#and *this* is the man everyone treats as ''morally grey''. not bane not harvey dent not nyssa al ghul

[serialreblogger]

ok but. can anyone explain the “slade wilson” thing to me. because correct me if i’m wrong but based on everything i can find he is The Most irredeemable bastard ever to besmirch the already-dubious pages of comic book morality

like, fanon is as valid as canon when it comes to DC comics, we all know this, but just. look okay, here are my notes on him as he appears in canon:

deathstroke, aka slade wilson: wow bootlicker. okay

while actively fighting in the vietnam war, volunteered for experimental army program, reapplied to keep fighting after he eventually woke up from the coma it sent him into (“it gave me super strength tho officer”) & was depressed by the Lack Of Purpose he felt after he was denied the honour of fighting. in fuckin vietnam.

(VIETNAM. THIS MAN IS ALREADY AN IMPERIALIST WAR CRIMINAL AND THAT’S HIS PRE-VILLAIN STORY)

wife adeline kane, also an army general, privately trained him in guerilla warfare (this is fine) & they then got married. she got pregnant, he went to vietnam, baby grant was born; he came back (super-soldier-serumed up), she got pregnant, baby joey was born

after he got kicked out of the military he decided to satisfy his thirst for blood by becoming a “world famous safari hunter” (by day; by night he killed people) until some of the enemies he made broke into adeline’s house & kidnapped joey. kidnapper (“the jackal”) demanded some info on a client of slade’s, he refused bc he figured he could get to his kid in time (and everyone knows the US doesn’t negotiate) and was incorrect: joey’s throat got slashed, wrecking his vocal cords for good. adeline was so angry he’d endangered their son that she shot him in the face, which is how he lost his eye

(he learned nothing from this experience)

in conclusion: this man is a bastard with exactly zero redeeming characteristics. i hope he goes to he*k

he’s also. not a good dad. idk if “got his child’s throat slashed with his arrogance” doesn’t tell u what’s up but how about deliberately getting ur daughter’s adoptive family murdered so u can groom her into an assassin & pump her full of psychoactive drugs without her knowledge or consent? how’s that for fatherhood

i do love his kids tho, don’t get me wrong. he just, very evidently does Not. supplemental notes on Those fucked up relationships below the cut (bc i have a Lot to say about this):

rose wilson:

mom = prostitute (half-siblings with Joey [later aka Jericho] and Grant, both of whom die offscreen due to see below)

was discovered by an enemy of deathstroke when said enemy was off killing the extended deathstroke family. hostage situation, yadda yadda, slade won’t touch her bc his sons just died for someone else’s vendetta & “I’m Too Dangerous To Be Around” syndrome

but then like a year later he. anonymously hired The Same Guy to kill Rose’s adopted family. for bonding.

This Seems Like A Fun Dynamic

kidnaps her (“you’re all i have left”), manipulates her into murdering the guy He Secretly Hired & takes her on as his apprentice (Rose adopts username Ravager)

deathstroke secretly starts injecting her with performance-enhancing drugs that cause her to experience psychosis

Tries to force her to kill her half-bro Jericho (also Slade’s kid) while he (in evil undead ghost form) was possessing the body of her friend (ur kid, ur other kid, who is the first kid’s half-bro and also currently ur kid’s friend? that’s Four strikes At Once my dude)

she does not do so, because she is a human child

*but* to prove that she’s still loyal, she carves out one of her eyes. to match slade.

i am really struggling to see how ppl consider this man redeemable

anyway slade gives her a kryptonite eye prosthetic and tells her to kill superman

dick (who’s pretending to be evil at the time & is acting as rose’s caretaker bc dad can’t be bothered) talks her down and also lets her know that kryptonite is carcinogenic/radioactive

she is furious & finally cuts ties w slade

joins titans under tim’s leadership, bonds w kid devil in particular & shows herself to be brash & aggressive to compensate for transparent insecurity. Wonder Girl (cassie i think) is also in her corner

eventually ends up also bonding w damian. shared assassin trauma ig

oh yeah rose is psychic. btw. that’s a thing she can do

 precognitive w/ visions & dreams

dramatic titans showdown (raven is on the run with a USB stick that has a dead half-brother on it; accuses team of having a traitor, yada yadda, traitor turns out to be bombshell)

results in the resurrection of Rose’s previously undead (ghost-flavour) half-brother, Jericho, aka Joseph, aka Joey.

They’re friends <3

anyway now if u want to write rose &/or joey wilson content here, u now have some canon-sourced footnotes to kick off of. please write rose & joey content. i am desperate for some sympathetic depictions of these poor siblings that also fully punish slade for his whole odious deal, that’s my wish fulfillment and i have too much chronic illness to write it myself (i am Once Again Asking for extremely specific fandom content that is not created by me)