Deadshot

At some point, Floyd Lawton sought the training of the top assassin David Cain, who honed Floyd's already exceptional marksmanship. Upon reaching adulthood and claiming his share of the family money, Floyd returned to Gotham and began living as a playboy. He created an alternate guise as the gun-wielding vigilante Deadshot, taking down criminals and effectively replacing Batman during an absence from the city. When Batman returned, he found Deadshot working with police and more accepted than he ever was. But Batman exposed Deadshot as a fraud, revealing that Deadshot was using a gang to commit other crimes while distracting the police. Deadshot tried to kill Batman but found Batman had sabotaged his weapons. Lawton was captured and sent to prison.

Years later, Deadshot was released. Hardened by prison life, he decided to become an assassin and make a name for himself by killing Batman, who he blamed for ruining his life. Using a new suit with wrist-mounted guns and a scope, Deadshot was defeated by Batman, but his near-success nonetheless drew attention, and his reputation as an assassin took off. He was hired by the crooked politician Rupert Thorne to kill Bruce Wayne but was foiled by the Human Target, who took Wayne's place. After multiple arrests, Deadshot was recruited by Amanda Waller for the Suicide Squad, a team of criminals who earn time off their sentences by performing dangerous missions for the government. Deadshot thrived on the Squad, even working with them at times voluntarily or for pay rather than under duress.

Floyd Lawton was married before going to prison, to a woman named Susan. They had a son, Edward, before divorcing. Deadshot was contacted by Susan telling him Edward had been kidnapped. The kidnappers demanded that Deadshot complete a contract to get his son released. Instead, Deadshot killed them all, torturing a survivor for his son's location. When he arrived, Deadshot found his son had been accidentally killed by one of the kidnappers. After murdering them, he learned the whole thing was orchestrated by his mother; the contract would have been to kill his father, finishing the "contract" he'd foiled years ago. Deadshot shot his mother, crippling her in the same way as his father, leaving them to live together with their hate for each other.

Following his son's death, Deadshot became more unstable. When Amanda Waller ordered him to stop Suicide Squad field leader Rick Flag from assassinating a corrupt US Senator, Deadshot did so by killing the Senator himself. Soon after, Deadshot's uniform and weapons were stolen by an airport worker who used them to commit crimes. Deadshot tracked the impostor and killed him, shooting him between the eyes, and continued to wear his face mask with the bullet hole in it for a time. However, while Deadshot has been described by some as having a death wish, he has claimed that isn't accurate. Rather, he says he simply doesn't care if he lives or dies.

After his parents died, Deadshot discovered he had a daughter, Zoe, with Michelle Torres, a woman he'd known years earlier. Discovering they lived in a crime-ridden slum, Deadshot offered Michelle money to move, but she refused, knowing he was a killer. So he began cleaning up the neighborhood, taking out the gangs that ran it. In the process, he and Michelle got to know each other and fell in love, but ultimately, deciding it was not good for her and Zoe to be around him, he left after cleaning up the area. He continued to send them money and establish bank accounts for his daughter. Deadshot later began an association with the Secret Six, a team of villains who began acting as anti-heroes, but he continued to take assassination contracts as the mood struck him.