- "And, if convicted, could be sent right here to old Belle Reve. And in here, well, you never know what might happen to a frail young thing like that. Shames me to say that we have the highest mortality rate in the entire U.S. prison system."
- ―Amanda Waller to Robert DuBois[src]
Belle Reve Federal Penitentiary, later renamed Belle Reve Correctional Center, is a clandestine prison for dangerous and powerful criminals and a black site operation for A.R.G.U.S., located in Terrebonne Parish in the state of Louisiana, United States.
History[]
Imprisonment of Lex Luthor[]
Luthor is shaved bald at Belle Reve.
Following the Showdown in Wayne Station and the death of Superman, a SWAT team stormed the Kryptonian scout ship Metropolis to arrest and imprison Lex Luthor at Belle Reve Federal Penitentiary. There, Luthor was shaved bald, and was later interrogated by Batman, who revealed that he had arranged for him to be transferred to Arkham Asylum in Gotham City. Fiercely, Luthor exclaimed the eventual arrival of Darkseid and his armada.[1]
Formation of Task Force X[]
Task Force X is formed at Belle Reve.
Months later, Amanda Waller, the director of A.R.G.U.S., planned to assemble Task Force X, composed of several criminals with superhuman abilities and powers to protect the United States. They included the marksman Floyd Lawton, the climber Christopher Weiss, the Australian thief George Harkness, the psychopath Harleen Quinzel, the monstrous crocodilian metahuman Waylon Jones, the pyrokinetic metahuman Chato Santana, and the witch Enchantress, who would be guided by Colonel Rick Flag and the samurai Tatsu Yamashiro.
Waller personally traveled to Belle Reve with Colonel Flag to inspect her candidates, witnessing Lawton's exceptional marksmanship at the Belle Reve shooting range. Following the defeat of Enchentress and Incubus at Midway City, the surviving members Lawton, Quinzel, Harkness, and Jones returned to Belle Reve with their sentences reduced, with some given special requests. Shortly after, however, the Joker and his gang infiltrated Belle Reve to free Quinzel.[2]
New Prisoners[]
In 2016, peace vigilante Christopher Smith was jailed at Belle Reve on a 30-year sentence,[3] at the same time that George Harkness escaped from his cell to become a wanted criminal in Gotham City.[4] Among the new prisoners were the mercenary Robert DuBois, the rat-handler Cleo Cazo, the anthropomorphic weasel Weasel, the metahuman Abner Krill, the shark metahuman Nanaue, the alien Mongal, the athlete Gunter Braun, the computer vigilante Brian Durlin, the detachable metahuman Cory Pitzner, and the weapons expert Richard Hertz.
Other prisoners included Calendar Man, Kaleidoscope, Karma, and Double Down, including the capture of Harkness and Harleen Quinzel. During this time span, Belle Reve was renamed to "Belle Reve Correctional Center."[5]
Mission in Corto Maltese[]
Task Force X prepares to leave Belle Reve.
Following Silvio Luna's rise to power in Corto Maltese, Amanda Waller, along with Emilia Harcourt, John Economos and Flo Crawley, visited Belle Reve to form a new Task Force X lineup, with the purpose of eliminating evidence of Project Starfish. As soon as Robert DuBois agreed for the arrest his daughter, Waller split the squad into two strike teams. The first team, consisting of Brian Durlin, Mongal, Richard Hertz, Gunter Braun, George Harkness, Cory Pitzner, Harleen Quinzel, and Weasel, and led by Rick Flag, would be used as a distraction while the second team, consisting of DuBois, Christopher Smith, Abner Krill, Cleo Cazo, and Nanaue, would enter the island.
Waller orders Task Force X to leave from Belle Reve.
During the mission, Waller and her technical team remained in communication with the divisions, until, upon entering the city of Valle del Mar, the communication signals were cut off. Following the Destruction of Jotunheim, Corto Maltese's signal to Belle Reve was restored, so Waller ordered the squad to leave by destroying the evidence, freeing the beast Starro. As Task Force X set out to finish off the creature, a furious Waller resisted, about to detonate the Nano-Bombs on their necks. Fortunately, Crawley knocked out Waller, allowing Task Force X to defeat Starro. Following the Battle of Valle del Mar, DuBois threatened Waller with exposing the evidence of Project Starfish if she killed any of his friends, forcing her to let them go free.[5]
Project Butterfly[]
Economos returns to Belle Reve.
Although most of Task Force X was freed, Amanda Waller ordered Clemson Murn to recruit Christopher Smith, who survived the Destruction of Jotunheim, and have him join a secret team: the 11th Street Kids, to confront the Butterflies, in exchange for not returning him to Belle Reve.[3] After the Battle at Coverdale Ranch, John Economos returned to his job as a technical support at Belle Reve and in his office, he looked with a smile at a photo of himself and the team having fun.[6]
Staff[]
Current[]
(senior security officer)
.jpg "David Ayer as Belle Reve Security Guard (Extended Edition).jpg (64 KB)")
(security officer; second-in-command to Griggs)
(security guard)
(security guard)
(chief physician)
(tech support)
Notable Inmates[]
Current[]
Former[]
Trivia[]
- The word Belle Reve is a broken version of French for "sweet dreams".
- Belle Reve is based on the DuBois Plantation from A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams.
- Belle Reve's location was known only to Amanda Waller and her staff until Harley Quinn's breakout via the Joker, and now both know where it is located.
