Once a Stranger

...You mean there's a worse father than Ozai?
Well #1 actually murdered his (two of) his children. (And hilariously, is actually the anti-hero of the story in question, and I love him dearly as a character).

#2, well if you really want to know what he did to rate as worse than Ozai, I can tell, it's kind of a horrible story though, so I'm warning first.

David Cain, I dunno, he's probably rate a place in a top 10 - as I said it kind of crack me up he didn't even make it; but I can actually believe that David Cain loved Cass, and more importantly Cass also believes it. She also believes he's proud of her (though it may be for all the wrong reasons). So in a way that makes him better than Ozai, Gendo, Adama & co.

Is it wrong of me that I think Cain is a worse father than Deathstroke?
I don't know enough about Slade to know how bad or not he is as a father tbh.

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I'll need context to judge. Offspring-killing is much more common in fiction than you'd believe, and that's what makes things really horrible.

...No, don't tell me #2. I'm still wondering if I'm not going to read/watch the series.

I can actually believe that David Cain loved Cass, and more importantly Cass also believes it.
I'm typing my own Top 5, and that's precisely the reason I give why I think he's more frightening than others on my list. D:

Ohahahaha, Slade is just... reallyreallyreally fucked up as a father. On the one hand, he clearly loves his children and he occasionally wants the best for them, even if the best includes being in the Titans. Otoh, he killed one of his sons, is part of the reason why his other son became mute, and put his daughter on crazy-making super-strength serum, before putting Kryptonite in the eye-socket from which she'd taken her own eye out in an attempt to get his approval (the sad part is he approved of her before). But he loves them and he'll raise hell if something happens to them and he cares about all of them as a family!

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He killed them (and his wife) in order to make a ritual to transform himself into a vampiric creature and thus be immortal. Which he needs to be in order to see to completion his large scale magic-social experiment on the planet he is. Roughly. And you're right offspring killing is relatively common in fiction (and not that rare in real life either) but it stays with me because he's one of the main protagonist and framed as an anti-heroic character, not as a villain.

Otoh, he killed one of his sons, is part of the reason why his other son became mute, and put his daughter on crazy-making super-strength serum
That does sound pretty bad.

How much is character derailment compared to stuff that are true to the character?

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Yeah okay that works. (you had me at "be immortal".)

I tend to think that all the stuff Slade did to his kids is true to his character, except maybe the Kryptonite, and as we don't know for sure how long he intended on letting her have it in her skull... It's Slade. It's not like he doesn't do mindgames. Sometimes he does mindgames by not doing mindgames. At times he's presented as more of an anti-hero than an all-black villain, which works for me.

Nuking Blüdhaven was OOC for Deathstroke. The stuff with Rose?... Debatable. He did get her one of the best teachers around.

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Interesting.

I love characters who are into mindgames, I'd probably love him too XDD

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I can actually believe that David Cain loved Cass, and more importantly Cass also believes it.
I'm typing my own Top 5, and that's precisely the reason I give why I think he's more frightening than others on my list. D:-

One of the odd things is, if he had never had her kill that guy, or waited until she was much older, she'd probably grow up by his side and they'd both still be in a happy loving relationship. Probably doing father/daughter jobs.

And even with that schism between them, he cares for her a lot and doesn't try as messed up stuff as Slade does. He doesn't try and force her to be back on his side or anything, she made her choice, he regrets it, but he still loves her no matter that she's a hero.

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*HIDES UNDER THE SOFA* DDDDDDD:

she made her choice, he regrets it, but he still loves her no matter that she's a hero
That's true, and that's one point for David Cain. (Though in Slade's defense, and I can barely believe I am actually writing this, he too continues to love his kids after they become heroes.) But that's true of Cain, as well. He's content with the souvenirs he has of her childhood. I don't know if I'm more reassured or creeped out.

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After they become heroes and are reasonably happy, Slade'll still drop into their lives and mess that up, though.

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Yeah, but that's due at least as much because of the nature of comics as because of Slade's character. Comics require conflicts and drama, and Slade is a source of drama and conflicts for his children.

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Which still has him doing stuff like hiring a mercenary to kill Rose's adoptive parents.

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*HIDES UNDER THE SOFA* DDDDDDD:
aww *hugs*

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I don't know enough about Slade to know how bad or not he is as a father tbh.-

Oh, he's pretty lousy. All his kids either followed him into the mercenary life (at his encouragement, getting his first son killed), became a Teen Titan, or both. At one point he mind-controlled drugged his daughter Rose to switch from the Titan's side to his team (and she loses an eye as a result), and his history with his son Jericho is worse. At one point he realizes how trying to personally keep his kids safe keeps backfiring, and his response to that is to go after them to drive them away into the arms of the Titans and count on that team to protect them.

He's not the very worst, he does try and care for/help his kids most of the time, it's just that the ways he does it are so horrible that they often end up maimed, dead, or so on. Personally I'd take Cain over him.

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You make him sound more... horribly clumsy than malicious. Which makes me understand why runespoor would rate him higher than Cain, while he could be even more harmful to the kids at the same time.

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There is *definite* maliciousness involved too, Slade is a manipulator and when his kids are on his side, he uses them like tools often enough. If he thinks it's for their own good, he has no problem hurting them himself. He arranged for Rose's adoptive parents to be killed when she was in a perfectly safe situation threatened by no-one in order to get her back with him, for example.

Cain's a specific type of bad parent, paired with a lot of care and love that means if he thinks something will hurt Cassandra for real, he won't do it. Slade's a bad parent who realizes he's a bad parent and thus changes his approach occasionally, but cares more about being Deathstroke than his love for them no matter his approach, so using them in Deathstroke plans ultimately takes priority over their happiness or what they want.

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... got convinced Slade is worse now.

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Yeah, that's an excellent comparison.

I'm not completely certain that Slade cares more about being Deathstroke than about his children, but I won't bet on either possibility. I'm not even sure where Adeline ranks compared to the children or being Deathstroke.

if he thinks something will hurt Cassandra for real, he won't do it
I'd say "permanently" rather than "for real". Cass was hurt plenty during Murderer/Fugitive.

"Horribly clumsy" isn't a wrong way to describe Slade's relationships with his kids, though. There's that element too. (and I'm a sucker for this: his response to that is to go after them to drive them away into the arms of the Titans and count on that team to protect them.)

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I'd say "permanently" rather than "for real". Cass was hurt plenty during Murderer/Fugitive.-

True. There he did think there was a lose-lose going on. If Batman couldn't live up to Cassandra's image of him, then she'd be hurt far worse than what Cain did, so he needed to test Bruce. If Bruce passed and could be Cass's dad... ah well, as long as she's happy. If he didn't, then better sooner than later for her.

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"Horribly clumsy" isn't a wrong way to describe Slade's relationships with his kids, though. There's that element too. (and I'm a sucker for this: his response to that is to go after them to drive them away into the arms of the Titans and count on that team to protect them.)-

Yea. "I'm horribly unsafe for my kids to be around... I know, I'll create a team of supervillains to reunite them and scare them into turning to the Titans for protection to keep away from me!

"What? Send them a letter saying I'm out of their lives from an anonymous location, then just avoid them? Huh, that thought never occurred to me."

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Send them a letter saying I'm out of their lives from an anonymous location, then just avoid them?
But then he would lose all hypothetical chances to get them to join him! And he would miss on seeing how good they are at what they do. How good he's parly responsible for making them.

Slade is so egotistical.

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