Created by David Vern Reed, Lew Schwartz and Bob Kane, the character made his first appearance in Batman #59 (June–July 1950). The character was modernized with the popular look he is now known for in Detective Comics #474 by Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin. He is an excellent sniper who regularly boasts of never missing a shot, and is often considered one of the deadliest assassins in the DC Universe.

Deadshot is primarily an adversary of the superhero Batman and belongs to the collection of enemies that make up his rogues gallery, though he has also come into conflict with other heroes, such as Green Arrow.

While typically portrayed as a supervillain, he has also been occasionally depicted as an antihero.The character has been substantially adapted from the comics into various forms of media, including television series, feature films and video games. Years after a one-off appearance, Deadshot became a recurring popular Batman villain following Detective Comics #474 and eventually joined the Suicide Squad.

Deadshot was portrayed by Bradley Stryker in the final season of Smallville, by Michael Rowe in the Arrowverse, and by Will Smith in the DC Extended Universe, starting with the 2016 film, Suicide Squad. IGN ranked Deadshot as the 43rd-greatest comic book villain of all time in 2009.