WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Suicide Squad, now in theaters and available on HBO Max
Captain Boomerang is a longtime Flash Rogue, but he's also got a deeper connection to the greater DC Universe thanks to his extensive time with the Suicide Squad. His sudden and gruesome death in James Gunns' The Suicide Squad comes as something of a surprise as a result, setting the tone for the rest of the film that everyone and anyone can perish.
Notably, this isn't how Captain Boomerang died in the comics. In fact, his Post-Crisis demise was far more tied to the overall DC Universe of the time -- and was far more tragic in the long run.
Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales positioned itself as a universe-wide murder mystery. After Sub Diny is found murdered in her own home, the Justice League investigates who could have committed such an act. The investigation turns up a number of potential suspects, with various villains being potentially tied to the crime. One such villain was Captain Boomerang -- who by this point had increasingly turned to drink and become a laughing stock in the villain community. But this was also the period where Captain Boomerang discovered he had a son, Owen -- who inherited the super-speed powers of his mother, Meloni Thawne.
Eventually, however, Boomerang was approached about a potential job: breaking into the home of Tim Drake's father Jack and murdering the man. Believing it to be an easy enough assignment, Boomerang followed his instructions. However, he was unaware that his benefactor -- Jean Loring, wife of the Atom and the true murderer of Sub Dibny -- had arranged for Jack to be warned of Captain Boomerang. Sending Jack a pistol, Robin's father was able to defend himself and fired off a round at Captain Boomerang just as the Flash villain let loose one of his boomerangs. The pair killed each other and bled out in the apartment before being found by Batman. The intention was to frame Boomerang for Sue's murder as well, but it wasn't long before the truth was revealed.
Owen was taken in by the Flash Rogues and became the new Captain Boomerang -- augmenting the brief training he'd received from his father with his natural super-speed. Enraged by the loss of the father he'd just gotten to start to know, Owen became a dangerous new member of the Rogues. His full potential was realized during the events of Blackest Night, which saw the deathly entity Nekron. This included the original Captain Boomerang, who was caught by his son. Believing this might be the chance to resurrect him, Owen spent Blackest Night: The Flash by Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins capturing and "feeding" civilians to his Dad while keeping him trapped in a pit, due to a lie told to him by the Nekron-controlled remains of his father.
When the other Rogues discovered his actions, they were horrified. Although they could understand where he was coming from and why he'd done it, Captain Cold couldn't abide his betrayal of one of the villain groups few codes: to never knowingly attack women and children. Seeing as Owen had sacrificed multiple civilians to the Black Lantern Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold pushed him into the pit to be killed and turned into a Black Lantern himself.
Notably, at the end of the event, the original Captain Boomerang was resurrected as a part of Brightest Day by Geoff Johns, Peter Tomasi, and a number of artists -- but Owen was not, meaning Boomerang returned to a world where his closest friends and allies had protected -- and then effectively murdered -- his son. It wasn't long before Flashpoint rebooted the universe, but it was definitely a rough few years for Captain Boomerang.
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