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Suicide Squad’s Deadshot: Meet Your New Favorite Antihero

Meet Deadshot, and get ready, because in the upcoming Suicide Squad, he is about to steal the top spot for your favorite anti-hero of the moment (I guess from Deadpool or Punisher or The Joker. Jeez, there’s a lot of them right now. I wrote about that here)

Deadshot, real name Floyd Lawton, first appeared way back in June 1950 in the Batman comic, “The Man Who Replaced Batman.” No where close to the Deadshot of modern times, this dapper-dressed villain aimed to kill the Batman and take his place as the Caped Crusader.

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“Puttin’ on the Ritz (and shooting you in the face)”

Of course, Deadshot did not kill Batman and was thrown into jail. After serving his term, Deadshot returned to the comics as a wholly different character. Gone were the top hat and coat tails and the dreams of being the Batman, and introduced was the Deadshot that is common in modern DC comics.

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From Rags to Riches to Really Awesome

Now donning a red jumpsuit, a metal mask with an mechanical eyesight, and a large sniper rifle, Deadshot became an assassin for hire who saw himself as a consummate professional. His mottos moreorless being, “as long as I get paid, the target will die” and “I never miss.”

Along with the revamped costume, Deadshot received a backstory that would make Bruce Wayne feel sorry he had been crying all these years.

Born into an rich socialite family, Floyd’s world went awry when he his mother asked him and his idol and older brother, Edward, to kill their violent, abusive father. While Edward was all of the kill, Floyd tried to stop the assassination but accidentally shot his brother in the head when trying to disarm from killing their father.

This event left Floyd with serious brother issues and one of his defining character traits: his constant death wish.

Deadshot dreams of dying in a blaze of glory and is constantly putting himself in situations wherein he might be killed. This ties together with Deadshot’s policy of carrying out any assassination, as long as he is getting paid.

Deadshot is complicated even further by the introduction of his daughter, Zoe Torres, the love child of Deadshot a call girl, Michelle Torres. In one of the few instances of Deadshot’s humanity, he cleaned up the streets that Zoe lived on, secured a scholarship for her education, and convinced Green Arrow to diligently patrol the area. Though it seemed Deadshot was taking a turn for the better, he found that normal life wasn’t for him, faked his own death, and returned to the life of a criminal.

Deadshot’s biggest claim to fame is as a staple member of Amanda Waller’s Suicide Squad. After failing to assassinate a US Senator, Deadshot found himself in prison once again. This time however, he was released, along with other criminals, to be apart of the newly formed Suicide Squad. As a chance to kill and be killed himself, Deadshot joined the Suicide Squad and has remained a member in every single iteration of the group, becoming the leader of the group in the New 52 edition.

Now Deadshot is making his big screen debut and Hollywood is shooting for their stars with casting.

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Both these men were in Jersey Girl (2004)

While most of the actors who make up the cast of Suicide Squad are relatively young or new (barring Jared Leto’s Joker, but he really isn’t in the Suicide Squad), Will Smith stands out as the giant supernova among the small stars. Smith is an excellent actor, but for the first time in a long time, he isn’t in the front seat of a film. I look forward to seeing him in the role, but remain wary and hope that he can be the team player that the Suicide Squad needs.

As the DCEU begins to get it gears churning, you can see that they are putting a lot of stock in Deadshot, and I can only hope this means we will see more and more of the deadly assassin as the DCEU  gets its affairs in order. Who knows, may Deadshot will appear in the Ben Affleck-directed Batman films coming in the future.

Are you excited Deadshot is finally getting his (…sigh) shot? Sound off in the comments or send us your thoughts on Twitter!

About the author

Dustin Molina