A Deathstroke Appearance on DC's Legends Of Tomorrow! (Or is it?)

The Arrow and Flash TV shows never really hooked me, even after I found out that Deathstroke would appear in the former.

I watched one episode of Arrow in which Slade was shown in a flashback scene on an island. If I recall correctly, he had no dialogue and I thought his uniform seemed a little on the "low budget" side.

Bottom line, I wasn't particularly taken in. It just didn't seem like he was particularly important. As I understand it, his role grew as the season continued but I've read feedback to the effect that he was beaten far too easily when the time for the final confrontation came. None of it seemed particularly compelling.

I gave Legends of Tomorrow a try because it featured a larger segment of the DC Universe. In truth, I find the show kind of stupid but did get a hell of a surprise during this past Thursday's episode.

Season One, Episode Six : When a malfunction sends the Waverider crashing into 2046 Star City, our heroes face a startling version of their own future where they never stop Savage and never return home. The city is in ruins and overrun by criminals, which thrills Rory. Sara is despondent over the destruction of her home and stunned when she learns what happened to her old friend, Oliver Queen.

There's a different Green Arrow in town and he's fighting a different Deathstroke.

The outfit seen from a shadowed distance initially caused me to believe that we were getting the real deal. Depending on how old Slade was in the Arrow series, the comics version has some years on his, so it wouldn't be outrageous that he'd still be kicking asses 30 years hence, in his mid-50s or so.

It wasn't Slade Wilson, however, but his son Grant, as portrayed by Jamie Andrew Cutler.

His screen time was limited but he displayed a bit of crazy and had a good scrap against the Arrows. The time-travelling nature of Legends, and its tendency to unravel potential future timelines, makes it unlikely that we'll see the character again, but it was a good jolt to see the least-used Wilson kid take the spotlight for a change.

Got to love Grant. Aside from a brief appearance in New Teen Titans #1, released on Halloween 1980, the guy died in his first ever "full' appearance the following month.

And yet he still manages to maintain a presence 35 years later. His identity has been copied several times, not only by his sister but also by a number of even less exemplary characters. He's been included in numerous flashbacks and was even suddenly alive in more recent Deathstroke books. Hell, he was even a zombie during Blackest Night. That's a lot of longevity milked out of one issue.

He hasn't been talked about much here yet...but maybe he should be. I'll figure out how I want to approach that. In the meantime, nice to see you again, Grant, no matter how brief it was.