Deathstroke (Slade Joseph Wilson) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, the character debuted in The New Teen Titans #2 in December 1980 as Deathstroke the Terminator.
He is usually depicted as being among the deadliest and most expensive assassins in the DC Universe and is a prominent enemy of several superhero teams, most notably the Teen Titans, the Titans, and the Justice League. He is also a prominent adversary to individual heroes such as Dick Grayson (as Robin and later Nightwing) who has been depicted at times as his archenemy, Batman, and Green Arrow. Deathstroke is also the father of Jericho, two iterations of Ravager (Grant and Rose Wilson), and Respawn. A premier assassin, Deathstroke often comes into conflict with both members of the superhero community and his family, the latter whom he struggles to connect with.
The character was ranked the 24th Greatest Villain of All Time by Wizard magazine and the 32nd Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time by IGN. He has been substantially adapted into various forms of media, including several Batman-related projects; and the Teen Titans animated series, where he is voiced by Ron Perlman. In live-action, Deathstroke has been portrayed by Manu Bennett on The CW’s television Arrowverse show Arrow; by Esai Morales in the second season on the DC Universe series Titans; and by Joe Manganiello in the DC Extended Universe film Justice League and its director’s cut.
