He’s the most dangerous mercenary in the DC Universe. He once fought the entire Justice League on his own. He’s got a cool eyepatch and a striking goatee. He’s Slade Wilson, but his enemies call him Deathstroke the Terminator. Sometimes he fights on the side of good, other times he lends his services to evil. It really depends on who is paying more. Either way, he always finishes the job.
As we discover the next chapter of Slade’s life with Deathstroke: The Terminator, let’s take a closer look at the man behind the patch. Here are seven things you didn’t know about Deathstroke.
He Was the Terminator Before Arnold
If you go back and read Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s New Teen Titans run, you might be surprised to see Slade Wilson using the Terminator as a codename. To be clear, his full title was Deathstroke the Terminator, but Slade’s allies and enemies would just call him Terminator. The name was also prominently used in story titles such as “Today…the Terminator” and “The Trial of the Terminator.” Then a certain Arnold Schwarzenegger movie came out in 1984 and DC began pivoting to the name Deathstroke in order to avoid confusion. Now Slade seems to be reclaiming the name with his new series. Arnold may be the more well-known Terminator but never forget that Slade Wilson was the original!
Slade Prefers Having One Eye
Deathstroke lost his right eye after being shot by his ex-wife (as seen in a flashback in Tales of the Teen Titans #44). As time has gone on, Slade realizes he doesn’t miss his right eye. In fact, he feels he’s a better fighter with one eye, and that having an “extra” would just get in the way. In 2014’s Deathstroke #1, a mysterious benefactor restores Slade’s youth which results in his right eye regenerating.
Despite this, Slade continues covering his right eye in combat, believing it to be a distraction. In 2015’s Deathstroke #10, Slade rips out his right eye as part of a ritual sacrifice to save his children. However, in Deathstroke #11, he admits that the sacrifice wasn’t completely selfless. “Joke’s on them, though,” Slade says. “I’m a better fighter without the eye anyway.”
Slade Has Over 900 Confirmed Kills (But the Real Number is Probably Much Higher)
Deathstroke has left a lot of bodies in his wake. In 2014’s Deathstroke #1, he estimated that he had a confirmed kill count of over 600. However, he immediately added another 300 to that tally one issue later when he fought that many assassins single handedly. If you count indirect kills, the real number is much higher since he was the one who ordered Chemo to blow up the city of Blüdhaven in Infinite Crisis #4. According to Adventures of Superman #648, at least 100,068 lives were lost in that attack. And all of these comics came out in previous decades. Who can say how many people he’s killed since then? Maybe we’ll get a new tally in his latest series.
Deathstroke Once Had Access to the Speed Force (and Immediately Made the Same Mistake Barry Allen Made)
We’ve all heard the jokes about Barry Allen messing up the timeline, but to be fair, he isn’t the only one. During the Lazarus Contract storyline, Slade siphoned Kid Flash’s Speed Force powers and immediately made the same mistake most of the speedsters make—trying to solve their problems with time travel. Slade traveled back to the events of 1980’s New Teen Titans #2 and tried to prevent the death of his son Grant.
Surprise, surprise, it didn’t work. I guess Slade learned nothing from Flashpoint. Slade’s attempts to save his son messed up the timeline and the Titans were forced to remove his speed powers to set things right. The whole thing was so demoralizing that Slade gave up being Deathstroke for a little while.
No, He Doesn’t Use 90% of His Brain Capacity
There’s a lot of misinformation surrounding Slade Wilson’s brain. Various comics, including New Teen Titans #2 and Identity Crisis #3, state that Slade uses 90% of his brain capacity, while the average human only uses 10%. This is used as an explanation for Deathstroke’s enhanced physical and mental abilities, but it’s all based on an urban myth. In reality, scientists believe we use our entire brains every day, but the 10% myth was so widespread that it bled its way into Slade’s mythology.
Now that we have a better understanding of the human brain, newer comics have corrected the record. In 2019’s Deathstroke #46, Doctor Villain states that the 90% myth is a misunderstanding of Deathstroke’s evolved mind. 2020’s Batman #86 clarifies the issue further, stating that Slade’s mind is nine times faster and more efficient than the average human brain, which is where the 90% figure comes from.
The Terminator Had a Truce with the Titans for Nearly Twenty Years
Deathstroke is famously known as the sworn enemy of the Teen Titans, but he was actually pretty chill with them for a while. In the aftermath of the Judas Contract storyline, Slade had an uncomfortable lunch with Changeling in Tales of the Teen Titans #55. Slade told the young hero that he had nothing personal against the Titans, he was simply fulfilling an assignment, and now that it was over, he was going to leave them alone. True to his word, Slade stayed away from the Titans for the rest of the ’80s. When he encountered them in ’90s-era storylines such as Titans Hunt and Total Chaos, he acted as an uneasy ally.
Slade and the Titans would occasionally fight for a page or two due to a misunderstanding or heated argument (such as in Deathstroke #45 or New Titans #86), but Deathstroke was more or less an unofficial relief member during emergencies. To be fair, Deathstroke did fight Dick Grayson in Nightwing #17-18 and went after a different team of Titans (new members he hadn’t met before) in 1998’s Teen Titans #22. Slade also had a fight with Arsenal in 2000’s The Titans #22 when he felt the hero was protecting a terrorist. Still, these were far from the reign of terror we saw from him when he was initially introduced.
There really isn’t a specific issue where we can say Slade Wilson officially became a Teen Titans villain again, as it was a slow trickle. Deathstroke attacked the Teen Titans in 2003’s Teen Titans #2, but he was under mind control from his son Jericho, so it’s hard to count that. In 2004’s Teen Titans #11, however, Slade and Starfire disagreed about how to stop the Church of Blood from exploiting Raven leading to Starfire saying that “the deal is off” and all of them exchanging blows later, so perhaps we can say it ended there. However, it’s interesting to note that the team’s most iconic villain spent most of the ’90s as one of their most valuable allies.
He Impersonated Batman for Over a Year (and Batman’s Own Team Didn’t Notice)
When Roy Harper formed his version of the Outsiders, Batman was his secret benefactor. The Dark Knight secretly supplied funding and other resources for the team, but had Roy keep it a secret in order to protect Nightwing’s pride. Deathstroke took advantage of this communication breakdown to troll the team.
For over a year Slade dressed up as Batman and secretly met with Roy, giving him intel on criminal organizations for the Outsiders to take down. Slade thought it would be amusing to control a superhero team and loved the idea of taking out his mercenary competitors. Roy, who has known Batman since childhood, never suspected that he was meeting with an imposter, and once again, THIS LASTED OVER A YEAR!
Roy eventually discovered the ruse in 2005’s Outsiders #21, and Deathstroke, of course, rubbed it in his face. “I’ll be honest with you, I thought it’d take a lot longer for you people to figure it out,” Slade said.
Maybe he does a really good Christian Bale voice?
Deathstroke: The Terminator #1 by Tony Fleecs, Carmine Di Giandomenico and Ivan Plascencia is now available in print and as a digital comic book.
Joshua Lapin-Bertone writes about TV, movies and comics for DC.com, is a regular contributor to the Couch Club and writes our monthly Batman column, "Gotham Gazette." Follow him on Bluesky at @joshualapinbertone and on X at @TBUJosh.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Joshua Lapin-Bertone and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
