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So, let’s talk about Deathstroke. Back when it was first reported Deathstroke might have a role in Justice League and would be the villain of The Batman I had a lot of thoughts to share about everyone’s favorite Teen Titans bad guy. Since then, however, Deathstroke’s role in the DCEU has become a lot more fluid (much like the DCEU itself,) and I think he’s a sore subject worth revisiting. If you haven’t been keeping up with the news or maybe don’t even know who he is- Deathstroke is a DC Comics villain and mercenary most commonly associated with the Teen Titans and Batman.
He was a mercenary who adopted a costume and some super soldier powers to try and stay competitive in the superhero world and is most notable for the time he seduced an under-aged sociopath to get her to defeat the Teen Titans for him. He’s a very popular bad guy who was set to appear first in Justice League before starring as the villain of The Batman as played by Joe Manganiello. However, after extensive reshoots and re-edits, Deathstroke is gone from Justice League and The Batman has all but completely stalled out in production. However, there is good news for Deathstroke enthusiasts- Gareth Evans, director of The Raid and The Raid 2, has stepped in to helm a Deathstroke movie.
As my above comments may have tipped you off I’ve something of a complicated relationship with Deathstroke, mainly owing to when I started reading comics. When he first appeared in the ‘80s he was probably a much more tolerable character. He appeared in the pages of Teen Titans under the work of Marv Wolfman and George Perez, two of the greats of the comic book medium.
Deathstroke, real name Slade Wilson and occasional call sign The Terminator, was introduced as basically just a mercenary that the supervillain agency HIVE had hired to take out the Titans. He proved popular through his cool costume and a pretty impressive issue where he took on the entire Teen Titans all by himself, which led him to return periodically as a Teen Titans archenemy.
The low point in his career was a story called Judas Contract, which is basically the Killing Joke of the Teen Titans mythos IE it’s often touted as the best story ever but modern re-appraisals have found a lot wrong with it. The story revolves around Slade using the character Terra, a teen girl with rock control powers, to infiltrate and destroy the Titans from within.
As I mentioned above, it featured Slade actively seducing Terra even though she was underage at the time, which is one of those big issues that just passed under the radar in the time of comics past. Given that and the fact that WB probably doesn’t want to try and force MORE heroes into its moribund universe already I wouldn’t accept any part of this film to go near Judas Contract with a 10-foot pole.
No, the Deathstroke movie is probably going to focus more on Slade’s independent activities because that’s where he tends to come off the coolest. See, the sort of weird thing about Slade is that he’s one of the most over-estimated characters in comics. That 1 instance of being able to just survive against the Titans has led to a lot of revisionism of Slade as the deadliest man alive even though he’s routinely lost to a bunch of teenagers. There was a time in the mid-2000s where Deathstroke beat the ENTIRE Justice League without breaking a sweat because apparently defeating Green Lantern was infinitely simpler than going head-to-head with Beast Boy or Robin.
I don’t want this whole article to be Deathstroke bashing though, so I’m going to focus on the way I think the character actually really works and could make a good movie. See, the weird thing about Deathstroke is that even though he’s become the standard bearer for the edgiest subset of comic fans, the kind who think Batman can just buy victory over anyone, he’s actually kind of a really funny character.
His whole origin story is that he used to be the best mercenary in the entire world before superheroes showed up and now suddenly his job is a million times more difficult. He’s the kind of guy who could absolutely give Jason Bourne or James Bond a run for their money but up against Aquaman, he’d go down in a second. The mask and the super soldier powers are basically just him trying to be a super villain in the most half-hearted, “I’m doing it for the job” kind of way.
That’s a Deathstroke I could get behind and the movie wouldn’t even need to be a full comedy to pull it off. You’d easily be able to still make Deathstroke the coolest guy in the world while also making him kind of sick and tired of this whole “superhero” thing infecting his business. It’d even give the film a perfect structural undercurrent to make Slade more of an anti-hero by pitting him against a super-powered and therefore worse version of the standard espionage movie bad guys. I mean, you can’t really pit Slade against like Aquaman and expect him to win but having him get hired by Brother Blood to do some weird magic nonsense and eventually getting fed up with the whole thing and just killing his employers would actually be a pretty logical path to take.
Alternatively, I could easily see the film using Slade’s kids as the antagonists. In the comics, aside from being a dad, he’s major defining identity is as the worst dad in all the world. He’s got three kids who’ve all descended into super-villainy because of his abusive and neglectful parenthood so having him fight them would be an easy pitch to make work. Actually, given the success of X-23 in Logan this year you could probably blow everyone’s mind by making the villain Rose ‘Ravager’ Wilson, Slade’s daughter.
She’s basically the teen girl version of Deathstroke and is also about a million times more interesting than her old man. Taking the entire central Old Dude/Little Girl relationship of Logan and flipping it on its head for a Deathstroke movie would probably bring in a lot of audiences who’ve never heard of Slade Wilson or care about that 1 time he was marginally cool for surviving an attack from Wonder Girl and Speedy.
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Like I said, I don’t really want to come down hard on Deathstroke because I know he’s popular and also I’ve done a lot to try and forgive the character for his insufferable fan base. If there’s one truth I’d like the world to bring with it into the 2020s it’s that we shouldn’t let the worst fans of something get to just own and define it. I mean, if we’re really going to make a Deathstroke film I’d rather try and meet it half-way and emphasize the things that work about the character now instead of just spinning my wheels making the same point about his weakness to super-powered teenagers for the next couple years.
What’s more, there’s certainly a clear path to making a good Deathstroke movie and stuff that’s worth digging into in his character. I just hope that the DCEU has managed to get all of the hardcore, edge lord, “superheroes need blood so my dad will know they aren’t for kids” stuff out of its system so we can focus on Slade Wilson- reluctant supervillain and shitty dad when the movie finally does come out.
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