Deathstroke
Deathstroke is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez, the character first appeared in The New Teen Titans #2 as Deathstroke the Terminator.
Deathstroke is the alias of Slade Joseph Wilson, a mercenary and former U.S. Army soldier who gains enhanced physical and mental abilities from an experimental super-soldier serum. Regarded as the greatest and deadliest assassin in the DC Universe, he serves as the archenemy of Dick Grayson and the Teen Titans, although he has also fought other superheroes, including 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, Joseph 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.
The character has been adapted in various media incarnations, having been portrayed in television by Michael Hogan in Smallville, Manu Bennett in Arrow, and Esai Morales in Titans; and in film by Joe Manganiello in Justice League and its director's cut. Ron Perlman and others have provided Deathstroke's voice in animation and video games.
Publication history
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. It was retitled Deathstroke the Hunted for issues #0 and #41–45; and then simply Deathstroke for issues #46–60. The series was cancelled with issue #60. In total, Deathstroke ran for 65 issues.
Deathstroke will receive a new ongoing series in March 2026 as part of the "DC Next Level" publishing initiative.
The character’s popularity with readers also led Rob Liefeld to create the popular Marvel Comics character Deadpool, whose name, powers, and costume were originally patterned on Deathstroke.
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.
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 in Justice League Elite.
Fictional character biography
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.Chosen for a secret experiment, the Army imbued him with a drug that allowed him to utilize and use up to 90% of his brain's capacity granting him enhanced physical powers and near-mastery control of his body in an attempt to create metahuman super-soldiers for the U.S. military. Deathstroke became a mercenary soon after the experiment when he defied orders and rescued his friend Wintergreen, who had been sent on a suicide mission by a commanding officer with a grudge. However, Slade kept this career secret from his family, even though his wife was an expert military combat instructor.
A criminal named Jackal took his younger son Joseph Wilson hostage to force Slade to divulge the name of a client who had hired him as an assassin. Slade refused, claiming it was against his personal honor code. He attacked and killed the kidnappers at the rendezvous. Joseph's throat was slashed by one of the criminals before Slade could prevent it, destroying Joseph's vocal cords and rendering him mute.
After taking Joseph to the hospital, Adeline was enraged at Slade's endangerment of Joseph and tried to kill Slade by shooting him, but only managed to destroy his right eye. Slade's 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 right eye. Without his mask, Slade wears an eye patch to cover his eye.
The Teen Titans
Slade has a long history as an enemy of the Teen Titans, beginning when his other son Grant received superhuman enhancements from H.I.V.E., dubbed himself Ravager, and accepted a contract from them to kill or capture the Teen Titans. However, Grant's enhancements proved fatal, and Slade agreed to complete the contract. His first mission involved stealing the element Promethium from S.T.A.R. Labs and selling it as the ultimate weapon. He then kidnapped the Titans and placed them in the path of a Promethium bomb to test his device for the buyers, effectively killing two birds with one stone. The Titans escaped and pursued Deathstroke, but he severely wounded Beast Boy in his escape. This would be the start to a lasting animosity between the two.Deathstroke next appeared in New York, holding officials hostage to lure the Titans into confronting him. Terra, a new ally of the Titans, and Beast Boy were the only ones available to answer the call. Terra knocked Beast Boy out and fought Deathstroke single-handedly in an effort to prove herself worthy of being a Titan. Deathstroke escaped as the other Titans arrived, but by then Terra had proven herself and the team offered her membership. Later that night, it was revealed that Terra and Deathstroke had conspired to fake the fight in a plot to infiltrate the team.
The Judas Contract
During The Judas Contract, the Titans eventually entrusted Terra with all of their secret identities. Once Slade had this information, he used it to systematically subdue each of the Titans, exploiting them at their weakest moments. Donna Troy was gassed at her photo studio, Changeling was anesthetized with tainted envelopes while responding to fan mail, Victor Stone was electrically shocked by a chair in his own apartment, Starfire was ambushed with a device that affected her powers, and Raven was taken down by Terra herself. Nightwing was last to be attacked and he was confronted by Deathstroke himself. He avoided being captured and soon discovered that his teammates had already been taken. Nightwing arrived at Titans Tower to discover Slade's ex-wife and son. She told Nightwing that Terra was a traitor, how each of his teammates were captured, and related the origin of Deathstroke.Nightwing, to confront Deathstroke and H.I.V.E., joined Jericho. During the confrontation, Deathstroke recognized Jericho as his son, which caused him to hesitate. Jericho freed the Titans by possessing his father's body. After Terra died during the battle, Slade was then taken into custody.
Slade was put on trial for his crimes, but the trial was deliberately sabotaged by Changeling so that he could kill Slade himself, believing that he was responsible for Terra's betrayal of the Titans. Slade agreed to the confrontation, but showed up out of costume. Changeling found himself unable to kill Slade, so instead they talked. Feeling some empathy for his grief, Slade explained his past with Terra, and Changeling realized that Slade was not to blame for the choices that Terra had made. The two men parted on peaceful terms, with Slade returning to Africa with Wintergreen.
Titans Plague
Months later, Slade encountered the Titans again while they were investigating mysterious attacks and disappearances. Donna Troy is attacked by a group of strange beastmen and barely survives the encounter. Meanwhile, while attending a fundraiser with his father, Gar Logan recognizes Slade trying to maintain a low profile. When he finally catches up with Slade, he finds him about to kill the host of the fundraiser, Walter Lanier. He stops Deathstroke, but is surprised when Lanier turns into a bat-like creature and flies away. Slade reveals to the Titans that he was responsible for smuggling the drug the bestiamorphs were using to transform others, but did not realize what it was until it was too late. After Jericho and Raven were stricken by the plague, he aided them in destroying the beastmen and finding a cure for the contagion.Titans Hunt
Shortly after this, he came to the Titans' assistance again during the Titans Hunt storyline. The members of the Titans, as well as many inactive members, all disappeared in a manner very similar to how they were abducted during the Judas Contract. Mento, an on-and-off member of the Doom Patrol, hires Deathstroke to find the missing Titans. He eventually discovers with Nightwing that the abductions were the work of the Wildebeest Society, and that their leader was Jericho, Deathstroke's son.It was revealed that Jericho had been possessed by the corrupted souls of Azarath, as they were using him to capture the Titans and use them as physical hosts to survive. During the transfer process, Jericho's true self resurfaced briefly, begging his father to kill him. To spare his son any more pain and save the remaining Titans, Slade was forced to drive a sword through Jericho's heart, seemingly killing him.
Afterward, Slade continued his life as a mercenary, but also acted as an occasional ally to the Titans, aiding them when mutual threats outweighed their rivalry, most notably during the Total Chaos storyline when the Team Titans arrived in the 20th century to assassinate Donna Troy before she could give birth to her son, who in their timeline had grown up into the tyrannical despot Lord Chaos. Slade also met Pat Trayce, a tough former cop who would become the new Vigilante. Pat Trayce became Slade's lover later on, and the two developed a romantic as well as a professional relationship.