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Deadshot (a.k.a Floyd Lawton) is the best marksman and hired assassin in the DC universe. He is often known to boast on his skills of never missing a target. His ability to anticipate the opponent's movements is quite remarkable. For instance in the game Injustice-2 (video here), he actually shot The Flash in the calf whilst Flash was bolting across the street. So Deadshot does have great anticipation of the opponent's movements and thus it is quite difficult for him to miss (at least what I think).

Although there have been some instances where he willingly missed hitting a target, are there any instances (in comic books/animated series or otherwise) where Deadshot has unwillingly missed a target? Looking for answers from the animated universe and/or comic books and/or TV series (the Arrowverse, Smallville etc.).

PS: I'd rather avoid answers from the movies.

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  • Is this solely about the animated universe or anywhere?
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Mar 29, 2018 at 8:24
  • @TheLethalCarrot I'm open to answers. Comic books and the animated universe (but, not the movie Suicide Squad; I'd rather avoid that).
    – Shreedhar
    Mar 29, 2018 at 8:28
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    What!!! He shot Flash? Flash can see the bullet coming and play with it..
    – user931
    Mar 29, 2018 at 9:33
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    @Don'tPanic don't panic, you're panicking :p
    – Shreedhar
    Mar 29, 2018 at 9:47
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    You have neither explicitly included nor excluded video games, but Deadshot notably misses in Arkham City -- courtesy of Batman again, of course. "You made me miss my target, Batman! I never miss!" Mar 29, 2018 at 13:59

3 Answers 3

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He missed in his very first storyline in Batman #59.

I never miss!

But to be fair, Batman has tampered with his gun here.

Lawton returns for his second comic appearance years later in Batman #474, where he misses again - multiple times. This time his gun has not been tampered with, nor is he intentionally missing.

Ok, I miss a lot. Didn't miss intentionally

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    Batman has tampered with his gun's sights again in the second comic, if I'm reading it right.
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Mar 29, 2018 at 13:12
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    That section was a flashback to a previous meeting (while he was still in the top hat and tux). From Batman's reaction, he didn't yet know about Deadshot's wrist mounted weaponry, so couldn't have meddled with its sighting.
    – Irishpanda
    Mar 29, 2018 at 13:22
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    @Irishpanda The second one appears to be the start of a villain monologue. His misses in those cases could be put in the "deliberate" column to just keep Batman busy and give Deadshot the opportunity to scream out his grievances and/or diabolical plans. Mar 29, 2018 at 14:00
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    As a protest against the realism of altering his sites to cause him to miss, I find it extremely unlikely that a skilled shooter would even be using his sites at such a close range, and the layout of those panels certainly don't show Deadshot as carefully aiming along the sites. Mar 29, 2018 at 14:05
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    @MichaelRichardson: There are web sites, and gun sights. Two very different things.
    – JRE
    Mar 29, 2018 at 15:42
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At least once, in New Suicide Squad, Vol 1 #4. Why I think this is more significant, is it is actually shows him saying "I missed. I never miss", as in this was NOT intentional.

enter image description here

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  • this one is really interesting. and exactly the thing I was hoping to see. Although it's just one instance, it really shows a lot about him.
    – Shreedhar
    Mar 30, 2018 at 15:33
  • @Shreedhar - There was a 2 minute video of deadshot's misses on youtube I came across, but didn't watch it. Might be worth looking at.
    – JohnP
    Mar 30, 2018 at 15:56
  • yeah I saw that. TheLethalCarrot provided that link in the comments.
    – Shreedhar
    Mar 30, 2018 at 15:58
  • If I understand the panel correctly, he still hit the guy he was aiming for, he just didn't hit him in the specific place he was aiming at (the head). Does it still count?
    – F1Krazy
    Apr 6, 2018 at 12:57
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You say you're looking for answers from the shows, and not movies, but don't mention the games. Just in case you're interested, in Batman: Arkham City, there is a minor quest line against Deadshot. Here is video of him missing his target, though only because Batman gets there just in time to push the target out of the way.

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