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Deathstroke | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | DC Comics |
First appearance | The New Teen Titans #2 (December 10th 1980) |
Created by |
|
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Slade Joseph Wilson |
Species | Human |
Team affiliations | |
Notable aliases | Deathstroke the Terminator [1] |
Abilities |
|
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.
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 .
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.
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]
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.
Title | Material collected | Pages | Publication date | ISBN |
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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 |
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]
A new film co-starring Deathstroke and Bane was reported to be in development from a screenplay by Matthew Orton in September 2024. It will be produced by DC Studios and set in the DC Universe (DCU) franchise. [46] [47]
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