Deathstroke

"I've never failed before when I took on a mission. I'm damn well not going to give up now."

Deathstroke
The Terminator
Birth	April 13, 1950
Aliases	Deathstroke The Terminator Deathstroke the Terminator
Affiliation(s)	United States Army (Formerly) Himself
Age	80
Power	Enhanced Physicality

Slade Joseph Wilson, widely known as Deathstroke, Deathstroke the Terminator, or simply as The Terminator, is a top-tier mercenary and assassin. Originally a member of the United States Army, Slade was subjected to experimental drugs before leaving, taking advantage of his enhancements as a gun-for-hire where he was lead into a life of crime. Building a great reputation, Deathstroke is widely regarded as the greatest assassin of all time, practically unbeatable by all but the best, such as Batman.

History

Early History

Wilson was an accomplished member of the special forces. This distinction earned him admittance into a covert program where he was subjected to extensive mental and physical augmentation. The procedures left him with increased mental function, as well as enhanced speed, strength, and stamina.

Following his military service, Wilson worked for various private military contractors before striking out on his own – and allegedly becoming one of the highest paid contract killers in the world, specializing in high profile assassinations.

Slade Wilson was sixteen years old when he first enlisted in the United States Army, having lied about his age. In the early 1960s, he met Captain Adeline Kane, who was tasked with training young soldiers in new fighting techniques in anticipation of brewing troubles taking place in Vietnam. Kane was amazed at how skilled Slade was and how quickly he adapted to modern conventions of warfare. She immediately realized that he was without a doubt the most able-bodied combatant she had ever encountered. She offered to privately train Slade in guerrilla warfare.

Slade grew attracted to his commanding officer, and took many underhanded measures to win her desires. At one point feeling confident he could win her over, he approached her one night and made his intentions known to her. Stunned at his display that was in violation of regulations, Captain Kane turned him down, and almost turned him in to the authorities but resigned herself from doing so, not wanting Slade's talent to go to waste. In less than a year, Slade mastered every fighting form presented to him and was soon reassigned into special forces.

Vietnam War

As tensions in Vietnam grew to the point of war breaking out, Slade was one of many soldiers shipped overseas. In the war, his unit massacred a village, an act that shook him but subconciously twisted his resolve that would one day culminate in changing his character, to become something more than a mere man when it came to inflicting death. He continued serving in the war, his body count increasing as his performance earned him a good record and saw him rise through the ranks.

Experimental Enhancement

Some time later, Wilson volunteered for a medical experiment designed to stimulate his adrenal gland in the hopes of increasing a soldier's ability to resist truth serums. The experiment did not go as expected, and Slade fell into a coma. When he awakened weeks later, he discovered that, from unforseen side effects, he was now capable of using 90% of his brain capacity, and his strength, durability and agility were increased to near-superhuman levels. However, he also realized upon awakening that he was officially medically discharged due to the failure of the experiment and the effects on his body, which were initially seen as gravely injuring. He applied for re-assignment with the Army, but they refused him.

After Vietnam

Although his condition was now stabilized, depression took hold of him and he was desperate to serve his country as well as be with the new friends he made in combat. Once the war was over, he came to learn that all of his close buddies were killed in action, causing him to blame the Army for preventing him from being there to save them. Unable to further his career in the military, Slade turned towards hunting. He became a world famous safari hunter and great wealth followed soon after. Despite this, however, Slade felt unfulfilled.

Mercenary

Deathstroke the Terminator

Deathstroke became a mercenary soon after the war's end; coining his nickname as "Deathstroke," and gaining himself a popular nickname as "The Terminator," he earned a great deal of money for himself with his exceptional talent, skillset, and physical abilities, signing himself on to serve one rich boss. While performing missions, Deathstroke was crafted a two-shaded outfit that offered him limited protection and a significant carrying capacity of weapons and ammunition.

Deathstroke gone dark

His mercenary career took a huge turn when he became aware of one of his Vietnam buddies was still alive; ignoring his then-current mission to assassinate some thug, Slade sought out his friend, only to find out that his friend was actually the target for his assassination mission. Defying his orders, he rescued his friend from subsequent assassination attempts immediately after his buyer realized Slade was not up to the task of taking him out. Slade then began to work for another buyer who was rivals with Slade's former boss.

Sometime after Slade rescued his friend, a criminal named the Jackal was hired along with several other thugs by his former buyer, kidnapping Slade's friend and holding him hostage to force Slade to divulge the name of his current client. Slade refused, claiming it was against his personal honor code. He then attacked and killed the kidnappers at the rendezvous; unfortunately, Joseph's throat was slashed by one of the criminals before Slade could prevent it, destroying Joseph's vocal cords and rendering him mute.

After taking Joseph to the hospital, Slade was enraged at this attack on his friend and sought out his former buyer, making it a personal mission of his without pay. He managed to clear out the boss's hideout of his guards; the buyer tried to kill Slade by shooting him, though only managed to destroy his right eye. Slade successfully killed the individual, severed his ties with his other boss, and went fully independent from then on, making the Deathstroke name its own force to be feared rather than being tied to a particular group or individual. To add to this, he developed himself a new suit of tactical armor as a recreation of his visage; his confidence in his physical abilities was such that he made no secret of his impaired vision, marked by his new mask which covered his lost eye. Under the mask, Slade wears an eyepatch to cover the eye.

Gotham

Deathstroke's immediate action following his independence was to move to Gotham, taking advantage of the city's rampant flow of crime which would enable him an immense income for assassinations. He became well-regarded all across the city for his talent, but couldn't be bothered to work for most of the city's bosses, who were unwilling to compensate Deathstroke's expensive fee. He was most often recruited by Black Mask, one of few people who could actually afford Deathstroke's high pay demand.

Deathstroke's operations in Gotham made him an enemy of Batman. His skillset is high enough to set him apart from the majority of Batman's rogues gallery, earning him the spot of one of Batman's most noteworthy foes; likewise, Batman is one of few people Slade has ever fought that not only has he been unable to kill, but has single-handedly impressed Deathstroke with his own skillset and resolve.

Black Widow

Deathstroke in Gotham City

When the spy known as the Black Widow arrived to investigate the rising crime in Gotham, Deathstroke was one of many criminals and mercenaries hired by Black Mask to kill her for high pay. The mercenary sought to wait for the initial few lowly scum to engage her first to gauge her worth; after proving herself capable against typical thugs, he began to follow her, arranging for a special encounter in an underground pit arena. This included teaming with the Electrocutioner, whom he figured might only have a slight chance at defeating the Widow, setting up a trail for the Widow to follow into the arena for him to defeat her. He bet on the high possibility she would defeat him, allowing Deathstroke to spring into action soon after to defeat her while she was weakened.

The plan worked, and the Widow was lead into the underground pit arena. Shortly after she defeated Electrocutioner, Deathstroke emerged as she was trying to escape. Here, the two dueled for a significant amount of time; Slade took his time, analyzing her skillset and movements and committing them to memory while using his own technique to exploit her weakness and try to defeat her. Natasha was surprised at the skill and calm in this new enemy, her first real threat since coming to Gotham that might prove fully capable of defeating her. Despite this, she managed to catch him off-guard at one point, striking him down with a swift move; before she was able to incapacitate him, however, Deathstroke managed to retreat. Later, when Natasha was briefly recruited by the League of Assassins and sought to betray them, Deathstroke was secretly contacted by Ducard and persuaded into membership, offering him wealth and a position of leadership if he proved worthy of Ra's al Ghul's interest. Assigned to test his worth by engaging Natasha in combat, Deathstroke confronted her once she tried to break out of the Leauge; confident in his analysis of her style that he could defeat her this time, no longer holding back. The fight was ferocious once more, though this time Natasha had risen in her skillset due to some time spent in the League of Assassins; she was able to defeat Deathstroke once again. However, following the fight Deathstroke eluded both Natasha and the League of Assassins, and hasn't been seen since.

West Coast

After years of operating as a Mercenary in many locations, regularly coming back to Gotham during this time, Deathstroke ended up departing and settling somewhere on the West Coast.

Powers/Abilities

Being the subject of a Military medical experiment, Deathstroke has traits akin to a super soldier; enhanced strength, speed, stamina, durability, and healing factor. Besides this, his reputation was built highly from his intensive special forces training, learning combative skills all over the world. He has become perhaps one of the best mercenaries in the world, with few ever coming close to beating him. Those that do, he holds an intense grudge over, and continues to hunt them for his personal code of honor. Even though he is 80 years of age, Deathstroke is still performing well above peak human capability; this is a result of his enhanced physicality, which has slowed his ageing, enabled him to continue to be close to his prime despite the decades that have passed, and place him beyond base human capability.

Equipment

Adding to his arsenal of deadly skills, Deathstroke goes into every battle with a variety of items that aid him in his almost ceaseless list of successful missions.

Armor

Deathstroke's armor is made of an unknown materiel that, in addition to offering him protection from a variety of attacks up to medium military grade firearms, enhances his strength further. It is also hinted that the armor contains some method for self-repair, however it has built up a number of battle scars. The armor is only usable by him or other meta-humans, as normal people are not compatable with it; if a regular human were to wear it, their bodies would slowly break down at the cellular level.

Weapons

• A Variety of long-range firearms
• Handguns as a last resort
• A pair of Swords
• An extendable staff
• Grapple gun
• Remote claw
• Flashbang Grenades
• Proximity Bombs
• Neural Pellets

Trivia

• His future points him towards the West Coast.
• Not to be confused with the 1984 movie of the same name.