Tonight’s Season 5 finale of Arrow features the return of Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke, but who is he?
The Teen Titans and Batman
Prior to appearing in Arrow, Slade Wilson also known as Deathstroke was a well-known Batman villain from the comics.
His first comic book appearance was in The New Teen Titans Vol. 1 Issue 2.
The character, who is an assassin, was the creation of Marv Wolfman and George Perez.
Originally the enemy of the Teen Titans, Deathstroke would eventually graduate to becoming an enemy to the Batman.
Over the years, the character has been used in various crossover events in comics and across all media.
Deathstroke’s introduction to Arrow
In the Arrow-verse, Deathstroke came to prominence in Season 2, but his true identity as Slade Wilson was introduced during the show’s first season.
In Arrow, Slade Wilson was an Australian Special Forces soldier who met Oliver Queen on the island where he trained him in military and special forces combat.
Both Queen and Slade started off as allies. But when Slade becomes badly wounded, he takes a drug called Mirakuru, which gave him enhanced abilities, but also drove him to a quest of outright vengeance when he learned that Oliver chose to save the life of Sara Lance over his friend Shado.
When Oliver and Slade first squared off, Oliver managed to put an arrow through Slade’s eye and assumed him to be dead.
But Slade Wilson turned up in Starling City five years after Ollie had supposedly killed him and tried to get revenge by trying to destroy everything that Oliver held dear.
While in his blood lust as Deathstroke, Slade managed to murder Oliver Queen’s mother but was ultimately captured and cured of the effects of the Mirakuru.
In last week’s episode, we saw Oliver visit Slade and ask for his help to save his friends who are being held on the island by Prometheus aka Adrian Chase.
Powers and abilities
When he was under the influence of the Mirakuru, Deathstroke had enhanced strength, speed, agility, and durability granted by the experimental serum.
The serum allowed Deathstroke to be able to bench press over a ton in weight.
He was also able to use around about 90 per cent of his brain at any given time, which made him a dangerous villain.
Added to all of this was the military training that Slade had gotten during his time in the special forces. He is also adept at boxing and various forms of martial arts.
In tonight’s episode
In tonight’s episode we’ll get to see Deathstroke make his return, but this time as an Ally to Oliver Queen’s Green Arrow.
It’s fair to say that fans are excited about this because Manu Bennet, who plays the character, is the first actor we have seen to completely take ownership of the role.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_l1gGzJJGE
The Season 5 finale of Arrow will aim to hit its target tonight at 8/7c on The CW.