William Randolph Wintergreen is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, often depicted as an associate of Slade Wilson (the supervillain Deathstroke). Although Wintergreen lacked Slade's superhuman physical attributes, he possessed far more combat experience and thus acted as Wilson's mentor.

A re-imagined version of the character appeared on The CW's live-action television series Arrow in the first season, where he was portrayed by stunt performer Jeffrey C. Robinson as the show's first incarnation of Deathstroke. He returned in the final season as well. He was also featured on the second season of the DC Universe series Titans, played by Demore Barnes.

Publication history

Created by George Pérez and Marv Wolfman, William Randolph Wintergreen was introduced to the DC Universe in The New Teen Titans #2 (December 1980) as the butler of Deathstroke the Terminator.^[1]

Fictional character biography

William Randolph Wintergreen grew up in Oxford, England. At university, he avoided sports and squirreled himself away in the library, which was open to him due to his father's title. He possessed strong research skills, and knowing the conduits through which information flowed later aided him in his work with MI5. Wintergreen met Sergeant Slade Wilson during his time at the British Army, and the two developed a close friendship. When General Sampson sent Slade on a suicide mission, Wintergreen, now a member of the Special Air Service, rescued Slade from perishing in an explosion, while Sampson was given a minor reprimand. Wintergreen served as Slade's best man when the latter married his captain, Adeline Kane. Still holding a grudge for Wintergreen's disobedience, Sampson later sent Wintergreen on a suicide mission. Slade commandeered a plane and made his way to Hanoi, where he freed Wintergreen from a Viet Cong prison. Slade then revealed to Wintergreen that his physical attributes had been enhanced by a military experiment. Slade was subsequently discharged for disobeying orders to save Wintergreen.^[2]

Following his discharge, Slade secretly began operating as the mercenary "Deathstroke". When Slade's occupation resulted in an accident involving their son, Joseph Wilson, Adeline divorced Slade and left with their children. Wintergreen then became Slade's butler and mentor, acting as his moral conscience, comrade in arms and medic. Wintergreen also began cataloguing Slade's adventures in journal entries. Slade took up hunting in Africa for a brief time, with Wintergreen at his side. Slade eventually returned to his mercenary ways, and Wintergreen continued to catalogue his missions. Slade later discovered that he had a daughter named Rose Wilson. Fearing that he would not be a good father, Slade left Rose in the care of Wintergreen, who grew to care very much for her and was even prepared to adopt her, though Rose ultimately joined the Teen Titans.

When Slade was later caught in an explosion, he retired and cut ties with both Pat Trayce and Wintergreen, claiming that they were no longer part of his life. Despite suspecting that this explosion actually restored Slade's memory (since details of his past life crept up in idle conversation), Wintergreen knew that Slade had his reasons for distancing himself, and thus respected this unspoken request from his student by giving him his space. In Slade's absence, Trayce and Wintergreen honoured him by continuing to run Vigilance, Inc. (a search-and-rescue operation originally set up as a mercenary organisation by Adeline).

Sometime later, Slade discovered that Joseph's spirit had taken refuge deep within his body. With the help of Wintergreen, he attempted to exorcise his son from himself, but was quickly overpowered. The possessed Slade then murdered Wintergreen, mounting his severed head on a wall as he vowed that "Deathstroke hunts alone". Before his death, Wintergreen had apparently believed that he would inevitably be murdered by Slade, evidenced by his last words, "I suppose it was only a matter of time". Slade would forever be haunted by his mentor's dying words.^[3]

Powers and abilities

Wintergreen has received extensive training in military protocols and espionage, making him a proficient hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist. He has also proven an exceptionally skilled marksman in the use of various firearms.^[5]

In other media

Television

Concept artwork of Billy Wintergreen / Deathstroke for the first season of Arrow

• Wintergreen makes non-speaking appearances in Teen Titans as Slade's butler.
• Bill "Billy" Wintergreen appears in Arrow, portrayed by stuntman Jeffrey C. Robinson.^[6][7] This version is a former member of an elite division of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) under the codename "Bishop", friend of Slade Wilson, godfather of Slade's son Joe Wilson, a skilled swordsman and hand-to-hand combatant, and the first individual to utilize the Deathstroke persona.^[8] In flashbacks depicted in the first season, Wintergreen and Slade were sent to the island of Lian Yu to rescue Chinese army deserter Yao Fei from a group of terrorists led by Edward Fyers. However, Wintergreen defected to Fyers' side and abandoned Slade. While torturing the stranded Oliver Queen for Fei's location, Fei attacked the mercenaries, captured Fyers, and rescued Queen. After rescuing Fyers, Wintergreen defeated Fei in combat before Fyers ordered him to execute a captured Queen. However, Slade triggered an explosion and fought Wintergreen, during which the former stabbed him in his right eye, killing him. In the eighth season episode "Purgatory", Wintergreen, Fei, and Fyers are revived by Lian Yu's supernatural energy until Lyla Michaels and William Clayton build a device to absorb the island's energy, causing the revived individuals to disappear.
• A young, African-American incarnation of Wintergreen appears in Titans, portrayed by Demore Barnes. This version previously served with Delta Force before joining H.I.V.E. and served as Deathstroke's handler while he was with the organization.

References

External links

• Wintergreen at the DC Database
• Deathstroke at the DC Database
• Wintergreen at the DCU Guide
• Wintergreen at Titanstower.com