Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke is set to appear in the Knightmare sequence in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Last year, it was reported that Manganiello participated in reshoots for the Snyder Cut and will be sporting a different look than seen in the theatrical version, but fans still wonder what the future holds for the DC villain.
The actor first played Slade Wilson/Deathstroke in a post-credits scene in 2017’s Justice League. In the brief scene, Deathstroke and Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) discussed teaming up and creating a league of their own. At the time, it was believed that Manganiello’s Deathstroke would be featured heavily in the DC Extended Universe.
Several Deathstroke-related projects have been canceled over the past four years. The iconic assassin was supposed to be the main villain in Ben Affleck’s The Batman and a solo Deathstroke film was in the works at Warner Bros. In fact, The Raid’s Gareth Evans was attached to direct the project and said the film would tell Slade Wilson’s origin story. Plans soon shifted after Warner Bros. changed executives and the studio decided to go in a different direction and restructure the DCEU. For instance, after Ben Affleck stepped away from directing The Batman and eventually retired from the role altogether, director Matt Reeves joined the project and took it in a completely different direction, with Robert Pattinson now playing the Dark Knight and the Riddler serving as the main adversary.
Now, Manganiello has shared why Warner Bros scrapped the solo Deathstroke movie. "When the dust settled, it was not seen as a priority to make a $40 million movie about a villain origin story in which you show the backstory," said the Magic Mike star to the Hollywood Reporter. The actor stated that they re-did the post-credit sequence to tease the villains of Justice League 2, but the sequel “clearly” never happened.
The DC villain will be featured in a new extended scene in Zack Snyder's Justice League and Manganiello has teased Deathstroke's new look on social media. "[At] the end of the film I always envisioned him shaving his head into some kind of warlike, borderline suicide mission, 'This is it, I'm going to die like a warrior,'" said the actor. "I explained that to Zack, and he said, 'Great, let's do it.’" During a recent fan panel, Snyder discussed how Deathstroke will be utilized in the upcoming blockbuster. "Joe's character in this movie when we find him clearly he and Batman have struck some sort of a deal and they have a bit of a partnership," Snyder said.
Deathstroke first appeared in the 1980's New Teen Titans #2 and was created by writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez. In the comics, the character was an elite assassin who used his superhuman powers to wreak havoc on Batman and the Justice League. Slade Wilson appeared in the 2003 animated series Teen Titans and was voiced by Ron Perlman. The villain was also played by Manu Bennett on The CW's Arrow.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League will premiere on HBO Max on March 18, 2021.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter