I'm Sure It's Smooth Sailing For The Six Now

So Bane's taken over the Secret Six. I can't see that going well, especially since his first act as leader was to kick the one person on the team who liked him (and one of the two that has his back), Scandal Savage, off the team.

Question for the audience: Do you think Bane kicked Scandal out because he thinks she's a poor leader, or because he's concerned for what being part of this group is doing to her? I'd like to credit Bane for acting out of concern for her, but he can be coldly pragmatic. He was right about how things have gone thus far. They haven't had much success getting paid, and have been pretty severely thrashed by the end of their missions, largely because they seem to take jobs they aren't prepared to follow through on. Still, we know Bane does worry about Scandal, and she did take Venom, and he knows better than anyone what that does to a person. It would make her judgment questionable, and if she's taking part in missions, she might find situations where she could excuse her continued use of it. So keeping her out of things might help her to get past the initial stages of her newfound addiction.

Then there's the rest of the team. How are they going to take the coup? Other than Jeanette, Bane's the newest member of the team. Ragdoll's never been terribly fond of Bane, and Bane and Catman seem to quarrel regularly (the thing about whether Batman is more than just a man, the disagreement over this last job). Really, they seem to have completely opposite philosophies, so I'm not sure how willing Blake's gonna be to follow Bane. Then there's Jeanette, who was Scandal's best friend, near as I can figure. Have to wonder what she thinks of it all. Bane said she agreed with him, but Jeanette seems too spaced out to contradict him if that's false. Besides, even if he agreed that he should take over, did she agree to give Scandal the boot? So he may have cost himself the one other team member that had his back.

That leaves Deadshot. I'm not sure if he's even still on the team. He didn't catch the flight off the prison island. He's been having flashes off killing everyone around him, including his teammate. He even said at one point in this last issue that he never cared about getting paid anyway*. It's reminiscent of what Jeanette told him about her husband, the mad dog killer who used money as an excuse to kill. Not an encouraging development, to be sure.

Let's say he catches up with the team later. I doubt he cares who's in charge, as long as they'll actually stick to the job. I think that's what's been bothering him the most about his teammates lately is their lack of commitment. They've all come down with Blake's on-again, off-again morality, while Deadshot just keeps going the way he always has. it seems that with Bane in charge, they'll plan things out better ahead of time, which might help them avoid taking jobs they'll regret later, which would cut down on the waffling, which I'm sure Deadshot would approve of. Unfortunately, it might also mean taking jobs that don't afford Floyd the opportunity to shoot people as often, which might annoy him. They'd be sticking to their jobs, but they might be too do-goodery for his tastes. Really though, I think Deadshot would be a problem no matter who leads, and regardless of the jobs the take, because he is losing it.

* Which reminds me of Bullseye/Hawkeye in that Deadpool story this summer. He laughed when Norman mentioned money, making it clear he doesn't take jobs for the cash, because he never spends what he makes. If Deadshot's drifting into the same mental territory as Bullseye, that's bad, assuming he hasn't always been there, which I don't think he has. Bullseye's more sadistic, and I'd say less suicidal than Lawton.