The highest profile that B-lister Batman villain Deadshot, real name Floyd Lawton, has achieved to date would be his appearance in the 2016 Suicide Squad movie. You’d be forgiven for having forgotten this already; Will Smith’s portrayal didn’t really extend far beyond the standard disgruntled hero template. It’s a shame as Deadshot, as currently portrayed in DC comics, is a much more interesting throwback to the morally ambiguous gunslinging heroes of the 1970’s.
A great example of this is the 2005 solo miniseries written by Christos Gage with art by Steven Cummings and Jimmy Palmiotti, published at the time as Urban Renewal, but since collected under the title Bulletproof. Even though Deadshot first appeared in a 1950 issue of Detective Comics, this short arc serves as a perfect introduction to Lawton, and reframes him as an urban antihero in the mould of Charles Bronson’s Death Wish movie vigilante. There’s plenty of action and a varied cast of opponents for Lawton to measure himself against as he tries to clean up a troubled residential neighbourhood in Star City. The driver for Lawton’s character arc here is the discovery that he has a young daughter named Zoe; the result of brief affair years earlier.
As mentioned above, Deadshot is most commonly associated with being a founding member of the anti-hero team Suicide Squad (aka Task Force X); a rotating selection of incarcerated villains who are forced to carry out deadly covert missions in order to reduce their sentences, and face an explosive penalty if they refuse. Lawton is a perfect fit for this group; he’s a diagnosed psychopath that feels no emotions or empathy, and also has a tragic backstory that sees him actively wanting to be killed in action. It’s a characterisation that was captured perfectly in the superb 2014 DC animated movie Batman: Assault on Arkham. Strictly speaking, this is a spin-off of the blockbuster Arkham series of computer games, but no prior knowledge of these is required at all. It’s a brilliantly constructed throwback to classic exploitation movie thrillers like The Dirty Dozen and Escape From New York. The plotting, design, direction, animation and music all build up a palpable sense of danger and excitement, and Lawton steps forward to be an engaging leading man, as highlighted by this face-off with the Clown Prince of Crime himself, The Joker:
I’ve recommended some entertaining Suicide Squad comics in the past, but the brief run from writer Tom Taylor and artist Bruno Redondo definitely deserves a spotlight, in particular as it was released in the shadow of the 2020 lockdown. Taylor’s plotline sees a renegade group of superpowered newcomers, known as the Revolutionaries, be captured and co-opted into Task Force X to serve alongside long-time members Deadshot and Harley Quinn. There’s more than first meets the eye to these new recruits, and what follows is a break-neck paced cat-and-mouse action thriller which is both a step up in maturity, while still maintaining a spectacularly fun super-hero tone. By this point, Lawton is approaching the end of his gun-slinging career, and is even starting to physically resemble Keanu Reeves’ veteran hitman John Wick. Despite the large cast (10+) in this enlarged team, Lawton’s role is critical, and comes full circle back to his daughter Zoe introduced in the initial miniseries. The first half of this run is going to be collected in early 2021 under the apt title of Bad Blood, and is very strongly recommended.
Next year’s Suicide Squad sequel movie is not going to feature Deadshot, which is a bit of a shame, but my disapointment will be short lived once Lawton returns as a playable character in Rocksteady’s 2022 computer game Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League, which looks like it’s going to be a blast: