Deathstroke (Slade Wilson), sometimes called Deathstroke the Terminator, is a fictional character appearing in the DC Comics universe. He is a mercenary and assassin. He first appeared in New Teen Titans vol. 1 #2 (1980).
| Deathstroke | |
|---|---|
| File:Bad deathstroke.jpg Deathstroke | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | New Teen Titans #2 |
| Created by | Marv Wolfman George Perez |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Slade Wilson |
| Team affiliations | Terra |
| Notable aliases | The Terminator |
| Abilities | Increased mental capacity, Quick reflexes, Regeneration, Immortal, Strength, Stamina, Artificial eye sees in infrared vision |
Character History
Imbued with amazing physical prowess by secret army experiments, Deathstroke also has an amazing healing factor which can regenerate his body, even from death. He is also a crack marksman and skilled hand-to-hand combatant, and is willing to fight dirty when necessary.
However, he kept this career secret from his family, even though his wife was a crack military combat instructor, until a criminal kidnapped his younger son, Joseph, as a hostage to force Slade to divulge some secret information. Slade refused to do so and attacked and killed the kidnappers at the rendezvous. Unfortunately, Joseph's throat was slashed by one of the criminals before Slade could prevent it, destroying his vocal cords and rendering him mute. After taking Joseph to the hospital, Slade's wife, enraged at his endangerment of her son, tried to kill Slade by shooting him, but only managed to destroy one of his eyes. Afterward, his confidence in his physical abilities was such that he made no secret of his impaired vision, marked by his mask which has a black featureless half covering his lost eye.
Slade has a long history as an enemy of the Teen Titans, beginning when his other son, Grant, became an early Titans foe called the Ravager who was physically enhanced to fulfil a contract to kill or capture the Teen Titans. However, those enhancements proved fatal and Slade agreed to complete the contract. As a result, he attacked the Titans continually and finally succeeded in capturing them by introducing Terra into the team as a spy. At the end of this plot, Slade was defeated and captured with the help of Joseph, who joined the team as Jericho. Despite their enmity, he has grudgingly worked alongside the Titans on occasion, usually to battle a greater evil.
Deathstroke was eventually forced to kill Jericho after his possession by the tainted souls of Azarath. Recently it was revealed that Jericho managed to transfer his consciousness into Deathstroke in the instant before his death. Taking control of his father, Jericho launched a series of attacks against the current Teen Titans, most notably shattering Impulse's knee with a shotgun blast. Deathstroke was freed of Jericho's control and has since brought his one remaining child, Rose Wilson, into the mercenary business as the new Ravager.
Deathstroke received his own series, Deathstroke the Terminator, in 1991; this series lasted for 61 issues (#1-60 plus a special #0 issue), being cancelled shortly after Zero Hour. It was retitled to Deathstroke the Hunted for issues #0 and #41-45 and then simply "Deathstroke" from 46 through 60.
Many critics complain that writer Rob Liefeld copied the Deathstroke character in his work at Marvel Comics, creating Wade Wilson, alias Deadpool, an amoral, quick-healing mercenary who clashed with Marvel's formerly-teenaged hero team, X-Force.
In Teen Titans animated series
Deathstroke also appears in the Teen Titans animated series, where he is referred to only as Slade (and voiced very menacingly by actor Ron Perlman). He is one of the Titans' primary foes. His main goal is to "destroy" the Titans and conquer the city and quite possibly the world, for unknown reasons - though it is possible he is simply a criminal with ambitions of power and has no ulterior motives.
In many episodes in Season One and Season Two, he tries to recruit others to his side. He initially hires Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth from the H.I.V.E. Academy, but the Titans succeed in beating the three graduates. Slade then tries to trick Thunder and Lightning, two teenage storm elementals, into destroying Jump City, but that too failed when Beast Boy helped the brothers to see the error of their ways. In the "Apprentice" story arc, Slade forced Robin to join him, with the threat that if he did not, Slade would use nanobots he planted in the Titans to destroy them from the inside out, therefore killing them. Robin eventually overcame Slade with his friends' help.
In Season Two, Slade recruited the superheroine Terra, who in the animated series is portrayed as more of a lost soul than an irredeemable psychopath. In "Aftershock" Parts One and Two, Terra betrayed the Titans to Slade, who took over the city with her help. The Titans returned however, and with Beast Boy's help, Terra overcame the link her new suit had to Slade, and she sent him to his doom in a lava pit while she turned to stone.
Being apparently dead (as he seemingly does not have his comic book counterpart's recovery abilities), Slade was absent for the most part in the third season. He did appear in the season 3 episode, "Haunted". But in this episode, he is a figment of Robin's imagination, due to a dust released from his mask onto Robin, which made him see, hear, and feel Slade. This almost killed Robin, but he saved his life by turning on the lights. He then unexplainably returned in full for Season Four, as the servant of Raven's demonic father Trigon. Slade now had fire powers and a red mark on his forehead, called the Mark of Scath. He delivered Trigon's message to Raven, that she would cause the end of the world on her birthday. In the episode "The End Part 2", it is explained that Slade's defeat at Terra's hands had indeed killed him, and that Trigon had promised to give him back his flesh in exchange for his services. However, Trigon, evil sneak that he was, went back on the deal, and Slade decided to join forces with the Teen Titans. While Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy tried to distract Trigon, Robin and Slade went to find Raven (who had been transformed into a child version of herself) in the underworld. Upon returning to the surface with Raven, the Titans assaulted Trigon in a somewhat vain effort to defeat him. Nevertheless, they managed to hurt him, as did Slade, who recovered his flesh and stole the demonic weapon of one of Trigon's minions. Raven finally defeated her "father" and restored the world to normal, but Slade escaped the Titans shortly thereafter, with a solemn promise from Robin that "Next time I see you... Nothing will have changed."
We expect more appearances in the near future.
Appearances in Teen Titans Go
- Issue 1:Demo
- Issue 11:Countdown
- Issue 18:When Chibis Attack(cameo appearance as a chibi)
- Issue 22:Listin