YMMV / Deathstroke

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Slade himself is subject to this a lot. Is he a moral mercenary who just does what he's good at or a completely amoral monster? Does he care for his children or are they just pawns in the games he plays? Depends on who you ask and who's writing him.
  • Slade's defeat in Titans East. Was his ultimate goal to try and get the Titans to accept Rose and Jericho so they could give them the family he couldn't? Or was he just lying to himself because he can't handle the idea that his plan fell through again?
  • If Slade was using drugs to control Terra during The Judas Contract, does that mean she was really consenting to having sex with him or was Slade taking advantage of her and straightforwardly raping her?
• Audience-Alienating Era: The Titans: Villains For Hire era was one not just for the Titans, but Deathstroke. It was by far the most critically lambasted run of any Titans-related comic and fans hated for how horrible the characters acted (especially Slade orchestrating the gang murder of Ryan Choi) yet were still expected to be sympathetic, plus the stilted writing and horrible artwork.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Slade's handling by some writers has divided him into three categories. There are fans who still love him, fans who are unhappy with how he and his family have been handled since Identity Crisis (2004), and those who wish he was dead. What has further broken this base was the infamous Titans: Villains for Hire special where he and his team of mercenaries butchered Ryan Choi.
  • Some fans argued the retcon about Slade's relationship with Terra was a cheap cop out so DC could avoid admitting one of their most prolific villains was practically a child molester. It also doesn't help Slade's position that the retcon still puts Terra in the role of the relationship's instigator, thereby still subtly blaming her for the mess.
• Broken Base: The guest appearances of Batman and Robin in the 2016 series. Some found the whole trip to Gotham to be a pointless distraction that added nothing to be plot, while others enjoyed the battle of wits between Slade and Batman, even if that subplot ended up being a Red Herring.
• Can't Un-Hear It:
  • The character became especially popular among non-comic book readers after being featured as a major antagonist in Teen Titans (2003), so many fans likely read every line in Ron Perlman's very serious voice.
  • Fans of Arrow probably hear Manu Bennett's voice, which has became iconic for the character, albeit for the mercenary versions more than the Chessmaster ones.
  • Esai Morales' Creepy Monotone performance in Titans (2018) is a fan favorite.
  • Brazilian fans will certainly hear Ricardo Schnetzer's voice. He voiced almost all appearances of Slade, animated and live-action.
• Character Rerailment:
  • In Terra's first appearance in the 2016 series during the Defiance arc, she's shown smoking. In her second appearance, the very first thing she says when seeing the team is to mockingly greet Rose by asking if she's still a virgin. All in all, she's much closer to her original sociopathic Jerkass personality circa The Judas Contract, although she is given a lot more insight and sympathy than she had back then.
  • Slade Wilson himself qualifies in the 2016 series as well, since all the way up through The Judas Contract he was characterized as an utterly reprehensible human being whose troubles were his own fault that he refused to accept responsibility for. After George Perez left, Slade rather abruptly turned into an Anti-Villain with a true code of honor. This series returns Slade to his roots, with the series making it blatantly clear that no matter how he may want to dress it up, Deathstroke is a villain to the core.
• Complete Monster: His Teen Titans incarnation and his incarnation from Son of Batman & Teen Titans: The Judas Contract. See those pages or see here.
• Funny Moments:
  • In issue #1 Wintergreen angrily asks Slade what he was doing when Wintergreen was captured by Clock King for a year. After a Beat Panel Slade says he was golfing, mostly. Wintergreen immediately switches to criticizing his golfing technique.
    • In the same issue a flashback of Slade and Wintergreen trying to find a target in New Jersey and they are lost. Slade has a Blonde colored Afro Wig and a Fake Porn Stache.
  • Most of the issue #4 is Slade and Rose trying to sneak into Gotham under disguise. They're both clearly driving each other nuts.
  • Issue #13 has Slade fight Raptor, who had stolen his Ikon Suit, in his classic costume. Out of nowhere Red Lion asks him why he's wearing his trunks outside and looks like a pirate.
• Jerkass Woobie: Terra is an abrasive, amoral bitch through and through, but given that she was an illegitimate princess who was forced from her home country, seeing her caretaker murdered right in front of her in the process, having a troubled childhood in America, and then being seduced and manipulated by Slade only to be thrown away when her purpose was served, it's difficult not to feel sorry for her or at least understand why she became the way she is.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Beware the Batman: Deathstroke, real name Slade Wilson, was once a CIA agent who was booted after his excessive cruelty in the name of protecting his country. Becoming a mercenary for hire soon after, Deathstroke pulled off flawless operations before eventually using his amassed resources to target his former mentor, and the man who got him fired from the CIA, MI6 agent Alfred Pennyworth. Framing Batman as a villain and seemingly murdering Bruce Wayne, all while masquerading as Dane Lisslow, Deathstroke handily tricks the Dark Knight into lowering his guard in a duel by faking his motivations, and later breaks into the otherwise impenetrable Batcave, captures both Batman and Alfred, and prepares to force the latter to watch as he murders Batman before him as a final vengeance against his former mentor for ruining his life.
  • Teen Titans Go! To the Movies: Though sillier than usual, Slade proves a competent adversary to the Teen Titans. Disguising himself as a film director, Slade plays on superheroes' ego and films a fake movie of them while he moves undetected to steal pieces to a Doomsday Device, even having the unwitting heroes help him build it. Constantly improvising his strategy to deal with the Titans, Slade plays off Robin's desire for his own movie and other underhanded tactics to break the team apart. Tricking Robin into letting him into the Titans' vault, Slade uses his device to mind control the entire world. Coming within a hair's breadth of victory, Slade even remains a Graceful Loser as he is beaten, proclaiming the Titans' song to be "monumentally dope".
  • Arrow: Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke, starts out as Oliver Queen's friend and mentor before becoming one of his most dangerous enemies. Vowing to drive Oliver to despair after their friendship falls apart, Slade, as the Big Bad of Season 2, is re-introduced as The Man Behind the Man to Brother Blood and Isabel Rochev, using the former to mass-produce Mirakuru, and having the latter usurp Oliver's company, all for Slade's purpose of exacting revenge on his former friend. Targetting Oliver's loved ones, Slade reveals Thea's true parentage, exposes Oliver's identity to Laurel, and murders Oliver's mother Moira, showing respect for her courage as he does so, all for the sake of tormenting Oliver. Unleashing a Mirakuru-empowered army to lay waste to Starling City as his masterstroke, Slade nearly succeeds in killing Oliver before being defeated. Even after reconciling with Oliver, Slade loses none of his edge, manipulating enemies and allies alike to achieve his goals. A dangerously cunning Implacable Man, Slade, whether ally or enemy to Oliver, is one of Arrow's most dynamic and capable characters.
  • DCeased The Unkillables: Slade "Deathstroke" Wilson is a callous Professional Killer with an incredibly cunning mind. After recovering from the Anti-Life infection, having contracted it during an assassination, Slade sets off and saves his daughter. Surviving everything the apocalypse throws at him, he allies with a group of other supervillains before joining Jason Todd's team in Gotham, personally convincing James Gordon to ally with him and to let him train the children into Child Soldiers to defend themselves. When forced to move to a new sanctuary, Slade uses a ploy to switch buses and take on the enemy horde. When cornered, Slade proceeds to give his daughter a hug, depart, and battle the Anti-Living to the death in order to buy time for his companions and the children.
  • Injustice: Gods Among Us: Deathstroke was a mercenary and assassin and a major enemy of the Titans, whom he tried to kill on many occasions. After the rise of Superman's regime, Deathstroke lost most of his work. He was brought back into action when Batman contacts him, hiring him to steal a Mother Box from the Regime for Batman's plans. He manages to get to it, but knowing he can't escape, he sends Batman the Mother Box's model so he can copy it before he is captured by the Regime. After being tortured by the Regime, he joins the Insurgency and ends up on a mission with Cyborg; during it, he enacts his own plan. He first takes out Shazam and Flash with creative usage of bombs, then sabotages the Watchtower reactor to blow up, not caring about it putting the Insurgency's plans in jeopardy. He is then sent on another mission by Lex Luthor, in which he sneaks up on and ties up Wonder Woman, later taking her down by analyzing her fighting style and outsmarting her.
  • Batman: The Adventures Continue: Deathstroke, aka Slade Wilson, is an infamous mercenary hired by Lex Luthor to assassinate Batman. Desiring not just the Caped Crusader's death but his "operation" as well, Slade sets about a plot to convert Batgirl and Robin to his side, impressing them with his skills after his associate Sunny sends Clayface on a rampage for him to stop. Slade has Sunny impersonate the villain Firefly, whom he claims to be in town to stop, as an excuse to isolate and murder Batman, intent on framing the real Firefly for the crime so as to kill him, earn the gratitude of Bruce's partners, and bring them into his mercenary lifestyle. Though foiled, Slade and Sunny manage to easily secure "early parole" to save the life of the presumed dead Jason Todd, leaving Gotham in success as they recruit him into their family.
• Mainstream Obscurity: Deathstroke has gotten to be a pretty popular DC character, having reached a decent level of fame despite not having much live cinematic representation. Just about everyone knows him as being the Arch-Enemy of the Teen Titans. He's achieved infamy for sleeping with Terra. And he's built a notable reputation for himself as the guy who can sometimes effortlessly beat up entire teams of really powerful superheroes and supervillains alike. But beyond that, Slade's Popularity Power hasn't really rubbed off on his solo stories, with a mainstream audience not being too familiar with his adventures when he's not fighting Batman or the Teen Titans or the Justice League. And some of his supporting characters and villains like Red Lion, Possum, the Jackal, Janissary, Odysseus, Dr. Ikon, and Koschei the Deathless haven't been able to reach the same level of popularity or recognition that Deathstroke himself has reached. So depending on what stories he's in, Deathstroke's level of recognition can either rise or wane. In stories involving the Titans, Batman, the Justice League, or other famous heroes, Deathstroke will always be one of the most recognizable and memorable characters you'll see. But when it comes to his own solo adventures as an Anti-Hero, that's when a general audience will struggle to identify what's going on with Slade's day-to-day solo adventures or the original supporting characters and villains created for Deathstroke's comics.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Jobber Aura, used whenever Slade beats superhumans that should be way above his level. Named after the ridiculous Curb-Stomp Battle he gave an entire team of veteran superheroes in Identity Crisis (2004).
    • Most specifically, Slade outdrew the Wally West version of the Flash, a character who can move faster than light and has encountered Slade on several occasions previous, making it clear Wally was holding an Idiot Ball for the fight. While the rest of the fight is also contentious, almost everyone agrees that Wally shouldn't have fallen for this move.
  • "Slade Wilson. Father of the Year." For obvious reasons.
  • "Rose is Hmong?" ^explanationIt's mentioned so often, to the point of practically being once per issue, that some readers express mock surprise every time they're reminded of it.
• Moral Event Horizon: Several examples come to mind, the majority of which involve him drugging heroes to control them.
  • The Judas Contract revealed he was having an ongoing sexual relationship with Terra while she was infiltrating the Titans on his orders. Not only was he manipulating Terra into joining the Teen Titans, Slade was committing statutory rape on her and almost no one ever showed disgust towards him for doing so. Later retcons tried to explain Terra's psychotic behavior was thanks to Slade drugging her, which only cast doubt on whether or not she was actually consenting to her relationship or if she was drugged while Slade was having sex with her.
  • In order to get Rose back into his life, he manipulated both Rose and his brother Wade by anonymously hiring Wade to kill Rose's foster parents before goading Rose into killing Wade herself. After turning Rose into the new Ravager, Slade tried to control Rose by forcibly keeping her doped up on mind-altering drugs against her will, even after she had a psychotic episode and gouged her own eye out.
  • After Nightwing broke Slade's hold on Rose, Slade sought revenge by using the same drugs that drove Rose insane to turn Cassandra Cain into a sadistic villain. While under his control, Cassandra took over the League of Assassins, murdered Nyssa al Ghul, framed Tim Drake for the death of Lynx, and tried to kill Supergirl.
  • He led a team of D-List villains to gang up on and mercilessly slaughter Ryan Choi, delivering Choi's body in a matchbox to his arch-enemy Dwarfstar.
  • After Roy Harper's mental breakdown following his dismemberment and the death of his daughter Lian, Slade secretly got Roy addicted to Bliss (a drug literally made from human children) to keep Roy under his thumb.
• Never Live It Down:
  • He's popular and all, and it's not that extreme an example... but you will find a lot of people who won't let the character live down sleeping with Terra, a teenager. Although this is usually brought up due to frustrations from the double standards of the situation, and that the other characters will gloss over it while bringing up all the other horrible things Slade's done. The writer's attempts to retcon Terra's behavior as a result of Slade drugging her made the situation look even sketchier than it already was, because if he was drugging her to control her and then slept with her, it makes him a flat out rapist. Even DC's attempt to retcon this further by saying Slade never slept with Terra made it worse, since it felt like a cheap way for the company to avoid admitting how for decades they've continually hyped up a villain who got away with committing statutory rape on multiple occasions. The Other History of the DC Universe reignited this when Katana looked back on what happened and flat out described Slade as a pedophile who manipulated, groomed, and took advantage of a mentally unstable teenage girl yet is remembered as an honorable badass while Terra was remembered as an insane whore.
  • Slade butchering Ryan Choi and delivering the body in a matchbox to Ryan's arch enemy Dwarfstar. The most infuriating thing about it is Slade was never punished for what he did until Convergence where he was quickly beaten and humiliated by both Atoms.
  • From a clumsily-handled writing perspective, that time he defeated most of the Justice League with contemptuous ease gets brought up a lot to drag him as a beneficiary of Popularity Power. Worse, since, rather than employing his famous Combat Parkour and intelligence, he mostly calmly and easily walks through the fight while the heroes around him are undone by their sudden impotence and death-grip on the Idiot Ball, it cements the impression that rather than a fiendishly intelligent and capable super-soldier adversary, he's just a boring villain version of Batman whose place as the top gun-for-hire in the DC universe comes entirely from fanboys getting to hand easy victories to their favorite character.
• Salvaged Story:
  • Rose Wilson's Hmong heritage has been restored after she was previously whitewashed during the New 52. Plus, the fact she doesn't gleefully embrace how evil she is has gone down well.
  • In fact, the series seems to retcon all of the Wilsons' New 52 history away. To say people won't miss it is an understatement, considering some writers couldn't even get certain characters' names right, let alone their backstories and motivations. And of course none of the New 52 stuff was ever consistent between the different writers.
  • Part of The Judas Contract that has not aged well with most readers is Deathstroke and Terra's sexual relationship, in which Terra, the under-age girl, was scapegoated, slut-shamed and portrayed as pure evil, whereas Slade, the grown man who was seducing a mentally unstable teenager, got off scot-free and even became a friend and ally to the Titans afterward. The 2016 series not only gives Terra more depth and sympathy as a character (showing that she Used to Be a Sweet Kid among other things), but puts the blame for her relationship with Slade where it belongs: on Slade, who even ends up apologizing for it to her and admitting that it was wrong of him, though he doesn't regret having used her in other ways and even claims that being used and "owned" by him is all she's good for to him — however, he's clearly meant to be in the wrong, helped by Priest's consistent portrayal of him as a Villain Protagonist.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: The 2016 series is considered by many to be the book that had the biggest turnaround going from The New 52, where it was considered one of the worst titles in the lineup, to DC Rebirth, where it's considered one of the best. Further punctuated with an Eisner nomination.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: The 2016 series, despite its critical acclaim, moreso than any other DC Rebirth book. The complex plots can be roughly boiled down to "Slade manipulates and betrays everyone he comes across, while showing what a terrible father he is". And you can't resort to Rooting for the Empire because a lot of the time, the people Slade is clashing with are just as bad as he is, if not actively worse, excluding the superheroes. It's been called the The Sopranos or the Breaking Bad of comic book titles for a reason.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Tanya Spears, given she was created for a much maligned run of the New 52 Teen Titans. No one really expected to see her ever again.
  • Terra (as in, the original Tara Markov) surviving in the new continuity caught everyone off guard.
• The Woobie: Both Rose and Joey are this, as they're trying to live their lives, but keep getting caught in Slade's web of deceit. Joey has become something of a Jerkass Woobie after what he did to his sister.

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