History: The man who would become Deadline began his career as a small-time hitman for one of America's organized crime families. When the alien invaders known as the Dominators unleashed the Gene Bomb over Earth, many humans who possessed the metagene had dormant superpowers activated, and the unnamed hitman was one of those affected. He saw this as a wonderful business opportunity, and after outfitting himself with state-of-the-art weaponry, sought to become America's premier assassin. He named himself Deadline and quickly gained a reputation in criminal circles. Mobster Sam Galvango hired Deadline to track down three brothers who owed him money. After killing one of the brother, Deadline tracked the other two to Las Vegas. He was down to his last target when he met the vacationing Starman V. Deadline fought savagely to finish his job, but in the end Starman caused one of his weapons to malfunction and Deadline's hand was severely burned. Deadline phased through a wall and escaped. He resurfaced later in a Las Vegas prison where he finished the assigned hit.

Deadline has gone into hiding, but still takes contracts when the money is right. He has used his prosperity to build a secret training center, complete with an arsenal of weapons. His hand is permanently damaged, and he has vowed to kill Starman.

(JLA #18) - Julian September unhinged the universe’s laws of probability with his engine of chance, briefly warping history so that everything worked in his favor. He became President and Deadline was one of seven villains that independently came up with the plan to kidnap him. Deadline fought with the other villains, and they were all foiled by the JLA.

(Flash II #179) - Deadline and the Killer Elite were Jokerized and sent off by Joker to wreck havoc. They laid siege to Iron Heights, but in the process Deadline was fatally shot by warden Gregory Wolfe.

Comments: Created by Roger Stern & Tom Lyle