Department of Extranormal Operations

Fictional government agency in the DC Universe

The Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO) is a government agency in the DC Universe appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It was co created by Dan Curtis Johnson and J. H. Williams III and first appeared in Batman #550 (1998). The agency was the focus of the Chase series. It is featured in the Supergirl television series. The agency has a complicated relationship with the depiction of law and constitutional rights in the DC Universe.

In the comics continuation of Smallville, the DEO appears as a Washington, D. C. based agency under Director Bones (and later Steve Trevor) dealing with threats like Felix Faust and Dr. Phosphorus. Under Trevor, the DEO took steps in employing individuals like Cameron Chase, and even heroes like Oliver Queen/Green Arrow and Diana Prince, to their causes.

In the 2011 film Green Lantern, the DEO appears as an agency under the secret support of Sen. Robert Hammond. His son, Hector Hammond, is given the assignment of doing the autopsy of Abin Sur by one of the main heads, Amanda Waller.

It was revealed in the Peacemaker episode "Better Goff Dead" that Emilia Harcourt was a DEO agent before joining A. R. G. U. S. as an agent.

The DEO appears in the TV series set in the Arrowverse. In the 2015 CBS/CW television series Supergirl, the Department of Extranormal Operations employs Kara Zor El's adoptive sister Alex Danvers as a scientist and operative. This iteration of the agency is led by former CIA agent Hank Henshaw (later revealed to be J'onn J'onzz in disguise after the real Hank Henshaw was presumably killed while on assignment). Additionally, Brainiac 5 joins in the third season as a technician after Brainiac's actions in the 31st century make it too dangerous for him to return. Thanks to J'onn, the DEO now is less prejudiced against non humans and focused on battling rogue extraterrestrials in addition to occasional criminal, metahuman and terrorist threats. It is learned in season two that Superman was a member of the team. Through Supergirl's alignment with superheroes from a parallel Earth (Earth 1), the DEO is aligned with S. T. A. R. Labs and accessing their technology for dealing with their own metahuman and parallel universal threats. In season four, Alex has been named as the new director of the DEO from J'onn. In season five, the DEO headquarters is leveled during the fight with Rama Khan. At the end of the four part Arrowverse crossover, "Invasion! ", Kara speaks with the Earth 1 universe's succeeding U. S. president, Susan Brayden; she informs the new chief executive that the United States government of her universe (Earth 38) founded the DEO for monitoring and countering extraterrestrial threats, and the president agrees that her administration would establish their own agency in response to the Dominators' attacks.``
During the final part of the later Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths", following the multiverse being rebooted, Supergirl's universe was merged with others including Earth 1's to create Earth Prime and the DEO was altered to become a subsidiary of LuthorCorp. The DEO is featured in the Legends of Tomorrow episode "Ground Control to Sara Lance". When Ava Sharpe tries to contact the DEO to help find the aliens that took Sara Lance, all that is shown is the DEO headquarters still in ruins. Gideon brings this historical moment up with Ava causing them to go to plan B and enlist Esperanza "Spooner" Cruz per the suggestion of Behrad Tarazi.

The DEO had a brief appearance in the intro level to Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, where they acted as adversaries to both Batman and Catwoman, the former due to mistaken association with the latter, and the latter due to stealing classified data.