Superhero and supervillain team-ups have always been a great way to expose lesser-known characters to a wider audience, but not every team-up works. Take for example the 1995 supervillain team Killer Elite, a team so obscure that eve diehard DC Universe fans may not have heard about or remember this (very) short-lived team.
Killer Elite debuted in Justice League America #105, by Gerard Jones, Chuck Wojtkiewicz, Drew Geraci, and Gene D'Angelo and was made up of some of the DC Universe's best assassins including Bolt, Chiller, Deadline, Deadshot, and Merlyn. It isn't exactly clear why these assassins came together, but they joined forces shortly after Neron began his plan to enslave Earth's super-villains. Neron attempted to take over Earth by fulfilling the greatest desires of dozens of supervillains and superheroes in exchange for their souls in the Underworld Unleashed crossover event. It is likely that some or all of the Killer Elite sold their souls to Neron in exchange for some kind of increase in power.
After their two Justice League America appearances, Killer Elite pops up two years later in JLA Secret Files and Origins #1. While they aren't in an actual story, Killer Elite is included in a big splash page titled, "The Justice League Villains Legend." The members that make up the team aren't even seen together but have their names listed and as being part of "Killer Elite."
A year later, a smaller Killer Elite team showed up in the New Year's Evil: Body Doubles one-shot, by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Joe Phillips. New Year's Evil was a series of eight one-shot specials that focused on various supervillains in the DC Universe. In this issue, Killer Elite was slimmed down to just Deadshot, Deadline, and Merlyn, who take on the Body Doubles, two female assassins. They are all competing for a contract that Requiem Inc., put out to kill a man named Richter. During the story, Deadshot secretly sabotages Killer Elite's victory because he was dating Body Double Carmen Leno at the time.
Killer Elite makes their final appearance in Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins' The Flash #179 during the 2001 crossover event Joker's Last Laugh. In this story, the Joker is locked up in the Slab Penitentiary when he finds out that he's dying from a terminal brain tumor. Wanting to go out with a bang, the Joker uses a new Joker venom to "Jokerize" the other inmates, driving them insane and making them look like the Joker with white skin, green hair, and an unnaturally wide smile.
During the riot at Slab, Deadshot and Deadline are transported to Iron Heights by Warp and immediately lay siege to the prison and begin shooting people with the Joker venom. Iron Heights warden Gregory Wolfe shoots and kills Deadline and Deadshot infects Captain Boomerang, turning him into a Joker hooligan before The Flash stops the attack. This can barely be considered a true Killer Elite appearance. Besides never calling Deadshot and Deadline the "Killer Elite," the team is now down to two members. It seems every time this supervillain team-up appears, they are missing more and more members.
After this appearance, Killer Elite faded away into DC obscurity, not leaving much of a legacy or an impact on either the DC landscape or the minds of readers. What could have been a new Legion of Doom comprised solely of some of the world's best assassins, was an underused supervillain team-up that never found the right story to highlight their abilities.