WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Suicide Squad #1, by Robbie Thompson, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, Marcelo Maiolo and Wes Abbott, on sale now.
As Infinite Frontier sweeps across the DC Universe, Amanda Waller and the Suicide Squad have their own ambitious plans for the newly reborn DC Multiverse, and they have already run into some vocal opposition as the full scope of their plan comes to light. Never one to let anyone stand in her way, Waller has already taken two high-profile prisoners to ensure that her plan is ultimately successful, including Superboy, a potential recruit first teased during the alternate timeline of Future State.
As Waller's latest iteration of Task Force X raids Arkham Asylum for a new recruit in Suicide Squad #1, former field commander Rick Flag learns about the full extent of Waller's plans. She wants to create a team of supervillains and antiheroes, disguise them as the Justice League and use them to win over hearts and minds on different worlds throughout the multiverse. Flag is vocally against this plan, thinking Waller has finally gone too far and is operating outside of her appointed jurisdiction. The military veteran is shocked to discover that the orders for this clandestine program and expansion of Task Force X come directly from the President of the United States but is still unable to table the issue. Tiring of Flag's protests, Waller electrocutes him with her security system and has him detained.
No longer facing criticism and the risk of exposure from within, Waller reveals her true ace in the hole: The cloned Superboy, Conner Kent. Conner is seen held in isolation in a darkened cell, visibly roughed up and restrained with Kryptonite chains. Conner protests his incarceration, claiming not to be a criminal. As Waller approaches the helpless Kryptonian clone, she points out that his very existence as someone developed by Cadmus inherently makes him a criminal as she prepares to make the Boy of Steel an offer he is unlikely to be able to refuse.
Waller's interest in Conner was revealed during Future State, where she mentioned that she was interested in him because he combines the best parts of Superman and Lex Luthor. While being derived from the Man of Steel's DNA certainly gives Conner the powers of the DCU's most iconic superhero, Waller seems more interested in what Conner has inherited from Luthor. While Conner has spent much of his life trying to deny his connection to Luthor, Waller sees Conner potentially gaining Luthor's knack for ruthless cunning to be his most unsung asset, and she plans to make the young superhero the team's new field commander and resident Superman for her multiversal ambitions.
If anything, Amanda Waller has become more ruthless at the start of the Infinite Frontier era. No longer content in recruiting antiheroes and supervillains onto her black ops squad, the shadowy government operative has taken to kidnapping superheroes off the street and firmly stamping out any opposition within the military that opposes her new direction for Task Force X.
While Future State has shown how this expanded program may ultimately lead to a multiversal conflict between the main DCU and Earth-3, Infinite Frontier shows the origins of Waller's master plan, and it reveals that she'll capture or manipulate anyone she has to in order to see it through.
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