Slade has a long history as an enemy of the
Teen Titans, beginning when his other son, Grant, became an early Titans foe called the
Ravager, who was physically enhanced to fulfill a contract to kill or capture the Teen Titans. However, those enhancements proved fatal and Slade agreed to complete the contract. His first mission involved stealing the fictional element
Promethium from
S.T.A.R. Labs and selling it as the ultimate weapon. He then kidnapped the Titans and placed them in the path of a Promethium bomb to test his device for the buyers, effectively killing two birds with one stone. The Titans escaped and pursued Deathstroke, but he severely wounded Garfield Logan, then known as
Changeling, in his escape. This would be the start to a lasting animosity between the two.
Deathstroke next appeared in New York, holding officials hostage in order to lure the Titans into confronting him.
Terra, a new ally of the Titans, and Changeling were the only ones available to answer the call. Terra knocked Logan out in an effort to prove herself worthy of being a Titan and fought Deathstroke single-handedly. Slade escaped as the other Titans arrived, but by then Terra had proven herself and the team offered her membership. Later that night, it was revealed that both Terra and Deathstroke conspired to fake the fight in a plot to infiltrate the team.
It was also revealed that both shared an intimate relationship, despite Terra being fifteen years old.[1] The artist, George Pérez, noted that this constituted "statutory rape."[6]
