Checkmate (Prime Earth)

Active by the time of the aftermath of the Alien Alliance's invasion of Earth under Amanda Waller,^[2] Checkmate evolved into a United Nations-sponsored international peacekeeping force with a headquarters known as "the Castle"^[3] in the Swiss Alps.^[4] and a chess-themed command structure that included Kings, Queens, Knights, Bishops,^[5] Rooks, and Pawns. Checkmate became the most ardent opposition to the terrorist organization Kobra,^[6] and maintained corporate fronts such as "Checkmate Business Solutions"^[7] and "Ascendek."^[8]

Nemesis, Bishop of White Queen Amanda Waller, was caught between the Penguin's Council and fellow intelligence agency Spyral,^[5] and Nicole Alston, a double agent for Spyral embedded in Ascendek, learned from Checkmate's intelligence that her Spyral compatriot Carmen Navarro was an associate of the assassin network of La Agente Funebre. Navarro put out a hit on Alston to keep her secret, and falsely attributed the contract to Checkmate.^[8] Checkmate also came into conflict with the Blood Cultists of Trigon. When the latter group stormed the Castle, Black King Jason Cameron was psychically pushed by his Knight Maxwell Lord into a suicidal kamikaze attack, at once keeping Checkmate's secrets from the cult and allowing Lord to take his place in the hierarchy.^[3]

Following Lord's appointment as Black King, his fellow "Royals" were each made to resign in disgrace following the release of compromising information on their personal indiscretions, leaving him as Checkmate's sole director. During Apokolips' incursions against the Earth, Lord lobbied the UN for human-superhuman police actions to be made the exclusive domain of Checkmate. Not waiting for approval, Lord ordered Checkmate forces into Metropolis to engage Apokoliptian Parademons and Earth's defenders the Justice League alike, due to which his proposal was denied and A.R.G.U.S. was instead formed for the role.^[3]

OMAC: Omactivate!

Main article: OMAC: Omactivate!

Checkmate is an international organization run by Maxwell Lord that works with all of the world's governments but only answerable to its mysterious founder.^[9] They are described as a Global Peace Agency, albeit with questionable methods. Sarge Steel is put in charge of the investigation when Cadmus project Brother Eye goes rogue and creates OMAC.^[10] They send a team of agents led by Steel after the monster, but he defeats them and escapes.^[11] Mokkari also fails to capture OMAC.^[12] In desperation, Lord enlists the help of S.H.A.D.E. and their leader Father Time sends his best operative Frankenstein to kill OMAC.^[9]^[13] The conflict becomes personal when Brother Eye attempts to assassinate Lord.^[14] In their final battle, Max outsmarts Eye and has him destroyed. They decide to leave OMAC alone, determining that he is no longer a threat.^[15]

Spyral's End

Months later, when Spyral Agent 37 uncovered a conspiracy within Spyral and was on the run, he asked for help from Maxwell Lord, the current head of Checkmate.^[16] Keen to remove a rival and consolidate his authority, Lord agreed. They successfully crippled Spyral; however, Lord was caught trying to double-cross 37 and was stymied.

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Maxwell Lord sent a Checkmate team to raid a Task Force X prisoner transport train in Kentucky, under the pretext of the threat of a Kobra hijacking. In reality, he hoped to seize custody of "the lost prisoners," a powerful group of Suicide Squad veterans, but found instead only Bludhaven gang members. Suspicious of Lord, Amanda Waller, now Task Force X director, had Lord arrested. Though he escaped,^[3] freeing the prisoners and unleashing the demon Eclipso in a bid for world domination, he was defeated by the combined forces of the Suicide Squad and Justice League, stripped of Checkmate leadership, and incarcerated.^[17]

When the time-lost superhero Captain Triumph stormed into Gracie Mansion to confront the mayor of New York City, Checkmate operatives Pawn Twelve and Mecha-Rook Nine were deployed to bring Triumph down, though he escaped with the help of local criminal Harley Quinn.^[18] Checkmate agent Ice Suwannarat was sent to Moscow to recover a counterfeit mask containing a list of La Agente Funebre's operatives from the art collection of a Russian oligarch. Using a gimmicked hairclip to cause a power outage, she stole the mask under the cover of darkness, but was pursued by her rival Siren, a Spyral agent and daughter of Nicole Alston. The two fought each other until interrupted by the oligarch's men, and Siren saved Suwannarat's life before the Checkmate agent escaped with the mask.^[8]

Leviathan Dawn

At some point, their former agent, Mark Shaw, went rogue and joined the terrorist organization Leviathan. The first step of his plan was to attack the facilities of Checkmate, A.R.G.U.S., D.E.O., and Spyral.^[19] The plan was that without its covert intelligence organizations, the world would become more amenable to his plans. However, a roster of intelligence experts and detectives assembled to manage the surviving resources in the fight against Leviathan, operating under the name, Checkmate.^[20]

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Secret Six

The remnants of Checkmate that survived Leviathan's attack reformed under the auspices of the United States Government, advising such parties as Senator Douglas Gravenport against backing an attempted coup by Amanda Waller, to no avail. To regain their strength, Checkmate sought out intelligence through a Washington, D.C. nightclub run by Jeannette, a Checkmate Bishop and banshee,^[21] and by abducting Waller from Belle Reve Penitentiary, where she had been incarcerated after her bid at world domination's failure, for the intelligence on superhumans she had accumulated throughout her career—not knowing that her memories of that knowledge had been taken from her by the metahuman Dreamer.^[22]

Checkmate blackmailed Gravenport to keep their possession of Waller from the United States Senate, even as he fought to hide his own involvement in her attempted coup. When Dreamer and a new incarnation of Jeannette's old team the Secret Six attacked Gravenport at the nightclub while in search of Waller and Checkmate, the Bishop and her Pawn forces moved against her erstwhile allies.^[21]

Notes

Checkmate was created by Paul Kupperberg, Steve Erwin, and John Byrne, first appearing in Action Comics #598. However, in the Prime Earth continuity, Checkmate first appeared as part of the New 52 DC Universe in OMAC (Volume 4) #2 by Dan DiDio and Keith Giffen.

Links and References

Footnotes

[DCE-ANE-1] DC Comics Encyclopedia: All-New Edition

[I51-2] Inferior Five (Volume 2) #1

[JL12-3] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 Justice League (Volume 3) #12

[JLvSS1-4] Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #1

[AC1010-5] 5.0 ^5.1 Action Comics #1010

[DC991-6] Detective Comics #991

[NW28-7] Nightwing (Volume 4) #28

[NWA-8] 8.0 ^8.1 ^8.2 Nightwing 2024 Annual (Volume 4) #1

[O5-9] 9.0 ^9.1 OMAC (Volume 4) #5

[10] OMAC (Volume 4) #2

[11] OMAC (Volume 4) #3

[12] OMAC (Volume 4) #4

[13] Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #5

[14] OMAC (Volume 4) #6

[15] OMAC (Volume 4) #8

[16] Grayson #17

[JLvSS6-17] Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #6

[HQ51-18] Harley Quinn (Volume 3) #51

[19] Event Leviathan #1

[20] Checkmate (Volume 3) #1

[SSix3-21] 21.0 ^21.1 Secret Six (Volume 5) #3

[SSix2-22] Secret Six (Volume 5) #2

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Checkmate (Prime Earth)

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