The
Suicide Squad is a covert black-ops
government strike team under Task Force X. The team is partially made up of imprisoned super-villains who agree to serve as expendable agents on life-threatening top-secret missions for the United States Government. In return, after sufficient service, the prisoners are granted full pardons for their crimes.
The Government does not officially acknowledge the existence of the
Suicide Squad, and claims their missions as random supervillain attacks. In addition, there are other non-prisoner members such as Nemesis and Nightshade who participate in the team as part of individual arrangements. The
Suicide Squad operate out of Belle Reve prison in Louisiana.
To prevent members escaping in the field, the prisoners are shackled with explosive bracelets programmed to detonate a certain distance from the field leader, who also wears a remote control that can detonate or disengage the bracelets as desired. Typically the field leader will be either
Rick Flag or Bronze Tiger.
The group is largely run by Amanda Waller, although at times someone else will act as a cover for her, like when the existence of the
Suicide Squad became public. The
Suicide Squad has also occasionally left Task Force X and Governmental Control to work freelance.
The
Suicide Squad is a team of imprisoned super-villains who perform high-risk missions for the U.S. Government in exchange for commuted sentences. They are formally known as Task Force X. The team's actions are highly classified, and the government is able to deny any involvement by claiming that they are not responsible for the damages of a random super-villain attack. Their commander is Amanda Waller, who runs the organization out of Belle Reve prison. The
Suicide Squad was created by
Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru, first appearing in Brave and the Bold #25. (1959)