA. The squad killed many mercenaries and pulled out many hostages from hospital building but they were still pursued by enemies, which Deadshot prevented them from hospital's roof and sacrificed himself to save other members when the building exploded. Lyla and John persuaded Waller to admit the truth of the mission to the world, but denied to do this due to the delicate situation in Kasnia, which left Lyla and John bitter about her way of leading A.R.G.U.S. and they quit from the agency.[21]

Shadowspire's attack and death[]

A.R.G.U.S

Shadowspire's attack.

After John and Lyla witnessed the abduction of A.R.G.U.S. agent Alan Chang, they visited Waller, who secretly revealed Chang was part of an off-the-books A.R.G.U.S. mission to take down the criminal paramilitary organization Shadowspire. Chang and two other agents were killed by Shadowspire under the command of Lieutenant Joyner. Their plan to steal a shipment of railguns confiscated by A.R.G.U.S. turned out to be a diversion, distracting Team Arrow while Shadowspire went after their real target; A.R.G.U.S. headquarters.[22]

Joyner ordered Waller give him access to Rubicon, threatening to kill more A.R.G.U.S. agents if she did not, Waller told him it would not matter how many individuals he killed and when Lyla confirmed Waller doesn't make decisions based on the value of human life, Joyner shot Waller in the head, hoping Lyla would prove more easily blackmailed. Team Arrow, with help from John's brother Andy Diggle (who had previously worked with Shadowspire) defeated Joyner, but it was too late to save Waller.[22]

Legacy[]

After Amanda's death, Lyla Michaels had a toast with Oliver Queen to honor her, as she still had some respect for her former superior. But Oliver on the other hand was reluctant to do so, as he was unable to forgive Amanda for everything she had done to him.[22]

Lyla succeeded Amanda as the director of A.R.G.U.S. and began working to undo all her predecessor's damage to reshape the organization into a genuine force for good.[23]

Personality[]

"Amanda Waller doesn't make decisions based on the value of human life."
Lyla Michaels to Joyner[src]

Amanda was described as "formidable and enigmatic"; she lacks any form of emotions, empathy, morals, or honor, always caring more about the bigger picture. Although Amanda presented herself as in charge of apprehending and countering dangerous threats to the United States, she was equally - if not more - callous and brutal as the criminals she apprehended; for example, she casually murdered Mark Scheffer by detonating a bomb in his spine when the latter tried to abandon Task Force X. Similarly, she had no qualms in sacrificing her own agents, referring to them as her "assets".

Amanda's top priority was to protect her country, no matter what the cost. Her actions followed an "ends justify the means" philosophy, in pursuit of which she could utterly detach herself from any personal feelings. Stemming from this, if she believed the final result was worth it, Amanda would take any action she deemed necessary. As a result, she endorsed the use of torture while interrogating suspects and assassination to remove associates who would be likely to expose her. Believing Oliver Queen would make a valuable asset, Amanda was willing to exploit his newly-acquired morals to get him to work for her, such as threatening to murder Maseo Yamashiro's family if he did not cooperate with becoming an A.R.G.U.S. agent and later threatening to kill Oliver's sister, Thea, if he did not tell her where the Yamashiros had escaped to.

Despite Amanda's goal to protect the U.S., she never displayed any regard for civilian casualties/collateral damage. Amanda authorized a group of mercenaries to eliminate Chien Na Wei by blowing up a commercial plane full of innocent individuals, as she believed Chien to be enough of a threat to warrant this deed. When Slade Wilson launched his siege on Starling City, Amanda's proposed solution was to destroy the entire area with a drone strike. She tried to justify her ruthless and immoral actions in the belief that there are individuals in the world who are beyond reason, "that deal only in extremes", and it would be "naïve to think that anything less than extreme measures will stop them".

Amanda was arrogant, hypocritical, and stubborn; when General Matthew Shrieve removed her authority as the director of A.R.G.U.S., she blamed Oliver and Maseo for it, when it was actually due to her own unspeakable methods. Furthermore, when John Diggle, Lyla Michaels, and Floyd Lawton held her at gunpoint, Amanda refused to back down and even claimed to Lyla that "what [she's] doing is treason" while the former had ordered a drone strike on Starling City - a civilian zone - without authorization from the U.S. government, proving that she always tried to twist things in her favor.

Amanda was not always without reason or restraint, as she agreed to call off the drone strike when Oliver reported that he had subdued Slade and his army, as there was no longer a need to attack. Amanda was intelligent enough to recognize possible talent, as demonstrated by her creating Task Force X and recruiting Oliver.

As confirmed by Lyla, Amanda never "made decisions based on the value of human life". Upon discovering the existence of meta-humans, Amanda planned to weaponize their powers, only seeing these super-powered individuals as tools to be exploited. She even refused to negotiate with Joyner for the Rubicon codes in exchange for the lives of her fellow agents. Lyla confirmed that Amanda was cold-blooded enough to let everyone else in the room die to protect her goals; proving just how sociopathic and delusional she truly was; which led to her death.

Abilities[]

  • High-level intellect/Expert tactician/Leader: Amanda was a highly intelligent individual, an excellent tactician and leader.
  • Expert interrogator/Torturer: Amanda used various forms of blackmail and torture to make her victims submit to her will.
  • Expert markswoman: As the director of A.R.G.U.S., Amanda was skilled in the use of firearms. She was able to dual-wield pistols.[15]
  • Network: As the director of A.R.G.U.S., Amanda has many contacts.

Equipment[]

  • Guns: Amanda was very proficient in using guns.

Appearances[]

Arrow[]

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Season 6

Season 7

Season 8


The Flash[]

Season 2[]

Season 3[]

Comics[]

Arrow: Season 2.5[]

The Flash: Season Zero[]

The Chronicles of Cisco[]

Gallery[]

Promotional images[]

Arrow[]

Season 2[]

Trivia[]

  • Amanda's codename, "Mockingbird", is appropriate given her personality as she is known to be condescending to others.
  • Amanda has similarities to Smith and Samanda Watson; all three are individuals in positions of high government who, despite their obligation to the law, arrogantly believe they are above the entity and thus not afraid to resort to dishonorable and immoral acts to achieve their goals. This subsequently puts them at odd with the heroes.

Behind the scenes[]

  • In the DC comics, Amanda Waller is a hardline top-ranking U.S. government agent involved in clandestine operations. Despite her non-threatening physical appearance, she is almost universally feared as one of the most ruthless women in espionage and politics. She created and runs the Suicide Squad, a team of super-villains running missions for the government in exchange for reduced prison sentences; she has also been involved with Agency, its successor Checkmate, the Shadow Fighters, and once led the Secret Six as Mockingbird. In most media in which she appears, she seems to have a distinct rivalry with the Batman. Whenever the two are shown together, they almost are always shown to have a pre-existing relationship of bitterness over their respective methods.
    • In "Suicide Squad"​​ and "Unthinkable"​, Floyd Lawton referred to Amanda as "The Wall". This is a nod to her nickname in the DC comics. Since in the DC comics Amanda is a very solid 5' 1", 200 lb. woman, the name is even more appropriate. Likewise, her comic counterpart is a very formidable personality, being one of the few characters, especially unpowered, who does not back down from a confrontation with Batman.
  • Amanda was killed off because Viola Davis played the character in 2016's Suicide Squad.
  • In LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, Cynthia Addai-Robinson reprised her role in addition to narrating The Squad downloadable pack.
  • Amanda served as the main antagonist of the "King Shark arc" of the The Flash: Season Zero comic series.

References[]

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