10 Facts About The Suicide Squad You Didn't Know

6. Amanda Waller Is The Only Permanent Member Of The Team

King Shark
DC Comics

While characters like Rick Flag Jr. and Captain Boomerang spoke to an intention to keep with tradition, the introduction of Amanda Waller spoke to the exact opposite. Although more common now, Amanda Waller was a groundbreaking character in two very distinct ways.

The first was that she was a morally ambiguous government official that was written in a way that made her just as much of an antihero as the supervillains that worked under her. This characterisation paved the way for organisations like A.R.G.U.S and Checkmate to provide more morally ambiguous stories for the DC Universe.

Another more obvious way Waller broke ground was that she is a woman of colour that is shown in a position of authority from her very first appearance as the leader of the team.

Due to her label as a supervillain or superhero being up for debate, she is not expressly "the first" in any specific area. Even so, she still stands out as one of DC's more unique characters, with nobody else like her in the medium.

Contributor

Conor Spielberg is a freelance writer who has worked for various publications including CBR, Multiversity Comics, and of course WhatCulture. Armed with nothing more than a laptop and strong opinions about things of little consequence; he has managed to write about comics, film, television, tabletop games, and video games. He has even managed to trick people into paying him to do it.