A
hero published by
DC Comics and created by
Marv Wolfman.
He first appeared in
New Teen Titans #42 in 1984.
Joseph Wilson was the second son of Slade Wilson and his
wife Adeline. Slade was a former member of the U.S. army who
was the subject of an experimental medical treatment that unintentionally
gave him use of a large portion of his brain power. The result
was that Slade had super-human reflexes and strength. He used these
abilities to become a super-powered mercenary called Deathstroke,
the Terminator, all without the knowledge of his wife, a former
Army officer herself.
The Wilson's first child Grant took after his father and was born
prior to Slade's participation in the medical experiment. Joe, their
second child, was more gentle with an artistic nature, and was conceived
after Slade gained his powers. While Slade was away on another
"business trip," agents of a terrorist known as the Jackal broke
into the Wilson home, and took Joe hostage. They wanted information
from Wilson as to who had hired him for a job. After revealing to
Adeline his alternate identity as Deathstroke, the two parents
met with the Jackal, who while holding a knife to Joe's throat,
demanded the information from Wilson. Wilson refused and then
killed the Jackal, but not before he could cut Joe's throat. The
resulting injury cost Joe the use of his vocal cords, so he grew up
mute.
After the death of Joe's older brother Grant while he tried to
destroy the Teen Titans in his costumed identity as the Ravager,
Deathstroke set about to fulfill the contract for Grant. To this
end, Deathstroke used a girl named Terra infiltrate the Titans,
learn their secrets and then betray them. All of the Titans were
captured with the exception of Dick Grayson, who was the original
Robin. As Grayson prepared to go after his teammates and friends,
he was approached by Adeline Wilson and Joseph Wilson who offered
to help him. The Wilsons were estranged after the Jackal incident,
and Adeline was bent on ending Deathstroke's reign of terror.
It was at this time, that it was revealed that Joe was a mutant, whose
DNA had been effected by the experiments done to his father. Calling
himself Jericho, Joe had the ability to possess someone and control
the actions of their body. His ability required him to look into the
eyes of his victim and then he would become intangible and inhabit
their form. If they were conscious, they would still possess their
own voices and could talk, but Joe could use their voices if they were
unconscious. Grayson, who had taken on the identity of Nighwing at this point,
and Jericho tracked down the Titans and helped free them. After
the ensuing battle, Jericho became a member of the Titans.
Jericho served as a member of the Teen Titans for a number of
months, aiding in their adventures. During that time, Wilson's
empathy for others drew him to Raven, one of his teammates. Raven
is the daughter of a human woman and an extra-dimensional demon
named Trigon. The demonic side of Raven's nature continued to
grow stronger, causing her anguish. Wilson attempting to help ease
her pain, possessed her to try and figure out what was happening.
He was cast out of her almost immediately and his actions began
a set of circumstances that would ultimately lead to his demise.
First, Wilson's possession of Raven caused her to lose the last
vestiages of her strength to resist her evil nature and she
was taken over by it, allowing Trigon to come to Earth and
conquer it. Raven in her evil form and Trigon were opposed
by the souls of Azareth, a community from another dimension
who had opposed Trigon and were destroyed because of it. With
the help of the Teen Titans, the souls of Azareth were able
to defeat Trigon.
Unfortunately, the defeat of Trigon tainted the souls of Azareth
with his evil and they needed a person to act as a vessel for them.
They sought Raven, but she was protected by her soul-self.
However, because of his power, Jericho was an easy target for their
possession, so they resided within him, growing in power and influence.
Over the next months, Jericho continued to aid the Titans while
the souls of Azareth continued to strengthen. Finally, they
completely took over Jericho, giving him the ability to call upon
a soul self like Raven's only in the shape of a lion. Their power
also healed the severed vocal chords, allowing Wilson the ability
of speech. Jericho however hid all of these things from his
teammates.
The souls of Azareth needed superhuman bodies to reside in and
Wilson began a complicated plan to capture metahumans for them
to possess. Taking control of the Wildebeast Society, a group
of criminals possessing advanced weaponry, Jericho began to
capture the members of the Teen Titans both old and new to
use as vessels for the souls.
After capturing most of the Titans, the few left tracked their
teammates back to the Wildebeasts' lair to find that they had
been betrayed by one of their own. The souls began their transfer
into the bodies of the Titans and Wilson once again became the
dominant personality for a few moments. The remaining Titans had
been accompanied by Wilson's father Deathstoke, the Terminator and
Jericho begged his father to kill him, knowing that it was the
only way to defeat the souls before they took over his friends.
Deathstroke complied plunging his sword through his son, killing him.