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As a result of the New 52 in 2011, the entire line of DC characters was relaunched, incorporating properties belonging to the company's imprints: Wildstorm, Milestone, and Vertigo. As such, elements of this character's history have been altered in some way from the previous incarnation. For a complete list of all versions of this character, see our disambiguation page. |
- Life has given me a unique perspective. Some of us are guns. Some of us are targets. And some of us are bullets. Waiting to be fired.
- — Deadshot src
Floyd Lawton, also known as Deadshot, is the "man who never missed" - an assassin with an almost superhuman marksmanship skill. His villainous activities against Batman quickly landed him a spot on the Suicide Squad, where he soon became one of its most effective and notorious members.
History
Origin
Adopted Origin
According to Deadshot himself, as a child, he lived with his mother, father, and sister. His family was in a constant struggle and was very poor. One night, when his father was informing his mother the good news that he had gotten a job, the two were gunned down by bullets coming from the next room. Along with his parents, Floyd's sister was also killed in the hail of gunfire. After this, Floyd discovered a gun in the next room and began teaching himself to use it. He would eventually become a very skilled marksman and use his skills as a gun for hire.[1]
True Origin
However, Deadshot's public origin story actually belonged to Will Evans, a man Lawton shared a prison cell with while serving time.[2] In actuality, Floyd's family was quite wealthy, with an estate outside Gotham. Their public image hid that fact that his father, George was an abusive drunk. His mother, Genevieve, suffered many beatings from George and took her frustrations out on Floyd and his brother Eddie. Despite this, Eddie was a great son, good natured and athletic, often taking beatings meant for Floyd.
Eventually, Genevieve had had enough and encouraged Floyd to shoot his father. Young Floyd scaled a tree and took aim at his father. His nervousness caused him to flinch. The shot missed his father but hit Eddie between the eyes, killing him. Floyd made two promises to himself that night, never to miss again and to kill his father the next time he saw him.[3]
After years of training, Lawton became so skilled with shooting, he became the mercenary Deadshot and had two daughters - Suchin and Zoe.
War of Jokes and Riddles
During Batman's second year as a vigilante in Gotham, the Joker and the Riddler battled for control of the city and for the right to kill the Bat in what would be called "the War of Jokes and Riddles". Any criminal based in Gotham was invited to pick a side - and Deadshot, having started making a name for himself, chose the Joker.
After Jim Gordon initiated and failed to resolve peace talks between the two sides, both Joker and Riddler sent snipers to stake out GCPD headquarters in anticipation of killing Batman. While Joker sent Deadshot, Riddler sent Deathstroke - the world's other deadliest assassin - and the two mercenaries soon abandoned their mission and began fighting each other. Over the course of five days, Deadshot and Deathstroke ended up killing 62 civilians that got caught in their crossfire, 28 of which died when Deadshot detonated a bomb inside a building. When Batman finally caught the two on the fifth day, he specifically targeted Deadshot, beating him so badly Lawton was immediately sent to Gotham Mercy Hospital where the doctors claimed it was a miracle he survived.[4]
Contract on Bruce Wayne
At some point later, Floyd was assigned to kill Bruce Wayne by the Kobra Cult. Lawton accepted the contract, demanding 10 million dollars. The Kobra Cult then informed Floyd that he will do it for no pay, revealing that they had kidnapped his daughter, and would kill her if he did not fulfill the contract. Floyd reluctantly accepted it, although instead of killing Wayne, Floyd reached out to Batman, asking for help to save his daughter, promising there will be no casualties. Batman accepted Floyd's call for help, and together, the two cleared out the warehouse where Floyd's daughter was being held captive. With all of the henchmen down, suddenly a man held a knife to Floyd's daughters throat, threatening to kill her. Floyd impulsively shot and killed the man instantly. Knowing he broke his promise to Batman, he asked him to take his daughter to a safe place, and then himself to jail.[5]
Suicide Squad
Deadshot was, at some point, captured by Amanda Waller and forced to join the Suicide Squad. After being hired to assassinate a senator in Gotham City, the Batman attacked him, messing up his aim, and ruining the hit. That crime and others landed him on death row at Belle Reve prison. While there, his cell filled up with gas, and he was implanted with a micro-bomb to insure his obedience. After undergoing torture to test his loyalty, Deadshot was officially inducted into the Suicide Squad.
Deadshot took charge of the operation and the team was sent on their first first mission, to purge a stadium full of civilians that had been infected by a techno-organic zombie plague, and to acquire the cure for the plague. The Squad succeeded, finding the source of the infection, a pregnant woman, and killing her. Deadshot cut out the infant, who was somehow immune, and thus held the cure of the plague. After ordering Voltaic to use his powers to make sure everyone in the stadium was dead, Deadshot put a bullet in his head in order to frame him for the events in the stadium, due to the fact that every corpse had his power signature. Before the team could be evacuated, the authorities arrived, and the Squad were ordered to lay low and blend in, while protecting the baby. While performing the mission, Deadshot had become infected however, making him desperate for the cure.
Things were further complicated by the arrival of Mad Dog who had come to collect a bounty on the head of the child.
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Attack on Wayne Enterprises
Deadshot, while away from the Suicide Squad, picked up a contract from a mysterious malefactor to hijack a plane carrying the leaders of Wayne Enterprises. Deadshot, disguising himself as a pilot, hijacked a private jet carrying the leaders of Wayne Enterprises. Though Bruce Wayne offered to pay off the contract on their lives, Deadshot refused; the situation seemed non-negotiable until the jet was coincidentally struck by lightning, sending it into freefall. The plane crash landed on a secluded island in the Pacific Ocean, and both Bruce Wayne and Deadshot fell out of the cabin before the plane made touchdown.[6]
Deadshot located the wreckage of the plane first and, because he was paid to kidnap the "titans of industry" instead of kill them, he decided to protect them from the dangerous inhabitants of the island until they could be rescued. The businesspeople were less than appreciative though, considering that Deadshot had still technically kidnapped them. Wayne, having been rescued by two marooned World War II soldiers, went back to the wreckage disguised in some of their supplies to rescue the businesspeople from Deadshot.[7] Bruce, as a nameless vigilante, successfully defeated Deadshot in hand-to-hand combat. The crash survivors were rescued the next morning thanks to a homing beacon picked up by Alfred Pennyworth, and Deadshot was arrested for his crimes.[8]
Bad Blood
Following his arrest Deadshot returned to the Suicide Squad where he partook in the assault and forceful recruitment of the Revolutionaries. Operating as field commander once more his tenure was over headed by the new director's new and colder stance on the government backed team and rocky relationship with the new recruits. The team's first mission involved a failed attempt at instating the nation of Badhnisia's puppet leader with Osita killing the politician during their escape attempt and forcing Deadshot's conspiracy in their future plan and to shutdown the Force from the inside; telling Floyd how Task Force had a new master beyond the US government over a telepathic link. [9] Sent to recapture Captain Boomerang in Australia the inner group inducted Harley, later coming into contact with Boomerang with an abandoned junkyard and bringing him back to Belle Reeve. Aware of his meddling in the presidential toppling, Lok attempted to force Floyd into killing Harkness citing how he or one of his guards would detonate each bomb in their neck, but ended up killed by Lawton himself the marksman killing the new leader. Successfully disarming their bombs and interrogating the last guard the true leader of the Task Force was revealed to be Ted Kord.[10]
After removing the bombs from their necks and ensuring they would hunt Kord down, Lawton and haul became alerted to the known bounty on their head after being nearly betrayed by the very doctor who took it out. Batman, now aware of the team's actions in Gotham engaged the team in combat, intending to slow him down while the others flee Deadshot engaged Bruce in combat. Coming to a truce, Lawton explained the situation later leaving for home following a short conversation with Bruce, the others clear of Batman's range.[11] Reaching home thereafter Lawton, in reflection of all that has happened and he missed, returned to his daughter and wife, pardoned from his debts. However his recent actions placed him back in the eyes of the law. Not willing to fight in front of his daughter his attempt at surrendering was met with excessive force. His daughter, put in danger by by one of the officers lead Deadshot to arms once more, disabling the law enforcement along with the intervention of the Revolutionaries. Enraged at his foolishness in trusting the government to leave him alone, Deadshot donned his mask once more to put an end to the Suicide Squad.[12]
Launching their final assault on Kord Defense Tower, Floyd and the Revolutionaries attempt on his life was met by the intervention of "Superman". The hero already having Kord bound and gagged, and leading to the terrorists to leave him in better hands. Suspicious of the scene, Floyd carefully questioned Kent. Calling back in the group and revealing the hero to be Black Mask in disguise. However, before their return Lawton was shot in both his chest and head, propelling the marksman from the cracked window and killing the man.[13]
Worse than death
Lawton's corpse was sought by the Kobra Cult,[14] who were working on behalf of Powers International,[15] and by Harvey Dent's Task Force Z, a team of deceased supervillains revived with Lazarus Resin. The task force's field leader Jason Todd, the Red Hood, requested Deadshot's recruitment[14] as a more reliable team member, but was shot and killed by Lawton immediately after his resurrection.[16] Project Halperin, the body responsible for Task Force Z, recovered Deadshot and restored Todd to life with the resin at their headquarters, the Chop Shop. There, Lawton apologized to Todd for killing him, and inquired about his undead condition. He was distressed to learn of his potential cannibalistic tendencies, and grew angry with Todd upon learning that even after being killed he was bound to a Suicide Squad, stating that he would have preferred to stay dead. The Red Hood later petitioned for a higher dosage of Lazarus Resin for the Task Force, allowing Deadshot and his team members to retain more of their humanity.[14]
On a subsequent mission to steal a resin shipment from the Kobra Cult on the roof of the GNN Tower, Deadshot used his marksmanship skills while carried by his teammate Man-Bat to shoot out a set a floodlights, allowing Task Force Z associate Hanna Hobart to transform into the superpowered "Sundowner." In the ensuing battle, Lawton was incapacitated by a contact poison spread via the cultists by the bounty hunter Cheshire, who had been hired to defend the shipment from Task Force Z. Red Hood and "Bane"[14]—actually the resurrected hero Gotham under a false identity[17]—were able to defeat Cheshire, and their teammates were returned to headquarters.[14]
A recovered Deadshot encountered fellow Task Force Z members Mister Bloom and Kirk Langstrom, Man-Bat's human form, in the Chop Shop while searching for Todd, but ignored their plotting due to his discomfort in their presence. After tracking the production of Lazarus Resin to its source,[15] a Powers International laboratory, Deadshot and Task Force Z found themselves in a three-way standoff with Powers security and Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad, led by KGBeast. When Bloom and Man-Bat betrayed the team and brought the conflict to a head, Lawton fired on the lab's lights, once again unleashing Sundowner, but was knocked unconscious by the Suicide Squad's Victor Zsasz and captured for Waller, who had requested that Lawton be taken intact.[18]
Awakening in chains in KGBeast's custody with Todd, Lawton was reunited over video with Waller, who remarked that it saddened her to see Lawton in this state, and ordered the Beast to kill the Red Hood. Sacrificing himself for his team leader, Deadshot escaped his restraints by tearing off his hands, and dove into the path of the bullet meant for Todd. Waller reprimanded KGBeast for failing to recover Lawton,[18] as his brain was seemingly destroyed, preventing his resurrection.[19]
In reality, however, Lawton's body was retrieved by Bloom and he was restored to life to serve Powers International. When the Red Hood stormed Powers International Headquarters in pursuit of Bloom, Deadshot stood against him, along with Todd's other one-time teammates Gotham, Man-Bat, and Arkham Knight. Citing his loyalty to Bloom for saving him, and Todd's new alliance with the Suicide Squad members responsible for his last death, Lawton refused to back down from his former leader, asking if Todd would end his life permanently. Instead, the confrontation was interrupted by Gotham's sister, who defeated and captured the Red Hood. From captivity, he engineered the destruction of Powers International Headquarters[17] and foiled Bloom's plans. While Todd escaped, Lawton was left to die in the rubble, his corpse brought in to the Gotham Morgue. From there, he was resurrected once again by Harvey Dent—having returned to his repressed "Two-Face" persona—with recovered Lazarus Resin, part of a force of undead owing their lives to Dent.[20] Deadshot eventually returned to Waller's service; on Gamorra Island, he killed rogue Suicide Squad member Bizarro with a long-range headshot and was at Waller's side when the rebellious precognitive Dreamer submitted to her control.[21]
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
- Aviation[6]
- Demolitions: Deadshot has enough skill with demolitions that he once used a bomb during the War of Jokes and Riddles that ended up killing 28 civilians.[4]
- Disguise[6]
- Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced): Deadshot is a highly trained hand-to-hand combatant. He has been shown capable of holding his own against other highly experienced fighters, such as Batman[22] and Deathstroke.[23]
- Intimidation[6]
- Leadership: Deadshot has displayed himself a capable leader during his time with the Suicide Squad.[24]
- Marksmanship: Deadshot is a master marksman, said to "never miss". He possesses skill with various firearms, including different types of handguns and rifles. He has made shots he claims could not be performed by any other living being on Earth.[1]
- Mechanical Engineering: Deadshot is a skilled, and seemingly self-taught engineer. He was capable of building his signature wrist mounted guns on his own.[1]
- Multilingualism: Deadshot can speak Mandarin fluently.[25]
- Peak Human Condition: Through rigorous training Deadshot has obtained a body which functions at peak human ability. His strength, speed, durability, stamina and healing-factor are all far superior to an average human. He has exerted himself for 5 days and 5 nights without sleeping or taking a break.[4]
- Tactical Analysis
- Weaponry[1]
Paraphernalia
Weapons
Wrist Magnums,
Various firearms, sniper rifles, handguns
Notes
- Deadshot was created by David Vern Reed and Lew Sayre Schwartz, first appearing in Batman #59. However, in the Prime Earth continuity, Deadshot first appeared as part of the New 52 DC Universe in Suicide Squad (Volume 4) #1 by Adam Glass and Fernando Dagnino.
Related
- 251 Appearances of Floyd Lawton (Prime Earth)
- 201 Images featuring Floyd Lawton (Prime Earth)
- 25 Quotations by or about Floyd Lawton (Prime Earth)
- Character Gallery: Floyd Lawton (Prime Earth)
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Justice League of America (Volume 3) #7.1: Deadshot
- ↑ Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #3
- ↑ Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot and Katana #2
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Batman (Volume 3) #28
- ↑ Suicide Squad (Volume 5) #1
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Detective Comics #1009
- ↑ Detective Comics #1010
- ↑ Detective Comics #1011
- ↑ Suicide Squad (Volume 6) #2–Suicide Squad (Volume 6) #3
- ↑ Suicide Squad (Volume 6) #5
- ↑ Suicide Squad (Volume 6) #6
- ↑ Suicide Squad (Volume 6) #7
- ↑ Suicide Squad (Volume 6) #8
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 Task Force Z #3
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Task Force Z #4
- ↑ Task Force Z #2
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Task Force Z #11
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Task Force Z #5
- ↑ Task Force Z #6
- ↑ Task Force Z #12
- ↑ Suicide Squad: Dream Team #4
- ↑ Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #2
- ↑ Deathstroke (Volume 3) #11
- ↑ Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #1
- ↑ New Super-Man #15
Batman Villain(s) |
Suicide Squad member |
Secret Society of Super-Villains member |
Justice League member This character has been a member of the Justice League of America, or the Justice League in any of its various incarnations, sworn by a duty to act as guardians of America and the world by using their skills and/or superpowers to protect Earth from the clutches of both interstellar and domestic threats. |