Deadshot

Deadshot
Secret Six (Vol 3) #15, 2010 Art by Daniel LuVisi.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Batman #59 (June/July 1950)
Created by	David Vern Reed Lew Schwartz
In-story information
Alter ego	Floyd Lawton
Team affiliations	Secret Six Suicide Squad Killer Elite Checkmate Underground Society
Abilities	Uncanny marksmanship Cybernetic eyepiece further increases accuracy Skilled hand-to-hand combatant Bilingualism

Deadshot (Floyd Lawton) is a fictional character who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of Batman.^[1] He has traditionally been portrayed as a supervillain, but has more recently taken the role of an antihero. The character first appears in Batman #59 (June/July 1950) and was created by Bob Kane, David Vern Reed and Lew Schwartz.^[2] As the world's deadliest and most accurate marksman, Deadshot has become a staple member of both the Suicide Squad and Secret Six.

IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains of All Time ranked Deadshot as #43.^[3] The character is portrayed by Will Smith in the 2016 film Suicide Squad.

Fictional character biography

Within the DC Universe, Deadshot is often a hired assassin, regularly boasting to "never miss." He is capable of using a large variety of weapons, but is most frequently portrayed as using a pair of silenced, wrist-mounted guns. He initially appears in Gotham City as a new crime fighter, but is revealed to be an enemy of Batman when he attempts to replace the Dark Knight. He is sent to jail when Batman and Commissioner Gordon publicly expose his plot to become the king of Gotham's underworld.^[1] After serving his term, Deadshot begins hiring his services out as an assassin, changing his costume from the top hat and tails he previously wore to a red jumpsuit and distinctive metal face plate with a targeting device on the right side. Deadshot's past is revealed in subsequent appearances. His real name is Floyd Lawton and he grew up in a wealthy household with his mother, abusive father, and brother Eddie. Eddie was beloved by his parents and the other towns people, while Floyd was a problem child and was despised by his parents, but Floyd idolized his brother and always stood up for him during conflicts with the town's other children.

Floyd's parents were the most powerful people in his town, however, they were known to despise each other. Eventually Floyd's mother claimed his father had become "too abusive," prompting Floyd to kill him. When Floyd took the shot from his tree house, he missed and killed his brother, Eddie, instead. From that moment on, Floyd swore to never miss another shot again.

Suicide Squad

He has been a major figure in the Suicide Squad in its latest two incarnations, where his skills as a marksman and his disregard for human life serve to advance the group's objectives.^[1]

Probably his most defining trait is a desire to die in a spectacular fashion, this being his primary motivation for joining the Squad. He feels he has no reason to continue living, and, while he does not want to commit suicide, he simply does not care if he dies.^[4] Various reasons have been cited for this, but the most common thread in them is his parents' peculiar hatred for one another.

Deadshot almost gets his wish to die when he confronts a Senator who is threatening to expose the Suicide Squad to the world. Having been ordered to stop his immediate superior, Rick Flag, from assassinating the senator, he kills the senator himself, citing his orders as "Stop Flag from killing the Senator. Exact words." After this Deadshot is gunned down by the police on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. He survives his wounds, to continue on with the Squad.

Lawton's uniform is stolen by an airport employee, who uses it to commit crimes and murders. Lawton is forced to kill the man with a bullet to the head. The shooting of his own 'image' affects him greatly; for a while, he does not even fix the hole in his own uniform. While the suit has been lost, Lawton has threatened to kill the man he thought had been responsible, his teammate Captain Boomerang.

During his last mission for the Suicide Squad, Count Vertigo asks Deadshot if he would kill him if asked. Deadshot agrees and the two go off to a secluded area for the decision. Vertigo declines, a decision Deadshot accepts with no argument.

After being affected by the supernatural entity Neron during the Underworld Unleashed storyline, Deadshot decides to kill a kindergarten class via a large explosion. An incarnation of the Justice League stops him. Around this time, Deadshot travels overseas to kill the Pope. Wonder Woman stops him at the last minute.

After dozens of villains are infected by the Joker venom, Deadshot, Merlyn and Deadline attack the Iron Heights metahuman prison. Deadline is killed and Deadshot rescues Captain Boomerang from medical confinement.^[5]

Children

Deadshot had a son named Edward Lawton (nicknamed Eddie) who appeared in the original Deadshot series.^[6] He is later sodomized and killed by Wes Anselm.^[7]

In a second mini-series released in 2005, Deadshot discovers he has a daughter, Zoe, who is being raised in a crime-filled area of Star City. Lawton decides to do right by his daughter, and embarks on a lethal war on the local gangs that plague the area. The series ends with Deadshot faking his death, having realized a normal life is not for him, but also having mostly cleared up the area and convincing Green Arrow to patrol it more regularly.^[1]

Secret Six

Deadshot is featured in the Infinite Crisis storyline comic book Villains United. The Secret Six are banded together by a mysterious, shrouded character named Mockingbird (who is actually Lex Luthor) who offers a major reward for committing to the team and a severe punishment for not accepting membership. Deadshot is offered the reward of ruling North America; his punishment is to be the destruction of the neighborhood in which his daughter and his daughter's mother live. At the end of the mini-series, the conflict ends in stalemate and Deadshot's status remains roughly unchanged from the end of his second mini-series. He remains a part of The Secret Six and is shown having reached a grudging friendship with another member, Catman. His share of the payment for the Six' mercenary work is stated to be sent in its entirety to his daughter and her mother. After the Six disband, Knockout comments in passing that he has returned to the Suicide Squad.^[1]

Countdown

Deadshot and the Suicide Squad are featured in Countdown, rounding up supervillains for removal. The group encounters Pied Piper and Trickster several times, and each time fail to capture them. In Countdown To Final Crisis #24 Deadshot makes a solo effort to capture them, but the pair again elude him. In issue 22, Deadshot (breaking orders from Amanda Waller and Suicide Squad protocol) attacks Piper and Trickster on a train outside of the Rocky Mountains. Given that the supervillains are aware of Project Salvation (Salvation Run), Deadshot apparently kills The Trickster, leaving Pied Piper on his own. In Salvation Run #2, Deadshot is tricked and sent off to the prison planet along with the last batch of criminals. Rick Flag, Jr. tells him as the Boom tube closes that he cannot have people like him on Earth. Deadshot vows that if he ever returns to Earth, he would take his revenge on Flag. After helping fight off the Parademon invasion, he escapes with the surviving villains in the teleportation machine.

Deadshot has since rejoined the Secret Six.

Batman: Cacophony

In Batman: Cacophony, Deadshot is seen breaking into Arkham Asylum. He goes to the Joker's cell and explains that he has taken a contract on the Joker's life, due to his indirect responsibility for the death of a high school student. Just as he is about to kill the Joker, however, Onomatopoeia arrives and engages Deadshot in a shoot out. Eventually, Onomatopoeia gains the upperhand and shoots Deadshot in the head.

It is later revealed that Deadshot's armor saves him, and masks his vital signs to make it appear that he'd been killed. He explains what happened at Arkham to Batman, before being turned over to the Gotham Police.

Batman uses the technology of Lawton's mask to later survive an encounter with the Joker and Onomatopoeia.

Secret Six volume 2

Deadshot, along with Scandal Savage, Bane, Rag Doll, and Cat-Man reunite the Secret Six, having been hired to retrieve Tarantula from Alcatraz Island, and find a card which she stole from Junior, a mysterious villain who supposedly runs the entire West Coast mob. Junior has practically the entire villain community at her beck and call, all afraid of her, even those in Arkham Asylum. The Six later learn that the card in question was made by Neron, and says "Get Out Of Hell Free."

Soon, the Six are attacked by a small army of super-villains, all wanting to recover the card and collect the reward of $20 million for each of the Six, under the orders of Junior, who captures and tortures Bane, whose strong principles and moral convictions, paired with his fatherly fondness of Scandal keep him from betraying his new team. It is later revealed that Junior is in fact Rag Doll's sister and daughter of the first Rag Doll. She has the ghastly appearance of an old clown, with sliced skin and eyes stitched wide open to give the appearance of a clown.

The Six escape, and head for Gotham City, with Deadshot seemingly betraying them and leaving with Tarantula. The Six manage to catch up to Deadshot, only to be attacked by Junior and the Super villains, and the Mad Hatter, who is revealed to be the one who hired them, simply so they would be killed. Tarantula sacrifices herself by pulling herself and Junior in front of the Super villains' combined attack, seemingly destroying the card along with them. However, it is later shown that Scandal is now in possession of the card.

The Suicide Squad re-entered Deadshot's life when the title returned in January 2010 as a tie-in to Blackest Night.^[8]

While on a mission to Gotham City to kill several of Batman's allies, Rag Doll insinuates that Deadshot and Cat-Man are friends despite their protestations, something they grudgingly acknowledge. Before this plot thread can be pursued further, the Six are ambushed by an army of superheroes who had come to assist Batman. Deadshot and the rest of the team choose to fight the heroes despite the overwhelming odds, and Deadshot manages to take down Doctor Light before being blasted and rendered unconscious by Green Lantern. The rest of the Six are similarly trounced and defeated soon after.^[9]

The New 52

In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), Deadshot was recruited to the Suicide Squad prior to the events of the first issue.^[10] He still has a daughter and wears a costume similar to the one he wore in the 2000s mini-series, but his son has been erased from existence; also, Deadshot no longer has his trademark moustache. He is portrayed as a Batman villain and a rival of Mad Dog, a bounty hunter.^[11] He also is bitter enemies with Captain Boomerang, implying that the two men encountered each other as villains.^[11]

Deadshot was arrested for a failed assassination of a U.S. Senator by Batman and was sentenced to life in prison. Later, he is recruited to be part of the Suicide Squad in exchange for early release. Deadshot is made team leader due to his skill under pressure, but quickly grows disillusioned with the group after a planned visit with his daughter, his first since his arrest, is withheld from him and ultimately aborted within minutes of him reuniting with his daughter in order to send him on a mission.^[12]

During one mission, to hunt down renegade member Harley Quinn, the villainess scars Deadshot with a knife along his upper lip. While waiting for the wound to heal, Deadshot grows back his moustache to cover up the wound. However, once the wound heals and leaves no visible scarring, Deadshot shaves it off.^[13]

Deadshot ultimately sacrifices his life to kill the evil cult member Regulas, who had brainwashed most of the members of Suicide Squad and had recruited Black Spider into his group Basilisk in order to assassinate Amanda Waller. Deadshot is later revealed to have been resurrected, possibly through use of an arm from Resurrection Man, obtained by the Squad for Waller during an earlier mission.^[14]

During the Forever Evil story line, Amanda Waller contacts Deadshot to help her get the Suicide Squad back together after the three Justice League teams are "dead."^[15] After his money was wired, Deadshot heads out to get Harley Quinn back on the team.^[16]

Powers and abilities

Deadshot has no superhuman powers, but is the top marksman in the DC Universe, possessing superhuman-like precision, and regularly boasting to "never miss" his target. In fact he has only been known to miss once, when trying to shoot Batman. He once shot an apple off of Captain Boomerang's head with his eyes closed. He was also able to intentionally graze the skull of a flying Enchantress when asked to take her down non-lethally.

In addition to peak accuracy, Deadshot is a proficient hand-to-hand combatant and is able to hold his own against groups of low-level combatants, and has gone toe-to-toe with Batman and the Joker, both of whom are expert fighters.

Deadshot has access to a vast array of weaponry, most notably his sniper rifle, and twin machine guns mounted on each arm.

Deadshot is allegedly bilingual, and learned to speak Russian as a youth, and also claims to have been a Card-carrying Communist.

Personality

Deadshot is portrayed as a consummate professional; as long as he has been paid to kill someone, he will always carry it out, without exceptions. Batman was unable to get him to stop threatening a witness by threatening Deadshot or his family; Deadshot rightly assumed that Batman was bluffing. However, Batman ultimately does get Deadshot to abort the hit by freezing his client's bank accounts. Unable to get paid, Deadshot publicly cancelled the assassination, letting the witness go free.

Perhaps his most defining trait is his acknowledged death wish, which often manifests as him deliberately engineering situations likely to kill him. This makes him unpredictable as an opponent, as his willingness to die allows him to deliberately injure himself to achieve a goal. For example, during Identity Crisis, he deliberately shoots himself in the neck while fighting Kyle Rayner, so that Rayner would attempt to save him and drop his guard, allowing Lawton to take aim and almost shoot him. He often expresses disappointment at surviving his missions, such as immediately lamenting "damn" when awakening in a hospital.

In his run on Suicide Squad, John Ostrander delved into Deadshot's past and family background. The revelation of Deadshot having a brother, whom he idolized, seemed to resonate with Deadshot's attachment to Rick Flag, team leader. Ostrander implied that this relationship also colored Deadshot's rivalry with Batman, whom Deadshot had always been unable—or subconsciously unwilling—to kill.

Collected editions

Title	Material collected	Year	ISBN
Deadshot: Beginnings	Deadshot #1-4, Batman #369 and Detective Comics #474 and 518	November 2013	978-1401242985
Deadshot: Bulletproof	Deadshot v2 #1-5, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #214	April 2015	978-1401255190

Other versions

Amalgam Comics

In the Amalgam Comics universe, Deadshot was combined with the Marvel villain Bullseye to create the assassin Deadeye. William Lawton appears as an enemy of Dare the Terminator and Catsai.

Arrow: Season 2.5

Deadshot appears in Arrow digital comic, working as part of the Suicide Squad, killing members of the extremist sect Onslaught in the Republic of Kasnia along with Bronze Tiger. The two were later training in the A.R.G.U.S. headquarters, taking out ten men in 7 seconds. Soon afterwards, he, Tiger, Diggle, and Ravan Nassar were deployed to Kahndaq to take down Onslaught. When they arrived at an Onslaught camp, Deadshot took up his trademark sniper position, killing an Onslaught member as he was about to execute hostages, providing a distraction for Bronze Tiger and Diggle to begin killing other members. After Nassar blew up an Onslaught truck, Deadshot and the rest of the group found a survivor to take them to Khem-Adam. Lawton and Turner tortured the survivor, but Diggle managed to convince the survivor to tell the Squad the location of Khem-Adam's lair. They arrived there and freed the kidnapped girls, killing several Onslaught agents along the way. Lawton picked up Turner's body after Khem-Adam killed him and carried him out to the waiting A.R.G.U.S. helicopter, insisting that he be buried in his home country.

The Flash: Season Zero

In The Flash digital comic, Lawton teamed up with Digger Harkness and Carrie Cutter as part of the Squad. They watched The Flash take on the meta-human King Shark. Waller told him and the rest of the Squad to suit up, as they were going in to stop the shark. They arrived outside of the man's former apartment and Deadshot helped to knock him down, before Cupid trapped him with a net. Joe West approached, asking who they were, before Lawton introduced them as the Suicide Squad. They each fired at him, but he was saved by The Flash, who rushed him to safety. They appeared to recognize him.

Future's End

Set in a near alternate future of the New 52, Lawton is imprisoned in an underground Belle Reeve missing his shooting arm. He, and the future Black Manta and Harley Quinn are broken out by Amanda Waller, who informs them that they were imprisoned and forgotten as the government found a way to clone super villains and Suicide Squad members in Texas. After Harley and Manta are killed by Joker clones, Deadshot allows Waller time by taking on a Deathstroke clone in a swordfight. Despite his disadvantages, Deadshot defeats the clone and sacrifices his life in the process. Deadshot's actions allowed Waller to break into the main hub and stop the cloning.

Tiny Titans

Deadshot makes a cameo in the Tiny Titans series as a player on Lobo's soccer team called the Secret Six.

Young Justice

While Deadshot wasn't in the tv series of the same name, he did appear in the Young Justice tie-in comic. He is seemingly hired by Queen Bee to assassinate Quraci President Rumaan Harjavti, but is intercepted by Superman, Superboy, and Miss Martian. He does manage to shoot Ruuman's brother, Sumaan in the shoulder before he's nearly beaten to death by Superboy (who was aggressive due to Luthor's patch drug) and carried to the hospital by Superman. Queen Bee revealed that Deadshot did succeed as his mission was to actually injure Suuman (as Suuman would be viewed as a hero to the public and she has Suuman under her control).

In other media

Television

Animated

• Deadshot appears in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, voiced by Michael Rosenbaum. In "The Enemy Below" (Part 1), he is hired by Ocean Master to kill Aquaman. However, Deadshot's assassination attempt is thwarted, and he is captured by the Justice League. Deadshot later appeared with several other supervillains celebrating Superman's supposed death in "Hereafter", where they wreak havoc on Metropolis in his absence. But Superman later returns, and all the villains are apprehended. In "Task Force X", Floyd Lawton's execution is cancelled when Colonel Rick Flag recruits him into Task Force X, a government unit of supervillains that go on missions in exchange for a reduced sentence. When the team travel to the Watchtower to steal a magical automaton called the Annihilator, Deadshot provides cover for his teammates, coming into conflict with many superheroes in the process.
• Deadshot appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Tom Kenny. In the episode "Night of the Batmen", Deadshot goes on a crime spree with various other villains in Gotham City during Batman's absence, only to be defeated by Green Arrow impersonating Batman.

Live action

• Deadshot appears in the tenth and final season of Smallville, played by Bradley Stryker.^[17] In "Shield", Deadshot targets Clark Kent and Cat Grant. In "Collateral", Deadshot is seen working for Chloe Sullivan after she blackmails Flag's Suicide Squad members into working for her against the Vigilante Registration Act.
• Floyd Lawton appears on The CW's television series Arrow, portrayed by Michael Rowe. Deadshot first appears in "Lone Gunmen", where the "Arrow" vigilante ends up firing an arrow into Lawton's right eye. He returns in "Dead to Rights", where he is hired by China White to kill Malcolm Merlyn, and is given a new face-mounted targeting device to restore his sight in his right eye. In the episode "Suicide Squad", he joins the titular group organized by Amanda Waller. In "Unthinkable", the Squad assist Diggle and Lyla in stopping Waller from destroying Starling City. In "Suicidal Tendencies", Lawton, Diggle, Lyla, and Cupid are sent to rescue a kidnapped U.S. senator in Kasnia. His backstory in this version shown in this episode revealed that he was a former married soldier who was estranged from his wife due to post-traumatic stress disorder and his own daughter fearing him. During the mission Lawton is presumably killed in a building explosion, although it has been noted that no body was ever found. Lawton later appears as a hallucination to Diggle during his time in prison in "A Matter of Trust", apparently representing Diggle's guilt over the discovery that his brother survived but Diggle was forced to kill him after learning that he was working with HIVE.
• Michael Rowe reprises his role as Floyd Lawton's Earth-2 counterpart on The Flash episode "Welcome to Earth-2". On this earth, Lawton works for the CCPD as Iris West Allen's partner, and, unlike his Earth-1 counterpart, is terrible in the use of firearms, to the point that he completely misses while trying to shoot Reverb when Reverb was directly in front of him. Lawton also has the nickname "Deadshot" but for his poor use of firearms rather than being an expert like his Earth-1 counterpart.

Film

Animation

• Deadshot appears in the Batman: Gotham Knight film segment titled "Deadshot", voiced by Jim Meskimen. Deadshot first appears on a ferris wheel, where he uses a long range sniper rifle to assassinate a local mayor, before leaving behind a cartridge case with the initials "D.S.". After being contracted to assassinate Batman by the Russian Mafia, Deadshot uses an assassination attempt on Commissioner James Gordon as bait. However, Deadshot is ultimately defeated and apprehended by Batman. Unlike the comic book version, this incarnation does not have a 'deathwish' to die in a spectacular fashion, begging Batman not to kill him during their fight.
• Deadshot makes a non-speaking appearance in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. He is among the villains that try to kill Superman and Batman.
• Neal McDonough voices Deadshot in Batman: Assault on Arkham, which is set in the Batman: Arkham video game universe. He appears as the leader of Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad, and is frequently flirted with by fellow Squad member Harley Quinn. In the film, the Squad is sent to Arkham Asylum to retrieve the Riddler's cane, which contains information that Waller seeks. After encountering both Batman and the Joker, Riddler assists Deadshot in destroying the explosive chip Waller had implanted in his head as leverage. No longer a member of the Suicide Squad, Deadshot is last seen targeting Waller from a building's roof, with his daughter in the background.

Live action

• Deadshot appears as the main protagonist of the 2016 feature film adaptation of Suicide Squad, in which he is portrayed by Will Smith.^[18] Smith has signed a multi-picture deal for the franchise.^[19] Shailyn Pierre-Dixon also appears in the film as Lawton's daughter Zoe, with Floyd being captured when he was confronted by Batman while out shopping with Zoe as he couldn't bring himself to shoot Batman in front of his daughter. Initially reluctant to work with Task Force X, Floyd eventually decides to go along with Colonel Rick Flag's plan to confront the Enchantress, destroying her machinery by shooting at a bag of explosives thrown at it by Killer Croc. In exchange for his role in the crisis, Floyd is allowed supervised visits with his daughter, as well as ten years off his sentence.

Video games

• Deadshot appears in stages 1 and 2 of the Batman Nintendo Entertainment System video game.
• In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Deadshot appears in the background of Stryker's Island. His Suicide Squad film version is playable in the mobile version of the game.
• Deadshot appears as a playable character in the mobile game, Suicide Squad: Special Ops, based on the film.
• Deadshot will appear as a playable character in Injustice 2.^[20]

Lego series

• Deadshot appears in the 3DS and PlayStation Vita version of Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes as an unlockable character. He can be found in the level Brawl at City Hall.
• Deadshot appears as a playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, voiced by Robin Atkin Downes.^[21]

Batman: Arkham

Deadshot appears in the Batman: Arkham series, where he is voiced by Chris Cox.

• In Batman: Arkham City, Deadshot is renowned as the world's greatest marksman, and his file states that he wishes to die in a spectacular fashion. In Arkham City, he is hired by Hugo Strange to assassinate political prisoners with sensitive information regarding Arkham City. After encountering Lawton while entering Arkham City, Batman later investigates Deadshot's murder victims, scanning for evidence to track down the assassin and prevent him from killing Jack Ryder. Deadshot is subsequently defeated and left in an abandoned monorail car for the police.
• In the prequel Batman: Arkham Origins, he appears as one of the eight assassins hired by the Joker, who was disguised as Black Mask, to kill Batman. After shooting down a SWAT helicopter in an effort to get Batman's attention, Deadshot demands that the vigilante meet him in Gotham Merchants Bank for a showdown, where he uses a hostage as leverage. After silently infiltrating the Bank and taking down several of his henchmen, Batman manages to incapacitate Deadshot before he can harm the hostage, and leaves him to be taken in by the police. Deadshot also appears in Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate.^[22] During the riot, he manages to escape his cell at Blackgate Prison, and is hired by the Joker, Black Mask, and the Penguin to provide protection. Deadshot encounters Batman in the prison and attacks him, but is defeated and re-apprehended. In the game's post-credits scene, Amanda Waller is seen leaving the prison in a helicopter with Deadshot and Bronze Tiger, recruiting them for the Suicide Squad.
• Deadshot's weapons appear in the evidence room in Batman: Arkham Knight. According to Cash, Lawton was released from prison after the Arkham City incident, as there were no real grounds to keep him imprisoned. On the desk in one of the rooms in Stagg's Airship, there is a magazine with a headline about him as well.

See also

• List of Batman Family adversaries
• Bullseye (comics), a similar character in the Marvel universe.

References

External links

• Deadshot on the DCUniverse Guide