Batman: 9 Things You Need To Know About Deathstroke
Batfleck may have met his match.
Don’t let the missing eye fool you. Deathstroke is one of the most lethal hitmen in the DC Universe, and he’s about to come gunning for Batman on the big screen.
Gotham City’s morgue will need plenty of bodybags on standby because Slade Wilson has been confirmed as the big bad in the Dark Knight’s next cinematic solo outing.
Not to be confused with Suicide squaddie Deadshot or Marvel Comics’ mouthiest mercenary Deadpool, Deathstoke is the result of secret military project which created a killing machine more deadly than a pack of rabid Xenomorphs.
The masked menace has been a thorn in the side of many heroes, from the Teen Titans to Green Arrow, and has been juxtaposed to Batman by several comic scribes due to his tortured origin and grey morals.
Hot on the heels of the news that True Blood star Joe Manganiello is set to take on the role of Deathstroke and hold up a dark mirror to Ben Affleck’s Batman, here are nine things you need to know about Mr Wilson.
9. Deathstroke Was Originally Known As ‘The Terminator’
Arnold Schwarzenegger made the moniker iconic but he wasn’t the first killing machine to adopt it.
Deathstroke was introduced to comic fans as the Terminator in 1980 when he emerged as a gun-toting pain in the Teen Titans’ collective backside, a hardboiled merc with a military background who’s hellbent on wiping out the super youth club.
Created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Perez, Deathstroke soon built up a fierce rivalry with the Titans, particularly Beast Boy, who gave him a severe pummelling at the conclusion of that storyline.
Although the assassin failed in his attempt to end the Titans, his popularity among readers soon saw him established as a DC Comics mainstay, but the Terminator codename proved shortlived.
These days, he’s simply referred to as Deathstroke, even by characters who called him Terminator for years. DC beat James Cameron to the Terminator branding by four years, so who knows why they chose to say hasta la vista to the name?