Warning: spoilers ahead for Titans season 4, episode 4.
Somehow, Deathstroke returned, as Titans season 4 brings back the iconic DC villain in zombie form. Played by Esai Morales, Deathstroke served as the main antagonist of Titans season 2, executing an old vendetta against Dick Grayson's superhero team, who had a fish bone to pick of their own. Titans season 2 ended with Grayson reinventing himself as Nightwing and finally getting the better of his mercenary nemesis. The decisive blow was delivered by Deathstroke's own daughter, Rose, but trailer footage for Titans season 4 showed the villain back in action, fueling speculation of a survival twist, or a new incarnation of Deathstroke debuting.
In a turn few could have predicted, Titans season 4's Deathstroke appearance is the result of zombie shenanigans. The Trigon-worshiping Church of Blood has transformed the Organization's old asylum into a Super Super Mart, and in homage to Dawn of the Dead, the employees are zombies, heavily implied to be old Organization followers risen from the grave. For reasons Titans keeps mostly to itself, this undead army also includes Deathstroke, now subservient to the will of Mother Mayhem. Exciting though Deathstroke's return may be - even as a zombie - Titans struggles to justify the villain's presence. Why Deathstroke is reanimated remains unclear both in-universe and as a narrative device.
Why Titans Season 4's Deathstroke Return Is Disappointing
Titans leaves audiences to assume Mother Mayhem exhumed Deathstroke's corpse during her downtime between stalking old folks' homes and muttering exposition to her assistant. Perhaps knowing the dead mercenary, like her old Organization , held a grudge, the villain was brought back to catch Nightwing and the Titans off-guard. By glossing over the means and motive behind Deathstroke's zombie incarnation, however, his Titans reappearance becomes a weird, out-of-place corpse-cameo lacking rhyme or reason. After his inclusion in the Titans season 4 trailer, viewers would be justified in feeling duped.
The disappointment continues, as Deathstroke's Titans return is over in minutes. Tricked by Jinx and helplessly stabbed with a hairpin, Titans turns this once-formidable adversary into a glorified gag. A smiling Jinx poking Deathstroke's befuddled zombie husk through his eye to the sound of Warren Zevon's "Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead" is an undignified end for any villain, and a fate even Deathstroke didn't deserve. Free from meaning, substance and explanation, Deathstroke's crazy Titans season 4 return could be viewed as little more than a flimsy excuse to rerun season 2's final battle.
Zombie Deathstroke Is Fun (What Else Matters?)
Titans has played by its own wild rules in season 4, with the opening quartet of episodes ripping through horror movie tropes, underground elves, dead DC legends, and now the walking dead. Examining Deathstroke's zombie comeback through a logical lens perhaps misses the point of a cameo every bit as fun as it is silly. Whether it be Beast Boy shouting "ZOMBIE DEATHSTROKE!" and giving the double thumbs-down after seeing the dead mercenary reattach his own head, or Nightwing making a joke about the iPhone 7's poor battery capacity mid-battle, Titans evidently has little intention of taking itself seriously here.
Looking for a logical explanation behind Deathstroke's revival and questioning whether the cameo had a meaningful impact upon the main Titans season 4 Raven story is perhaps a futile exercise. Zombie Deathstroke makes for a roaring "Super Super Mart" climax, and gives Titans a high-octane hand-to-hand fight sequence in a mostly spell-based season 4. That may be justification enough to bring back Titans season 2's formidable main villain as Mother Mayhem's rotting puppet.
Titans continues Thursday on HBO Max.