Warning: Spoilers for Absolute Power: Origins (2024) #2 ahead!
The modern day Suicide Squad is famous for being Amanda Waller Personal work force of expendables, but this was never the original plan. DC has instead revealed that the original lineup of Task Force X is fully equipped to take on these Justice League – Even with their own “Superman” on the roster.
Absolute Power: Origin (2024) #2, by John Ridley, Alitha Martinez, Norm Rapmund, and Andrew Dalhouse, reintroduces readers to the very first version of Task Force X, comprised of a motley list of names like Cyclotron, Johnny Sorrow, and Rustam. But there are also heavy hitters on the roster: Dr. Polaris, the Emerald Empress, and even the main man, Lobo.
The lineup reinforces the idea that the original Task Force X was never meant to be a “suicide squad” – It was fully equipped to take out the Justice League from the start.
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Task Force X was always meant to be an anti-Justice League
While most of the villains that comprise the first Suicide Squad may be obscure, this list actually comes from the pages of Justice League vs. Suicide Squad (2016)where they were recruited by Maxwell Lord to take their revenge on Waller. Absolute Power: Origins #2 fills in the crucial information why they want revenge: Namely, for Waller almost killed them in the explosion that followed after she ordered Lobo to execute the cyclotron. Justice League vs. Suicide Squad Emphasizes the power this original team held, Because they hold their own against the modern Suicide Squad and the Justice League combined.
Lobo in particular is critical to this lineup. As a near-immortal Czarnian and one of Superman’s classic foils, He provides power that Waller is hard-pressed to match in subsequent rosters. Case in point, the Suicide Squad team was featured in the Absolute power series, Suicide Squad: Dream Team (2024), Banks relies heavily on Bizarro to provide the team’s muscle – but Bizarro is a poor man’s Lobo, who is much more difficult to control and work with despite arguably possessing greater power (especially with his innate magical talent). Waller knows that without a Superman stand-in, her anti-Justice League isn’t complete.
The Suicide Squad was a watered-down version of Waller’s ambition — until now
Absolute Power: Origins #2 makes it clear that after the first team’s disastrous mission, Waller has to deal with members she can control through her brain bombs – severely hampering the power she can command, and turning what was intended as an “anti -Justice League” team in a smaller-scale covert ops squad. That no longer applies: Waller not only has her own team of Task Force VII Amazos, she also has Failsafe and the Brainiac Queen under her thumb. The Suicide Squad is always meant to take down the Justice League – but only now are Amanda Waller Ambitions fully realized.
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Absolute Power: Origins #2 (2024) |
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