Smallville/Characters/Government

Checkmate -- Amanda Waller / White Queen (Pam Grier), Maxwell Lord / Black King (Gil Bellows)
An enigmatic government agency with a Chess Motif, Checkmate competes with Major Zod to be the main antagonist of Season 9. Run by the White Queen and the Black King, Checkmate keeps tabs on paranormal activity and has a definite With Us or Against Us mentality.


 * Adaptational Attractiveness: Waller is far better looking than she is in the comics.
 * Big Bad Duumvirate: Waller and Lord.
 * The Chessmaster: Waller, of course.
 * Chess Motifs: No kidding. All agents are assigned a chess-themed codename (Pawn, Knight, Rook, etc.) that denotes their rank within the organization. Moreover, Checkmate itself is split into two halves -- intelligence (headed by the White Queen) and field operations (under the Black King).
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Lord.
 * Government Conspiracy
 * Iron Lady: Waller, to no one's surprise.
 * Mind Rape: Lord's specialty.
 * Necessarily Evil: How Waller sees the group.
 * Out Gambitted: By Zod.
 * Super Villain Packing Heat: Lord
 * Telepathy: Lord, again.
 * With Us or Against Us: Waller's attitude towards Clark and superhumans in general.

Cameron Mahkent / Icicle II (Wesley Macinnes)
The son of Joar Mahkent, a former enemy of the Justice Society of America, Icicle is recruited by Checkmate to serve as an assassin, with the promise that they will help him locate and kill off the JSA's members. Appears in Season 9's "Absolute Justice".


 * Adaptational Badass: Icicle in the comics is a competent, B-list supervillain. This one's a little stronger, to say the least. Not only did his father manage to, but Cameron himself has near Story Breaker Power, freezing anything that's within the immediate vicinity of his target. He's able to take out three members of the JSA, and might well have done more if.
 * An Ice Person: Duh
 * Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance
 * Avenging the Villain: Hawkman put his father, the original Icicle, in a coma. Now he's out for revenge on the JSA.
 * Blade On a Stick: Or, more accurately, a really long icicle.
 * Career Killers
 * Evil Albino
 * Hell Bent for Leather: His jacket, complete with chains and studs.
 * Hoist By His Own Petard:
 * In the Blood: His dad was a contract killer with a freeze gun; Cameron is a government assassin with cryogenic energies in his bloodstream.
 * Lamarck Was Right: His father's use of freezing weaponry granted Cameron his powers.
 * Not What I Signed On For: When Waller reveals her real goals to him.
 * Psychotic Smirk: His usual facial expression.
 * Revenge
 * Self Made Orphan: His mom died of hypothermia giving birth to him, and he himself performs a Mercy Kill on his comatose father.
 * Unwitting Pawn: Of Waller and Checkmate. He's actually listed as a "Black Pawn".
 * Walking Wasteland: His presence alone causes snowstorms. Luckily, they leave with him.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
 * Younger Villain vs. Older Hero: Him versus the JSA. He's rather sneeringly contemptuous of their ages, to boot.

Stuart Campbell (Ryan McDonell)
A Checkmate agent and former employee of Tess Mercer, Stuart is a top computer hacker and technician. He was recruited by Checkmate after being betrayed by Tess.


 * Badass in A Nice Suit: Post-recruitment. Beforehand, his outfit was a little less classy and a little more homeless person.
 * The Cracker: Good enough to keep out Chloe, and hack Watchtower's security.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Objects to Tess' plan to keep Lois inside the mind reading machine, as it could seriously damage her.
 * Eyepatch of Power: After being shot in the face by Tess.
 * Geek: A stereotypical Hollywood Nerd pre-recruitment.
 * Hollywood Hacking: His and Chloe's hackwar is definitely this, with them both throwing up firewalls and trying to break one another's codes.
 * Perma Stubble: Post-recruitment.
 * Revenge: Wants it on Tess.
 * Took a Level In Badass: After being recruited by Checkmate.

Suicide Squad
A squad of super-powered operatives retained to do jobs even Checkmate wouldn't touch. The Suicide Squad, led by superhero fan-boy Rick Flag, went rogue following the agency's destruction in Season 9. Opposed on principle to the Vigilante Registration Act, the squad is out to stop its implementation no matter what the cost. Along with Darkseid, they provide most of Season 10's conflict.


 * Badass Crew: Between Rick Flag, Deadshot, Plastique, and Warp, they count.
 * The Chessmaster: The Squad, as a whole, is proving to be superb at warping events to their own advantage. Bonus points to Deadshot for his method of putting the Squad's mark on Clark.
 * Cool Car: The Squad van, which appears in "Ambush". It's effectively a mobile base, equipped with state-of-the-art electronics, tracking equipment, satellite up-links and a missile launcher.
 * Enemy Mine: With the Justice League as of . Who knows how long that'll last.
 * Evil Counterpart: The team, as a whole, to the Justice League. They both hate the VRA, they're both made up of superhumans and led by a Badass Normal, and they both try to stay under the radar. The Squad goes much, much further in their attempts at taking down the act, though.
 * Put On a Bus: After "Collateral".
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The Suicide Squad, Deadshot, Warp, even Plastique. None of them are real reassuring, to say the least.
 * Weaponized Car: The Squad van is equipped with a homing missile launcher, in addition to all its other gadgetry.
 * Western Terrorists: See Flag's entry for how.
 * What Happened to The Mouse: They just vanish after "Collateral" with no real reason.

Rick Flag (Ted Whittall)
""Let's show these boys what it's like to mess with the Suicide Squad.""

The Squad's leader. Flag is, to put it mildly, very damaged. Formerly the field leader for Checkmate's teams of super-powered agents, his lengthy association with metahumans has caused him to identify with them instead of normal people. He's violently opposed to the VRA, and wants to force every superhero to see things his way, regardless of their own feelings.


 * Anti Hero: Flag's a Type V with delusions of nobility. Only his seemingly genuine regard for superheroes, and the fact that he seems to be gathering an army to fight off Darkseid, keeps him from being an even bigger psychopath than he already is.
 * Badass Normal: At first, his Badass status is somewhat doubtful, but after watching him attack a government special ops team in "Collateral", using only his own mundane abilities? Definitely.
 * Cold Blooded Torture: Seems fond of it.
 * Complexity Addiction: As evidenced by his absolutely 1960s-ish plan to kill General Lane. He has Deadshot on the team. Does he use him? No. Instead, he uses a laser in a pen given to the general's daughter Lucy to guide in a homing missile that he launches from the back of his van. There's complex, and then there's that.
 * Foil: To Oliver.
 * Guns Akimbo
 * Jerkass
 * Just Between You and Me: To Oliver about Chloe's
 * Large Ham: Dear God. Flag chews more scenery in a few episodes than Zod did in a season, complete with reciting The Star-Spangled Banner as he fires a missile at General Lane.
 * Patriotic Fervor: He really loves America.
 * Properly Paranoid: Flag would seem totally nuts if the guy running the Vigilante Registration Act wasn't General Slade Wilson.
 * Right Wing Militia Fanatic: Has definite shades of this.
 * Secret Keeper: Flag knows the identities of all the heroes. So far he's told nobody.
 * Smug Snake
 * Sociopathic Soldier: Flag's a mix of Types I, II and IV -- a radical militia-esque ex-soldier with Patriotic Fervor and blatant insanity to spare, and whose previous missions for the government have more or less broken him.
 * Supervillain Packing Heat: Two pistols, and a carbine.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Flag's attempt at assassinating General Lane involved a missile. To kill one guy.
 * Western Terrorists: Flag's a U.S. militia-esque nut who lashes out at anyone who wants to force super-powered vigilantes to register, complete with political assassinations, bombings and missile strikes.
 * You Look Familiar: His actor played Lana's martial arts trainer in Season 8's "Power".

Floyd Lawton / Deadshot (Bradley Stryker)
""Somewhere out there, we all got a bullet with our name on it.""

A contract killer at the top of America's Most Wanted lists, Deadshot is retained by Flag to mark the Blur with the Squad's symbol. Using Cat Grant as bait to draw Clark out in the open, Deadshot succeeds, although he's imprisoned for it; Flag and Plastique later bust him out. The best shot in-universe, Deadshot affects a laid-back demeanor that conceals his fatalistic tendencies and disillusionment with life.


 * American Accents: Deadshot has a very heavy Southern drawl to accompany his Cowboy get-up.
 * Badass
 * Badass Beard
 * Badass Longcoat
 * Badass Normal
 * Charles Atlas Superpower: His aiming skills are truly improbable, to the point where it almost borders on magic.
 * Cowboy: Just look at the picture.
 * The Fatalist: Big time. See the page quote.
 * Good Scars Evil Scars: Has a very ugly one over his eye.
 * The Gunslinger
 * Improbable Aiming Skills: He puts a bullet down the tailpipe of a car.
 * Marked Bullet: Deadshot writes his victims' names on his bullets.
 * Nice Hat
 * Nietzsche Wannabe: If his conversation with Cat is any indicator, definitely.
 * Professional Killer
 * Revolvers Are Just Better: Goes with his Cowboy motif.
 * Steampunk: Possibly the best way to describe Deadshot's combo of Wild West appearance with grungy future-tech.
 * Supervillain Packing Heat
 * Villainous Valor: You gotta give Deadshot points for going after Clark with a gun, despite being fully aware of the latter's Nigh Invulnerable status. As it turns out, getting hit and going to prison was actually part of the plan, and Deadshot went through with it despite the risks. Pretty ballsy, that.

Bette Sans Souci / Plastique (Jessica Parker Kennedy)
First appearing in Season 8, Bette is a homeless girl with the power to project rings of explosive force from her body. On the run from LuthorCorp's Black Creek facility, she is taken in by Chloe, whom she later turns on. Captured and imprisoned in Belle Reve after a brief battle with Clark, Bette was loosed by Tess Mercer on the condition that she join Tess' Injustice Gang (see LuthorCorp and Associates) where she was code-named "Plastique". Following the defeat of the Gang, she was recruited into the Suicide Squad by Flag sometime before Season 10. Best described as paranoid, selfish and bitter, she's a beautiful fit with the rest of the Squad.


 * Black Eyes of Crazy: When Bette uses her powers, her irises glow yellow and her pupils narrow to black slits.
 * Broken Bird: Plastique retains this status from her first appearance. She is a very damaged little girl.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom: When she uses her powers.
 * Hell Bent for Leather: After joining the Injustice Gang and the Suicide Squad.
 * Mad Bomber
 * Person of Mass Destruction: She causes objects to explode, whether they're the size of a person, or the size of a bus. If you're name isn't Clark, you better run.
 * Race Lift: Was a Quebecois terrorist in the comics. Here, she's of Asian (perhaps French-Indochinese) descent.
 * Selfish Evil: Bette is out for herself and nobody else. She wants to stay free and safe, and anyone who she suspects might compromise that tends to end up dead.

Emil LaSalle / Warp (Elias Toufexis)

 * Mission Control: For the Squad, doubling as their getaway man.
 * Teleporters and Transporters
 * Villain Teleportation
 * You Look Familiar: His actor played Meteor Freak Bronson in Season 6's "Static".

General Slade Wilson (Michael Hogan)
An aging general with a long history of war-crimes charges behind him, Slade is the man chosen by the government to enforce the Vigilante Registration Act. Very much the ideological opposite of Rick Flag, Slade believes that no one can be allowed the power to threaten the government and seeks to defend America from all threats, wherever they may come from. He's crazy, to say the least. A key antagonist in the first half of Season 10.

""No civilian should have more power than the law.""
 * Badass
 * Badass Abnormal: Heavily implied.
 * Badass Grandpa
 * Four Star Badass
 * Took a Level In Badass: Between "Patriot" and "Icarus".
 * Cold Blooded Torture: Of both A.C. and Oliver.
 * Composite Character: He's equal parts Slade Wilson/Deathstroke and General Wade Eiling.
 * Disc One Final Boss: His defeat marks the season's halfway point and the beginning of the end for the VRA, making it a truly major plot point. Yet he's still just an unwitting pawn of Darkseid.
 * Evil Old Folks: Looks to be somewhere in his sixties or older.
 * Eyepatch of Power: As of the end of "Patriot".
 * General Ripper
 * Katanas Are Just Better: Which is rather ironic when one takes into account his Patriotic Fervor and obsession with all things American.
 * Knight Templar
 * Made of Iron: Didn't flinch after getting hit with Hawkman's mace, and somehow survived the destruction of the oil derrick in "Patriot".
 * Mark of the Beast:
 * No One Could Survive That: The reaction of other characters to his surviving the explosion in "Patriot".
 * Patriotic Fervor: His motivation.


 * : Courtesy of.
 * Shut Up Kirk: Clark gives him a speech about how he's stopping people from trusting the very government he's trying to defend, and demands that Slade let him save him from the exploding facility. Slade tells him to shut up, responding that he'd rather die along with the Blur than be saved by "an abomination".
 * Unwitting Pawn: Of Darkseid.
 * With Us or Against Us: His attitude towards Superheroes.

Lieutenant Trotter (Lori Ann Triolo)
Formerly aide to General Slade Wilson, Trotter took control of the Department of Domestic Security's VRA strike team following Wilson's imprisonment in the Phantom Zone. She captured several members of the Justice League and Justice Society, imprisoning them in a virtual reality world while she attempted to figure out how to neutralize or control their powers. Defeated by the combined efforts of the League, Chloe Sullivan and the Suicide Squad, she was left imprisoned in her own virtual reality program.


 * Dragon Ascendant: For an episode, anyway.
 * Grand Theft Me: In the virtual world, she temporarily jacks Chloe's avatar in order to mislead Clark.
 * Hoist By Her Own Petard: Trapped in her own virtual world.
 * Iron Lady
 * Knight Templar
 * Sociopathic Soldier: She's basically General Ripper, Junior.
 * With Us or Against Us: Shares her superior's attitude towards the vigilantes.