DEATHSTROKE THE TERMINATOR (Slade Wilson)
Created By: Marv Wolfman & George Perez
First Appearance: The Teen Titans #2 (Dec. 1980)
Role: Super-Soldier, Elite Mercenary, Bad-Ass Anti-Hero
PL 11 (254)
STRENGTH 5
STAMINA 6
AGILITY 8
FIGHTING 15
DEXTERITY 7
INTELLIGENCE 4
AWARENESS 5
PRESENCE 3
Skills:
Acrobatics 9 (+17)
Athletics 10 (+16)
Close Combat (Unarmed) 2 (+17)
Deception 10 (+13)
Expertise (Tactics) 8 (+12)
Expertise (Mercenary) 12 (+16)
Insight 8 (+13)
Intimidation 10 (+13)
Investigation 4 (+9)
Perception 11 (+16)
Persuasion 5 (+8)
Stealth 4 (+13)
Vehicles 1 (+8)
Advantages:
Accurate Attack, Agile Feint, All-Out Attack, Benefit 3 (Ambidexterity, Reputation as The Best, Wealth), Assessment, Beginner's Luck, Chokehold, Connected, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Elusive Target, Equipment 5, Evasion, Fast Grab, Fearless, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Unarmed) 2, Improved Critical 2 (Staff), Improved Critical (Guns), Improved Critical (Sword), Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative 2, Instant Up, Jack-of-All-Trades, Languages 3 (Several), Power Attack, Precise Attack 2 (Ranged/Cover, Close/Concealment), Prone Fighting, Quick Draw, Ranged Attack 5, Seize Initiative, Takedown 2, Tracking, Uncanny Dodge, Well-Informed
Powers:
"Enhanced Physique"
Regeneration 4 (Feats: Diehard, Great Endurance) [6]
Leaping 1 (15 feet) [1]
Speed 2 (8 mph) [2]
"90% of Brain Used" Quickness 4 (Flaws: Limited- Mental Tasks Only) [2]
"Blaster Staff" (Flaws: Easily-Removable) [11]
Blast 8 (Feats: Split 2) (Diminished Range -1) (17) -- (18 points)
- AE: "Staff Smash" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Reach 2) (4)
Equipment:
"Sword" Strength-Damage +2 (Feats: Improved Critical) (Extras: Penetrating 4) (7)
"Body Armour" Protection 1 (Extras: Impervious 5) (6)
Offense:
Unarmed +17 (+5 Damage, DC 20)
Sword +15 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Blaster +12 (+8 Ranged Damage, DC 23)
Initiative +16
Defenses:
Dodge +15 (DC 25), Parry +15 (DC 25), Toughness +6 (+7 Body Armour), Fortitude +8, Will +12
Complications:
Motivation (Greed)- Slade is a killer-for-hire.
Relationship (Grant & Joseph Wilson)- Slade loved both of his sons dearly, but feels responsible for their demises. Grant worshipped him, and died imitating his Terminator persona as "The Ravager". Joseph was rendered mute by one of Slade's mistakes, and he was later forced to kill him to save his soul (and the universe).
Relationship (Adeline Wilson)- Slade fell in love with his superior in the military, but grew distant from her. When she attempted to murder him over Joseph's mutilation, she cost him an eye.
Relationship (Terra)- Slade entered into a sexual relationship with a fifteen-year-old sociopath, hoping that her deceptive nature and powers would get her in good with the Teen Titans. It worked, but he horribly-miscalculated just how unhinged Tara Markov really was.
Relationship (Wintergreen)- Slade saved Wintergreen's life years ago, and has retained his services as a servant and partner ever since. He remains Slade's best and only friend (which made his murder at Slade's mind-controlled hands all the more tragic).
Total: Abilities: 106 / Skills: 104--52 / Advantages: 52 / Powers: 22 / Defenses: 22 (254)
-Slade's got a long and storied history for a guy who started as a mastermind villain in a brand-new teen hero book in the late 1970s. Hell, he got the kind of start that would likely fail if tried today, where a "lesser" version of himself went up against the Titans first, only to die from his own stupidity, necessitating Slade taking the lesser one (his son Grant)'s place. But the way he did it, by getting a spy put onto the team (good ol' Terra), SLEEPING WITH HER (even though she was fifteen, sixteen, tops), then taking the Titans out in their homes when they least expected it, sealed the deal, making him a legendary villain. Of course, they did the standard "he's not so bad after all" thing, as without a mercenary contract out on the Titans, he had no reason to hate them, and actually had a bunch of relatively polite conversations with Changeling about Terra and their relationship and stuff like that.
-He even got a fairly long-running solo series in the '90s, which of course is almost completely forgotten today, as are most '90s solo runs of non-major characters (and villains). I think it's only remaining link to nowadays is Rose Wilson, aka Ravager II. But he got a MAJOR boost to the big leagues thanks to his run in the Secret Society's inner circle and a vendetta against Green Arrow (lousy Ollie, stealing the Titans' best villain... well, I guess he still menaces them too...).
-Ooh, funny story about his name, too. Sounds clumsy, don't it? And in the cartoon he's just "Slade". Well, he WAS just "The Terminator" for the most part early on (though in his debut he DOES use the name "Deathstroke" once), but then a little movie came out by the same name, which ended up being a whole hell of a lot more famous than a villain in a comic series. Suddenly, this "Deathstroke" name gets added onto it permanently. And then the Titans cartoon can't use THAT name either, because of the word "Death" in it, so he just goes by his real name. Bizarre stuff, the kind of thing that only happens in comic books and pro wrestling.
-And yeah, Deathstroke's a savage monster in combat. +17 to Attack and +15 to Defense (though it's the chemical enhancements that do it) make him a nasty bugger, even though he "only" does +5 damage normally. But his Combat Advantages are so extensive he can modify all his caps at will, he's got Improved Critical on all his major attacks, he can Quick Draw anything, fight from a prone position, he's as good at range as he is in close, he's got mental Quickness ("90%" of his brain is used, based off of that Old Wive's Tale of most people only using 10%), AND he's a major Skillmonkey to boot!
-Note that his Regeneration isn't as good as it would get in his solo series yet (where it's basically Immortality), and that even though he's only got one eye, it doesn't affect any of his stats adversely enough to count as a Complication. And also, he gets MUCH better later on- it's quite clear in the early Titans stories that Slade has slowed down with age, even lowering his guard to allow observation (Adeline mentions this when she's able to spy on him, and again when he fails to capture Dick Grayson and is actually forced to chase him IN BROAD DAYLIGHT while in full costume!). He got a bigger power-boost later, gaining a ton of ability, and his Power Level shoots all the way up to PL 12-13 easily (largely due to Strength 6 and higher Defenses, plus a bit more accuracy).
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