Super Soldiers

by Jason Inman

  Chapter 15

  Deathstroke

  The Worst Military Dad

  We all have daddy issues. Now, imagine if your father was in the military and he was a world-class mercenary. Also, let’s add DC Comics supervillain to that list. Combine all those attributes into one person and I guarantee he’s a paternal figure most of us wouldn’t be buying a Father’s Day card for anytime soon. Well, all those descriptors are accurate of Slade Wilson, better known as Deathstroke: the Terminator. The classic New Teen Titans villain with one eye can also be simply described as a real jerk. Slade is one of those characters in fiction who at every turn always makes the wrong decision. When it comes to fighting the Justice League or assassinating a rogue dictator, Slade will always make the right or most tactically sound choice. However, when it comes to his wife or his children, Slade always chooses poorly. Neglecting their feelings, neglecting their birthdays, and forgetting about them altogether in order to run outside the house and murder people. So, as I wrote earlier in this paragraph, a real jerk.

  Slade Wilson is an enigma. He’s a man who desperately wants to be a family man, a military man, and a mercenary killer, all at the same time—even though each option puts his psyche at odds with the others. You cannot be moral in your duties in the military at the same time you are murdering people for money on the weekends. As to the possibilities of being a good father and being in the military, well, that’s definitely possible.

  I never had a parent in the military, but my wife has. Her father served in the Canadian military for all his life. He even served as part of the UN peacekeeping force in Bosnia. My wife remembers him as a great father and their military bases as friendly communities. The only downside of having a guardian in the service was the constant moving around the country. Which I’m sure many military brats can attest to. (As previously stated, “military brat” refers to the children of a service member, or a child that knows another power outranks their powerful parent: their superior officer. For a child, this gives you an advantage over your parent.)

  Each of these elements leads to Deathstroke being an interesting and compelling character. At any moment, he could quit all of these vices and become the perfect dad, the splendid officer, and the loving husband. In spite of this, he always chooses himself. His appetite for destruction supersedes his family and his service. Like Walter White from Breaking Bad, Deathstroke does it all for himself, he’s good at it, and he likes it.

  Slade Wilson, when he first joined the military, signed on the dotted line for duty. At the age of sixteen, Slade wanted to enlist in the US Army. (The lowest age for enlistment is seventeen, but that’s only with your legal guardian’s signed permission.) He was so persistent about joining up and serving his country, he lied about his age to join. Slade quickly rose up the ranks, proving his determination to be the best there was. Soon, he left the enlisted ranks to become a fully commissioned officer and gained the rank of major. His natural talents at being a soldier allowed him to achieve promotion even more speedily. As Deathstroke #1 Volume One, in 1991, describes him: “He was an American Army legend long before the war.”

  Think for just one second about what that says about Slade Wilson. He wasn’t willing to wait two more years to fight in the military. He was going to find a way into battle, no matter what the rules were. Slade was desperate to prove his worth to the service. Or was it all a ruse? Was this the classic Slade Wilson selfishness rearing its head? Did he join driven by an egotistical desire to confirm he could be the best soldier? I believe so, and when you consider that it taints every choice going forward, I think my point is proven. Usually, when a character is in the infancy of their hero’s journey, the audience is introduced to a purer version of the hero/villain. One that believes in a single truth. One that has not been corrupted by the years of conflict and age. From his very first moment, Slade Wilson was neither. His narcissistic nature conflicted with his core patriotism in his very first act with the military. For him, it began with a small lie which would soon become a snowball.

  When thinking back on my military career, there is only one truly selfish act I can remember, or perhaps there is only one that I will admit to for this book—you decide, true believers! One of the very first missions I had while deployed in Iraq was to guard a unit of soldiers that belonged to the US Army Corps of Engineers. Their specialty was the construction of new bridges, and I was able to observe the whole process while pointing a weapon toward the perimeter. On the other side of this river sat an embedded military unit from Poland. They were lovely fellows, and I can remember being surprised to come across a military unit from another country. Perhaps it was naivety or perhaps I was dumber in my younger years, but many countries participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom, so this Polish unit should not have caught me off guard the way it did. They were a small unit (six men) whose duty it was to help the local Iraqi Police guard the bridge from insurgents. We later learned this bridge was one of the main supply routes in the area, which made it a prime target for terrorism. However, terrorism did not destroy the bridge; time did. One day, a giant section of the bridge fell into the river below, thus necessitating the progression of our mission. The Army engineers obliterated the remains of the old bridge with all speed and set about assembling a temporary bridge which floated on the surface of the water. This allowed for the passage of a single line of traffic over the river, while construction began on the new permanent structure. It was our duty to guard the vehicles crossing, to make sure the engineers worked uninterrupted.

  Several of the Polish soldiers would come out and join our patrols, giving us an extra hand and making our job slightly easier each day. We awaited the engineers’ completion of the project so we could zoom back to our warm beds (actually flat Army cots) in the tent that was home for the course of our deployment, and not the cold, cramped, and dusty Humvees parked on the desert, which had become our quarters for the duration of the mission.

  When the bridge was finished, the Polish soldiers invited all the American soldiers to a grand feast, which was actually a small sampling of their rations mixed with bottles of liquor. In my experience, this was an uncommon occurrence, so of course, we all wanted to attend. Our commanding officer forbade us to go because he claimed we had too many duties to attend to. In truth, we had no duties. Our only job at that point was to pack up our gear and continue security duty. So, I snuck over to the feast and enjoyed a few drinks with our new Polish friends. Was it selfish? Very much so, but I did at least have the decency to check in with my battle buddy and ensure that he could cover me on the perimeter in case something hairy happened. At the time, it seemed like I would never have an opportunity presented to me like this again. A friendly feast with fellow soldiers from across the world to celebrate a job well done? I’m glad I betrayed my orders and went.

  At least my selfishness wasn’t a betrayal of federal paperwork the way Slade Wilson’s was. Deathstroke would continue his disrespect of the rules when he met another fellow soldier, Captain Adeline Kane. Captain Kane was an instructor for the Army Special Forces. Her training was brutal. Most recruits couldn’t make it through her training, but Slade did. She taught Slade to stop thinking one-dimensionally. Threats may attack from any direction. Your brain must be ready. Your mind must prepare for any threat. This line of thinking is very similar to another DC Comics hero, Batman. Adeline broke Slade of his reliance on weapons. She forged his body into a weapon of its own. Slade graduated her training with honors, and it wasn’t long afterward that these two Army officers began a relationship. They were married in less than a year. Shortly afterward, Slade was sent into battle to use his new techniques in the field and do what he had been trained to do. Slade left behind his new wife, who could not deploy due to the imminent birth of their son, Grant. Technically, Slade had again broken the rules by pursuing his relationship with Adeline Kane. His selfish desire had gotten in the way of proper protocol and command. According to Army Regulat
ion 600-20, “relationships (both opposite-gender and same-gender) are prohibited if they: Compromise, or appear to compromise, the integrity of supervisory authority or the chain of command.” Remember from the Batwoman chapter? Since Slade and Adeline’s relationship began during their training, their lovemaking was against the rules. Adeline was his superior training officer. He may have come to outrank her, but for the purposes of his training, she was the boss. Their relationship could have compromised the validity of the training, or Adeline could have given Slade preferential treatment, which she most definitely did. There is not one section of Deathstroke’s life in which he will not bend the rules to his will.

  As a quick aside, I can confirm that fraternization in the military is actually quite common. Between many ranks and units, romance does bleed through the uniform. However, in the many cases I knew about, no one was this open about their fraternization, and it never led to marriage like Slade and Adeline.

  After his wartime missions, Slade was asked by the military brass to volunteer for a top-secret mission. It was pitched to him as an experiment to help soldiers defend against enemy truth serum, but that was quickly revealed not to be the truth of the matter. The government wanted to create metahuman super soldiers. Slade Wilson, being one of their best men, was the perfect test subject. Just like with Captain America, and many of the other superpowered soldiers in this book, comic books like to present the leaders of the military as corrupt officials who play fast and loose with human life. It’s interesting that this seems to be a common trope lobbed at military leaders across comic books. Could it be most comic book writers are averse to government leaders? Do they believe there is no way government leaders would not try to experiment on common people to further military goals? They are partially correct. We have seen plenty of corruption in the military in the past, but Slade Wilson is only one of several super soldier experiments in comics. One does wonder what started this common corrupt-military-leaders theme.

  During the experiment, Wintergreen, a fellow soldier and good friend of the Wilsons’, tried to convince Slade to step away from the experiment. He was already the best soldier in the US Army. He had nothing to prove to anyone. Slade’s selfishness took over. He sent his friend away with a laugh. He was incapable of fathoming what could possibly go wrong with the experiment. Soon, Slade was strapped to the table. The needles full of the ACTH serum were inserted into his arms, and moments later chaos erupted. Slade broke the straps with a newfound superhuman strength. It took several military policemen to contain him. The damage was done. The old Slade Wilson was gone.

  Slade would later have to be confined to a bed and regularly sedated in order to curb his aggressive, dangerous nature after the accident. He was held prisoner in a room during the birth of his second son, Joseph Wilson. It would be quite some time before Slade eventually discovered the experiment had worked. All his pain, suffering, and confinement granted him enhanced speed, strength, reflexes, and stamina beyond any mortal man. As a result of his violent outbursts, Slade had to be restricted to Army desk duty. He sought out professional hunting and mercenary work to fill the need for violence in his life. He yearned to fight and viewed himself as one of the best fighters in the world.

  Slade finally accepted his supervillain identity when his best friend, William Randolph Wintergreen, was captured following a dangerous suicide mission. When the military refused to rescue Wintergreen, Slade put together a costume and set out to save his friend. He succeeded but was discharged from the Army for disobeying orders. Slade saw his discharge as a good thing. Fed up with the orders and code of conduct he felt hampered him from completing his objectives, Slade named himself ”Deathstroke: the Terminator.”

  To become a mercenary is an interesting career path. You agree to fight in military conflicts and take on precarious missions only for the payday. No political interests or governing body gives you your orders; private companies or individuals do. In modern warfare, those orders are usually given by private security firms. I met a group of mercenaries during my time in Iraq. Their supply hub and warehouse were located on the base where I was stationed. They were nice guys. However, they were always armed to the teeth on base, and each individual carried more live ammo than any soldier I saw throughout my entire deployment. These were some badass men. We traded beers and stories one night, but I never asked them how much money it took for these tough gentlemen to journey into a war zone. For myself, such a paycheck would have to be quite high.

  For Slade Wilson, it turned out the price was very low. Yes, his rates for the services of Deathstroke were quite enormous. He soon became the greatest assassin in the world, which meant he did not have low rates. No, I’m talking about his personal price. The one he levied against his soul. To keep killing, to cross borders and enter conflicts without orders, and to betray the Army core values he swore to uphold—that was the price he had to pay. Slade enjoyed his new career as Deathstroke, even putting his own life on the line time after time, despite his now being the father of two young children. All the while, he never told his wife about his extracurricular activities.

  That’s right—Adeline had no idea Slade was Deathstroke. It’s not clear if Adeline even knew what Deathstroke was. Nevertheless, Slade put on his mask night after night to quench his selfish desire for violence while simultaneously putting his entire family at risk. He tried to justify his actions as Deathstroke by creating a new code of honor for himself. He would never betray the people who hired him, and he would never execute anyone he believed to be innocent. It’s a thin code of honor, but when you’re the murderer of hundreds of people, you can justify anything to yourself. Especially when you are constantly driven toward violence, toward bloodshed.

  Deathstroke was later hired to kill a colonel in the Qurac military (Qurac being one of the fictional nation-states that exist in the DC Comics Universe). Slade completed the mission and never gave it a second thought, until an assassin by the name of the Jackal kidnapped his youngest son, Joseph. The Jackal wanted the identity of the person who had hired Deathstroke to kill the colonel. Slade was so arrogant about his metahuman abilities that he gambled with the life of his son. He stormed the Jackal’s facility and was able to kill all of his son’s kidnappers except one. This enemy slit Joey’s throat seconds before Slade could bring down the killing stroke. Slade rushed Joey to the hospital, where he was forced to finally tell his wife, Adeline, about his secret life. He had to admit to all his secret murders. His careless actions led to permanent vocal damage for their son, Joey, who remained mute for the rest of his life. Adeline became enraged. She had been betrayed by the man she loved. The same man who had almost gotten one of her children killed. This momma bear picked up a gun—literally—she aimed it at Slade’s face, and she fired! Slade managed to dodge the bullet at the last second, thanks to his abilities, but not fast enough for the bullet to avoid his right eye. Slade lost sight in his eye and lost his wife, as Adeline quickly divorced Slade.

  (There are several different versions of how Slade Wilson loses his eye in many DC Comics stories and television shows. The original comic version is the one I think is the most emotionally resonant.)

  Deathstroke would go onto become a foil for the entire DC Universe, primarily through the lens of his nemesis status to the team known as the Teen Titans. He would blame them for the death of his eldest son, Grant, who dressed up as the Ravager and followed in his father’s footsteps. This back-and-forth battle of wills with the Titans would continue for several years, although it often changed and adjusted based on Slade’s current view of his enemies. Sometimes he would go so far as to team up with the Titans, but mostly he crept in the shadows of the DC Comics universe, a secret assassin who could take down any target.

  Slade Wilson would tell you he was a good man, in the grand tradition of many comic book supervillains. The best villains are always the ones who think they’re right, who have a skewed perspective and commit heinous acts in
pursuit of their “righteous” goal. It’s actually similar to a service member having to defend lethal actions in time of war to a civilian. Some would make the argument that killing is an absolute no-no; however, in a time of war, with your boots on the ground, when it’s between the protection of the unit and the life of an enemy combatant, you have to make the hard choice. It’s a difficult moral area.

  That’s what makes Slade Wilson an interesting character. Slade would never murder an innocent and, because of that, he’s a better man than some of the other monsters, like the Joker or Lex Luthor, who he shares the DC Universe with. For my money, he’s their equal. His obsession with killing led him past the point of no return. Slade betrayed the code of honor of the military, he betrayed his own morals, and he betrayed his own family. The last one ought to be considered the worst of his crimes. His selfishness cost him a woman who truly understood him, a woman his equal in all things military, and who could understand his troubles and concerns in that realm. Instead, he threw it all away.

  Some would say it was the experiment that changed Slade into this monster. I would counter that this side of the character was always there, similar to Frank Castle, the Punisher. Deathstroke, from the very beginning, would walk into any situation and immediately toss the rules aside to suit his needs. Look back to the very first time he enlisted. He couldn’t wait two years to serve his country. Serving in the military is about more than duty and honor. It’s also about perseverance. Can you hold out for the long term? It’s the only thing that can keep you sane during long engagements or deployments. Slade Wilson could not. Not in his personal life and not in his military career. He was never a patient man. He didn’t care about joining up like everyone else. Slade deemed himself better than the rest. He deserved to have more than you, more than anyone else. That makes him a selfish man. That makes him a villain.