Amanda Waller

A tough, politically savvy Washington insider, Amanda Waller leveraged her degree in political science and iron will to rise through government ranks, eventually establishing Task Force X — the covert black-ops team known as the Suicide Squad — using imprisoned supervillains as expendable government assets.

Few characters in DC history have commanded a room — or a room full of supervillains — quite like Amanda Waller, who burst onto the scene in Legends #1 in 1986, the brainchild of John Ostrander, Len Wein, and John Byrne. A true product of the Copper Age's appetite for morally complex, unapologetically human power players, Waller has spent four decades proving that you don't need a cape to stand toe-to-toe with the likes of Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern. Her heaviest footprint falls across Suicide Squad and Justice League of America, with 114 catalog appearances and two key issues to her name — a testament to a character whose grip on DC's universe has only tightened with time. If you're serious about understanding the harder, grayer edges of DC storytelling, Amanda Waller is absolutely essential reading.