With all due respect to the other writers, I don't want to disparage any other writers; I don't want to have to invent a bigger villain than Deathstroke so Deathstroke can seem heroic fighting this bigger villain. I'd rather just have Deathstroke be who is, and he's kind of a bastard.
Writing 'Deathstroke' presents a number of challenges to me. As a Christian, as a minister, it's difficult for me to write a comic book that all but glorifies violence. So my take on 'Deathstroke' has been to not so much celebrate violence but to deal with the consequences of violence.
Deathstroke,' in my view, is a family drama. It's like the 'Sopranos' with super villains.
I wanted to demonstrate that Deathstroke does not need to solve every problem with his fists.
I didn't know too much about his comic book history. I know that in 'Teen Titans,' he's much more the comedic relief. But after reading the comic book iteration of Cyborg in 'The New Teen Titans' from the 1980s that Marv Wolfman and George Perez had worked on, I saw that there was a lot of texture to the character.
Some people might shy away from a character like Deathstroke because, you know, all of the blood-letting and the swordplay and violence and all that other stuff.
One of the best decisions we made on the 'Arrow' pilot was to have the Deathstroke mask. Within 30 seconds, you knew you were watching a DC comics show.
Deathstroke is a villain. Don't come to the book with any expectations that he will, in any way or sense or form, act heroically. He's a bad guy, and that's the fun of it.
I think I've got 12... Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, Plastic-Man, Green Lantern, Sandman, The Justice League, The Atom Legion of Superheroes and Teen Titans.... Just about all of their top titles.
In my opinion, I feel like all versions of 'Deathstroke' are valid. Just like with 'Black Panther,' I felt like it wasn't good for a writer to say another writer's work was invalid or never happened.
My first encounter with Cyborg was through the 'Teen Titans' cartoon.
Deathstroke is the dark-mirror version of Batman, basically. He is every bit as resourceful, every bit as ruthless, every bit as powerful as Batman.
I grew up watching a lot of stuff, like 'Teen Titans.'
'Deathstroke' became an interesting challenge - not just because of his ethnicity, but because he's a villain. I've never written a villain as a protagonist of a series before. I thought this could be an interesting challenge. That's really what got my attention, and it just went from there.
Fortunately, the DC Universe is full enough and replete enough with every kind of character that you could want, that it's not that hard to find the right character. Sometimes it's nothing more than an Easter egg, or a name drop, and sometimes it's someone like 'Deathstroke,' who is a huge part of the DC Universe.
I've appeared on a weekly syndicated television show since 1980