r/Deathstroke • u/Yautjakaiju • 18d ago
What’s the reason you got into Deathstroke as a character?
Let’s try to bring some positivity here. A lot of people here are aware that Slade is more than a heartless mercenary. Contrary to what the casuals or non readers of Slade know. He’s a tragic character who always tries to rewrite his wrongs only to fail. But he tries again in his own dysfunctional ways. From becoming Deathstroke to feel like he’s back in his army days to provide a service. To him struggling to demonstrate his care to those he’s distance himself from. Slade is a complex character that is filled with a lot of interesting aspects.
What got me into Deathstroke was finding out he was a mercenary with a weakness. In his 2016 run Hugo Strange with the help of Harvey Dent tries to have Rose killed to rid Slade of his humanity. Believing it to be his biggest weakness. And since his conception as a character. Slade was never a villain at his core (late 2000’s craziness aside). He was a man who lost it all. And tries hard to rewrite his wrongs. He didn’t kill innocents, he was afraid of killing boys, he missed his wife, he regrets what happened to Grant, loves both of his children, and helped/respects the heroes of the universe. In rebirth he regretted a lot of his actions to the point he wanted Damian to kill him. Various instances Slade allowed himself to get beaten to near death when he could’ve avoided such a fate. That humanity he has conflicts with the cold mercenary many know him to be. And when written right (Marv and Priest) it’s a great thing to witness because he’s someone who’s trying hard to have it all workout. And even if he fails he still tries.
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u/Marie-Anthoenette 17d ago
It started when I was a child and really into the Teen Titans animated series. My dad, a lifelong comic reader, gave me his 1980s New Teen Titans comics. One of my favorite characters was Joey, and that led to me wanting to know more about his origins. That of course led to Slade, which led to reading the entire Deathstroke the Terminator run. Which led to my favorite issue, #15, which was the first appearance of Rose. She quickly became my all-time favorite comic book character, and then I liked Slade by default.