#3 Grant Wilson Beyond

There are a lot of weird and off-putting plot developments in New 52 made at the expense of Grant Wilson, but I’m not advocating any of that baggage making its way into the DCEU just yet, if at all. But there’s an element of the Grant Wilson/Deathstroke relationship as a whole in these storylines that subtly introduces a major shift in the villain’s trajectory.

Specifically, we see that Slade Wilson actually pushes his family into the mercenary business, especially Grant. Rebirth tries even harder to get it across that the son and father mostly resent each other, and there’s clear disappointment on both sides. It doesn’t always work from a narrative standpoint, but the set up is actually quite interesting, in that it better explains how Slade went from being a military boy scout to mercenary for hire, and his willingness to put his son in danger as a result is definitely fascinating.

So really, this is just good material for how the DCEU Deathstroke can make narrative sense as a character, with the harshness he demonstrates with his sons being the ultimate result of what the military put him through. I wouldn’t go as far as Rebirth, which straddled the line between amoral and actual child abuse. But balancing Slade’s affection for his children with the cold reality of how wearing a uniform “kills his sons” as he points out in Rebirth, would make for some great storytelling if done right.