I am the thing that keeps you up at night, the evil that haunts every dark corner of your mind.... I will never rest. And neither will you.
- ―Slade[src]
Slade Wilson (known as Deathstroke in the original DC comics) is the Teen Titans most recurring and elusive archenemy, who wants them destroyed for his own unknown reasons.
History
Deathstroke also appears in the Teen Titans animated series, where he is referred to only as Slade due to censorship issues. He is the Titans' main adversary and was the primary antagonist for the first two seasons. His main goal is to "destroy" the Titans and conquer the city and quite possibly the world, for unknown reasons—though it is possible he is simply a criminal with ambitions of power and has no ulterior motives. He has had two secret bases, which were both destroyed. He also seems to have a massive army of robotic commandos and incredible strength, enough to leave a dent in solid steel with one hit.
In many episodes in Season One and Season Two, he tries to recruit others to his side. He initially hires Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth from the H.I.V.E. Academy, but the Titans succeed in beating the three graduates. Slade then tries to trick Thunder and Lightning, two teenage storm elementals, into destroying Jump City, but that too failed when Beast Boy helped the brothers to see the error of their ways. In the "Apprentice" story arc, Slade forced Robin to join him, with the threat that if he did not, Slade would use nanobots he planted in the Titans to destroy them from the inside out, therefore killing them. Robin eventually overcame Slade with his friends' help. Interestingly, when presented with an opportunity to kill all five of the Titans after Robin infected himself with the nanobots, he chose not to kill them. Why is not known.
In Season Two, Slade recruited the super heroine Terra, who in the animated series is portrayed as more of a lost soul than an irredeemable psychopath. In "Aftershock" Parts One and Two, Terra betrayed the Titans to Slade, who took over the city with her help. The Titans returned however, and with Beast Boy's help, Terra overcame the link her new suit had to Slade, and she sent him to his doom in a lava pit while she turned to stone.
Being apparently dead, Slade was absent for the most part in the third season. He did appear in the season 3 episode, "Haunted". But in this episode, he is a figment of Robin's imagination, due to a dust released from his mask onto Robin, which made him see, hear, and feel Slade. This almost killed Robin, but Robin saved his own life by turning on the lights (thus banishing the Slade hallucination). He then inexplicably returned in full for Season Four, as the servant of Raven's demonic father Trigon. Slade now had fire powers and a red mark on his forehead, called the Mark of Scath. He delivered Trigon's message to Raven, that she would cause the end of the world on her birthday. In the episode "The End Part 2", it is explained that Slade's defeat at Terra's hands had indeed killed him, and that Trigon had promised to give him back his flesh in exchange for his services. However, Trigon went back on the deal, and Slade decided to join forces with the Teen Titans. While Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy tried to distract Trigon, Robin and Slade went to find Raven (who had been transformed into a child version of herself) in the underworld. Upon returning to the surface with Raven, the Titans assaulted Trigon in a somewhat vain effort to defeat him. Nevertheless, they managed to hurt him, as did Slade, who recovered his flesh and stole the demonic weapon of one of Trigon's minions. Raven finally defeated her "father" and restored the world to normal, but Slade escaped the Titans shortly thereafter, with a solemn promise from Robin that nothing has changed, and he will make that clear if he sees him again.
Jericho (Deathstroke's son from the comics) has appeared in the final episodes, but no reference has been made to Slade's and Jericho's connection in the show. "Slade" did make his final appearance in the final episode of Teen Titans when Beast Boy attempted to reconcile with Terra. Slade ordered Beast Boy to leave her alone and that she chooses not to remember her past. Beast Boy, enraged, attacked Slade and seemingly killed him but like previous times, this was one of Slade's robot duplicates.
Powers and abilities
Primarily, Slade possesses great strength, reflexes, endurance, and is a skilled fighter in many forms of armed and unarmed combat. In the Teen Titans: Know Your Foes interview on the Season 2 DVD, Slade is said to have enhanced strength and an enhanced healing factor. He was also able to move faster than Robin could see during their brief scuffle in Apprentice Part II. Slade has been able to hold his own even against superpowered opponents, such as all the members of the Titans. In addition, he is a master of psychological manipulation and a master planner and strategist and has also demonstrated skills in disguise and ritual magic.
As Trigon's lackey, Slade was granted the ability to fly, teleport, phasing, and to generate demonic fire blasts. As an effectively non-living entity at that time, he also possessed no sense of pain and the ability to withstand even massive amounts of physical damage.
Notes
- Slade's original comic name "Deathstroke" did not make it through the censors due to hesitance to use the word "death" in a children's animated series; thus, the character is referred to by his first name. However, his alias is mentioned in the tie-in comic Teen Titans Go! (and in the other languages [for example, in the French version]). He is also changed from an assassin and mercenary-for-hire to an enigmatic criminal mastermind.
- He is actually the only villain from the original comic to not use his original supervillain name.
- In the episode "Forces of Nature", Slade is disguised as an elderly mystic who bears resemblance to Slade's maskless comic book appearance.
- Only two of Slade's three children appear in the cartoon. The only child of Slade not to appear was his firstborn son Grant Wilson. In the comics, Grant was the first criminal to be called the Ravager. He was killed in his first encounter with the Teen Titans.
- Slade is the final boss character in the video game, as well as a playable unlocked character.
Appearances
- Divide and Conquer
- Final Exam
- Forces of Nature
- Masks
- Apprentice - Part 1
- Apprentice - Part 2
- Terra (episode)
- Titan Rising
- Betrayal
- Aftershock - Part 1
- Aftershock - Part 2
- Haunted
- Birthmark
- The Prophecy
- The End - Part 1
- The End - Part 2
- The End - Part 3
- Things Change
Other appearances
Slade is the last boss and a playable character in the Teen Titans video game. Slade is the only person who appears in the first and last episode of the series. He also appears in 4 ending episodes of the seasons.