I also agree with the raceswapping im black and it feels disrespectful cause DC has plethora of characters and they leave them on the shelf to collect dust. Race swapping isn't representation it's a reskin, hand me downs. It's like making Clark Kent or Diana black when Icon and Val zod or Nubia are right there
Let's play what if in a different universe. What if Deadshot's daughter was born with an ability that let her control any projectile from any source. Korbra or Hive or even the League of Assassin's finds out. Deadshot becomes an anti hero with the purpose of keeping his daughter from traveling his path. Gathering allies along the way, potentially the secret six maybe, he strives to eradicate anyone who targets his daughter. Catman has a daughter, right? What about a different kind of hard traveling heroes?
One of the problems with comics is action heroes/villains and super heros/villains aren't recognized as different when in one universe. Best case scenario I can give is Blood-Shot. He is an action hero but he is labeled as a superhero even by the experts. That is one of the reasons his film was ranked so horribly. If characters are properly categorized they will have better stories written for them and they can then be paired up with characters that fit them better. From there when they do meet each other IPS to make them better match power levels can be created.... In my personal opinion, a universe with super heroes/villains and action heroes/villains would be a better universe as the stories would be different and when they meet up because they are recognized for what they are, those stories will also be better.
I honestly think he should go through a legit impactful moment where he gives up being deadshot to be a family man. And if you wanna have him return have someone else be deadshot something similar to Scott Lang antman where someone who is just as skilled as him takes his equipment and takes on the persona. And some superhero believes it is will Smith until they realize it's not will Smith.
Hot Take: I don’t think the line “What are we? Some kind of Suicide Squad?” is that bad of a line. It’s a little cringe, but I think it was a decent way to work in the name of the group seeing as they are in universe supposed to be called Task Force X and only nicknamed Suicide Squad. They just needed to work it into the plot better
Bro-to me Deathstroke and Deadeye are part of the problem, bro are so close to being copies that writers just use them as if they are the same, gosh Deadeye seem to have forgot he had powers last time he appeared
Deadshot's eyepiece allows him to slow down what he's seeing no? So his brain can process it faster? His scope permits him to aim more accurately right? This would allow him in theory to tag The Flash... For the sake if khilling off a League member, it could be Hawkman and/or Hawkgirl. Or, a Green Lantern, perhaps Kyle Jessica Cruz or perhaps even Hal Jordan. I chose these characters because of their visibility but also because their character no longer being in the comics doesn't make the Green Lantern as a title gone. And the Hawks reincarnate. Though I always despised that iteration of them.
What do we mean by backstory in this case because I don't think Deadshot having a daughter has ever been part of his backstory in the comics, like it's not the reason he's Deadshot, I'm pretty sure she was born years after he was already Deadshot and she didn't even know she existed until she was 4 years old. Deadshot debuted in 1950, got his famous costume in 1977, became a member of the Suicide Squad where he got most of his characterization in 1987, and his daughter was first introduced into comics in 2005. He isn't Deadshot because of his daughter, he does what he does for the money and because of his death wish. The story with his daughter is also very interesting, he discovers he has a daughter in a crime filled neighborhood in Star City and decided to go to war against the gangs there and attempt to live a normal life with his daughter but ends up putting a target on his back, so he has his parents' foundation take care of Zoe's every need financially, asks Green Arrow to look after his family, and then fakes his death. It's a cool 5 issue series. Zoe also gives us an interesting perspective on Deadshot, you have this character previously defined by his death wish and you give him something to live for. I also don't think Zoe is really used THAT much, she appears in only 22 comics in the nearly 20 years she existed as a character. There's her original story, her 3 appearances in Secret Six in 2006, and then she didn't appear for another 10 years until Suicide Squad Rebirth where she appeared 10 times until 2018, and then vanished again until 2020 in Suicide Squad Vol 6 where she then would appear 4 times, her last appearance being in January of 2021 when that version of the Suicide Squad disbanded. She isn't even really focused on much in adaptations, she typically has non-speaking roles in very brief scenes. Do I think she should appear more, no because I don't want Deadshot to become too sympathetic or heroic, but I don't think it's that big of an issue currently. I don't know if I really agree that he works better as a Green Arrow villain, there's really only one interesting story that connects Deadshot to Green Arrow and that the storyline that also introduces Zoe but you could really replace Star City and Green Arrow with literally any other city and their corresponding street level hero. I feel like if you want a ranged combat villain for Green Arrow, you have Merlyn who happens to also be an assassin whose main gimmick is "I'm the best at my main form of ranged combat" who also happens to have connections to Batman and the Suicide Squad, and if you want to drag adaptations in this, is also a rich guy with a daughter he didn't know he had for a long time. Honestly didn't know there was this many similarities that could be drawn between Deadshot and Merlyn. Point is, Deadshot wouldn't be a bad Green Arrow villain or anything, but I don't really see a reason to change him to a Green Arrow villain aside from ranged combat and one story. My problem with Will Smith's Deadshot isn't really with the actor or the fact that they race swapped him (which is really a non-issue when you stop and think about for, like, 5 seconds) but that they try to make him more heroic by having him only go after criminals and making him present in his daughter's life as a decent father. No longer is he a man motivated by money and his own self hatred, a hatred that brews so deep that he distances himself from his daughter because he's too much of a mess. On the topic of race swapping, I don't see why people are against it so much, especially in adaptations. There are so many more white characters than characters of literally any other race, most of them weren't made white for any specific reason but instead were white because it's considered the default. Most non-white characters are made non-white specifically for diversity and/or to show more about a group of people beyond the stereotypes and demonizing comics used to treat these racial groups. For most of those white characters, there's no reason for them to be white beyond them being always depicted that way and that's kind of a lame reason when you can just make one change and immediately make your world a little more diverse. It also makes casting a whole lot easier, instead of needing to find someone that looks exactly like the character, you can expand your options and maybe even find actors you otherwise would've never picked but are just perfect for the role as you imagine it. "But why not make brand new characters?" What would be the point of creating an entire character to fulfill the same role? Aren't people going to pissed about that? "Why not use an existing character in this role?" Not everything has a diverse counterpart. "But race swapping is so problematic." Yeah, so is including diversity at all, the internet seems to absolutely love arguing over anything that includes even the slightest bit of diversity whether it be with race, gender, or sexuality it will always be an argument, welcome to the internet, I hate it here. Also, I just want to ask, what race swaps do you actually disagree with? Because I noticed this funny little trend where race swaps with good writing and/or acting most people, at least from what I've seen, don't seem to mind as much (Ex. James Gordon and Catwoman in The Batman, Nick Fury in the MCU, Aquaman in the DCEU, Heimdall in the MCU, Perry White in the DCEU, Mazikeen and Amenadiel in Lucifer, etc), it's only the ones with bad writing or bad acting that people seem to actively dislike (Ex. Human Torch in Fan4stic, Velma in Velma, etc). Yes, the controversy behind race swap is always brought up but it seems to get largely ignored when the writing, acting, and end product is good. Now, I'm just spit balling here, but it seems like people are using bad products that include race swapping as an excuse to hate on race swapping.
Characters who never miss and are antagonists always have to find a reason to not end the story right away. The Ghoul in the fallout show, had him be a sadist until he became good to alive that problem.
My favorite dc character besides Batman is Deadshot. I find his stories interesting in his solo or team run. Bad Blood, Secret Files and the start of New 52. I prefer his origin story with his brother and with the one with his family getting shot by random gangsters. The canon is he can’t miss but my head cannon is he can’t afford to miss.
If dead shot is on a team it’s fine for him to go against Jla members. But the flash isn’t someone he should be able to consistently hit, and hates going against him. I wouldn’t mind dead shot shooting civs to get flash off his back.
This might be more of an overall opinion about Suicide Squad than Deadshot but I like it better when they're truly are more disposable characters on the team. The squad has become too safe relying on its big three or four members to where the risk doesn't feel real anymore. As much as I didn't like it because he's one of my favorites, I almost appreciate them killing off Captain Boomerang in the last Suicide Squad movie. Batman: Assault on Arkham and Hell to pay or great examples I'm familiar with where the team feels a little bit more disposable.
Deadshot xan work both as a heartless killer and family man. People are more sympathetic towards the latter type than the former. Doing cold blooded work as a hired gun but for a good reason sounds layered. Just making him a killer is too ons note sounding. Deadshot really should feel like an underdog that can pull a big score in the end. He really should be anyone's villain. As for the race swap, I i wouldn't swap him. If I i wanted a black character I i would use Bronze Tiger. Bronze Tiger is a an already black man and is on the Deathstroke and Batman level of combat. So instead of making Floyd black, just use Bronze Tiger. I never considered a Deadshot/Deathstroke rivalry before. It's the whole Peacemaker meme: He does exactly what i do, but better. You can do a lot with that vs idea too. The ego getting brused, the butting heads to prove your worth. I think that should be used more and be more interesting.
I don't mind the race swapping. It's hard to make a new character and not receive backlash if you shoehorn them in. The preexisting characters are not written as the main protagonists in the stories people want to see on screen. I'm also just a will smith fan.
I think it can definitely work on characters that don't have much of a pivotal standing in the fanbase, or characters that have no important cultural definitions or backgrounds.
