Supervillain Origins: Deadshot

Supervillain Origins: Deadshot

This assassin never has to repeat himself. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we will explore the comic book origins of Floyd Lawton, otherwise known as Deadshot.

As with most comic book characters, there are often re-imaginations and different versions to a character’s past. We have chosen to primarily follow the storyline which unfolded in 1950’s Batman #59, which was then expended upon in 1977’s Detective Comics #474 and 1988’s Deadshot #1.

In his first ever appearance, Floyd Lawton was introduced as yet another Gotham millionaire that decided to take up crime fighting as a past time, in order to put his uncanny skill as a marksman to good use.

Surfacing while Batman and Robin were on vacation, this vigilante used his spectacular trick shots to stop a burglary, while clad in a tuxedoed costume with dual gun holsters.

Casually introducing himself to the cops as the successor to Batman, he soon met with the mayor. He explained that he had permits for all of his guns, and has chosen to fight crime in such a way because a metal leg plate in his leg prevented him from becoming a police officer. Under the mayor’s blessing and a promise never to shoot to kill, Deadshot quickly became the talk of the town.

When Batman and Robin returned from vacation, they were horrified to discover that the Bat signal had been replaced with a Bull’s Eye!

Meeting their successor, they were asked to work with Deadshot. Together on their first assignment at Gotham Prison, they noticed that Deadshot did not set off the metal detector with his leg plate.

While the mayor brushed off this observation as jealousy, it was only when the dynamic duo came into possession of a piece of his coat that they were able to discover Deadshot’s true identity by tracking it to its place of manufacture.

Spying on Lawton’s mansion, they soon overheard the millionaire reveal his true motivations to his Butler. Lawton intended to not only replace Batman, but to become Gotham’s greatest crime lord.

Without hard evidence against Deadshot, Batman was forced to wait until his replacement attempted to make his move against him. Batman survived the Deadshot’s initial attack, having already snuck into his home and toyed with the sights on his guns.

Foiled and sent to a high security prison, Lawton only managed to escape years later by stealing a secret high-powered laser monocle, which the Penguin had smuggled in.

Once again free and enraged for having gone from millionaire to convict, Lawton decided to once again take on the identity of Deadshot, with the sole intention of getting revenge against Batman.

Designing a new red colored costume, he ditched the tuxedo look and incorporated a tamper-proof scope eye and arm mounted high-powered rifle.

Facing batman head on, the two were caught up in a brawl in which Deadshot revealed that even innocent bystanders were not beyond his wrath.

Despite having been trained to improve his physical strength and aim while in prison, Batman managed to overpower the criminal.

Once again arrested, and facing life imprisonment, Deadshot was offered a full pardon by Gotham’s authorities if he accepted a suicide mission.

Afterwards, he fell in with a group of likeminded assassins and became a member of “The Suicide Squad”.

Now addicted to the thrill of the kill and free from his fear of death, Deadshot took on ever more challenging assignments, hoping to eventually go out in a spectacular blaze of glory.

A long time enemy of batman and other DC universe superheroes, Deadshot has appeared across various media platforms, including the Batman Arkham City video game, and has made his live-action debut as an enemy of the Green Arrow in 2012’s series “Arrow.”

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