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Did you know Deadpool was based shameless on a pre-existing DC Comics character? His basic costume look, his mercenary life, his names, his weapons, dang near everything. Deathstroke was his blueprint, except he stayed a deadly serious villain instead of taking some severe turns like his Marvel doppelganger. So who is this prototype? What’s with that mask? Let’s find out!

Slade Wilson would lie his way into the military at the age of sixteen, he would go to war and excel in combat and tactics raising to the rank of major. As time went on he would meet Captain Adeline Kane, she would put him through a combat training program to master many forms of martial arts, he would also raise further in rank. The two would eventually marry and have a son,  Grant.

Around this time, Slade would volunteer for a secret project for making super soldiers. While it proved to be a success in enhancing his physical and mental abilities, it also made him mentally unwell for a time. The government did not trust Slade anymore, he left and took up safari hunting to raise money for his family. What he didn’t tell Adeline was that beyond his hunting, he was also now a mercenary, his abilities made him effectively a one man army.

His mercenary work would eventually come to bite him in the butt at home. Some enemies he had made would break into his home and attack Adeline and kidnap their youngest son, Joseph. This would reveal to Adeline that Slade had been hiding this side of himself from her and now look what had happened. The two would team up to get Joseph back but in the process, Joseph would get his vocal chords cut due to Slade’s arrogance in his certainty of saving him. Adeline would attempt to kill Slade herself, but instead just took out his right eye.

No longer married, one eye gone, Slade began to wear a mask to show that even though he was missing an eye, he’s abilities were just fine and he could still kill you with ease. His eldest son, Grant, tried to follow in his father’s footsteps by becoming a super soldier and mercenary. He was contracted to take down the Teen Titans but the super soldier procedure would end up killing Grant. Slade would take on his son’s contract to honor him and began a life long hatred for the team of heroes.

His depravity would go to not only being willing to murder children, but even made a sixteen year old his spy by seducing her to his cause. It would take his son Joseph, now a hero named Jericho, to stop him from finishing his contract on the Titans. This would just be the beginning of Slade’s interaction with heroes, he would go up against the likes of Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman, and come out ahead.

He would undergo more experimental procedures, gaining regeneration making him even more formidable. Adeline would need a blood transfusion and Slade would give to her, but his transformed blood would not only give her a form of immortality, it would mess with her mind and she would become an deadly foe of his. He would also father another child with another woman, his daughter Rose Wilson who would go on to become a hero like her brother, Joseph “Jericho” Wilson.

Not willing to leave his daughter alone, he would inject her with the serums that gave him his abilities, believing this would protect her, forgetting that it caused mental health problems. Slade would once again become a major threat for the Titans even though the team was almost entirely different than the one he first dealt with. While he mostly preferred working with other mercenaries, at most, Slade started to join villain organizations, even taking on leadership roles within them.

To be a better father, in his eyes, Slade would form an evil counterpart of the Titans to have his children join his side, finally. This would blow up in his face because it turns out Rose was dedicated to finding her own way and still didn’t fit in with him. During the Blackest Night, Jericho would become a Black Lantern and strike out at Slade and Rose who would have to team up to stop him.

When the Brightest Day followed, Jericho would revive but have health issues, risking death. Slade would work with heroes, even the Titans and forsaking the Deathstroke name, to gain access to a machine to heal Jericho and offered the machine to the Titans for helping him. This would leave to upheaval when the device was shown to require a person fuel it, Jericho and the rest of the Titans were disgusted with him and he would become Deathstroke once more.

Beyond the New 52, Slade Wilson lead a similar life becoming a villainous mercenary taking on jobs against heroes. He would take on more and more jobs dealing with heroes and gained a reputation for winning by any means necessary even taking on powers temporarily like the Speed Force. He would end up dying but resurrecting thanks to his regeneration and go into hiding, masquerading as a doctor.

There you have it! Deathstroke the Terminator has been animated, on the big and small screen, live-action and animated there as well. He’s been in video games as an enemy or playable character. He’s pretty much THE Titans main villain, a tier all his own. What will happen next with him, who knows? See you next time!

Suggested Reading
The New Teen Titans #2
Deathstroke Vol. 1-4
Green Arrow
Titans
Flashpoint: Deathstroke and the Curse of the Ravager

Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net