Hello, my friends. As we venture our way through life, we ultimately have to make certain choices that can affect us in various ways. Though we may not know it when we initially proceed with that decision, it could potentially lead to an unintended consequence on a grand scale. For one particularly skilled assassin, he’s about to learn that lesson for himself. On that note, we’ll be delving into a particular piece known as…
Written by J.M. DeMatteis and directed by Sung Jin Ahn, this was originally intended to be a 12-episode web series. While the first episode did premiere upon the CW Seed on January 6, 2020, the rest of the initial plan never fully came to pass. Thankfully, the story was able to be reworked into a movie and ultimately saw a release on both DVD & Blu-ray on August 4. It’s also available to watch for free on the CW Seed at the time of this post, which is split in two parts. So, what harrowing venture will our central soldier find himself in? Let’s load up and head out to see for ourselves.
Following the title card, we open upon a beach at night. Suddenly, a familiar figure washes up on shore. However, he’s unconscious, severely bleeding and his mask has also been shattered.
From there, we truly begin with Slade Wilson (voiced by Det. Vick Mackey, the mid-2000s Thing & Capt. Nathanial Barnes himself, Michael Chiklis) who’s over in San Miguel for a business trip. In a phone conversation with his family, his wife Adeline Kane (voiced by Caitlin Todd & Dr. Maura Isles herself, Sasha Alexander) expresses her anxiousness towards him being away from home. Specifically, it was from a time when he slept with another woman over in Cambodia several years ago. Not to mention, he was engaged to Addie at the time. As she reminds him during a past moment where she unfortunately heard about this incident, “the scars” that were left from this moment “never go away”. Slade assures her that he hasn’t lied to her ever since that incident and that he won’t lie to her anymore.
Just then, their son named Joseph Wilson (voiced by Asher Bishop) enters the cellular conversation and asks his father to read his favorite book to him. Ultimately, he agrees as they take out their copies of a children’s book called “Knights & Dragons”. In the story, the land was being ravaged and the innocent people were being terrorized by a thunder of dragons. Fortunately, a Shining Knight arose to combat these foul beings by himself. In the end, he emerged triumphant over his demonic foes before taking his leave “into legend, into lore”.
From there, Slade concludes his session with his son before promising Adeline that he’ll be on the first flight back home. After concluding the call, Joseph asks for his mother to read him a different book. Back with Wilson, he takes out a familiar outfit in preparation for his assignment.
Later, he sets his infiltration scheme into motion by taking out an observing sentry. However, the guard managed to activate the intruder alarm before falling onto the ground, alerting his fellow soldiers. Shortly afterwards, Slade arrives as Deathstroke The Terminator as he proceeds to swing over to an adjacent tower while taking out some gun-totting guards. After arriving onto the other side and kicking a sentry through some walls, Slade does get shot by another guard before he manages to take him out.
From there, he jumps down and shoots several more soldiers before taking out the rest with a grenade. Afterwards, he proceeds to make his way inside.
Back at the Wilson household, Adeline has finally gotten Joseph to bed. Just as she exits his room however, she’s suddenly grabbed by her neck as a mysterious figure pins her to the wall before exclaiming that he’s arrived here for her son.
Back within the infiltrated compound, Deathstroke manages to swiftly execute two more sentries with his sword. Even when three more guards confront him, Slade’s gory and bloodstained handiwork is enough to spook them off as he proceeds to head towards the main office.
Back at her house, Adeline proceeds to free herself from the mystery being’s grasp before kicking him onto the main floor. From there, she proceeds to fight him. Despite her best effort, the opposing figure ultimately defeats her with an electric shock from his suit. Afterwards, he proceeds to cripple her while mentioning that she got lax in her hand-to-hand combat skills, especially since she used to lead “an elite squad within the Green Berets called Team 7” and trained Slade into becoming a “killing machine”. Adeline tells him that her husband is a business man, but the being says that she doesn’t know everything. From there, he calls himself the Jackal (voiced by Chris Jai Alex) before knocking her out with a kick to her face.
Meanwhile, Deathstroke finally reaches the main office of General Suarez (voiced by Cástulo Guerra). However, the opposing figure was armed and waiting for him. Thankfully, Slade manages to evade the opposing bullets before slicing up the guns and holding the official up at blade point. It turns out that President Molina hired Deathstroke to execute Suarez for plotting to usurp him via revolution. However, Slade reveals a twist as he reveals Molina’s decapitated head. Afterwards, the four surviving sentries arrive as Suarez orders them to wait before expressing his confusion towards this sudden turn of events.
Deathstroke explains that President Molina “was an oppressive fascist” who turned San Miguel into a ravaged land of “poverty, hunger and disease” while he continued to gain financial power as a result. Now that Suarez is in charge of the country, Slade warns him to do a better job than his predecessor. If not, then he’ll return to execute him. Before he takes his leave, Deathstroke takes out the four remaining sentries and demands his “fee”.
Later, Slade arrives back at his safehouse and extracts the bullets from his body. During this, he has a video conversation with his ally named William Wintergreen (voiced by Colin Salmon). Despite expressing his worry towards his longtime comrade, Wilson calmly demands for transport. Shortly after his accelerated healing factor takes care of his bullet wounds, William tells him that the Army “got what they paid for” before Slade concludes their call.
From there, we flashback to when Wilson underwent the procedure. Some time later, he’s resting up in his hospital bed as Adeline visits him. In their conversation, it’s revealed that Slade had just survived a drug trial that he volunteered for. He then tells her that he’ll be sent home in only a few days time, while she still has 14 more months of service left with the Army. As such, he wants to try and create a life for themselves, especially since they’re engaged to each other. After all, he says that he’s spent his whole life within the military as a “good soldier”, while Kane assures him that he’s more than that.
Some time after he’s arrived back home, he suddenly wakes up as the drug test begins to take a severe effect over him. By the time that the morning arrives, he wakes up and feels a whole lot better. He then takes a knife and cuts himself, only to discover that he has accelerated healing. Later, he finds outs that he has enhanced strength as he ultimately hits a punching bag with enough force to severe it from its supporting rope. Finally, he tests out his enhanced agility as he dodges some opposing gunfire before he defeats the gunman, who turned out to be William. From there, he helps his comrade up before concluding their session.
Later, he’s made his way to Cambodia before he ultimately hangs out in a bar. However, it’s here that he meets a kind-hearted waitress whom he begins to take a romantic interest in. After they spend the day together, it ultimately ended with him having sex with her. By the time that she wakes up, she discovers that he’s taken his leave.
We then shift back to the present as Slade arrives back at his home. Shortly after he heads inside, he sees the damage within as he worriedly heads upstairs. He finds Adeline within the messed-up remains of their son’s room as she tells him that the Jackal has kidnapped Joseph. Not only that, but he would execute their son if she tried to call the cops. Slade tries to act dumb and ask her who this mysterious figure is, but she slaps his face and berates him for keeping his profession as a hired assassin a secret from her. Not only that, but she tells him everything that the Jackal knows about her husband. Namely, the Army initially thought that the drug experiment that Slade volunteered for was a failure, thus discharging him. However, it eventually kicked in and helped him become the signature mercenary that he is nowadays, with him keeping that profession a secret from his kin for several years under the guise of being a businessman. Adeline asks him why he did all of this, but Slade calmly says that he’ll get their son back. She says that she doesn’t need him as she tries to sit up, but she limps over due to the injuries inflicted upon her. As such, she tells him to save Joseph, or else.
Later, Deathstroke arrives at an abandoned building where he ultimately confronts the Jackal and demands for his son back. It turns out that Joseph is being used as a bargaining chip in order to get Slade to join H.I.V.E., which he refuses to accept. From there, a pair of Jackal’s fellow agents emerge as he tells Deathstroke that his associates would love to use his lethal skills for them. Slade calls out H.I.V.E. as terrorists, while Jackal describes them as “equal opportunity murderers” who offer their services for the right price and on a global scale than what Wilson’s on. Slade chastises him for putting innocent people in harm’s way for the sake of H.I.V.E.’s goals, while Jackal says that they’re both murders and that Wilson’s own moral code is a simple “delusion”. Even with his foe’s attempt to sway him over to H.I.V.E.’s side, Deathstroke still refuses the offer. As such, he steps aside while he sends his agents (one of whom is Ben Turner a.k.a. Bronze Tiger, voiced by Delbert Hunt) to engage Wilson.
A fight breaks out as various blades clash against each other. In the end, Slade manages to emerge victorious as he jams one sword into Ben’s right arm while stabbing the female agent through the chest. Jackal reemerges within the glow of a massive console as the woman reaches out for him before succumbing to her fatal wound. Wilson then throws her over to the Jackal’s feet as he looks over her newly-deceased corpse. He then exclaims how she was “an extraordinary operative”, yet she and Bronze Tiger’s own “legendary” set of skills were bested. Deathstroke then demands for his son back, but Jackal still wants him to make a choice: Either join H.I.V.E. or an agent will cut Joseph’s throat.
Slade chooses to immediately act as he slices off Ben’s arm before distracting the Jackal with a flash grenade. After stabbing his foe through the chest, he then rushes over to save his son. In the end, the H.I.V.E. agent was ultimately killed. Unfortunately, Joseph’s neck was still slit. Wilson promises his son that he won’t die as he carries him out while tossing some grenades behind him. The explosion proceeds to set the building on fire as Bronze Tiger manages to drag Jackal’s body to a platform, where they manage to escape before the whole building goes up in flames.
Sometime later, Slade arrives at his son’s hospital room where he’s greeted by Adeline’s disapproving and anger-filled glare. With Joseph recovering and his marriage having officially crumbled, Wilson takes his leave. Through narration, he tells his son via a letter that he has to go away for a while. After making a full-recovery, Joseph (now fully-mute) has been placed in a private school where he slowly begins to develop some powers of his own. As the narrating letter continues, Slade tells his son that he’s been secretly embarking on worldwide ventures as “a knight” in order to combat evil and make sure that these fiends never harm him or his mother again. During which, Adeline has been getting back into fighting shape.
We then shift ahead a decade later as a group of goons are playing cards within a rundown house. Suddenly, one of the thugs gets shot as Deathstroke makes his presence felt. After he executes the remaining goons, he soon gets hit himself by another gun-wielding felon. However, he’s too nervous to pull the trigger again, allowing Slade to beat him up and slay him.
He then notices a nearby trail of blood leading up the stairs as he heads over to investigate. However, he gets knocked back down by a muscular woman named Bora (voiced by Minae Noji) who proceeds to engage him.
Wilson quickly finds himself overtaken by her immense strength as she manages to repeatedly punch him into the wall. When he’s then asked who sent him, he simply says that he got “paid a small fortune to liberate what’s hidden downstairs”. He then stabs Bora’s leg, causing her to fall over. He then clasps his hand over her face before revealing that he placed a live grenade into her mouth, taking her out in a small, yet bloody explosion.
From there, Deathstroke heads into the basement before discovering a hidden door, leading into a room where several young girls are being held in a human trafficking ring. Slade then takes off his helmet to assure them that they’ll never be harmed again. Eventually, the police arrive to escort the youthful women to safety as Wilson observes the scene from afar before heading out.
Later, he arrives back at his base as he discards his blood-soaked uniform and climbs into bed to rest while his accelerated healing deals with his wounds. Suddenly, he gets contacted by an unknown caller. Shortly afterwards, a video screen gets turned on as the mysterious person reveals herself to be the H.I.V.E. Queen (voiced by Faye Mata). Slade asks how the organization is still around since he previously took it down, to which another screen turns on as she says that the group still exists, but had to go underground in order to regroup with several “independent cells” positioned all across the planet. She then tells him that her “little cell” has taken a particular interest in him and his family. With Slade having turned down their offer on multiple occasions, she then reveals that the group has kidnapped Joseph. She even refers to Deathstroke as a simple “handgun”, while describing his son as “a nuclear bomb”. As H.I.V.E.’s experiments shows Joseph displaying his newfound power, the H.I.V.E. Queen tells Slade that he’s responsible for his son’s capability and is amazed that he was unaware of it before concluding her transmission.
We then cut to the next day as Wilson meets up with his former wife Adeline within a park. She explains that she chose the Switzerland-based school as a means to keep their son safe. Not to mention, she was also unaware that the same Army-based drug experiment that affected Slade was the cause of Joseph’s burgeoning powers. He informs her that their son has different abilities than him, mainly psychic, to which she exclaims that she had a feeling about it due to certain times where she felt as if their kid was in the same room as her. They then chastise each other over who would’ve done a better job in keeping Joseph safe before Slade says that he’s been punished enough already by being kept out of their son’s life. However, Adeline says that he never attempted to forgo her decision or even try to go see their son. Either way, she says that Slade’s past has come back to haunt them again and they have to do something about it. However, he doesn’t want her to get involved. Thankfully, she proves that she’s been retuning her fighting skills ever since the Jackal’s initial attack, demonstrated by her tossing him onto the ground. Despite that, he still refuses to let her join the mission. From there, she gives him a good-luck kiss before he heads out.
We then move into a montage where Deathstroke proceeds to interrogate several H.I.V.E. agents who’re hiding out as regular civilians, even if one of them (Myshkin) took his own life to avoid Slade’s eventual wrath.
Eventually, he sneaks into the home of Col. Kapoor (voiced by Noshir Dalal) in order to interrogate him. Even though he built his house through money that he acquired from his time with H.I.V.E., he says that he stopped working with them several years ago. Slade tells him that the organization has returned and that he demands to know about a particular cell within the group. Unbeknownst to him, Adeline is discreetly overhearing their conversation. Wilson informs him that aside from Myshkin, every other operative that he came across managed to truthfully inform him and they were all left alive. Kapoor says that aside from the occasional favor for H.I.V.E., in which he got paid every time, he wasn’t that deeply-connected to the organization. In fact, he was glad to initially hear of H.I.V.E.’s original demise since he has a family to care for. From there, Deathstroke gives Kapoor a cell phone in order to contact him if anything relevant pops up. Later, Slade is back in his van as he infiltrates a call that the general has with Bronze Tiger, informing him where he needs to go.
Later on within the fictional nation of Kaznia, a civil war has rocked the country as Ben helps a faction of rebels shoot down some opposing jets. Suddenly, he and the group are met upon by Deathstroke. Turner explains to him that within this conflict between the northern and southern sides struggling to take control of their capital, he’s been working for both sides since both have offered plentiful paydays for his services. However, Slade says that this action has lead to starving children and the death of innocent civilians. Ben then surprises him with an uppercut as Wilson says that he just wanted to know where he can find H.I.V.E.’s headquarters. However, a fight breaks out between them as Bronze Tiger fires a bazooka, where the sparks from an explosion ignites a trail of flammable liquid surrounding them. During their scuffle, Ben informs Slade that the Jackal is also still alive. It turns out that the fiend decided that the group needed to reorganize and regroup under new leadership while Wilson unintentionally helped him by slaying anyone who potentially opposed him. However, Bronze Tiger left the group in order to become a freelance mercenary. Afterwards, the fight concludes with Deathstroke plunging his sword into Ben’s prosthetic arm and severing it from his body. Slade then demands to know the location of the H.I.V.E. Queen, to which Turner ultimately tells him that she’s hiding out in the Kerguelen Islands. With that new piece of information, a jet pops in and picks up Wilson before flying off. A rebel attempts to shoot it down, but Ben stops him by explaining that no one who ventured there has ever come back alive. Suddenly, a missile is fired from the jet and strikes the base, taking out Bronze Tiger and his men.
During their flight, we learn that Deathstroke acquired this aircraft for Wintergreen due to someone owing him a favor. Not only that, but William has since retired from MI6 and now only sees this kind of field work when he helps Slade with his missions. With Joseph’s life on the line, they soon arrive at the outskirts of the Kerguelen Islands a.k.a. the Desolation Islands. From there, Deathstroke equips himself with a scuba tank and proceeds to dive into the ocean.
As he begins to swim towards his destination, a small group of H.I.V.E. agents were hiding out below as they split up to surround him. Meanwhile, the head agent fires a harpoon at him. Fortunately, it misses as Slade fires back and takes out an opposing operative. He’s soon met upon by a pair of agents as he takes one out, but gets caught in a struggle with another. The lead agent swims in for the killing strike, but he’s suddenly eaten by a shark. Wilson and the opposing operative soon find themselves surrounded by a small shiver. Thankfully, Deathstroke frees himself and stabs the remaining operative. From there, the sharks get drawn to his blood as they proceed to eat him. While Slade resumes his swim towards the island, he’s unaware of his significant other heading towards there as well.
Wilson ultimately reaches the island and begins to make his way towards the base. Suddenly, he’s met upon by a pair of spotlight-wielding drones where he’s confronted by Sandra Wu-San a.k.a. Lady Shiva (voiced by Panta Mosleh). Just as she draws her swords and charges right towards him, he immediately surrenders himself. She doesn’t accept his act, but gets contacted by the H.I.V.E. Queen to bring him to her. As such, Shiva complies and escorts Slade into the base.
After reaching the central chamber of H.I.V.E.’s volcano-based headquarters, Deathstroke suddenly notices that the H.I.V.E. Queen is very young. She then makes her way towards him and reveals her identity to him before calling him “a dinosaur whose time has passed” while she relieves him of his mask. He then demands to know where his son is, to which she allows him to see his kin.
They arrive at his cell as the H.I.V.E. Queen explains that her organization is helping Joseph with his training in order to master his psychic power. It’s then revealed that she and her group have their sights set towards “manipulation on a global scale through the power of the mind” and that they would conquer the world without any form of lethal combat. Slade then calls out to his son, who remembers that fateful night a decade ago.
Shiva then hold Wilson at blade point as the H.I.V.E. Queen exclaims that with the group’s intent of tearing down the old order’s walls, they gave Joseph a new codename: Jericho (voiced by Griffin Puatu). She then allows Slade to see his son, who telepathically asks his dad to save him. Deathstroke agrees as he discreetly placed an explosive onto the cell wall. By the time that the H.I.V.E. Queen notices it, she’s too late as the explosion knocks her and Shiva over. After he picks up Joseph, he takes out the initial group of agents before making a mad dash towards the exit.
As they reach the central walkways, they’re initially caught in a projectile net and get forced off. Fortunately, Wilson manages to cut his way out before grabbing onto a lower walkway. Even though it shifts away from the adjacent door, Slade jumps towards it before using a grappling hook to swing back towards the entryway.
Unfortunately, he finds himself surrounded by a swarm of H.I.V.E. agents. Just then, Joseph telepathically tells him that he can help. From there, he unleashes a psionic blast that knocks out the opposing operatives, allowing him and his father to continue their dash towards freedom, while Wilson contacts William for transport.
After they reach an outside platform, Joseph uses his telekinesis to close the door. Deathstroke then tries to contact Wintergreen, but his communicator gets damaged as Jericho soon reveals that he blocked his signal (even imitating his uncle’s voice for the fake transmission) and that he wouldn’t betray his own sister. He then telepathically reminds his father that the waitress he had sex with all those years ago resulted in her giving birth to his daughter, who ended up becoming the H.I.V.E. Queen.
With Joseph fully-embracing his codename, Slade is soon met upon by Shiva and several H.I.V.E. agents. From there, they open fire as Wilson gets hit by a barrage of bullets. With him keeling over bloodied and mortally wounded, Shiva proceeds to push him off the platform and into the ocean.
From there, Slade proceeds to float within a silent void towards the bright lights of the afterlife. He considers giving in to the tempting feeling of letting go, but his accelerated healing kicks in as he narrates that he can’t die yet, especially since he still needs to save his son.
He ultimately wakes up on a boat where he’s met upon by Adeline. Thankfully, she managed to fish him out of the water in time. With them currently far enough away from the Kerguelen Islands, he asks her how she managed to find him. She soon reveals that when she kissed him, she used her tongue to slip a nano-tracker into him. After he consumes an herbal blend to help out with his natural healing, Slade soon realizes that she got her nano-tracker with William’s help. Adeline then tells him that he’s made a lot of poor choices in his life and because of that, his immediate family is suffering as a result.
Back at H.I.V.E. headquarters, the Queen (whose name is actually Rose Wilson) informs Jackal that Slade has been dealt with, though she doesn’t feel as enthusiastic about it as she initially hoped. After being told to move on with their plans, she says that Jericho isn’t ready yet, to which Jackal tells her to take care of that setback. He then says that he’s always had faith in her, especially since the day that he saved her from “a hellish experience”. However, Rose doesn’t entirely remember it as completely bad.
In a flashback, it’s revealed that her mother sacrificed a lot to build a solid life for her. Unfortunately, it took a tragic turn when a young Rose chased after a balloon and found herself onto a nearby street. Her mother managed to push her out of the way, but she wound up dead after getting hit by an oncoming car. With no immediate family to turn to, Rose wound up homeless and had to steal food just to survive. Ultimately, she found herself taking part in a street fight. Because of her “altered genetics” connection to Slade, she also gained enhanced speed, augmented stamina and heightened strength, which came in handy in said arena. However, she wound up accidentally slaying her opponents as a result. Ultimately, Jackal came along and brought her into his world, molding her into what she’s become.
Now, he wants her to mold her brother into a king in order for them to “rule the rulers”. With Project Jericho ready to be launched in ten days, he tells her to get ready for their operations. Shortly after the transmission ends, Joseph comes in and telepathically asks her if she’s OK, to which she says that she is before they hug each other.
Back with Slade, he tells Adeline that he was unaware that the waitress named Lillian was pregnant back then. He goes on to explain that after what the Army turned him into with their experiment, he felt directionless and needed to sort himself out. As such, his travels ultimately lead him to his overseas affair with Lillian. Even though his experience made him realize that Adeline was the one true woman that he needed to be with, she still calls him out for both engaging in his tryst with Lillian and for abandoning her afterwards, especially since it came back to haunt his actual family. Slade then asks her why she’s helping him, to which she says that she’s only here to save Joseph and that once this operation is over, her partnership with Wilson is permanently terminated.
Back within H.I.V.E. headquarters, Jericho wonders if they made the right call in ridding themselves of Slade from their lives. Rose assures him that they did, calling their original father a “monster” who didn’t care all that much for them. She even chastises Adeline’s motherly affection towards her son, criticizing her choice to send him to an overseas private school. From there, Joseph takes her into his telepathic mindscape to continue their conversation. Rose tells him that they both grew up without the regular comfort of their true parents before they met each other. We even learn that several years ago, he mentally reached out to her where they went on to connect with one another by sharing “each other’s thoughts, feelings, all our hopes” and even “all our sorrows”. Jericho then says that he was initially afraid when he first discovered his psychic powers, but he ultimately found his sister and came across a calming presence as a result. As they reenter reality, Rose assures him that they don’t need their original parents, as long as they have each other. From there, the scene ends with Joseph telepathically asking her about her current father in Jackal, to which she proceeds to silently ponder.
Meanwhile, Slade and Adeline get picked up by William. When Wilson asks her about the boat, she simply blows it up and mentions that she originally stole it before they take off.
Back with the Wilson kids, Jericho’s training resumes as Rose sends in four H.I.V.E. agents as volunteers. Joseph begins by taking control over Agent Sanchez, forcing him to kneel. Afterwards, he mentally controls the female agent to aim her gun towards Sanchez’ head at point-blank range and fire. Just as she slowly squeezes the trigger, Jericho is unable to go through with it since he doesn’t want to waste their manpower. As an alternative, Rose tells him to put on “a show”.
From there, Joseph controls the agents and forces them to fight each other. Despite the vicious hits and blood spirts, she tells her brother to stop. However, Jericho is giving into the moment as he begins to turn his psychic prowess upon her. Thankfully, she yells at her brother to cease his activity at once.
Joseph collapses out of mental exhaustion while the agents lie over blooded and beaten. Rose rushes to his side before he regains consciousness and gets shocked by the horror of what he’s done. She blames herself for pushing him with his training as they ultimately decide to resume with his exercise the following day.
We then shift over to Slade’s base as Adeline takes out a USB Drive containing vital information that she acquired within H.I.V.E.’s base during Deathstroke’s initial trip. From there, the group gets informed about Operation: Jericho. Through video recordings, Joseph proceeds to harness his psychic powers through various exercises. They also discover what devious operation H.I.V.E. has in store for him: a mentally-controlled “revolution from within” by taking telepathic command over the world’s leaders. With ten days to go until the master plan get carried out, Adeline says that they have to find out what the organization’s first step will be.
However, Deathstroke still wants to stop H.I.V.E. by himself. Fortunately, Adeline isn’t having any of this, especially since she had to live through her family life unaware of the looming dread that awaited. As such, she demands to know why Slade chose the assassin’s profession over settling down. He tries to explain that his whole life has been spent within combat and that he was taking his military experience (as well as the results of his experiment) in order to combat the world’s various evils. However, she says that he took his lifelong training and dishonored it through his less-than-noble, post-Army job choice.
Wilson then says that he was trying to be the Shining Knight that their son read about from his book, to which Adeline says that Joseph needed his father first-and-foremost and that she needed her husband. Slade then says that he tried to keep his work as an assassin separate from his family life, but Adeline tells him that he’s been “compartmentalizing” and filing away every single part of who he is, thus lying about himself to others. From there, William interrupts their argument and reminds them that they have to save both their son and the world.
We then shift to the fateful day where H.I.V.E. has unleashed their master plan, starting with a series of terrorist attacks. First, a passenger plane was crashed into the Golden Gate Bridge. Then, a shootout erupted within Times Square. Finally, a bombing took place within the U.S. Capitol Building. As a result, all commercial flights were canceled while Air Force One (having just returned from the World Economic Forum) is the only aircraft allowed in the skies. Within the plane, President Nicholas (voiced by Imari Williams) says that he feels foolish circling around in the clouds. His Secretary Of State (also voiced by Minae Noji) reminds him that they don’t know the full extent of these attacks. As such, they must remain in the air until further notice.
Suddenly, four H.I.V.E. jets fly in with Air Force One in their sights. In the lead plane, Jackal comments about their attacks gripping the nation with fear while their President is just lying in wait to be attacked. He then commends Rose for helping them get this far before making sure that Jericho is ready. It turns out that he’ll be used to take control over Nichols before returning him to the White House, so that he’ll declare martial law, thus allowing H.I.V.E. to take control over America. Suddenly, Rose and Joseph turn on him as she declares that they’ll be the ones running the organization. From there, he psychically pins Jackal to the wall before telekinetically subdues Shiva.
Rose then reveals the cause behind her traitorous action, where she believes that he was able to lure her to his side because of her “lonely, grief-stricken” status back then. Thankfully, she had her brother to confide in and that she was aware of what the Jackal did to him. Now, she intends on taking control over the organization in order to make sure that she and Jericho will never be harmed, manipulated or taken for granted ever again. From there, Joseph begins his psychic assault upon Jackal in order to take control over his body. However, he’s able to withstand their attempted mental takeover and deflects Jericho’s psychic energy back at them, explaining that his technicians spent the previous eight months creating various psychic dampers that can absorb his psionic power and sent them right back. After knocking out Joseph with a single stomp, he grabs Rose and says that he suspected that she would attempt to usurp him.
From there, Lady Shiva holds her at blade point while Jackal decides to shift to Plan B and just kidnap the President. Suddenly, they detect an incoming plane as everyone on board realizes who’s approaching them. Meanwhile, Deathstroke and Adeline prepare for their mission. It turns out that they tried to prevent these attacks from being carried out, but their contacts couldn’t reach the individuals who would’ve “made a difference” in time. After detecting their son’s psychic energies from the lead plane, they proceed to jump out and glide towards their target while William engages the other aircrafts.
A small group of H.I.V.E. agents fly out after Wilson & Kane, but they manage to avoid the gunfire and reach the main jet as Slade takes out an opposing operative. While Wintergreen attempts to evade the remaining three H.I.V.E. planes, Jackal orders Lady Shiva to execute the Wilson kids. From there, a fight breaks out between her and Rose. Ultimately, she manages to score some hits upon Shiva and even takes one of her swords and defeats her. However, Jackal steps in and shoots her with an energy blast.
Meanwhile, William continues to evade the pursuing H.I.V.E. jets and their relentless gunfire. He ultimately leads them into some clouds before using it to evade them and ultimately blast an enemy aircraft out of the sky.
Back on top of the main jet, Deathstroke manages to withstand and evade the opposing shots before using a knife to take out an enemy agent. Meanwhile, Adeline’s magnetic grapplers begin to malfunction, though one of them managed to work again as she shoots one enemy operative while Slade kicks the last one off.
Meanwhile, the two remaining H.I.V.E. jets surround Air Force One with the intent of boarding it. Fortunately, Kane manages to fire her lone missile from her pack and takes out an enemy aircraft while Wintergreen flies in to shoot the remaining jet down.
With the President now safe, the main hatch opens up as Deathstroke and Adeline realize that they’re being allowed to board.
Shortly after they make their way inside, they soon find their children being held at blade point by Lady Shiva. Afterwards, Jackal steps in and offers Slade the choice on which kid gets to be killed first. Wilson says that he’s aware of his past mistakes, to which Jackal tells him that Rose has also made her share of previous sins by “manipulating her brother for years” into hating his original parents and caring only for his sister. Rose says that she loves Jericho as a sister, but Jackal says that love is only “another way to control people” and that it wasn’t any different from what he did to her. Deathstroke then steps in and compliments her for being there for his son when he himself was unable to. With Lady Shiva standing between him and the Jackal, Slade tells his foe to let his children go. However, he intends on doing that by striking them down with an energy blast, starting with Rose.
Adeline proceeds to fire her gun at him, forcing Lady Shiva to step in and disarm her. She then proceeds to engage both Wilson and Kane, before Adeline gets her full attention and allows Deathstroke to go after Jackal. During the massive scuffle, Kane manages to partially disarm Shiva by kicking a sword out of her hand. However, Sandra gets the upper hand when she manages to stab Adeline through her shoulder.
As Lady Shiva takes out a sai and prepares to finish her off, Rose manages to grab the discarded sword and plunge it into her back, ultimately going through her upper chest. After pulling the blade out of Kane, she then says that they must help Joseph. From there, they rush over to his side.
Meanwhile, Slade continues his fierce fight against Jackal. However, Wilson starts to get overwhelmed by his vicious strikes. During the scuffle, he asks his foe why he wants this pursuit for vengeance against him and his family. Jackal tells him that he’s not “the only man to ever have a daughter”, to which Deathstroke realizes that the female assassin that he slayed a decade ago was his foe’s baby girl.
From there, Jackal continues with his hard-hitting attacks as he hits Slade’s mask hard enough to break it in half. After a few more punches, he preps one last energy blast in order to annihilate Wilson’s family.
Suddenly, Deathstroke gets up and disrupts his foe’s aim. The resulting blast caused a massive hole on the aircraft’s side, causing the both of them to get sucked out. Slade manages to grab onto the side, while Jackal is able to grasp Wilson’s ankle. With one last look at his family, Deathstroke loses his grip as he and his foe proceed to plummet through the sky.
During their freefall, Jackal manages to reach Slade and repeatedly punch him in the face. During this, Wilson narrates how his ex-wife was correct in that he kept “filing pieces” of himself away and lying about himself in order to stay alive. As such, he was never a knight. However, he can finally be the man that she needed him to be.
Back aboard the aircraft, Joseph creates a psychic barrier and places it over the hole. He then telepathically tells his mother that he’ll keep it stable for as long as they need it, since he’s not losing her again. Meanwhile, Rose and Adeline make their way into the cockpit. Wilson takes out the remaining H.I.V.E. agent in order to properly fly the plane, while Kane contacts William and ask him if he’s found Slade. Ultimately, Wintergreen picks him up on his radar and proceeds to go after him.
Back with the Jackal, he continues with his assaults as he even completely shatters Wilson’s mask. From there, he charges up an energy-powered attack for one final strike. Fortunately, Deathstroke manages to catch his punch before placing a bomb onto his foe’s chest. By the time William catches up, he’s too late as Slade and Jackal disappear within the explosion, with even Joseph unable to telepathically feel his father’s presence.
We then shift ahead to sometime later as Jericho looks over the familiar book from his youth. As he places his childhood belongings into several boxes, Adeline and Rose look on as Kane exclaims that Slade loved reading that particular piece of literature to his son. However, Joseph telepathically tells them that it “was a long time ago” and that “the past is dead” before he places the book into a box and takes his leave. Adeline tells her that they all need time to heal before Rose asks her if Deathstroke could’ve survived that blast. Kane says that she doubts it before Rose exclaims that she’s heading out in the morning, but Adeline tells her that she’s allowed to stay, since even though they’re a dysfunctional unit, they’re still family.
From there, Joseph heads outside and stares at the moon. And so, the film ends on the opening beach shot as Deathstroke washes up onto the shore in a bloodied mess while his narration covers the entire “Knights & Dragon” story. Suddenly, his eye opens as it’s revealed that he survived his ordeal.
Now that we’ve gone on this assassin’s journey, let’s get to my character analysis. Kicking things off, we have our main mercenary himself: Slade Wilson. For the sake of this story, this regular enemy to the Teen Titans serves more along the line of an anti-hero. Keeping in tune with this film’s subtitle, he sees himself as a knight who heads out across the world in order to put a permanent end to various human-level terrors plaguing mankind. As a result of the drug experiment that the Army put him in, he took his newly-enhanced physique & the various skills that he learned while in the military in order to become a notable combatant against the scum of the Earth that his son is familiar with from his childhood book. Similar to Harry Tasker from the movie “True Lies”, he keeps all knowledge of his true profession a secret from his family and under the guise of a traveling business man. Through a different series of events however, their loved ones ultimately end up within the crosshairs of their main foes. Unlike Harry whose wife and daughter unintentionally find themselves caught up within the dangers that comes with his job, Slade is the one who chooses to meet up and engage a pair of key figures, with those choices ultimately coming back to haunt him on a more personal level. First up, it’s odd that he would do a one-night stand with the Cambodian waitress Lillian, especially since he was already engaged to Adeline at the time. Maybe he got done with an assignment far ahead of his schedule, but he wasn’t able to be picked up until the next day. Maybe there was something unique about this particular woman and that she had immediate qualities that Kane couldn’t provide at this moment in time. If this area was elaborated on a bit more, then I think that we would’ve understood the motivation behind this act that ultimately created Rose. Speaking of his children, that leads to his father-son relationship with Joseph. He was already on a shaky foundation with his family life, due to having to keep his globe-trotting, mercenary-for-hire side a secret. Following the incident where his son ended up becoming mute and Adeline shipped their kid off to an overseas school, we do learn that Slade never even attempted to go see him at any point over the course of a decade. While it’s possible that he blames himself for bringing physical harm & unwarranted stress upon his family, thus making a personal choice to honor his ex-wife’s decision and never interfere with their lives again, that’s far-less bothersome to me since Wilson and Kane do address it after learning that Joseph was snatched up by H.I.V.E. for their own ultimate end goal. In the end, he’s a deeply flawed fighter who struggled with balancing his home life & his overseas profession before he’s forced to confront the sins of his past when his own flesh and blood become entangled with H.I.V.E.’s unique spin on an age-old villain plot. Michael Chiklis brings some nice range to his performance, providing his own unique gravel & gruffness while also delivering several proper tones to match the scenes and situation that his character is in at the moment. He felt solid throughout and helped make Slade’s plight work, thanks to his unique presence and particular energy towards the role. All-in-all, he hit his target when it came to bringing life to his assassin.
As for our other central characters, they bring a particular mixed bag of quality. With Adeline Kane, she has a no-nonsense attitude when it comes to her rocky relationship with Slade. This is especially true in the instance when Jackal broke in to beat her up and kidnap her son, thus learning from him about her husband’s actual profession. Because her former partner doesn’t want her to be involved, she has to be crafty in order to acquire the necessary information that he was unable to get due to his far-more direct approach, which would’ve gotten him killed if she didn’t step in to save him. Even after they learn what H.I.V.E. has in store for their son and the world, she’s forced to stand her ground when Slade initially decides to stop this budding world-domination plot by himself. Only when they’re on this mission does she start to show signs of motherly respect towards the man that she trained in the Army and originally fell in love with. Sasha Alexander does a wonderful job in deliver a stern, tough and smart-witted, yet caring at times performance. Her range for this role was stellar throughout and her energy was first-rate, allowing her to go toe-to-toe with Chiklis and have their dialogue working really well off of each other. Moving on, we have Jericho himself, Joseph Wilson. Like Adeline, he starts off as a victim of his father’s actions in multiple ways. First, he gets his psychic-based powers as a genetic result from Slade volunteering for the drug experiment. Then, he & Kane are both put in danger from both Jackal and H.I.V.E. due to Deathstroke’s past relations with them. During his time within the organization and with the supportive comfort of his sister, he’s able to develop his abilities and slowly become his own person. Initially, he was told to hate his dad since Slade didn’t provide the necessary time needed in order to provide him with crucial support. Thankfully, he and his sibling begin to plot their own uprising within the group due to the incident that the Jackal put him in that ultimately cost him his vocal chords. By the end, he turns himself around when the Jackal only sees his love for him and Rose as nothing more than manipulating them into following his orders, mainly with his psychic barrier that he uses to cover up the hole that the fiend accidentally created when Deathstroke disrupted his lethally-intended aim, capped off by telling his mother that he’s not losing her ever again. During the majority of his time within H.I.V.E. however, he gets exhausted a lot as he struggles with fully-grasping his psychic abilities. It’s understandable when that happens during his training, but one would think that it would be far less of an issue by the time that the actual mission gets underway. Then again, Rose did tell Jackal in a previous communication stream that her brother hasn’t perfected himself yet. Even still, it would’ve been nice to have seen him get a bit more involved within the climax. Sure, Jackal has psychic dampeners that prevents Joseph from claiming his body, but it would’ve been creative and a bit more exciting for the final battle if he wasn’t out of action for a good portion of it. Even still, Griffin Puatu brings an innocent portrayal that works for his character. After all, he’s being pulled into multiple directions from various sides and he struggles with trying to build himself upon a self-made foundation. As such, he helps portray Jericho with as much innocence as he can deliver and makes the most out of his role. Next up, we have Slade and Adeline’s rumbling ravager herself with Rose. She’s in a similar state of abandonment that her father wound up putting her in. However, her creation came about when Wilson was meandering around the globe before he found some temporary comfort in Lillian. As such, his one-night stand with the Cambodian waitress planted the seeds for his daughter to come into existence. In a similar fashion to the comics, Slade doesn’t know about her (though on the page, Lillian chose to not tell him out of her kid’s best interest). However, this is where Deathstroke and Rose’s eventual path-crossing would differ. In the comics (and to make a long story short), Lillian and Rose ultimately wound up in an NYC-based brothel, got kidnapped by Slade’s half-brother Wade LaFarge (who was using the codename Ravager) who was trying to murder Wilson’s family, learned about her actual birth father through him and was ultimately saved by William Wintergreen. Her mother Lillian joined him in their rescue attempt, but she lost her life when she accidentally drove a jeep off of a cliff in an attempt to run down Wade. After being turned away from her father, she ends up joining the Teen Titans. After being hospitalized due to being injured from a training exercise, she develops a precognitive power where she sees a long vision of her dad’s future. She ultimately left the team for a while until the events of the Technis Imperative. From there, she would ultimately reunite with her dad via his plan involving the Teen Titans, Wade and his murder of her foster family. As such, it’s understandable for the condensed changes with her origin for this movie, due to not having the vast canvas the comics have over several issues. Here, she’s been molded by the Jackal into someone who’s able to take her metahuman-esque gifts and use them for some kind of focused vision. As we slowly learn about her family-based connection with her brother Joseph, her confident personality that’s entirely entrenched within H.I.V.E. gets slowly pealed away, especially when she spends some on-screen time with him. While their time together was good, I wish there was a bit more. Specifically, I would’ve liked a scene where she learns that the Jackal was the one who caused her brother to lose his speaking voice. That way, it would’ve helped with her progression away from her complete devotion towards him in favor of attempting to usurp organizational control as a response to her discovery of what he did to her brother. Aside from that minor violation of “show, don’t tell”, I still appreciated Faye Mata’s performance. She gives a good range to Rose, from deviously cool and confident to rebelliously stern as she expertly hones her tonal delivery in order to make the overall mood of her scenes work. As far as making the character her own, she did a very effective job at it and I would be open with having her reprise the role in another project. Briefly, let’s get to William Wintergreen. Other than transporting Deathstroke and Adeline to their destination, he doesn’t get too much of his own self-development, other than a retired British agent who’s had a long-spanning military friendship with Slade. It serves this character nicely for this tale, since he also gets a few added details throughout the film. The most minor of this is that he’s remained single during his whole life, while the major thing was his fighter pilot skills. In that vein, it comes into good use during the climax when he helps Wilson and Kane take down the opposing H.I.V.E. agents during their attempt to go after President Nicholas. Despite his limited screen time, Colin Salmon comes off as very confident, concerned and witty. He manages to deliver those particular traits very effectively and helps his character stand out in the best way that he can. For such a small part, he made every second that he had count. Finally, let’s get to our main villain of this piece: Jackal. We never see what he looks like underneath his outfit and his real name isn’t even mentioned. More than likely, this fiend is actually William “Bill” Walsh, since the comics version did kidnap Joseph and ultimately caused the kid to go mute. As far as sharing a past with Slade, the four-colored pages had them fighting alongside each other while they were in the Army. Sometime after Jericho initially lost his voice, Bill would ultimately become Ravager and attempt to take Deathstroke down with a bomb, though Slade ultimately killed him and foiled his plan. Not to mention, Walsh was even retconned as a H.I.V.E. agent who brought Wilson’s eldest son Grant into the organization. As for how the movie version of this character is handled, he’s portrayed as a manipulator on a family-based level. Because he couldn’t sway Slade into joining H.I.V.E., he managed to get to his children as payback for him taking out his own daughter during their first major meet-up. From there, he raises Rose as his own step-daughter and molds her into a strong lieutenant while also nudging her into getting Joseph to fully grasp his own psychic powers in order for H.I.V.E.’s unique take on world domination to be fulfilled. However, things start to fall apart during the early part of his master plan being fulfilled when Rose & Joseph attempt to usurp control from him due to being manipulated and taken advantage of. I’ll delve further into this part over in the next section, but we don’t really see him doing said action. As such, it sort of undermines the terror that he’s supposed to have within the devious organization. Even when Jackal proves himself as physically overpowering towards Deathstroke before he’s ultimately taken out for good, he was ultimately adequate overall due to lacking a particular presence that he should have had. Chris Jai Alex does do as good of a job as he can, especially since his character never reveals his true identity and gets to have a booming vocal delivery to help the Jackal have a decent presence necessary for being a leading villain. He does his best to elevate his dialogue past its sometimes generic-sounding status, and while he doesn’t help the Jackal become a completely noteworthy foe within the grand scheme of superhero movies, he at least brings an entertaining quality to his part and should be commended for it.
The movie mainly deals with the overall theme of family and the importance of being committed to it in order for everyone involved to greatly benefit from each other. With Deathstroke, he tried to keep his kin away from his profession. However, that decision obviously bled its way towards those who should be his top priority, thus causing a rift that he spends the whole film working to fix. For Adeline, she gave her full commitment towards helping Slade grow their own meaningful life together. Unfortunately, her world gets rocked when her husband’s sins (in both the overseas affair and the main enemy) emerge to harm her. She’s still devoted to making sure that Joseph grows up to be a good man, so she’ll always keep him in her life while she has some lingering bitterness towards Slade. Thankfully, she’s able to work through this main rescue mission with a clearer head as she reluctantly works with him while also calling him out on his macho mistakes. By the end, his actions during their climactic battle have her softening up her stance towards him as she gets her son back, as well as the daughter that he unintentionally created during his overseas drifting. In terms of the children (and by extension, our featured villain), both Rose and Joseph get taken in by the Jackal during crucial points of their own development. Both were originally taken for granted by Slade for different reasons, so they had to depend on each other for family support. Also, Rose was trained and mentored by the Jackal in order to be a strong leader under his rule, but he ultimately only saw her as a mean for his own ends. As such, his own unit fell apart while Rose and Jericho saw through his façade, thus reuniting themselves within the Wilson family. Despite that last description, it’s only subtly addressed twice. The first time came when Rose is sharing a communication with Jackal shortly after a bullet-ridden Deathstroke was pushed into the ocean and left for dead. She does admit that she doesn’t feel as satisfied as she hoped, while Jackal is putting some kind of pressure on her to get her brother ready for their plan. The other moment came about when she and Joseph have a private chat about how they can rely on each other without the need for their original parents, yet it ends with Jericho calmly asking her about her father-daughter relationship with Jackal, where she proceeds to ponder about it. Part of me wishes that it got a bit more on-screen development, especially since she tells him that he took advantage of her when she was a homeless orphan. I understand that the Wilson kids were manipulated by him in order to become key figures of H.I.V.E.’s master plan, but some better elaboration that the audience sees would’ve helped with their heal turn. In terms of the villainous organization’s ultimate scheme, I do admit that it is a unique take on a cliqued plot, especially with the fact that they would’ve taken telekinetic control over every world leader without the need for bloody combat and resistance. I would love to see another comic book movie, an action film or even an action-based series give this fresh spin of a master plot another attempt and take it a further step in advancing its potential. Finally, let me get to the scenes that were exclusive to the movie and excluded from the CW Seed version. The film began with a bloodied Deathstroke washing up on a beach, which means that the whole feature is one big In Medias Res that ends exactly where it starts, though the viewer does get readied for what Slade is all about and even pushes his advanced healing to its limit in the climax. The CW Seed version just starts with him over in San Miguel on the phone with his family prior to his assignment. Story wise, that version is better on the fact that it gets into its tale right out of the gate. Next up, there’s the added slaughtering of guards that Deathstroke takes part in right before he reaches Gen. Suarez’ office. You could honestly go either way, since Slade blowing up several soldiers with a grenade could’ve led to him arriving at his target covered in blood the same way. More than likely, this is meant to take advantage of its R-Rated status and satisfy those who dig this kind of stylized violence. Thankfully, it’s not too extreme despite the small amount of slaughter within the scene. Moving on, there’s the sequence of scenes where he wakes up after the drug experiment. While the CW Seed version immediately cuts from this operation taking hold of Slade to him arriving back at his house to discover the Jackal’s destructive work, this movie helps in delivering some much-needed development. After all, he becomes a superpowered individual that benefits him immediately, but ultimately gets him in trouble when he decides to sleep with a Cambodian waitress. As such, that’s a win for the film. Moving on, we now have the scene where Deathstroke ultimately takes down a group of human traffickers. The CW Seed version axes this whole sequence for better pacing, while the movie includes this to reinforce his moral code and how he cares about protecting young individuals. So, you could go either way with this one, since he still returns to his base with blood all over his outfit. CW Seed’s version could have him coming off of any random assignment where villainous blood was spilled, while the film explains where he came from after his fierce fight. Next, there’s Deathstroke interrogating several H.I.V.E. agents and Col. Kapoor in order to search for the devious organization’s location. This kind of investigating works in the movie’s favor, since it directly takes him to Kasnia in order to get properly informed from Bronze Tiger, while the CW Seed version just goes from Slade’s park side meetup with Adeline straight to Kasnia. As such, the film gets another point in terms of narrative sense. Moving on, there’s Slade’s underwater skirmish against a group of H.I.V.E. agents. While it does add a fight scene that provides some resistance for Wilson before he finally reaches the island that the organization’s base is on (since he’s met upon by Lady Shiva and immediately surrenders in order to reach his son much faster), it also has the added benefit of discreetly showing Adeline sneaking in to acquire the information about Project: Jericho. After all, she’s much more level-headed in terms of this kind of strategy. While the CW Seed axes this moment for pacing, the movie gets more of a nod for including those details. Now, we reach the moment where a shot-up Slade is drifting towards the tempting light of oblivion. While the CW Seed does include this, it’s more truncated. The movie adds his narration of him considering letting go, but his accelerated healing kicks in and he decides against it in order to rescue Joseph. As such, another win for the film. Finally, the last two movie-exclusive scenes involve the Wilson siblings. First, we have their conversation about them only needing each other to strive. The film purposefully includes them briefly shifting over to a special mindscape where they talk about becoming more whole after discovering each other. That’s some good downtime and helps them relate in a calm way. As such, there’s another nod towards the home video market. Finally, there’s Jericho’s training where he takes control of some H.I.V.E. agents and forces them to brutally fight each other. During which, he starts to let himself go from this level of vicious control before attempting to take control of his sister, to which she manages to snap him out of it. Other than displaying how much his psychic potential has grown, it doesn’t really play out like that in the climax when he and Rose attempt to usurp control of H.I.V.E. from the Jackal. In that vein, either version would work.
Overall, this assassin’s tale is perfectly fine. With good vocal performances, a nice blend of grounded & absurd comic book-level storytelling and some nice animation that actually has some interestingly neat moments of comic book dots placed in for good measure, this provides its adult audience with some entertaining action to help compliment its story. While the villain could’ve been worked on and the overall writing could’ve been punched up in order to reach tighter levels of storytelling, this is still a good standalone tale with a fairly well-handled theme powering its main story. If you’re able to view it online or on home video, it would make for an interesting assignment for you to take in order to make a critical shot for yourself.
Deathstroke (created by Marv Wolfman & George Pérez) is owned by DC Comics.
