Titans Season 2: Ranking Every Character From Worst To Best

Following the disappointment that was Trigon, Titans' second offering was in need of a much more well-rounded villain that actually behaved like a person (instead of a one-dimensional demon). Thankfully, that's exactly what it got with Slade Wilson, or as he's more famously known: Deathstroke.

A sword-swaying assassin with major ties to the Teen Titans in the comics, everything about Slade made him the perfect choice of villain and, for the most part, the narrative was able to make use of that. The fact that he was at the centre of the team's original dissolution added heartbreaking historical elements to both his and the Titans' respective character arcs, and it was that history that made this season all the more gripping.

There's something poignant about a professional assassin making it his mission to kill without pay, but there's something even more poignant about a professional assassin refusing to kill because he knows that it would be a mercy killing. Yes, Slade may have been suffering in the aftermath of his son's death, but he knew that Dick was torturing himself over it and, thus, took great pleasure in sparing his life because it allowed him to make him miserable instead.

Deathstroke is a formidable villain when things aren't personal, but when they are, you just can't look away. And Esai Morales' authentic performance - that shifted between grieving father and revenge-driven assassin - successfully turned him into a sympathetic character.

Though he deserved a better ending, Deathstroke's strong characterisation ensured that he remained a strong villain the whole way throughout.