Deathstroke vs. Batman is coming soon

RUMOR ALERT!!

Editor's Note: JK, it's only Deanpool and myself. So it's really just my note. But again this post will be a delayed post. News of this broke some time ago, we drafted up a blog post, and let it sit in the drafts until we had time to revisit. Enjoy!

Oh we love our rumor mills. So when Ben Affleck posts a conspicuous video of "test footage" of Deathstroke. We squeal and jump on our laptops in glee. Especially owners of New Teen Titans #2. Which Deanpool happens to be one of. But seriously if you haven't seen the test footage, go to Ben Affleck's Twitter.


Whether you watched the animated Teen Titans series or more recently, the second season of CW's Arrow, you may be familiar with the potential a villain like Slade Wilson a.k.a. Deathstroke may present. A character with a drastic rise in popularity in the last couple years after first appearing in comics in 1980, created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. Gamers who played Batman: Arkham Origins got a chance to duel against the bounty hunter

Deathstroke and even play as the character as a DLC. Spoiler: he appears in Arkham Asylum in a much more annoying role. And by annoying, we mean he's in an annoying tank and is a pain in the butt to beat. Depending on when you're reading this, Netflix may still be streaming Son of Batman, an animated movie that introduces Damian Wayne to the Batman animated universe. The primary antagonist is Deathstroke as he becomes the leader of a secret organization after killing Damian's grandfather. We'll leave it at 

that. It's worth a watch. As stated earlier, Slade Wilson plays a key role in the first two seasons of Arrow, being portrayed by Manu Bennett. The Green Arrow/Deathstroke rivalry may be the most popular for either character's publication history. I mean, Slade lost his eye due to an arrow. Guess what color it was. With Season 2 of Arrow arguably being the show's strongest season, a major reason for it can be contributed to Deathstroke's character. Props to 

Geoff Johns and Guggenheim in telling Slade's background story and making him a formidable opponent to Oliver Queen on both a physical and psychological level. However, if you watched Teen Titans on Cartoon Network like we did, these kind of tactics weren't new to you. The enemy/arch-rival only known as Slade (guess Deathstroke is a bit intense for younger viewers) made the Titans, especially a young Dick Grayson as Robin, miserable.



Lots of Deathstroke in recent movie/TV medias. Even videogames. His comic book popularity started seeing a similar uptick. Surely, intentional by DC Comics. Slade had a couple of solo series, was featured in a couple Suicide Squad renditions, played bad guy as a cameo in other series, etc. The point being he started seeing a lot more spotlight. With the DC cinematic universe slowly growing, Deathstroke was poised to make a debut on the big screen. I mean c'mon, Deadshot and Harley Quinn already beat him to it.

So let's piece together what we got so far and discuss what Deathstroke being a in a DC movie, a Batman movie specifically, will mean for the DCU.

While no one will ever be the kind of villain the Joker is to Batman, what can we expect from Deathstroke as a villain? Well for one thing, it promises some kick-ass fight sequences. Not necessarily the heavyweight match we saw in BvS. More like two ultimate tacticians and skilled fighters pitted against each other. The "prepared for everything" Batman will have to match up against a foe as devoted to the details as he is. It's also a match-up that will definitely keep this Batfleck version of Batman on a darker path. Deathstroke will not hold back to find a chink in Batman's armor, whether it's personal or not. He's not afraid to cross the line, but will Batman be able to meet Deathstroke at that level? From a physical standpoint, Deathstroke has a slight advantage in the sense that he possesses enhanced strength, speed, agility, etc. courtesy of "an experimental serum". Yes readers, another super soldier. Meet the one-eyed Captain America on the DC Comics side who sports a sniper rifle instead of a shield and accepts money in exchange for assassination. But I mean, Bats went toe-to-toe with Superman, who literally had every advantage. So we think Batman will find a way to negate that and/or level the playing field.

Side note during editing: so far there's no hint to Green Arrow being apart of the DC movie-verse. But here's to hoping that Deathstroke will already be missing an eye and that Batfleck won't be the one to make him a one-eyed assassin. Because that would be kinda disappointing. To us. Don't do it DC Comics.

You're gonna want this comic!

Now, without knowing the exact context/timeline of the Batman solo movie, let's assume it's post BvS. We know we're dealing with an older Bruce Wayne. We know he's lost at least one Robin due to death. So when are we going to explore a) which apprentices has he had already, b) what happened to them? Assuming (we'll be doing a lot of this) the Robin suit we saw in BvS was Jason Todd's, a Dick Grayson likely exists and may very well be existing as the hero Nightwing. Dick Grayson/Nightwing had his beefs with Deathstroke during his time with the Titans. Seeing Batman take an assist from his old ward would be a bombshell! Everyone go buy Nightwing's first appearance, Tales of the Teen Titans #43! Jk. Just speculating here. Isn't it sad that after hearing confirmation of one surprise character joining the DC movieverse that all we want to talk about is speculation of who else might be in the movie or in future movies. But hey don't blame us. It's just how our minds work.

Batman & Robin vs. Slade & Terra
Not likely, but we could dream!

We can see how our thought process might be flawed too. We're basing Nightwing's appearance on the idea that he'd have a history with Slade from being with the Titans. But do the Titans fit into DC's movie plans? The original Titans that Dick Grayson was apart of also featured Cyborg. We know Cyborg will definitely be apart of the DC cinematic universe... but as a Justice League member. If his origin follows the New 52 path, which is what it's looking like, the first team Cyborg will be apart of is the Justice League, not the Teen Titans. Doesn't mean that every version of the Titans has to include Cyborg. A Teen Titans team comprised of Dick Grayson as Robin/Nightwing, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Wonder Girl is equally intriguing
. Which drifts us to another thought. Maybe Deathstroke ups the stakes and adds Terra to the mix in the Batman movie. Quick background: Terra secretly joined/infiltrated the Teen Titans as a plot by Deathstroke to destroy the Titans from within. Oh, and Terra is Slade's daughter. Now a 1v1 match-up becomes 2v2! It's possibilities like these that make rumors like these so exciting!!!

Anyways. Enough fan-girling over here. Slade is not a Ra's al Ghul. Not a Two-Faced Harvey. Not a Bane (but may be close or similar to TDKR's Bane). And definitely not a Joker. All of which were portrayed excellently in Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. But he's also a villain we haven't seen Batman take on yet in any live-action movie. Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Riddler, Penguin, and so on, all have their appeal. But Deathstroke is a gritty villain that will challenge Batman on a physical level as well as a psychological one. He's also not a regular in Batman's rogues gallery so it'll be refreshing approach in seeing how Bruce Wayne/Batman takes on a new villain on the big screen. Deathstroke has his flaws too. Unless the rivalry between the two become personal, Deathstroke in his nature is simply a hired gun. A bounty hunter. A hit-man. He's driven by a paycheck. Which calls to question another thing to watch for. Who or what puts Bruce Wayne and/or Batman in Deathstroke's cross-hairs? Maybe Lex Luthor? He definitely has motive after Batman threatened him at the end of BvS. Maybe Amanda Waller? Not likely though for those who saw the mid-credit scene from Suicide Squad. She needs Wayne Enterprises to cover-up the mess that went down in that movie. In Arkham Origins, Black Mask put out the hit on Batman. However, Black Mask's identity was a "game-changer"... :) And what stops Bruce Wayne from buying his way out of a hit? Something else has to drive the story that pits Batman against DC's most lethal assassin.

Can you tell we're excited? A lot to look forward to from DC's movies. A Wonder Woman solo, the long-awaited Justice League movie, plus endless solo movies and sequels. And here's Deanpool overly excited with his Deathstroke mask and comics. Deanstroke???