According to Dark Crisis writer Joshua Williamson, there's no mistaking Deathstroke/Slade Wilson as anything but a straight-up villain in the upcoming DC crossover event.
Williamson recently spoke with CBR about Dark Crisis, a major DC crossover taking place after the events of Justice League #75. When asked about Deathstroke's role in Dark Crisis and his unapologetic approach to the Teen Titans in the series' first issue, Williamson said there'd be "no redemption" for the character. "As far as I'm concerned, Deathstroke is a villain," Williamson explained. "He's not a hero or an anti-hero. He's a villain. I wanted to make that absolutely clear before we got to Dark Crisis. If you've been reading Deathstroke Inc. and Shadow War, you can see where the pieces have all been put together that explain his attack in Dark Crisis."
"Shadow War, in particular, explains how Deathstroke gets to the place of being an all-out villain and dives deeper into his mindset," he continued. "You can really understand what happened to him by the time you get to Shadow War Omega. There's another piece to the puzzle that will explain how everything flows and establishes how important Deathstroke is to the story. He is a villain throughout, and there is no redemption or going back and forth for him here."
Deathstroke briefly appears in Free Comic Book Day 2022: Dark Crisis - Special Edition #0 when he's shown listening to Nightwing's tribute to the fallen Justice League on a nearby rooftop. Williamson and artist Daniel Sampere have also previously posted artwork from Dark Crisis #2 showing Deathstroke and Nightwing engaged in a massive battle outside of Titans Academy.
Following the Justice League's death in Justice League #75, Dark Crisis seems Earth's remaining heroes pick up the super team's mantle and protect the planet from a host of threats. Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis releases on May 31, followed by Dark Crisis #1 in June. In total, the crossover series will span seven issues. DC will also release a number of tie-ins and Worlds Without a Justice League one-shots related to Dark Crisis in the coming months.
Dark Crisis #1 comes from Williamson, Sampere, Alejandro Sánchez and Tom Napolitano, with cover art by Sampere and variant cover art by Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, Mahmud Asrar, Gabriele Dell'Otto, Dan Schoening, Bruno Redondo, In-Hyuk Lee and Jamal Campbell. The issue releases on June 7 from DC.
Source: DC
