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Checkmate (Comic Book)

 Checkmate (Comic Book)
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TVTItem
 Checkmate (Comic Book)
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Checkmate (Comic Book)
 Checkmate (Comic Book)
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Checkmate
 Checkmate (Comic Book)
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Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_1'); })A spy organization in The DCU, Checkmate has been the focus of two ongoing series and maintains a presence in the DCU, both comics and film.Originally known as "the Agency", the organization that would become Checkmate was a driving force in the mid-80s comic Vigilante. After Vigilante ended, the Agency changed its name to Checkmate in Action Comics in 1988 and gained a spin-off title the same year. Checkmate became a subset of the Suicide Squad under the ultimate authority of chessmistress extraordinaire Amanda Waller through her agent, Harry Stein. This volume lasted 33 issues, from 1988 to 1991, and was written by Paul Kupperberg.Between volumes, Checkmate maintained a background presence throughout the DCU, making their most significant appearance in Greg Rucka's Bruce Wayne: Murderer and Bruce Wayne: Fugitive arcs, which introduced the character of Sasha Bordeaux, who would go on to become the agency's main character for the next decade.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_2'); })In The OMAC Project by Greg Rucka, during the lead-up to Infinite Crisis, former JLA ally turned evil Maxwell Lord took over Checkmate until Wonder Woman killed him. This led to the events of volume 2 by Rucka and Eric Trautmann. This series saw Checkmate reformed under the United Nations as an Multinational Team with both human and superhuman operatives and a system of checks and balances dependent on the four Kings and Queens (including Sasha and, of course, Amanda Waller) to prevent another Max Lord incident. The series ran for 31 issues, from 2006 to 2008, and was critically acclaimed.In 2011, Checkmate was taken over again by Max Lord, who was resurrected at the end of Blackest Night, and became a rogue organization. Following Flashpoint, it became the GPA-counterpart to the New 52 O.M.A.C., still run by Max until he got imprisoned in Justice League vs Suicide Squad. Checkmate was subsequently destroyed along with all the other spy organisations at the start of Event Leviathan, but a new incarnation was introduced in Leviathan Dawn, spinning into its own series.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_mobile_ad_3'); })Outside of comics, Checkmate has also appeared in Smallville and the Green Lantern (2011) movie.
 Checkmate (Comic Book)
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2022-12-17T15:11:18Z
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2022-12-17T15:11:18Z
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Dropped link to Blackmail: Not a Feature - ITEM
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DBTropes
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Heroic BSoD
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Heroic BSoD: Jewelee suffers a bad one after watching Punch get killed on the mission.
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Multinational Team
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Multinational Team: The team includes several Americans, an Israeli, a Frenchwoman, and a Brazilian, among others.
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Pay Evil unto Evil
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_1d18887f
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Pay Evil unto Evil: See Anti-Hero, above.
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Artificial Limbs
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Artificial Limbs: Sasha's nanomachines generate a metal arm after her original is amputated by Chang Tzu.
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Good Is Not Nice
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Good Is Not Nice / Good Is Not Soft: Both tropes apply in equal measure to different members of the team.
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Blood Magic
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_270c1778
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Blood Magic: The Kobra terrorist organization has a sect called "The Bestowed" who use blood magic to weed out potential moles. Shadowpact is able to save the life of an undercover Checkmate agent by fooling the spell into thinking they are reading the blood of a captured Kobra agent.
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Landmarking the Hidden Base
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Landmarking the Hidden Base: The New 52 Max Lord version is based inside Mount Rushmore.
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Government Agency of Fiction
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Government Agency of Fiction: One certainly hopes that there's no real-life equivalent.
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Manipulative Bastard
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Manipulative Bastard: Max Lord and Amanda Waller.
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Career Versus Man
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Career Versus Man: In her backstory, Josephine Tautin rejected the marriage proposal of her boyfriend Thierry Desmarais because her job as an intelligence officer was more important to her.
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Sacrificial Lamb
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Sacrificial Lamb: Jonah McCarthy.
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Overt Operative
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_6fdd991c
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Overt Operative: August General In Iron, who flat-out tells Khalid he's there as a spy.
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 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_7133698c
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Token Flyer
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_7133698c
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Token Flyer: Fire is this for the Black Side while Vertigo is this for the White Side.
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 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_72e54916
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Retired Monster
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_72e54916
comment
Retired Monster: Fire's dad may look like a harmless old man in a wheelchair, but he used to be the leader of a death squad and raised Fire to be an assassin for Brazil. Waller knows this, and uses it to blackmail Fire into sabotaging a mission.
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Boxed Crook
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_794095d7
comment
Boxed Crook: Waller attempts to continue running the Suicide Squad, even though her contract as White Queen explicitly prohibits it.
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I Know What You Fear
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_9e51933c
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I Know What You Fear: Chimera can read people's minds to learn what they fear the most and take the form of that very thing.
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One-Man Army
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_9e943076
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One-Man Army: Josephine Tautin who single-handedly rescues her ex-lover's daughter from terrorists in Bialya.
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 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_a9890a71
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Good Running Evil
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_a9890a71
comment
Good Running Evil: The legendary Green Lantern, superhero, and idealist Alan Scott was the White King of Checkmate, which though not blatantly evil is decidedly a ruthless and murderous organization of spies that many moral characters like Superman blatantly despise, and tried to gear it towards a more benevolent stance as to not be synonymous with the terrorist organizations it fought against. He even tried to implement harsher penalties against agents who killed recklessly like Sasha Bordeaux and Amanda Waller. Things were going well until Waller got him kicked out of his position.
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Tyke-Bomb
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Tyke Bomb: Fire was raised from an early age to be an assassin.
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 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_beb9a361
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Anti-Hero
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_beb9a361
comment
Anti-Hero: Although this was toned down considerably as the series progressed, for the first story arc of the post-Infinite Crisis series, Checkmate in toto was depicted as violently Type IV antiheroic, with Sasha, Amanda Waller, and Fire in particular depicted as being cold-blooded killers and assassins (for example, in issue 1, Sasha shoots a disarmed terrorist with a terse "Checkmate", Waller shooting an assassin from the Kobra cult to death despite already disabling her, while Fire (depicted as a somewhat light-n-fluffy character in 1980s-vintage Justice League comics) incinerates dozens of men alive. Checkmate's "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" attitude towards targets is a major source of conflict with superiors early on.
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 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_c5b47b36
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Offscreen Moment of Awesome
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_c5b47b36
comment
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Kobra sends assassins to eliminate Alan Scott and Amanda Waller. By the time Alan warns Amanda, she's shown casually readying a drink for herself after having incapacitated the assassin sent to her.
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Legacy Character
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_c9e5a0db
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Legacy Character: Josephine Tautin is the latest woman to take the name Mademoiselle Marie.
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 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_d62dd556
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The Chessmaster
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_d62dd556
comment
The Chessmaster: Waller. Taleb Beni Khalid is a more benign example.
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 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_dae5c997
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Action Girl
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_dae5c997
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Action Girl: Black Thorn, Sasha Bordeaux, Jessica Midnight, Josephine Tautin and Fire.
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_dae5c997
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Reasonable Authority Figure
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_dca70c44
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Reasonable Authority Figure: All of the Kings and Queens in Vol. 2, except Amanda Waller.
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Stat-O-Vision
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_e489013e
comment
Stat-O-Vision: Sasha sees everything like this, as a consequence of her OMAC infection. It causes her to angst a little bit. One reason she's attracted to Mr. Terrific is that his powers prevent her from seeing him this way.
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The Mole
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The Mole: In "Rogue Squad" Abel Tarrant was spying on the squad on behalf of the Society.
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 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_e794cb54
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Powered by a Forsaken Child
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_e794cb54
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Powered by a Forsaken Child: The Burmese power plant is powered by a kid from the Kayin ethnic minority.
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 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_f10d3363
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Distracted by the Sexy
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_f10d3363
comment
Distracted by the Sexy: Crimson Fox of the Global Guardians tries to use her pheromone powers to control Azhi Dahaki. When that doesn't work she settles for flashing her boobs at him.
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 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_f909b16b
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Dark Secret
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_f909b16b
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Dark Secret: Bea's father is a wanted Brazilian war criminal which Waller uses to blackmail her into doing her bidding. Jessica Midnight possesses magical powers which is in violation of Checkmate's Rule of Two that each super-powered or otherwise enhanced member in the “Royal Family” must have an un-powered counterpart in a corresponding position of power. Since there are already two bishops in Checkmate with superpowers (Thinker and August General In Iron), Jessica makes a third. She doesn't use her powers however and begs Bea not to tell Sasha. Bea who has had her own secrets before agrees to this.
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Death Seeker
 Checkmate (Comic Book) / int_fff371b4
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Death Seeker: In "Rogue Squad", Plastique isn't terribly concerned about the possibility of dying and explicitly joined the Squad out of suicidal depression after her marriage to Captain Atom ended in a messy divorce.
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Checkmate (Comic Book)

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

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