A.R.G.U.S.
Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans is the name of a government organization in DC Comics. A.R.G.U.S. first appeared in Justice League Vol. 2 #7 and was created by Geoff Johns and Gene Ha.
Fictional character biography
A.R.G.U.S. is a United States federal agency operating under the jurisdiction of Homeland Security. It is under the command of Col. Steve Trevor and Director Amanda Waller.It is introduced in The New 52 following Darkseid's invasion. A.R.G.U.S. acts as support and liaison to the Justice League, supplying them with resources and cleaning up afterwards. Trevor was asked to stand down as head liaison after their battle with Graves, having gotten too close to Wonder Woman.
During the "Trinity War" storyline, A.R.G.U.S. later directly establishes the counterpart group to the Justice League in the form of the Justice League of America, of which Trevor is himself a member. Dr. Arthur Light is called in by A.R.G.U.S. to examine the Secret Society's communication coin. While doing so, it is manipulated from the other side causing Light to be enveloped in a white light, giving him powers. After seemingly losing control of his powers, Superman surrenders himself to A.R.G.U.S. At A.R.G.U.S. headquarters, the Question enters Superman's cell and releases him.
During the "Forever Evil" storyline, Steve Trevor awakes at the remains of the A.R.G.U.S. headquarters in Washington, D.C and learns from Etta Candy that the headquarters' destruction was caused by a massive spike in energy around Doctor Light's body and that A.R.G.U.S. and its agents have been completely exposed. After seeing the Crime Syndicate of America's broadcast, Trevor learns that the President of the United States is in danger as the President has a back up key that would assist in A.R.G.U.S. gaining their assets back. After rescuing the President from Deathstroke, Copperhead, and Shadow Thief, Trevor uses the President's key to open A.R.G.U.S.' Green Room to keep the President and Candy safe. Then he heads to the Wonder Room which he has filled with mementos of his past relationship with Wonder Woman in order to use the Delphi Mirror to strike a deal with the Moirai. While in the Green Room, Candy begins investigating about the founding of A.R.G.U.S. Martin Stein takes Trevor and Killer Frost to his secret off the grid basement where he uses his teleportation devices to transport them to A.R.G.U.S.' Detroit station known as "The Circus". Inside, they encounter fellow A.R.G.U.S. agents, who allow Trevor to talk to one of their prisoners named Psi in hopes of seeing if she could psychologically disrupt the Firestorm matrix to free the Justice League. In the Green Room, the President and "Mr. Green" discuss a promotion with Candy. "Mr. Green" later reveals the history of A.R.G.U.S. "Mr. Green" reveals himself to be a member of the Crimson Men who are looking to reshape A.R.G.U.S. through Trevor and Candy.
Members
- Sasha Bordeaux - Director of A.R.G.U.S.
- Amanda Waller - Former Director, Head of the Suicide Squad
- Steve Trevor - Original founder; Head of the Oddfellows
- Black Orchid
- Booster Gold
- Casey Klebba - Agent and husband of Dale Gunn.
- Chronos
- Dale Gunn - Agent and Director of Circus of A.R.G.U.S.
- Darwin - The assistant to Dr. John Peril.
- Dr. John Peril - Top scientist.
- Etta Candy - Steve Trevor's secretary.
- Major Nicholson - She runs an A.R.G.U.S. base in Wisconsin called the Clinic.
- Meadows Mahalo - Special agent.
- Suicide Squad
- *Task Force X
- **Katana - Field Leader; former Second-in-command
- **Deadshot
- **Captain Boomerang/Digger Harkness
- **Harley Quinn
- **Killer Croc
- *Task Force XL
- **Deadshot - Field Leader
- **Akando
- **Captain Boomerang/Digger Harkness
- **Giganta
- **Harley Quinn
- **Katana
- **Parasite/Joshua Michael Allen
- **Solomon Grundy
- *Suicide Squad Black
- **El Diablo/Chato Santana - Field Leader
- **Azucar/Veronica Lopez
- **Enchantress/June Moone
- **Gentlemen Ghost
- **Juniper/Zahra Abed
- **Klarion the Witch Boy
- **Tiamat/Katie Randles
- **Wither/Jade Tice
- Oddfellows - A clandestine A.R.G.U.S. unit that investigates superhuman and supernatural occurrences.
- * Charlie -
- * Chief -
- * Sameer -
- Paul Chang
- Puzzler
- Stuart Paillard - Special agent.
- Victoria October - Doctor and post-human bio-weapons expert.
Former members
- Atom - Mole for the Crime Syndicate of America.
- Doctor Light - Scientist.
- Doctor Mist - Residential sorcerer for A.R.G.U.S.' magic division.
- Doctor Polaris
- Fastrack -
- Primeape - A scientist who was turned into a humanoid gorilla following an accident during his experiments with gorilla DNA from Gorilla City.
- Spore - Scientist.
- Sebastian Faust - Director of A.R.G.U.S’s magic division.
In other media
Television
- A.R.G.U.S. was mentioned in the Beware the Batman episode "Hunted".
- A.R.G.U.S. appears in the shows taking place in the Arrowverse franchise. In this continuity, A.R.G.U.S. stands for Advanced Research Group United Support, and its core members are Amanda Waller and Lyla Michaels:
- * A.R.G.U.S. is first seen in Arrow, where the agency has a major presence in every season. In season seven, John Diggle has joined up with A.R.G.U.S. while Oliver Queen is incarcerated in Slabside Maximum Security Prison.
- * A.R.G.U.S. appears in The Flash.
- * A.R.G.U.S. appears in Legends of Tomorrow. The episode "Zari" features an A.R.G.U.S.-controlled dystopian future where religion and metahuman activity are banned. Zari Tomaz, a Muslim woman in possession of a totem that gives her air-based powers, is pursued by the futuristic A.R.G.U.S. before joining the Legends. This future is averted when Neron is defeated.
- In Doom Patrol, Cyborg hacks into A.R.G.U.S. to learn more about the incident in Cloverton, Ohio.
Film
- A.R.G.U.S. also makes an appearance in the DC Animated Original Movies film '. They attempted to apprehend Riddler after the latter stole vital information relating to the Suicide Squad from Amanda Waller, as well as entering a confrontation with Batman, who intended to interrogate the Riddler himself relating to a dirty bomb that Joker stole and placed somewhere in Gotham.
- A.R.G.U.S. is featured in the films taking place in the DC Extended Universe. Just like the comics, Amanda Waller is the Director of A.R.G.U.S.
- * A.R.G.U.S. was first mentioned by Lex Luthor in 2016's '.
- * In the 2016 film Suicide Squad, A.R.G.U.S. is the covert sub-branch of the US military and becomes the supervisors of the Suicide Squad. The motto for ARGUS is "Noster quaerere incipere", which is Latin for "Our search begins". Its headquarters is in the John F. Ostrander Federal Building in Midway City. During the Suicide Squad's mission to stop Enchantress, Joker, his enforcer Jonny Frost, and his minions attack the Van Criss Laboratories branch of Wayne Enterprises to get A.R.G.U.S.' ally Van Criss to help him free Harley Quinn from A.R.G.U.S.' nano-bombs upon Joker using the Facetime on his phone to get Van Criss' captive wife to get her husband to cooperate with Joker.
- A.R.G.U.S. is featured in Batman and Harley Quinn. Sarge Steel is shown to be an A.R.G.U.S. agent working with Batman to stop Poison Ivy and Floronic Man.
- A.R.G.U.S. appears in .