Deathstroke

Template:Superherobox 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).

Imbued with amazing physical prowess by secret army experiments, he 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.

Other media

Deathstroke appears as a recurring villain in the Teen Titans animated series as a mysterious criminal mastermind known only as Slade (voiced in an eerie monotone by Ron Perlman). The new Slade seems to have a very loose relation to the previous incarnations of the character. His true identity and origins have not been explored in the series, but his obsession with Robin has led some to believe that he is Batman. This has, however, been flat-out denied by the series creators.

In Season One, he blackmailed Robin into serving him as an apprentice for a short time. In Season Two, he recruited Terra & had her enter the team as a spy. Unlike in the comic, she was not portrayed as full-on evil, only misguided, and in the end, took him down with a volcano triggered by her powers. She sacrificed herself in the process, while stopping it to prevent the destruction of the city, she turned into stone herself. Being (apparently) dead (he does not appear to have the same level of regenerative abilities in the animated series), he was absent for most of Season Three. He appeared in one episode, "Haunted" as an apparition in Robin's mind, set off by chemicals left over from one of his masks. It was discovered at the end of the episode that they were placed there by an unknown intruder, leaving more than a few questions to be answered.

In Season Four (episode "Birthmark"), he returns as a servant of Trigon, Raven's demonic father. He now has fire powers, a red mark on his forehead, and is apparently indestructible. At the end of the episode "The Prophecy", he is discovered to be working for Trigon to regain "what is precious to him". In the three-part episode "The End", an explanation is finally given. It turns out that Slade’s defeat by Terra had indeed killed him, and that he was now a skeleton, serving Trigon who had promised to give him back his flesh. Trigon goes back on his word after Slade has done his bidding, and takes away the powers he has given Slade. Consequently, Slade enlists the Teen Titans help, and while Starfire, Beast Boy and Cyborg distract Trigon, he and Robin go down to the underworld to rescue Raven. In the process, Slade is able to forcibly reclaim his flesh, and obtain a weapon capable of hurting Trigon.