Deathstroke (Slade Joseph Wilson) is a fictional
supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Deathstroke
is the world's greatest assassin/mercenary and an enemy of the Teen Titans and
the Justice League. Originally a soldier in the U.S. Army, he was part of an
experimental super-soldier project where he gained enhanced strength, agility
and intelligence. His vendetta against the Titans began when he swore revenge
for the death of his oldest son Grant; his two other children would go on to
become Titans members as Jericho and Ravager. Traditionally his actions have
been limited by a strong personal code of honour, although his motives became
more villainous following the death of his wife Adeline Kane. Through this time
his only steady companion is his loyal manservant Major Wintergreen. He has
been a member of Checkmate, H.I.V.E., the Injustice League, the Secret Society
of Super-Villains, the Suicide Squad, the Titans and Titans East. Deathstroke
was created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, first appearing in New Teen
Titans #2. (1980).
For the start of his origin, at the age of sixteen, Slade
Wilson was determined to enlist in the U.S Army, so he ran away from home and
lied about his age to be in the army. He soon showed talents and skills in
guerrilla warfare far superior to that of any other soldier in the army and was
quickly promoted over and over by his superiors.
After a while his outstanding reputation landed him under
the wing of Adeline Kane, an instructor who became one of his superiors and
whom he befriended. Slade trained under his commanding officer, Captain Adeline
Kane, and quickly amazed her, demonstrating he was an expert in combat and had
impressive talents and skills.
Slade mastered several combat styles and was promoted to
Lieutenant Colonel. Some time later, Slade Wilson began a romantic relationship
with Adeline and had a son with her.
Soon after the birth of his first son, Grant Wilson; The
Army asked Slade to be a volunteer of a secret medical experiment that was said
to be a defense against the enemy's Truth Serum and he agreed. (It was later
revealed to be really an attempt to create a test to make metahuman
super-soldiers).
Slade's body reacted violently to the experiment, it made
him aggressive and enraged, and he needed to remain sedated and bedridden
through the birth of his second son Joseph Wilson. Only later would Slade
discover that the experiment had worked and actually enhanced his strength,
speed, senses, stamina, intellect and reflexes beyond that of any ordinary man.
With his duties in the army limited to that of desk work, Slade dedicated
himself to professional hunting in order to fill the void he felt within
himself as a fighter and he married Adeline Kane.
However, this life too was put on hold, when William
Randolph Wintergreen, a lifelong friend, was sent on a suicide mission and was
captured. When his superiors refused to help, Slade was forced to do the
impossible; he put together a costume and went on an unauthorized solo mission
to save his friend. In the end he saved Wintergreen but was discharged from the
army for disobeying orders. Slade decided this was for the best. Fed up with
the army and its code of blind loyalty, Slade created the costumed persona of
Deathstroke the Terminator, the greatest mercenary the world would ever know by
using the knowledge he had acquired from his military training and under the
tutelage of master martial artist Natas.
Many like others, my introduction to the character is when Deathstroke
appeared as the most recurrent villain in the animated series of the Teen
Titans, voiced by Ron Perlman. However, since neither of the names
"Deathstroke" or "The Terminator" were accepted as suitable
for a cartoon aimed for kids, he was called by his birth name of
"Slade". Though this is never stated to be his real name in the
cartoon, it is used as if it is an alias. Slade's appearances and motives are
unknown at first, and seem to vary with the show's seasons with the first
season having him driving Robin to a point where he could control him and
eventually turn him into his apprentice which eventually fails when Slade
underestimates Robin and the relationship he shares with his fellow Titans.
Season Two is broadly based on the "Judas
Contract" story where he encounters Terra after she leaves the Titans and
lures her in with promises to help her control her powers, while manipulating
her to make her hate the Titans before sending her back to them as a sleeper
agent to gather information. She would then let Slade's robots into the tower.
Slade further augmented Terra's powers by grafting a suit onto her body to ease
her control, while making him able to control her body should she one day
rebel. However, Slade again suffered defeat as Terra eventually turned on him
when he tried to force her to kill Beast Boy. She knocks Slade into a pool of
lava, killing him.
On account of him being dead, Slade didn't make any actual
appearances in Season Three. Though he made an appearance as a drug-induced
hallucination on Robin's part when he inadvertently inhaled some dust found on
Slade's old mask. However, Cyborg noted that the dust was triggered from
outside the tower which led to further speculation about whether Slade was
truly dead or not.
Season Four would see Slade return from the dead as an
empowered henchman to Trigon, possessing a vast array of demonic powers such as
pyrokinetic control and flight while also being indestructible. Slade would
later explain to Robin that he had agreed to serve Trigon and prepare Raven for
his arrival in return for his own flesh and blood, which Robin had realized was
missing when Slade was shown to be nothing but his suit and a walking skeleton.
During his time as a mere henchman, Slade revealed new sides of himself such as
a dark sense of humor while obviously enjoying himself when tormenting the
Titans, and Raven in particular whom he apparently didn't think much of before
until Trigon revealed what she really was and what she was meant to do. Because
of Raven's choices or Trigon's cruel nature, Slade was usurped by Raven as
commander of Trigon's army and cheated out of his reward when Trigon claimed it
was him and not Slade who made Raven embrace her destiny. Slade didn't take
kindly to this and, while his new powers were taken away from him, he survived
to ally himself with the Teen Titans against Trigon after leading Robin to
where Raven was being kept in Trigon's realm.
After Trigon's defeat, Slade disappeared. However, Slade
would be featured once more in the Season Five series finale where Beast Boy
encountered and fought one of his robots after finding a girl that looked just
like Terra attending a school. Beast Boy was convinced it was Slade who had
made her forget him. Slade claimed to have had no part in it, rather it was
Terra who had wished to forget what she had once been, and that Beast Boy had
no right to remind her of it. Slade is the only villain not accounted for by
the end of the series.
Deathstroke vs. Batman in the Comics: Batman vs. Deathstroke (Re-birth) (2019) is personally best fight I've ever seen involving him.
One of my favourite Deathstroke's animated fight scene hands
down would be in the game Batman: Arkham Origins (2013)
No comments:
Post a Comment