The Wall Herself: Amanda Waller Appreciation!!

[El_Gato]

Let us discuss and appreciate DC's most used female of color, the wall herself Ms. AMANDA WALLER!!!!! I'm surprised the head honcho of the Suicide Sauad and A.R G.U.S. doesn't have a thread already but hey better late than never right?

Ms Waller has appeared multiple times in animation and live action, with her most recent one being Suicide Squad!! She has been portrayed by some heavy hitter actresses as well (Viola Davis, Angela Bassett) so let's show some appreciation!! Tell us what has been your personal favorite interpretation of the character?

[Thirteen]

Meet the formidable Amannda Waller Legends #1 by Len Wein, John Ostrander, John Byrne and Karl Kesel in 1986



An article giving a good background on The Wall in anticipation of her embodiment in the DCEU by powerhouse actress Viola Davis
http://www.vulture.com/2016/08/suici...da-waller.html

The Wall distilled into an intro clip in animated for voiced by the wonderful CCH Pounder

[Cowtools]

I have to say that IMO, while Viola Davis was perfect for the role, as a character the Suicide Squad Amanda Waller was terrible. She's incompetent and actively evil.

spoilers:

She shoots a bunch of innocent army techs(!) to cover up that she is being rescued(!!) from a disaster that she created(!!!) when she thought she could control Enchantress, who uses her inside knowledge to attack the governemnt(!!!!)

end of spoilers

[The Odd Man]

[Project Initiative Cascada]

Probably one of the greatest and most advanced characters in the DC Universe. There is just no character that comes close to her. Even Batman is intimidated by her.

As much as I love Viola Davis and thought she did a good job with what she was given in the SS film, I must always say that CCH Pounder (Who has voiced the character in nearly everything) will always be my fancast of Amanda. She just embodies everything that Waller is!

[colonyofcells]

The movie Waller was ok and looked more like the comic book version. I do prefer a fatter Waller.

[The Cool Thatguy]

I have to say that IMO, while Viola Davis was perfect for the role, as a character the Suicide Squad Amanda Waller was terrible. She's incompetent and actively evil.

spoilers:

She shoots a bunch of innocent army techs(!) to cover up that she is being rescued(!!) from a disaster that she created(!!!) when she thought she could control Enchantress, who uses her inside knowledge to attack the governemnt(!!!!)

end of spoilers

Yeah, this. The movie Waller did not impress

[Confuzzled]

John Ostrander on Viola as The Wall:

All the other characters in the Squad, both the comic and the movie, were created by others. In the comic especially I would re-define and expand on them but they were established characters. Amanda Waller was my creation and Viola Davis embodied her to perfection. I was happy when she was cast, I was delighted when I saw her in the trailers, and I was ecstatic when I saw her in the film. Davis has Amanda’s voice, her look, and her attitude. I was delighted at the after-party when I got a chance to see her face-to-face and tell her how much I enjoyed her performance.

He really seemed to enjoy the film in general, with his only issues being the antagonists and what he calls a more "generic" plot without the socio-political cues of his own stories.

[Slaughter]

Rebuild the Wall and make Supervillains pay for it! Amanda Waller: Rebuilt, now!

[Thirteen]

(would that I knew how to make a Poll)
With the Viola Davis portrayal of Waller committed to film, there have been quite a few powerhouse actresses to give life to Waller. Gets me to thinking if she's nearing any records for cross-media portrayals yet. Batman likely leads to the group.

Any favorites?

SMALLVILLE had legendary Pam Grier as Amanda Waller of Checkmate.
http://youtu.be/MSi9YGHQPhQ


GREEN LANTERN the movie cast Angela Bassett in a more science focused Dr. Waller
(or was she? Ive not seen the complete movie) - though she gets extra points for wearing Waller's signature Checkmate attire.
http://youtu.be/weCxCxIIjHA


Back on TV, ARROW brought on Cynthia Addai-Robinson in the youngest and most glamorous adaptation of the Wall as the director of A.R.G.U.S.
(although, I always felt like Addai-Robinson was channeling CCH Pounder's ubiquitous vocal performance in animated adaptations)
http://youtu.be/As_DmDhQROc

[Icefalcon]

Cynthia Addai-Robinson from Arrow is my favourite Waller by a long way. She's still not a likable character by any means but I liked her ruthlessness never took her beyond the purview of her job which is to protect the free world. Some versions of Waller have been more about power plays than doing the job. I also thought Addai-Robinson's character death in Arrow was a really good way for Amanda to go out. Refusing to give up her countries secrets even at the cost of her life, courageous. Nice acting job.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Cynthia Addai-Robinson from Arrow is my favourite Waller by a long way. She's still not a likable character by any means but I liked her ruthlessness never took her beyond the purview of her job which is to protect the free world. Some versions of Waller have been more about power plays than doing the job. I also thought Addai-Robinson's character death in Arrow was a really good way for Amanda to go out. Refusing to give up her countries secrets even at the cost of her life, courageous. Nice acting job.

To each their own. I never cared for Arrow's Waller because she combined Silver Age over the top solutions to problems that really didn't need it. She would have blown up an entire passenger plane to kill one person, destroyed an entire city to kill supersoldiers (without knowing the source) and used her own people as homing beacons for missiles...just because?

[El_Gato]

Wow!! Amanda has been shown a lot of love in live action! Four different actresses have portrayed her :0 I liked Angel Bassets Waller, it's a shame that movie bombed as it was supposed to start the DCEU xD Then again that movie sucked so I'm glad it did.

[ultradav]

John Ostrander on Viola as The Wall:



He really seemed to enjoy the film in general, with his only issues being the antagonists and what he calls a more "generic" plot without the socio-political cues of his own stories.

Not to split hairs, but he cites her embodying her look, voice, and attitude specifically. I would agree with all of these things, Viola was amazing. But the actual writing and characterization is what I had issue with, and he doesn't specifically mention that. His Waller wouldn't do some of the things Viola's Waller did -- my opinion of course. Above all else, her worst sin was that she was just incompetent, as mentioned. Waller is ruthless woman who gets the job done, no matter what. But then this movie really wasn't focused on Waller, she was more of a background player, she didn't even get a backstory. Viola is up for two more movies so hopefully it will be expanded.

All that said -- thank you for the appreciation thread! I love this character. I love how she clawed her way up from the bottom by sheer force of will into the highest circles, her ruthless genius, everything about her.

[Crazy Diamond]

Does anyone remember Bloodlines? She had some pretty good showings in that story. Helped me get through the whole thing. I loved how she took charge and didn't give a damn that she was going up against a bunch of nasty ass aliens.