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Deathstroke

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Deathstroke
Cover art from Deathstroke (Vol. 4) #30 (June 2018). Art by Francesco Mattina.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceThe New Teen Titans #2 (December 10th 1980)
Created by
In-story information
Alter egoSlade Joseph Wilson
SpeciesHuman
Team affiliations
Notable aliasesDeathstroke the Terminator[1]
Abilities
  • Enhanced intellect and mental capacity
  • Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, durability, reflexes, and senses
  • Accelerated healing
  • Decelerated aging
  • Expert assassin
  • Master hand-to-hand combatant, martial artist, swordsman, and marksman
  • Master strategist and tactician
  • Utilizes various lethal weapons and hi-tech devices

Deathstroke is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, the character first appeared in The New Teen Titans #2 (December 1980) as Deathstroke the Terminator.

In his comic book appearances, Slade Wilson is a former U.S. Army operative who gains enhanced physical and mental abilities from an experimental super-soldier serum and becomes the mercenary Deathstroke. Widely considered the greatest and deadliest assassin in the DC Universe, he serves as the archenemy of Dick Grayson and the Teen Titans, and is also an adversary of other superheroes such as Batman, Green Arrow, and the Justice League. Deathstroke's vendetta against the Titans began when he swore revenge for the death of his eldest son Grant; his other two children, Jericho and Rose, would go on to join the Titans to oppose him. A bicolored black-and-orange mask that covers his missing right eye serves as Deathstroke's visual motif.

Deathstroke has been adapted in various media incarnations, having been portrayed in television by Manu Bennett in Arrow and Esai Morales in Titans, and by Joe Manganiello in the DC Extended Universe film Justice League and its director's cut. Ron Perlman and others have provided the character's voice in animation and video games.

Publication history

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Deathstroke the Terminator was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, and made his first appearance in The New Teen Titans #2 in December 1980.

Due to his popularity, Deathstroke received his own series, Deathstroke the Terminator, in 1991.[2] It was retitled Deathstroke the Hunted for issues #0 and #1–45; and then simply Deathstroke for issues #46–60. The series was cancelled with issue #60. In total, Deathstroke ran for 65 issues (#1–60, plus four Annuals and a special #0 issue).

Following his injury in DC Universe: Last Will and Testament, Deathstroke appears in one of the four Faces of Evil one-shots, written by David Hine.[3]

Despite predating James Cameron's film The Terminator by four years, the character is now simply called Deathstroke, though the full title has not completely fallen out of use, having been referenced as recently as Justice League Elite.

Fictional character biography

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Deathstroke the Terminator, as he was originally depicted on the cover of Tales of the Teen Titans #44 (July 1984). Art by George Pérez.

Slade Wilson was 16 years old when he enlisted in the United States Army, having lied about his age. After participation in the Korean War, he was assigned to Camp Washington where he had been promoted to the rank of major. In the early 1960s, he met Captain Adeline Kane, who was tasked with training young soldiers in new fighting techniques in anticipation of brewing troubles taking place in Vietnam. Kane was amazed at how skilled Slade was and how quickly he adapted to modern conventions of warfare. She immediately fell in love with him and realized that he was without a doubt the most able-bodied combatant that she had ever encountered. She offered to privately train Slade in guerrilla warfare. In less than a year, Slade mastered every fighting form presented to him and was soon promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Six months later, Adeline and he were married and she became pregnant with their first child. The war in Vietnam began to escalate and Slade was shipped overseas. In the war, his unit massacred a village, an event which sickened him. He was also rescued by SAS member Wintergreen, to whom he would later return the favor.

Characterization

[edit]

Christopher Priest, the writer of Deathstroke's self-titled solo series in DC Rebirth, has said:

[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.[4]

Deathstroke is widely regarded as one of the most feared and deadly professional assassins in the world with a considerable seven figure fee and a six figure deposit.[5][6][7] He is infamous for completing nearly all of his contracts, having only failed his contract with H.I.V.E. to kill the Teen Titans. He uses his resources to hire lawyers to prevent law enforcement from proving that Slade Wilson and Deathstroke are the same person. Deathstroke has been described as being emotionally crippled, believing everyone else to be "idiots" and struggling to commit despite desperately loving his children and desiring closeness with them. He is a poor father and often suffers from past choices made between his children and wife, Adeline.[7]

Powers and abilities

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Slade Wilson was given an experimental super-soldier serum that increased his physical and mental abilities to superhuman levels, granting him enhanced strength, speed, stamina, agility, durability, reflexes, and senses. Deathstroke also possesses a healing factor that allows him to recover from injuries at an accelerated rate. Despite stating that he can only heal non-fatal injuries, he has shown to heal from severe organ trauma such as impalement and bullet wounds to the brain. These regenerative abilities have given him a slowed aging process and extended longevity, in addition to a resistance to toxins.[8][9][10][11] While Deathstroke was originally stated to be able to use up to 90% of his brain's capacity, it was later clarified that his brain processes information nine times more efficiently than an ordinary human's.[9][10][8] Deathstroke also has an eidetic memory and has been described as a tactical genius with a strategic mind rivaling that of Batman.[12][13]

Even prior to acquiring his powers, Deathstroke mastered numerous hand-to-hand combat and martial art forms as well as swordsmanship and marksmanship as part of his elite training in the military. His arsenal of weapons include various swords, firearms, knives, and a ballistic staff capable of firing bolts of energy from each end.

Other versions

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Collected editions

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Title Material collected Pages Publication date ISBN
Deathstroke, The Terminator
Deathstroke, The Terminator Vol. 1: Assassins Deathstroke, the Terminator #1–9, New Titans #70 264 November 2014 978-1401254285
Deathstroke, The Terminator Vol. 2: Sympathy For The Devil Deathstroke, the Terminator #10–13, Annual #1, Superman Vol. 2 #68 272 November 2015 978-1401258429
Deathstroke, The Terminator Vol. 3: Nuclear Winter Deathstroke, the Terminator #14–20, Showcase '93 #6–11 312 August 2016 978-1401260767
Deathstroke, The Terminator Vol. 4: Crash or Burn Deathstroke, the Terminator #21–25, Annual #2 312 April 2017 978-1401270834
Deathstroke, The Terminator Vol. 5: World Tour Deathstroke, the Terminator #26–34 336 July 2018 978-1401285753
The New 52
Deathstroke Vol. 1: Legacy Deathstroke Vol. 2 #1–8 192 August 2012 978-1-401234-81-2
Deathstroke Vol. 2: Lobo Hunt Deathstroke Vol. 2 #0, #9–20 240 August 2013
Deathstroke Vol. 1: Gods of War Deathstroke Vol. 3 #1–6 144 July 2015 978-1401254711
Deathstroke Vol. 2: God Killer Deathstroke Vol. 3 #7–10, Annual #1, Sneak Preview from Convergence: Batman: Shadow of the Bat #2 144 April 2016 978-1401261207
Deathstroke Vol. 3: Suicide Run Deathstroke Vol. 3 #11–16 144 October 2016 978-1401264550
Deathstroke Vol. 4: Family Business Deathstroke Vol. 3 #17–20, Annual #2 144 August 2017 978-1401267940
DC Rebirth
Deathstroke Vol. 1: The Professional Deathstroke: Rebirth #1, Deathstroke Vol. 4 #1–5 144 January 2017 978-1401268237
Deathstroke Vol. 2: The Gospel of Slade Deathstroke Vol. 4 #6–11 144 May 2017 978-1401270988
Deathstroke Vol. 3: Twilight Deathstroke Vol. 4 #12–18 168 October 2017 978-1401274061
Titans: The Lazarus Contract Deathstroke Vol. 4 #19-20, Titans Vol. 3 #11, Teen Titans Vol. 6 #8, Teen Titans: The Lazarus Contract Special #1 128 October 2017 978-1401276508
Deathstroke Vol. 4: Defiance Deathstroke Vol. 4 #21–25 128 April 2018 978-1401275471
Deathstroke Vol. 5: Fall of Slade Deathstroke Vol. 4 #26–29 and Annual #1 144 August 2018 978-1401278335
Batman vs. Deathstroke Deathstroke Vol. 4 #30–35 160 November 2018 978-1401285890
Deathstroke Vol. 6: Arkham Deathstroke Vol. 4 #36-40 144 May 2019 978-1401294311
Teen Titans/Deathstroke: The Terminus Agenda Deathstroke Vol. 4 #41–43, Teen Titans Vol. 6 #28-30 144 September 2019 978-1401299651
Deathstroke: R.I.P. Deathstroke Vol. 4 #44–50 288 February 2020 978-1779502759
Deathstroke by Christopher Priest Omnibus Deathstroke: Rebirth #1, Deathstroke #1-50, Deathstroke Annual #1, DC Holiday Special 2017 #1, Titans #11, Teen Titans #8, 28-30, and Titans: The Lazarus Contract Special #1. 1392 October 2021 978-1779512604
Infinite Frontier
Deathstroke Inc. Vol. 1: King of the Supervillains Deathstroke Inc. #1-7 and a story from Batman: Urban Legends #6 208 May 2022 978-1779516572
Deathstroke Inc. Vol. 2: Year One Deathstroke Inc. #10-15 206 March 2023 978-1779519825
Batman: Shadow War Shadow War: Alpha #1, Batman #122-123, Deathstroke Inc. #8-9, Robin #13-14, Shadow War Zone #1, and Shadow War: Omega #1 256 November 2022 978-1401254285

In other media

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Television

[edit]

Live-action

[edit]
Manu Bennett (left) and Esai Morales (right) as Slade Wilson / Deathstroke in Arrow and Titans, respectively

Animation

[edit]
Slade as depicted in Teen Titans

Film

[edit]

Live-action

[edit]
Joe Manganiello as Slade Wilson / Deathstroke in Justice League (2017)

Slade Wilson / Deathstroke appears in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), portrayed by Joe Manganiello. In the post-credits scene of Justice League (2017), Lex Luthor recruits him to form their own team in response to the Justice League's formation.[40] In the director's cut of the film, Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021), Deathstroke learns of Batman's secret identity from Luthor, and a possible future version of the character also appears in an apocalyptic dream.[41] Manganiello was originally slated to reprise the role in The Batman and a Deathstroke origin film, but these projects were removed from the DCEU's continuity and canceled, respectively.[42][43][44][45]

Animation

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DC Animated Movie Universe
[edit]
Main article: DC Animated Movie Universe

Video games

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Batman: Arkham

[edit]
Main article: Batman: Arkham
Deathstroke as depicted in Batman: Arkham Origins (2013)

Lego

[edit]
Main article: Lego Batman

Miscellaneous

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References

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  1. ^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 85. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
  2. ^ Manning, Matthew K. (2010). "1990s". In Dolan, Hannah (ed.). DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. Dorling Kindersley. p. 250. ISBN 978-0-7566-6742-9. Slade Wilson began his impressive sixty-issue run with the help of writer Marv Wolfman and artist Steve Erwin.
  3. ^ Renaud, Jeffrey (November 12, 2008). "David Hine on Deathstroke's Return". Comic Book Resources.
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  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :32 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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