TITANS Casts Esai Morales as Deathstroke

Deathstroke has officially been contracted to assassinate the Titans.

Deadline is reporting that the DC Universe series Titans, based on the DC Comics superteam, has cast Esai Morales as Slade Wilson, better known to DC fans as the supervillain Deathstroke.

Deathstroke will face the Titans in the show's upcoming second season, and is described in the article as "Slade Wilson is known for being DC’s deadliest assassin.  While serving his country, Slade became an elite soldier before government testing enhanced his physiology to near superhuman levels, putting him on a path of darkness and revenge.  To his family, Slade is a father and husband, but to the rest of the world, he is feared by many as the infamous Deathstroke; selling his services to the highest bidder as the ruthless assassin that never gives up and never misses."

Morales, 56, is best known as as Lt. Tony Rodriguez on NYPD Blue, Joseph Adama in the science fiction television series Caprica, and Camino del Rio in the Netflix original series Ozark.  His films include La Bamba, The Principal, Freejack, and Superfly (2018), while his other TV appearances include episodes of From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series, How to Get Away with Murder, Criminal Minds, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Jericho, Burn Notice, The Outer Limits (1997), Tales from the Crypt, The Twilight Zone (1989), and Miami Vice.

Created in 1980 by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, Deathstroke first appeared in The New Teen Titans (vol.1) #2 as Slade Wilson, a former United States Army officer who was chosen for a secret Army experiment, which gave him with enhanced physical powers in an attempt to create metahuman super soldiers for the U.S. military.  Deathstroke became a mercenary soon after the experiment, when he defied orders and rescued his friend Wintergreen, who was sent on a suicide mission by a commanding officer with a grudge. However, Slade kept this career secret from his family, even though his wife was an expert military combat instructor.

A criminal named the Jackal took his younger son Joseph Wilson hostage to force Slade to divulge the name of a client who had hired him as an assassin.  Slade refused, claiming it was against his personal honor code.  He attacked and killed the kidnappers at the rendezvous. Unfortunately, Joseph's throat was slashed by one of the criminals before Slade could prevent it, destroying Joseph's vocal cords and rendering him mute.  After taking Joseph to the hospital, his wife Adeline Wilson was enraged at his endangerment of her son and tried to kill Slade by shooting him, but only managed to destroy his right eye. Afterward, his confidence in his physical abilities was such that he made no secret of his impaired vision, marked by his mask which has a black, featureless half covering his lost eye. Without his mask, Slade wears an eye-patch.

Deathstroke has a long history as an enemy of the Teen Titans, beginning when his other son Grant received superhuman enhancements from the H.I.V.E., dubbed himself Ravager, and accepted a contract from them to kill or capture the Teen Titans.  However, Grant's enhancements proved fatal, and Slade agreed to complete the contract.  His first mission involved stealing the element Promethium from S.T.A.R. Labs and selling it as the ultimate weapon.  He then kidnapped the Titans and placed them in the path of a Promethium bomb to test his device for the buyers.  The Titans escaped and pursued Deathstroke, but he severely wounded Beast Boy in his escape.  This would be the start to a lasting animosity between the two.

Deathstroke next appeared in New York, holding officials hostage in order to lure the Titans into confronting him. Terra, a new ally of the Titans, and Beast Boy were the only ones available to answer the call.  Terra knocked Beast Boy out and fought Deathstroke single-handedly in an effort to prove herself worthy of being a Titan.  Deathstroke escaped as the other Titans arrived, but by then, Terra had proven herself and the team offered her membership.  Later that night, it was revealed that Terra and Deathstroke had conspired to fake the fight in a plot to infiltrate the team.  Since then, Deathstroke has had a number of encounters with other heroes and villains in the DC Universe.

Morales will be the fourth actor to play Deathstroke in live-action, after Michael Hogan in the TV series Smallville, Manu Bennett on Arrow, and Joe Manganiello in the movie Justice League.  The character has also appeared in various animated projects, including the Teen Titans animated series and Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (voiced by Ron Perlman), Young Justice (voiced by Wentworth Miller & Fred Tatasciore), Beware the Batman (voiced by Robin Atkin Downes), Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths (voiced by Bruce Davison), Batman Ninja (voiced by Junichi Suwabe & Fred Tatasciore), Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (voiced by Will Arnett), Son of Batman (voiced by Thomas Gibson), and Teen Titans: The Judas Contract (voiced by Miguel Ferrer).

Titans is expected to return to DC Universe for Season 2 sometime in late Fall 2019.