The Terminator Forced DC To Change Deathstrokes Name

The Terminator Forced DC To Change Deathstroke’s Name

Deathstroke was the original ‘Terminator,’ but after the success of the film franchise with the same name, DC Comics changed his name.

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The Terminator Forced DC To Change Deathstrokes Name

When pop culture fans think of ‘The Terminator,’ the first thing that comes to mind is the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring sci-fi classic franchise from James Cameron. However, before the film debuted, DC Comics had their own Terminator, Deathstroke. But, after realizing that readers would get too confused by “Deathstroke the Terminator,” they opted to get softly retire the moniker.

Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke first appeared in The New Teen Titans #2 and was co-created by comics legends Marv Wolfman and Goerge Perez. The assassin has largely been a villain of the Teen Titans while taking the role of an antihero in more recent stories. When he was first introduced in 1980 he was known as ‘Deathstroke the Terminator.’ But, after the success of The Terminator and its sequel – which starred Schwarzenegger as a cyborg assassin sent back in time to kill Sarah Connor, whose future son leads the resistance in a dark future against Skynet’s A.I. Forces – DC decided to quietly stop using the name despite the fact Slade was regularly referred to as the Terminator in the comics up until that point.

The first Terminator film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michel Biehn, Linda Hamilton, and Paul Winfield was a huge success when it came out in theatres, as it earned more than 10 times its $6.4 million budget and spawned multiple sequels, including the critically acclaimed Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which is often considering one of the best science fiction films of all time. With all of the success that The Terminator and its sequels received, DC knew it was best to step back from the name originally given to Deathstroke.

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Three years after Terminator 2: Judgment Day cemented the franchise as one of the greatest of all-time, Deathstroke’s ongoing series was changed from “Deathstroke: The Terminator” to “Deathstroke: The Hunted.” His next series after that would simply be called Deathstroke. Being called the Terminator was never fully retired inside the pages of the comics, as it was used very occasionally as a nickname, but from the mid-’90s onwards, Deathstroke the Terminator was just known as Deathstroke.

The Terminator Franchise might have handcuffed DC Comics into having to adjust Slade’s name so that readers wouldn’t get confused between the two franchises, but Deathstroke remains a great name that’s instantly recognizable to this day – it wasn’t a great loss. He’s still very much an assassin, but the Terminator name understandably now belongs to the Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, which have rightfully earned the title in the pop culture lexicon. Who knows if Deathstroke would remain as popular if DC confused readers by keeping the Terminator name. The change seemed to work out best for all parties.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/deathstroke-terminator-movie-name-change-dc/

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