Warning! Spoilers ahead for Suicide Squad #15
In the final issue of DC Comics' current run of Suicide Squad, Task Force X just got the perfect replacement for Amanda Waller, who left the primary DC Universe behind in favor of Earth-3. Without her, the Suicide Squad is no longer a government team with bombs in their heads. Now, the team has been set up to be freelancers who are potentially getting a brand new benefactor for a future series.
In previous issues of Suicide Squad, Amanda Waller cared very little for the problems and crises of Earth-0, choosing instead to focus her efforts on invading Earth-3, home of the evil Justice League known as the Crime Syndicate. Believing she could truly save the darker world with far greater success than she ever could in the primary universe, Waller sealed Earth-3 off from the rest of the Multiverse after defeating the evil team. She also chose to stay with her new Justice Squad, leaving the actual Suicide Squad behind.
Now, the new Suicide Squad #15 from writer Dennis Hopeless and artist Eduardo Pansica sees Rick Flagg coming up with a plan to score Task Force X some major money, seeing as how they're no longer a government-sanctioned team. Essentially, the plan is to split up and attack none other than Lex Luthor, getting captured one by one with the Superman nemesis wanting to know what would possess them to go after him. In truth, they just need the means to effectively get past his security, breaking free and forcing Luthor to pay his own ransom if he wants them to go away. However, Luthor does ask Flagg why they didn't just ask him to invest in their team. As such, the issue ends with the Squad getting paid while Lex gives some serious thought to the concept of replacing Amanda Waller in the near future.
A new Suicide Squad series with Luthor taking the reins has some promise. It would certainly be warranted and more fitting than Lex's recent attempt to take over Batman Inc., an investment that hardly panned out like Lex wanted it to in recent issues of Batman. Given the Suicide Squad's more questionable moral leanings, having his own covert ops team of metahumans is a dangerous yet intriguing idea for the classic Superman foe.
While a new series probably wouldn't be called "Task Force Lex" as Luthor proposes, the idea of a Squad run by one of DC's biggest villains rather than Amanda Waller is exciting. One can only hope that the concept is being seriously considered by DC Comics for a future Suicide Squad series. It definitely seems like an opportunity that's too good to pass up, both for the publisher and for Lex Luthor himself.