#Yes to the deathstroke / batman /david cain thing but no to deathstroke the titans/nightwing thing #Titans cartoon fucked over a lot of characters including deathstroke now hes forever relegated to fighting the titans :/ #Dudes a merc he doesn't have an archenemy he gets paid to fight whoever #Yes there was judas contract but that was one story he ended up getting over it until recent years were people wont let it go (@idontbelieveyou-butthenagain-idc)
So actually no, the Teen Titans cartoon did NOT fuck over Deathstroke. Want to know why? Because his normal and primary opponents are, in fact, the Titans. Deathstroke is a Titans villain first and foremost, a Dick Grayson/Nightwing villain second, and an independent agent third:
"Fighting other people sometimes" doesn't mean he doesn't primarily still fight the Titans, either individually or together, when he shows up to Cause Problems On Purpose. They're the ones who have the emotional baggage and the personal vendettas with Slade (particularly Dick, Gar, and Roy); he's absolutely 'their' villain. You're talking about a guy who had an entire fucking issue dedicated to Garfield Logan's personal vendetta against him, this man is deeply associated with that team:
And that association has absolutely nothing to do with the Teen Titans cartoon; it's all right there in the Titans-centric comics from the 1980s through the 2000s before the cartoon ever premiered. You can say he's "no one's specific villain" if you want, but basically his entire character is and always has been centered in some form or fashion around the Titans, and DC knows it:
With everyone else? It's just a job. With the Titans? Shit's personal.
His character sheet from the mid-2000s supports this, by the way. It (like Slade's character) is completely centered around the Titans:
"Slade originally came into conflict with the Titans when his first son, Grant, died before fulfilling an assassination contract on the teenaged superheroes. Through a warped sense of honor, Slade took it upon himself to complete his son's contract. Slade's other son, Joe, joined the Titans (as Jericho) in an attempt to stop his father from harming the young heroes........Slade watched his son serve on the Titans for years, eventually killing him after Jericho seemed to have gone mad......In the future, Deathstroke will become a greater threat to the Titans and the hero community at large, focusing his hatred on one in particular."
Want to know who that "one in particular" is? If you said "Dick Grayson," ding ding ding! You'd be right. It honestly still baffles me that people are like "Deathstroke's a Batman villain!" or "Deathstroke just fights whoever, he doesn't have an arch-enemy!" when Dick trained TWO of his three kids (and is partially responsible for the death of his eldest), was besties with his son, fucks up his plans regularly, worked with him (both solo and with the Titans), got his city nuked specifically because Slade wanted to hurt him, and was nearly killed by his own Robin because of Slade:
Literally half the fun of Dick v. Slade in the Titans/Bludhaven era is Dick being all "this is personal" while Slade is just constantly exasperated but amused by this guy who's friends with his kids and keeps fucking up his plans. Then after Slade nukes Bludhaven it gets super personal on both sides. I genuinely don't get the desire to keep trying to make Deathstroke a Batman villain or say "he's free real estate for anyone!" Let him have his beef with Dick, the adult Titans, and a bunch of teenagers like God and Marv Wolfman intended.
Slade Wilson: debuted in a Titans book and has routinely fought them since that debut. Has direct, personal beef with three Titans and has had two kids directly defect from his side to join the Titans. Watched his first son die in a fight with the Titans, was forced to kill his second son in battle with the Titans, lost his ex-wife in a battle between HIVE and the Titans, and lost his daughter to Nightwing's training and the Titans.
Fans who have seen one trailer and think he looks cool: he should fight Batman
kianamaiart
origamiaround
pixelskylines
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
germansingergirl
