Department of Extranormal Operations

Latest revision as of 17:49, 31 August 2021

The Department of Extranormal Operations is an agency that features in DC Comics.

History

Origin

The Department of Extranormal Operations (D.E.O.) was a government agency that operated within the United States of America.

At their New York branch, Dr. Peter Malley was studying a sample of Cassius Payne when the sample infected him and sought out its parents in Gotham. This led to Special Agent Cameron Chase being assigned on the case to recover the escaped Clayface. (Batman v1 #550)

At some point, they began to operate facilities designed to house, train and study young Metahuman youths. One of their specimens was Greta Hayes who managed to escape leading to a hunt for her. The D.E.O. attempted to enlist the newly formed Young Justice to help recapture her where they claimed that she was a monster. However, they came to learn how she and the others had been mistreated whilst in the D.E.O.'s custody where they agreed to help her escape. They made it appear that they captured her in a canister that the young heroes rigged to explode making it appear that an accident had killed Secret. This led the D.E.O. to believe that their subject had died and they ended their pursuit of her. (Young Justice: The Secret v1 #1) Later on, Young Justice along with Hayes went to the facility holding the other Metahuman children where they succeeded in freeing them as well. (Young Justice Secret Files and Origins v1 #1)

A rogue group of D.E.O. agents began an illegal immigration service whereby they smuggled the galaxies cast-offs and turned them into weapons. Such an operation was said to had been responsible for bonding the weapon crèche onto Menagerie. They came into conflict with Superman who defeated them when the Elite arrived on the scene. (Action Comics v1 #775)

Knightwatch agents were deployed by President Lex Luthor when various Metahumans infiltrated the White House. (Superman/Batman v1 #5)

The D.E.O. registered a new threat from the Kobra Cult when their leader had captured Airwave and harnessed his Metahuman ability to hijack control of any system that utilised the electromagnetic spectrum. To respond to this threat, regional director Bones went to enlist the aid of the Justice Society of America. (JSA v1 #11)

He had an agent sent to bring Michael Holt to him but the operative's cover was blown and he was knocked out by Mister Terrific. Holt then was present in Director Bones office at the D.E.O. headquarters where he revealed to Michael that his wife had been pregnant at the time of her death. (JSA: All Stars v1 #7)

Operatives from the D.E.O. were stationed at the U.S. District Court in New York City over the trial of Jeffrey Franklin Blurr who operated as the terrorist Kobra over his destruction of LexAir Flight #178. A large scale riot erupted at the scene with Kobra forcing his release as he had nearly 500 of his followers among the crowd that were implanted with bio-engineered incendiary devices with him threatening to detonate them unless he was released. Director Bones reluctantly agreed to the terms allowing for Kobra to be released and the villain escaped through teleportation device. (JSA v1 #45)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of history was created with a different series of events.

Seeking help, the new Blue Beetle came to the D.E.O. after being informed of the agency by the Green Lantern Kyle Rayner. Upon arriving, he was taken to meet Bones but after hearing that he was a Reach Scarab warrior the agents turned against Blue Beetle and deployed weapons to render him unconscious. He was then captured and studied with Bones interrogating him about the Reach's intentions for the planet. (Blue Beetle v8 #10)

For years, they had attempted to discover the true identity of the Batman of Gotham City but these ended in failure. At the New York City headquarters, Director Bones gave a new assignment to Agent Cameron Chase which was to go to Gotham City and uncover the identity of Batwoman. (Batwoman v2 #1)

Due to effects of Vandal Savage's comet on Earth, Kara Zor-El began to experience a loss in her powers. It was then that she was approached by D.E.O. agent Cameron Chase who offered the agency's resources to restore her abilities in exchange for helping them on missions. In search for his cousin Supergirl, Superman journeyed to National City to D.E.O. Ghost Site #122 to meet with her to inform her that he was dying. (Action Comics v2 #51) Supergirl's powers were later restored to her where she became an agent of the D.E.O. where she was given a civilian cover identity of Kara Danvers. (Supergirl: Rebirth v1 #1)

With Supergirl off-world, Director Bones requested the assistance of Adam Strange on a matter when the D.E.O. headquarters was attacked by an agent of Leviathan who devastated the agency. (Action Comics v1 #1008)

It was later re-instated with Director Bones back in charge of the D.E.O. where he attempted to convince Cameron Chase to re-join the agency following the restoration of the Multiverse. (Infinite Frontier v1 #1)

Overview

It was the D.E.O.'s responsibility to gather as much information on the Metahuman community as possible. (JSA: All Stars v1 #7) Like all Federal agencies, they had a charter that placed Metahuman investigations under their jurisdiction. (Chase v1 #2) Their mission statement was to monitor extra-normal threats and protect the Earth. (Supergirl: Rebirth v1 #1)

One of the divisions of the organization was the Department of Metahuman Affairs. (Checkmate v2 #9) Armed and armored agents of the D.E.O. included the unit known as the Knightwatch. (Superman/Batman v1 #5) A Close Encounters crew were a team that were designed to handle dangerous artifacts. (Superman v5 #23)

It was noted for holding very tight computer locks. (Batman v1 #550)

The D.E.O. was known to reverse engineer captured alien technology such as a stardrive from a Khund starship which they used to create a gun that fired a boson pulse that affected brain waves thus rendering a target unconscious. (Blue Beetle v8 #10)

Members

• Mister Bones :
• Sandy Barrett : a dark haired woman who served as field personnel manager. (Chase v1 #1)
• Cameron Chase :
• Batwoman :
• Devin Dupree : a male agent sent to bring Michael Holt to headquarters but whilst tailing his quarry he was found and knocked out by Mr. Terrific. (JSA: All Stars v1 #7)
• Dr. Peter Malley : male researcher at their New York branch who was studying the fifth Clayface entity named Cassius Payne. (Batman v1 #550)
• Jeremiah Danvers : a male agent stationed at National City who operated as Kara Zor-El's foster father in her guise as Kara Danvers. (Supergirl: Rebirth v1 #1) (Superman/Wonder Woman v1 #29)
• Eliza Danvers : a female agent stationed at National City who operated as Kara Zor-El's foster mother in her guise as Kara Danvers. (Supergirl: Rebirth v1 #1) (Superman/Wonder Woman v1 #29)
• Kara Danvers : the identity of Kara Zor-El after she had the D.E.O. restore her powers whereupon she operated as an agent of the organization. (Supergirl: Rebirth v1 #1)
• Veronica Bissette : a blonde haired female agent who had discovered a mystical relic that she took back to headquarters which came under attack from Leviathan. Agent Bissette was only saved when the amulet bonded her with the Lord of Chaos Xanadoth, the Returned who used her as a host body. (Superman v5 #23)

Notes

• The Department of Extranormal Operations was created by Dennis O'Neil, Doug Moench, Kelley Jones and J.H. Williams III where it made its first appearance in Batman v1 #550 (1998).

Alternate Versions

• In Smallville: Season 11 (2014), the D.E.O. was introduced in the setting of the Smallville universe.

In other media

Television

• In Supergirl, the Department of Extranormal Operations was part of the setting and featured in the pilot episode. It was shown as being a government agency established to combat the threat of extraterrestrials following the emergence of Superman. They were responsible for recovering Kara Zor-Els ship after it crashed on Earth and when Superman recovered his cousin. It was headed by Hank Henshaw and one of its lead scientists was Alex Danvers who was the adoptive sister of Supergirl. The agency operated a number of facilities with one of their bases being an underground cave whilst another being a large skyscraper.

Films

• In Green Lantern, the Department of Extranormal Operations appeared in the 2011 live-action film where it was a secret agency with one of its heads being Dr. Amanda Waller. It was shown to be receiving secret support from Senator Robert Hammond who took charge of Abin Sur's body and starship for study after it crashed on Earth. The senator's son Dr. Hector Hammond was placed in charge of conducting the autopsy of Abin Sur where he became infected by the Parallax entity gifting him powerful telepathic abilities whilst mutating his body.

Video games

• In Batman: Arkham Origins - Blackgate, the D.E.O. made an appearance in the video game. They were described as being a secret government agency with Catwoman broke into one of their branches in Gotham City to steal some classified data. Batman arrived at the scene to arrest her but the pair were confronted by D.E.O. security squad Omega. They attempted to arrest the pair with the D.E.O. agents attacking Batman who knocked them out after which he pursued Catwoman to arrest her. Further D.E.O. operatives were at the scene where they were monitoring the rooftops in order to catch the pair of costumed individuals.

Appearances

• Batman v1: (1998)
• Chase v1:
• Young Justice v1:
• Young Justice: The Secret v1:
• Young Justice Secret Files and Origins v1:
• JSA v1:
• Batwoman:
• Action Comics v1:
• Blue Beetle:
• Superman v5: (2020)
• Infinite Frontier v1: (2021)

External Link

• DC Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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