DC and writer Tom Taylor have been teasing the death of Floyd Lawton, aka Deadshot, for months now. Everyone involved with the current Suicide Squad run was adamant that the popular character would be meeting his end when the ninth issue of the series arrived. Well, Suicide Squad #9 is out today and there are no fakes or surprises in its pages, at least when it comes to Deadshot’s ultimate fate. In the final pages of the issue, Floyd Lawton met his end, as advertised.
Everyone knew going into the issue that it would probably be Deadshot’s last, especially given the fact that the cover itself is pointing towards his death. That doesn’t keep the eventual reveal from being a bit of a surprise, though, as the “how” ends up being much more interesting than the “what.” Just a heads up, there are some spoilers for the issue ahead. It was already well-known that Deadshot would be killed in the issue, but the circumstances surrounding his murder have been kept under wraps to this point.
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In the issue, the team raids Ted Kord’s tower to take him down once and for all, only to be stopped by Superman, who has beaten them to the punch. Deadshot sticks around when the rest of the group leaves in frustration, knowing that something isn’t right, and talks with Superman about the legacy he’s leaving behind for his young daughter. Once Deadshot points out that Superman may not actually be who he’s claiming to be, a bullet hits him square in the chest.
Superman is actually Black Mask in disguise, and he stands in front of Deadshot with a smoking gun held in his hand. Deadshot looks down at the bullet wound and blood covering his chest as Black Mask tells him, “You were right, Lawton. All those things you did, it all caught up to you.”
With that final, heartbreaking comment, Black Mask shoots Floyd in the head and sends him falling out of the window of the skyscraper they’d been standing in. There’s no mistake about this one: Deadshot is officially gone.
There are two more issues of Taylor’s Suicide Squad run, and they will deal directly with the effects of Deadshot’s death.
You can read our full review of Suicide Squad #9, complete with a more in-depth breakdown of Floyd’s death, right here.
