Joseph Wilson is the second son of US Army Captain Adeline Wilson and the metahuman mercenary Deathstroke.
Rendered mute due to an incident where his throat was cut as a child, Joseph now works as an agent of the detective/information agency Searchers, Inc. working alongside his mother, Joseph soon learnt of his metahuman abilities and renamed himself as "Jericho".
Background[]
Joseph Wilson was born to Captain Adeline Wilson and Slade Wilson. A prestigious and celebrated soldier, when Joseph's father, Slade, volunteered for a medical experiment in resisting truth serums, the experiment had an unforeseen side effect and gave Slade enhanced strength and heightened reflexes. Shortly after this, Adeline gave birth to Joseph. Slade was soon after discharged from the army after disobeying a direct order to abandon their close friend, Major William Randolph Wintergreen, to a suicide mission.
While Slade took up hunting for awhile, it failed to quench his thirst for combat and unknown to his wife and family, Slade secretly became a mercenary known as Deathstroke the Terminator.
On one of his assignments, Slade assassinated a Colonel from the country of Qurac. As retribution, the president of Qurac sent a terrorist known as the Jackal to find Slade and find out who hired him to kill the Colonel. To gain leverage, the Jackal kidnapped Slade and Adeline's son, Joseph.
Forced to admit to his wife that he was secretly the mercenary known as Deathstroke the Terminator, Adeline and Slade confronted the Jackal together but during a standoff, Slade refused to give the Jackal the information he requested as it would violate his professional code of ethics. While he managed to save Joseph's life, Slade was not fast enough to prevent Joseph's throat from being slit, rendering him henceforth mute.
Furious over her husband's seeming nonchalance over the ordeal and the risking of her son's life, Adeline confronted Slade with a gun and attempted to shoot him in the head, only for Slade's quick reflexes causing her to shoot his right eye instead. Adeline then divorced Slade and raised her two sons by herself.
While Grant followed in his parent's footsteps and attended military school, Joseph was a kind, gentle soul who flourished in the arts as a talented artist and musician. Adeline nurtured this side of Joseph, and he grew up to be a fine young man under Adeline's care.
Sometime after her divorce from Slade, Adeline established her own organization, Searchers, Inc. – a worldwide information network that passes itself off as a detective agency.
While Grant grew to idolize his father and eventually left to become the mercenary "The Ravager", Joseph worked closely with his mother; receiving combat training and tactical fighting maneuvers from her so that he could join her in Searchers, Inc.'s espionage missions.
On a mission for the US government, Joseph and his mother separated briefly for reconnaissance. Joseph spotted his mother in danger from an assassin she did not see. Joseph wanted to scream, but couldn't. As the assassin prepared to shoot his mother, Joseph intensely stared at him across the room, desperately wanting to stop him. It was at this moment that his mutant power first manifested; Joseph felt his bodies separate and enter into the assassin, controlling the man's motor skills and saving his mother's life.
Deducing that Joseph's DNA had been mutated because of the biological experimentation that had been done on his father, Adeline continued to allow her now-super powered son to accompany her on missions and together they devoted themselves to keeping an eye on Deathstroke's vendetta against the Teen Titans.
Involvement[]
- Jericho appears at the end of the Titans Targeted! alert after Cyborg was abducted by Deathstroke and offers to help.
- Jericho aids the team throughout the Titans: H.I.V.E. Reborn raid, in which he possesses Deathstroke. Under his guise, he renounces and mocks Terra at the end of the instance, sending her into a destructive rage.
Trivia[]
- Jericho first appeared in Tales of the Teen Titans #43 (June 1984).
- When eye contact is made, Jericho is able to enter another's body and control their motor functions (except their speech). If the person is unconscious when Jericho enters, he can also speak through them, but retains any speech patterns the person may have (such as an impediment, lisp or accent).
- Jericho prefers solving things through nonviolent means, but he is an above average fighter, having been trained by his mother.
- Jericho sometimes uses the American Sign Language letter "J" as his sign name in order to signal to his allies that he has taken possession of a person
Gallery[]
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.jpg "Jericho 1 (H.I.V.E Reborn).jpg (158 KB)")
.jpg "Jericho 3 (H.I.V.E Reborn).jpg (205 KB)")