When Amanda Waller finds something that works, she sticks with it. The leader of the Suicide Squad is a model of ruthless efficiency, yet isn’t afraid to think big when necessary. This attitude leads her to adapt her most infamous shtick on a grand scale in Titans: Beast World, killing two heroes in the process.
The Wall’s scheme unfolded in Titans: Beast World #4. Written by Tom Taylor, with art by Lucas Meyer, the comic opened with the abduction of scientist Chester Runk. The friend of The Flash had a pivotal role to play in the grand design of Amanda Waller. It was unclear, however, just how she planned to make use of Runk’s black hole powers.
Amanda Waller Creates a Human Bomb
The full scope of her twisted design was fully revealed by the issue’s end. Enlisting Lex Luthor, Amanda Waller hacked the Justice League teleporter system. Together, they sent Chester Runk into the colossal Beast Boy turned Star-Conqueror whom threatened the Earth.
Amanda Waller calculated that Runk’s powers would reflexively trigger when he was exposed to the cold vacuum of deep space. This created a black hole, which quickly tore Beast Boy apart from the inside out. As the narrator of the book notes, “Amanda Waller effectively put a bomb in Beast Boy’s brain. She certainly has a shtick.”
While this plan may have ended the Beast World crisis, it was unusually ruthless even by the loose moral standards of Amanda Waller. The woman behind the Suicide Squad may have not liked metahumans, but her actions could usually be justified as being for the greater good. However, previous issues saw her teaming with a Lord of Chaos called Doctor Hate, and actively infecting Earth’s heroes with Starro drones. Given that, it is hard to justify calling Waller anything but a villain, even ignoring the deaths of Beast Boy and Chester Runk.
Titans: Beast World #4 is now available in comic shops everywhere.
