Warning: SPOILERS For Suicide Squad #44
This week sees the final part of 'Constriction', as DC's Suicide Squad heads off on a rescue mission led by Batman and Deathstroke, working together to try and save Floyd Lawton's daughter from the murderous Kobra, who are trying to resurrect their Lord in a new body. However, it turns out that Kobra had another plan all along - to take a member of the Suicide Squad as their leader, and this might mean the end of Deadshot...
Suicide Squad #44 begins with the Squad and the Dark Knight taking a chopper to Kobra's secret lair to rescue Zoe, who is being held captive there. Things quickly go sideways, though, when it is revealed that Kobra's plan was never to use Zoe at all... except as bait to lure Floyd Lawton to this place, so that his body can be taken over by the spirit of the original Kobra, Jeffrey Fraklin Burr.
Related: Suicide Squad Gets Replaced By DC's New Killing Machine
The devious plan works, too. Jeffrey takes over the mind of Deadshot, and leaps into action using his skills, glorying in the ability to take over his talents and cause pain to his enemy. Zoe, meanwhile, is to be the first sacrifice to the new Kobra's Fang - a final twist of the knife to the Lawton family. As Batman tries to protect her, he is shot in the head by the new Kobra, before Zoe grabs one of her father's weaponized gauntlets and shoots her father/Kobra in the chest, and the spirit of Jeffrey Franklin Burr leaves his body and takes that of a follower before being apprehended.
It's a whole lot of death, but all is not as it seems...
It turns out that neither Batman nor Deadshot is actually dead. Batman reveals that he has kevlar in his cowl, 'kevlar everywhere' in fact, because of his hatred for guns. He then sits down next to Deadshot's 'body', and as Zoe sobs over having killed her own father, he tells her that Floyd isn't actually dead. Turns out, Deadshot's daughter is a terrible shot, and missed his heart - she saved her father, instead of killing him.
All's well that ends well, and the squad heads back to take Deadshot to get medical assistance, with Zoe telling Amanda Waller that her father is a hero. However, one of the most interesting moments in the final issue of the 'Constriction' saga comes when Zoe believes that she has actually killed her father, and vows to take up the name of Deadshot herself and seek revenge on the people who kidnapped her and led him there. Of course, with Deadshot revealed to be just fine by the end of the issue, this won't be happening... but it's an interesting bit of potential foreshadowing.
Deadshot has always been very careful to keep Zoe safe, especially after the murder of his son, Eddie. But if her willingness to immediately pick up where her father left off tells us anything, it's that Deadshot may have failed to keep her as far from the superhero life as possible, and that if he is killed in future, there'll be a new Deadshot waiting in the wings. Perhaps this incident (and Batman's criticism of her shooting) will even be the start of her next phase of training...
Suicide Squad #44 is now available from DC Comics.