Conflicting Clues Concerning the New Deathstroke.

DISCLAIMER: At times I write some posts and save them away for a time more fitting than the one in which they were first written. With that said, I wrote the majority of this piece before reading Deathstroke (2016) #44. Once Deathstroke #44 came out, I did rework the post to incorporate information from that issue, but only as further supporting evidence into my original argument. I entertained the idea of just scrapping this post altogether as the new information from Deathstroke #44 seemed to confirm my earlier suspicions, but I ultimately decided just to bite the bullet and go with it regardless.

SPOILER ALERT!

The following post contains spoilers from the recently concluded "Arkham" and "The Terminus Agenda" story arcs and Deathstroke (2016) #44. If you have yet to read the "Arkham" and "The Terminus Agenda" story arcs and Deathstroke (2016) #44 you may wish to avoid reading this post.

SPOILERS APPEAR BELOW!

Deathstroke is dead, long live Deathstroke! Well, Slade Wilson is dead, but this is the comic book industry so "dead" rarely means "dead for good." With a major role as the primary antagonist in the upcoming second season of Titans (2018) and an animated series in the works for CW Seed, I don't see Slade himself spending much time dirt-napping. 

Because Slade was killed at the climax of the "Terminus Agenda" it seems that there is Deathstroke void needs to be filled in the DC Universe. Solicitation text for Deathstroke (2016) #45 verifies this notion stating that "In the wake of Slade Wilson’s death, a new Deathstroke has vowed to complete his last, unfinished assignment." Based on the image (posted below) that accompanied the solicitation text, Wintergreen appears to be quite taken aback by a new, male Deathstroke revealing his face. The image intentionally obscures the supposed new Deathstroke's face, but the coloring suggests dark skin indicating maybe Deathstroke's new acquaintance Death Masque (aka Devon) could don the Ikon Suit to carry out Slade's last job. Death Masque makes sense as Slade worked with Devon on (possibly) a large-scale mission during the "Arkham" story arc and Dev may feel an obligation to fulfill Slade's last contract. The only problem I have with this line of logic is that it seems a bit too logical and series writer, Christopher Priest, rarely spells out this type of plot development this clearly. But.....

Solicitation image for Deathstroke (2016) #45
Art by Ed Benes and Richard Friend

Comic book publishers are not above releasing misleading, if not outright false imagery to protect an upcoming storyline. With that said, there is a real possibility that the new Deathstroke isn't even a man. Again referring to the solicitation text for Deathstroke #45, "Rose Wilson discovers the identity of the person responsible for her father’s death. Can her brother, Jericho, stop her from seeking vengeance?" As we now know, it was the Teen Titan's own Red Arrow, Emiko Queen, that shot an arrow into Slade's missing eyehole, through his brain, partially exiting through the back of his head that killed him. Rose being a trained assassin herself with a metahuman ability to predict the actions of others should make for a compelling confrontation when the two dealy young women come face-to-face. Another bit of information from the solicitation text is that "the master assassin Shado has plans of her own, looking to step in for the late, great World’s Greatest Assassin and usurp his place in the villainous hierarchy." Shadow, of course, is Red Arrow's mother and I doubt that it is a simple coincidence that the paths of the mother wishing to replace Deathstroke and the daughter that killed him have converged with that of a grieving and seething Rose Wilson.

Now consider the final two pages of Deathstroke #44, which are posted below. A.) Hosun built a version of the Ikon Suit with "inflatable air bladders" to mimic Slade's height and build. This means that the solicitation image for Deathstroke #45 doesn't necessarily have to be a male as it appears. B.) Wintergreen mentions that Slade had one last contract yet to be fulfilled before he died, which was pulled up on his laptop. And C.) Rose waits for Wintergreen to leave the room and seemingly assumed Deathstroke's last job by typing "AFFIRMATIVE" under the question "CAN YOU EXECUTE?" on Wintergreen's open laptop.

The above-described events and circumstances seem like they do indeed lay the groundwork for Rose Wilson to step into her father's figurative buccaneer boots. But when added to the design image below from DC's Year of the Villain Special (2019) #1, assuming the white-haired female is, in fact, Rose Wilson (the hairstyle does match the one Rose sported in Deathstroke #44), it seems as if she might very well be the one to succeed her father as the new Deathstroke. 

Design image from DC's Year of the Villain Special (2019) #1

In any event, whether it is Dev, Rose, or someone else entirely that attempts to fill the Terminator's boots, I'm more than intrigued to see how Christopher Priest brings it all together until Slade makes his inevitable (?) return.

Arkham Asylum From 1985's Who's Who #1

Christopher Priest's "Arkham" story arc from Deathstroke (2016) #s 36-40 was figuratively insane in its portrayal of the literal insanity within the tortured walls of Gotham's Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Slade Wison found himself an unwilling patient/inmate in the infamous institution courtesy of his ex-wife, Adeline Kane, and colleague, Wintergreen following his disastrous confrontation with Doctor Ikon. Without giving away too much of the story, let's just say that the next six issues of Deathstroke are full of deep character examination and therapy, copious amounts of gaslighting, sanity-doubting, new friends (Yay, Death Masque "with a 'Q'"), alien invasions (maybe?), an accidental (?) murder, and all of the twisted, tormented Batman villains one could want in a Deathstroke tale. In honor of Priest's brilliant "Deathstroke: Arkham" story, posted below is a scan of the 1985 Arkham Asylum Who's Who entry from issue #1 (I) with art by Steve Bissette and John Totleben.

Priest's Pastiches Part Two: Death Masque

Death Masque (with a "q)
Art by Fernando Pasarin
& Carlo Pagulayan 

Christopher Priest's current run on Deathstroke (2016) is easily one of the finest that the character has ever had. The most recent story arc, "Arkham," could be accurately described as equal parts action adventure and gaslit head trip. But Priest's "Arkham" introduced a pretty cool, yet familiar (and I mean really familiar) new addition to the Deathstroke supporting cast in the form of Death Masque ("with a 'q'").

To set the stage for Death Masque's debut without spoilers, I'll just say that Slade found himself a patient/inmate at Arkham Asylum after being declared criminally insane. Once inside, Slade is drugged to the extent that his reflexes and rapid healing abilities are compromised, In addition, even though Slade can still hear Wintergreen's simulated voice via an implant containing his Ikon Suit AI, he was told repeatedly by Arkham staff that the implant doesn't exist and instead the voices that he hears are nothing more than hallucinations. During a holographic virtual group therapy session with some of Arkham's most notorious residents (Mr. Freeze, Dr. Destiny, Prof. Hugo Strange, Victor Zsasz, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum), session leader, Dr. Candace Evans, asked Slade if he could hear Wintergreen at that moment. Slade replied that his combat AI implant was not compatible with the group therapy system, making it appear that he was making excuses with his sanity looking to be further in question. But one member of the therapy group appeared to be more than a little out of place amongst Gotham's murderous elite, was a young man known only as Devon.

Devon began the session having a bit of fun (at least unwelcomed by Dr. Evans) by assuming the virtual form of Harley Quinn. Devon assumes a his "true" form and claims to the group that he has been in hiding inside Arkham for 87 years, with the exception of his recent "zapping" to the planet, Pulor where he was the subject of, what one must assume was unwanted experimentation. Later in the session when Slade asked the group that if given the chance, would anyone not kill him, only Devon raised his hand in the affirmative. Later when trying to escape, Slade encountered Devon, who was also keen to escape. Upon reaching the asylum grounds, both Slade and Devon were caught in an apparent Zeta beam and transported to who knows where.

Death Masque after accidentally
scaring an old man to death.
Art by Fernando Pasarin

When we next see Slade, he is laying on the floor of his cell dazed from the drugs used to pacify him. Dr. Evans visits his cell to check up on him. Slade asked the doctor how he got back to Arkham, but she informed him that not only had he not left Arkham, but that he had been there for 23 straight days. Slade told Dr. Evans that he had been gone to two weeks fighting the Pulorians with Dev, only for her to ask, "Who's Dev?" To prove he is not insane, Slade guided Dr. Evans and a security force along the route he used to escape, only this time there was a brick wall blocking the way. At this point, Slade was questioning his own sanity. But Dev...well...

Dev is next seen very much on the outside of Arkham Asylum searching for Deathstroke, but he is wearing a strange black and white amalgamation of Deathstroke's costume with a suspiciously looking ill-fitting cowl, not unlike that of Marvel's own resident #*&%@$$, Deadpool, and is calling himself Death Masque ("with a 'q'"). Death Masque next locates Slade's son-in-law, Hosun, (but not before he inadvertently triggered an old man's heart attack by appearing full costume in his bedroom due to breaking in a house at the wrong address) to aid in his search for him and the rest of the story can be found in Priest's recently completed "Arkham" story arc.

Death Masque is definitely the most "meta" character that Priest has introduced into Deathstroke's mythos. With his quick quips and his propensity to break the fourth wall, Death Masque is an obvious parody of Marvel Comics' Deathstroke rip-off, Deadpool. But Priest's use of Death Masque works at the story-level and at the meta-commentary level as well. Priest uses his own Marvel past to reference his stints on both Deadpool and Black Panther to really great comedic effect, which a title like Deathstroke needs from time-to-time. One particular battle scene, pictured below, is such an overt meta-reference to Priest's own Deadpool writing debut, that Death Masque himself ponders the possibility of a Marvel lawsuit just for mentioning it. Other meta-zingers include declaring"Wakanda forever," after calling Dr. Evans "hot," addressing Deathstroke, "Mr. Liefold," as an obvious nod to Deadpool's "creator" Rob Liefeld, and even while criticizing Slade himself after they both got caught in a Zeta beam by declaring that, "This is why you'll never get a movie!" I won't spoil the remainder of Death Masque's misadventures with Deathstroke as "Arkham" concluded, but let's just say I can't wait for more of Death Masque's brand of...heroics? We'll go with heroics.

Death Masque channeling Christopher Priest and his Marvel past.
Art by Fernando Pasarin & Carlo Pagulayan

The Terrible Tale of Marvel Comics' Death-Stroke

Yep, Death-Stroke just said that $#!+.
Art by Steve Leialoha

If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, then Marvel Comics writer, Chris Claremont must have really loved Deathstroke. In 1981, Claremont was more than five years into his seminal run on Uncanny X-Men (1963), which had experienced a revival and was one of the most popular and best selling comic book titles of the late 1970s and into the early 80s. 

But in the fall of 1980, Marv Wolfman and George Pérez relaunched DC Comics' Teen Titans with the New Teen Titans (1980). Wolfman and Pérez returned popular DC teen characters such as Robin, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash in addition to a newly renamed Changeling, the angst-filled Cyborg, the dark and mysterious Raven, and the alluring alien sex-symbol, Starfire. And by issue #2, Wolfman and Pérez introduced an extremely charismatic, one-eyed, Terminator in blue and orange battle gear. The popularity of the New Teen Titans heroes (and a certain bad-ass villain) skyrocketed the title to the top of the sales charts and made itself serious competition to Claremont's band of mutant heroes.

By 1981, in addition to his duties on Uncanny X-Men, Claremont also wrote Marvel's Spider-Woman (1978) title. In Spider-Woman #39, Claremont decided to poke a little fun at his "distinguished competition" by lampooning Wolfman and Pérez's breakout villain, Deathstroke. Claremont's "master assassin," Death-Stroke (the hyphen means it's original), was contracted by Yakuza gangsters to murder Dan Ishima, a friend of Spider-Woman's alter ego, Jessica Drew. To assist Death-Stroke in his deadly work is his murderous crew of mercenary assassin named, the Terminators (that's correct: Death-Stroke and his Terminators). Once Spider-Woman arrived on the scene and engaged Death-Stroke in hand-to-hand combat, she made relatively quick work on him, despite his use of self-described "snazzy moves," and an always dangerous, "energy blade" that was capable of slicing a steel girder in twain. Death-Stroke would not make another appearance until his final one about a decade later in 1991 in the pages of Captain America (1968) #395 where he was killed while auditioning for a spot in the Red Skull's Skeleton Crew. That's right, Death-Stroke died during a job interview.

Whether it's his cleverly (?) hyphenated name or the ease of his defeat at the hands of Spider-Woman, Death-Stroke was clearly Claremont having a bit of fun at Wolfman, Pérez, and DC Comics' expense. Marvel apparently got the joke as evidenced by his ridiculous death. But I suppose as a parody character Death-Stroke isn't the worst I've seen. I mean he's no Red Tool...or Death Masque for that matter (I know; I'm sorry). In any event, enjoy the eight panels of glory that was Death-Stroke vs. Spider-Woman posted below.

Art by Steve Leialoha