Deathstroke

Revision as of 11:22, 4 January 2022

Slade Wilson in Deathstroke v4 #1.

Deathstroke is a male comic supervillain who features in DC Comics.

Biography

Origin

Slade Wilson

He enlisted in the United States army where he was noted for being a legend among the ranks. Wilson was later sent on a special training exercise at Camp Washington with the project being overseen by Captain Adeline Kane. Kane served as a trainer with Slade having to go through rigorous training which saw half the candidates wash out within the first three weeks. Those that remained became highly skilled with Wilson being the best among them but even then he proved to be outfought by Adeline Kane. Their time together led to the two falling in love and after he graduated from the training the pair got married before the end of the year. Adeline became pregnant with their first child Grant Wilson when Slade himself was deployed to fight in a war. He then volunteered when the army was looking for recruits for a new serum based on an A.C.T.H. derivative which resulted in him gaining superhuman enhancements over existing physical traits. Wilson had to be restrained as a result of the reaction to the serum with the event being classified by the military as he fell into a near-death state. It took Wintergreen and Adeline months of fighting through red tape before they finally see him and he remained in this condition for weeks before recovering. He was then released where he returned home and recuperated with Adeline becoming pregnant again with their second son Joseph. (Deathstroke the Terminator v1 #1)

Teen Titans

Deathstroke as later hired by the H.I.V.E. where he was tasked with the elimination of the Teen Titans. He had demanded payment in advance for the mission with his prospective employers refusing. This led to Deathstroke walking away from them with H.I.V.E. attempting to kill him but failing in the attempt. Despite this incident, Wilson to an interest in the Titans and began to remotely observe them. Unknown to him, his son Grant Wilson was recruited by the H.I.V.E. who gave him powers similar to Deathstroke where he took the name Ravager and sent on the mission to kill the Teen Titans. Ravager was unaware of the fact that his own father was the legendary mercenary Deathstroke and instead looked to prove himself. This led to Deathstroke getting involved in the hit where he and Ravager fought the Titans. However, the process that empowered Grant was flawed and overtaxed his body causing him to die during the fight. This led to Deathstroke taking Ravager's body away with Slade being forced to bury his son with him swearing revenge against the Teen Titans for their role in the incident. (New Teen Titans v1 #2)

Modern

He later came to be a founding member of Lex Luthor's Secret Society of Super-Villains where he was tasked with recruiting supervillains into their ranks. (Batman v1 #646)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.

During Gotham's War of Jokes and Riddles, it was noted that he had joined the Riddler's faction that were engaged in a battle for the city against the villains who sided with Joker. This was to determine between them who had the privilege of killing Batman. In the conflict, he squared off against Deadshot who had sided with Joker where the two mercenaries fought for a total of five days killing 62 civilians that were caught in their crossfire before they were stopped by Batman. (Batman v3 #28)

Slade later came to question his direction in life and whether someone like him could be redeemed. This saw him looking to decide what path to take whether to be a hero or a villain. In that time, he came to be hired as an operative for T.R.U.S.T. where he was partnered with Black Canary to neutralise dangerous individuals in the world. One of their first missions together was the capture of the new H.I.V.E. Queen who was mutating humans into bee people. (Deathstroke Inc. v1 #1)

Overview

Personality and attributes

He came to be known by the name of Deathstroke the Terminator. (New Teen Titans v1 #2)

He said that he stopped counting the number of people he had killed a long time ago. (Teen Titans v6 #8)

It was said that he did not answer to anyone. (New Teen Titans v1 #2)

As a mercenary, he was paid in advance and decided on his own way to eliminate the target. It was said that once Deathstroke took an assignment that he never failed on a mission. (New Teen Titans v1 #2)

He had told his son Grant Wilson stories about the exploits of the legendary Deathstroke with his child unaware that Slade was actually the famed mercenary. (New Teen Titans v1 #2)

Aiding him was his close confidante Wintergreen who often provided support from headquarters. (New Teen Titans v1 #2)

He came to blame the Teen Titans for the death of his son Grant Wilson and swore revenge against them. (New Teen Titans v1 #2)

Powers and abilities

The Terminator in Deathstroke v2 #15.

This resulted in his brain power being increased to 90% which had the added effect of making him stronger and faster than an ordinary human as well as increased his senses a thousandfold. (New Teen Titans v1 #10) His reflexes were said to be phenomenal where he was able to dodge a hail of bullets. (New Teen Titans v1 #2)

At one point, he was noted to had been given the God Killer sword that was forged by the Olympian god Hephaestus and was capable of killing gods. (Deathstroke v3 #7)

Among his equipment included the Ikon Suit developed by Dr. David Isherwood that was a prototype version of his technology. Kinetic energy impacting the suit was able to power up its systems. (Deathstroke v4 #1) It operated by producing a gravitic sheath creating a point defense system creating gravitational tidal effect to protect the wearer though it was not a force field. (Deathstroke v4 #2)

Notes

• Deathstroke was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez where he made his first appearance in New Teen Titans v1 #2 (December, 1980).
• In an interview with Christopher J. Priest, he commented that, "[N]ot only was Marv's Deathstroke a villain, he was also kind of an asshole, which I thought was unique. He wasn't some misunderstood anarchist; he deliberately did skeevy things – most notably sleeping with Terra, a presumably underage girl – in his quest to exact revenge against his enemies. I read that and went, "Whoa". This was beyond The Joker, well beyond Lex Luthor. Marv created the first modern supervillain. He broke every rule by making Deathstroke three-dimensional and giving him internal conflicts while maintaining a level of skeeve we weren't used to seeing from a typical 2-dimensional bad guy."

Alternate Versions

In other media

Television

• In Teen Titans, Slade appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Ron Perlman.
• In Smallville, Slade Wilson appeared in the live-action television series where he was portrayed by actor Michael Hogan.
• In Young Justice: Invasion, Deathstroke appeared in the animated television series where he was first voiced by actor Wentworth Miller and later voiced by actor Fred Tatasciore.
• In Arrow, Slade Wilson appeared in the live-action television series set in the Arrowverse where he was portrayed by actor Manu Bennett.

Films

• In Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, President Slade Wilson appeared in the animated film where he was voiced by actor Bruce Davison.
• In Justice League, Deathstroke appeared in the live-action film set in the DC Extended Universe where he was portrayed by actor Joe Manganiello.

Video games

• In Injustice: Gods Among Us, Deathstroke appeared as a playable character in the fighting video game where he was voiced by actor J. G. Hertzler.

Appearances

• New Teen Titans v1: (1980)
• Deathstroke the Terminator v1:
• Deathstroke v2:
• Deathstroke v3:
• Deathstroke v4:
• Deathstroke Inc. v1: (2021)

External Links

• DC Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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