Strokey n' Pools

Well, you know this was coming. The ultimate smart-mouth versus the ultimate badass, these two characters have sprung in popularity in the past few years. One became a universal anti-hero, the other became a man-shaped meme machine. We all know they have a relationship within their creations, but I'm sure some people may be wondering something about Deathstroke and Deadpool: What's The Difference?

DC Comic's greatest assassin Deathstroke first appeared in "The New Teen Titans #2" in 1980 and was created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez. Slade Wilson rose through the U.S. military ranks, mastered every known fighting style and won the affections of his former commander Adeline Kane. After settling down Slade was recruited by the military once again for an experiment to create a superpowered soldier. The resulting experiment gave him peak physical strength and speed and an incredibly powerful healing factor. Taking the name Deathstroke, Slade became a hired assassin and hid his exploits from his now civilian family. When one of his enemies threatened the life of his son Joseph, Deathstroke killed the villains, but was unable to prevent the slicing of Joseph's vocal cords, leaving the boy mute. In anger of his secrets, Slade's wife shot him in the right eye and Slade donned a half-blank mask and eye patch, leaving his family behind in remorse. Deathstroke's first grudge was crafted with The Teen Titans when his second son Grant became a superpowered assassin named Ravager. As The Ravager, Grant was hired by HIVE to kill The Teen Titans, but he failed and his own powers killed him. To avenge his son, Deathstroke tried to continue the contract and kill the young heroes, struggling for many years to defeat them. Deathstroke even manipulated Terra of The Titans to betray her friends, his own son Jericho to hide among them, and his own daughter Rose to take The Ravager mantle and act as his apprentice. In recent events, Deathstroke has become an on-and-off enemy of Batman and Green Arrow, and has threatened the DC Universe itself. As the world's greatest assassin, Deathstroke is a tactical genius, being able to deceive and control any opponent. He is trained in all forms of armed and unarmed combat, even training his brain to resist mind control. His enhancements give him above average strength, speed, durability, agility, and external senses. He can predict an opponent's move just by watching. His Nth Metal armor can absorb a multitude of hits and intense damage can drive Deathstroke feral. A longstanding enemy of the entire DCU, Deathstroke represents the uncontrollable desire to improve and prove superiority.

In "New Mutants #98, 1991" Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld created an omen for the comic book community in Wade Wilson/Deadpool. In his very early days, Deadpool was a homage to Deathstroke. See, Rob was a big fan of the 80's Teen Titans, so when he was tasked with creating a villain for The New Mutants, he created a character with similar characteristics to Deathstroke. He was a serious and dangerous mutant assassin, hired to kill Cable and The New Mutants, his success gifted him cameos in other books and eventually his own solo title that written as a parody of comic books. Deadpool broke the 4th wall, make pop culture references and took part in goofy adventures because the writters expected the book to be cancelled regardless, little did they know that the character's pulp fanbase would erupt into what it is today. A former mercenary in the country of Canada, Wade Wilson was diagnosed with cancer and was not far from death, he was recruited by Weapon X and experimented on, being given an exaggerated form of Wolverine's healing factor. As a result, Wade's healing factor and cancer joined in a constant flux of healing and dying, causing his skin to rot and his brain to lose sanity. He became aware of his comic book existence, used his unlimited amount of combat skills in unison with this healing factor to become Marvel Comic's greatest assassin, and as reference to his fellow guinea pigs he took the name Deadpool. After appearing in "Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2" Deadpool's popularity in pop culture grew uncontrollably, he got a video game, a movie, internet memes, a cartoon cameo, a article rack at Spencer's, and a legion of loyal cosplayers spreading Deadpool awareness like chicken pox! He's also driven me insane with his over-exaggeration and misunderstanding of character, but that's besides the point. Deadpool is one of Marvel's many shining stars and will continue to be one of it's deadliest characters, once killing the Marvel Universe, the Marvel Multiverse, and the classic fictional works that'd inspire the MCU. So yeah, he's pretty freaking crazy.

Deathstroke is the personification of seriousness, Deadpool is the definition of parody. Their popularity may not be equal, but they both represent the stronger side of comic books-action-in two different tones. It's funny, both of these characters are considered affliction flexible. Deathstroke is an anti-villain who is hardly ever good, and Deadpool-at least now-is an anti-hero who is hardly ever evil. The characters are a cool parallel and have a fun distinction between them. I can only hope people see the true nature of Deadpool-less internet, more sad clown-in the upcoming film, and Deathstroke gets one consistent origin and more interactions with The Titans or other characters who aren't Green Arrow. "Failed this city", feh, I'm not even from here.

Thanks for reading and Happy Celebration September!

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