Deadline is a fictional villain in the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

universe. He first appears in the story "Deadline Doom!" in ''Starman'' #15 (October 1989) and was created by

Roger Stern Roger Stern (born September 17, 1950) is an American comic book author and novelist. Biography Early career In the early 1970s, Stern and Bob Layton published the fanzine ''CPL'' (''Contemporary Pictorial Literature''), one of the first platfor ...

Fictional character biography

Deadline first appears as a mercenary with a contract on

Starman ''StarMan'' is a 1996 fantasy novel by Australian writer Sara Douglass. It follows the second book in the series, '' Enchanter'', with Axis marching north with his army to confront a formidable enemy. Background ''StarMan'' was first published ...

Will Payton. He is mentioned to be one of the best and highest paid super-mercenaries, along with Bolt. Other stories suggest that, while Deadline is a master at what he does, he is not as highly regarded as, for example,

Deathstroke Deathstroke (Slade Joseph Wilson) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, the character debuted in '' The New Teen Titans'' #2 in December 1980 as Deathstroke the ...

Deadshot Deadshot (Floyd Lawton) is a supervillain and antihero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by David Vern Reed, Lew Schwartz and Bob Kane, the character made his first appearance in ''Batman'' #59 (June–July 1950). ...

. Deadline appears as a vacationer in Bialya after it is opened up to supervillains. When the country is assisted by the

Justice League The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...

, Deadline is captured by

Guy Gardner Guy Gardner may refer to: * Guy Gardner (astronaut) (born 1948), United States Air Force officer and former astronaut * Guy Gardner (character) Guy Gardner, one of the characters known as Green Lantern, is a superhero appearing in American comic ...

. Deadline later becomes part of a more villainous version of the Suicide Squad propping up the dictatorship in the Bermuda Triangle island of Diabloverde. His team is shown terrorizing civilians for fun.

Amanda Waller Amanda Blake Waller (née White), also known as "the Wall", is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''Legends'' #1 in 1986 and was created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and ...

and her Squad take him out, along with his colleagues, while attempting to remove the dictator. During the ''

Underworld Unleashed ''Underworld Unleashed'' was a multi-title American comic book crossover event released by DC Comics in 1995. The main theme of ''Underworld Unleashed'' involved the new ruler of Hell, a demon-lord named Neron, offering first many of the DC U ...

'' crossover event, Deadline meets fellow mercenaries

, Merlyn the Dark Archer, Bolt, and

Chiller A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid coolant via a vapor-compression refrigeration, vapor-compression, adsorption refrigeration, or absorption refrigerator, absorption refrigeration cycles. This liquid can then be circulated th ...

, and bands together with them as the Killer Elite. While operating within this group, they confront the mercenaries called the

Body Doubles The Body Doubles are fictional characters, DC Comics villains created by Andy Lanning, Dan Abnett, and Jackson Guice. They first appeared in ''Resurrection Man'' #1 (March 1996) before appearing in their own eponymous Limited series (comics), mini ...

. The entire Elite suffers multiple humiliating defeats. He is hired by King Theisley of Poseidonis to assassinate Aquaman. Despite managing to get Aquaman out of the seas and into the sky, he fails to kill him. He also attempts to kill Steel at one point but fails that as well. Deadline is shot and apparently killed by Warden Wolfe at

Iron Heights Iron Heights Penitentiary is a fictional setting in the , a maximum-security prison which houses the many Flash rogues and superhuman criminals of Keystone City and Central City when captured. Iron Heights first appeared in ''Flash: Iron Heights ...

prison while trying to escape with cohorts

and

Merlyn Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mage, with several other main roles. His usual depiction, based on an amalgamation of historic and leg ...

. He later appears alive in the 2004 ''Deadshot'' miniseries. Writer

Christos Gage Christos N. Gage is an American screenwriter and comic book writer. He is known for his work on the TV series '' Daredevil'', ''Hawaii Five-0'', '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', ''Numbers'' and the films '' The Breed'' and '' Teenage Cavema ...

justified this by pointing out that, at the time of the shooting, Deadline had been dosed with

Joker venom The Joker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson, and first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book '' Batman'' on April 25, ...

, which has been established as having healing properties. He later appears in ''

Cry for Justice ''Justice League: Cry for Justice'' is a seven-issue comic book limited series, written by James Robinson, drawn by Mauro Cascioli, and published by DC Comics in 2009. It follows the adventures of a spin-off Justice League, led by Justice League v ...

''.

''DC Rebirth''

In the ''

DC Rebirth DC Rebirth is a 2016 relaunch by the American comic book publisher DC Comics of its entire line of ongoing monthly superhero comic book titles. Using the end of The New 52 initiative in May 2016 as its launching point, DC Rebirth restored the D ...

'' reboot, a refined, uncostumed Deadline appears in ''Deathstroke'' (vol. 4) #15 with his hover discs. Deadline clashed with Deathstroke when the former was hired to kill congresswoman Delores Hasgrove, and the latter accompanied the hero Powergirl, who protected her. Their initial clash began when Deadline seemingly killed Tanya with his infinity rifle, and only ended with Deathstroke severing Deadline's right hand and stealing his signature weapon when the assassin attempted to phase it through the former's Ikon Suit. Deadline later appears as a member of the

Secret Society of Super Villains Secret Society of Super Villains (SSoSV) is a DC Comics title that debuted in May–June 1976. The series presented a group of DC's supervillains, mostly foes of the Justice League of America. The series was cancelled with issue #15 in July 1978, ...

.''Deathstroke'' (vol. 4) #24

Powers and abilities

Deadline has the inherent power of intangibility with a unique twist. He is able turn himself and any equipment that he is carrying intangible while still able to physically interact with his gear or his adversaries. He wears special equipment, including golden battle armor, a plasma gun and flying discs.

References

External links

Deadline
at DC Comics Wiki
Deadline
at Comic Vine {{DEFAULTSORT:Deadline (Dc Comics) DC Comics supervillains Fictional characters who can turn intangible Comics characters introduced in 1989 Characters created by Roger Stern DC Comics metahumans