Joe Manganiello Returning As Deathstroke For DC, Our Scoop Confirmed?
Could another Giant Freakin Robot scoop be confirmed here with Joe Manganiello hinting that he's returning as Deathstroke for DC
This article is more than 2 years old
In 2021 Zack Snyder’s Justice League breathed new life into the DC Extended Universe, giving fans the movie they wanted. This included cameos from popular characters like Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello) and the Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix). Despite its resounding success, Warner Bros is failing to keep the Snyderverse alive. Ben Affleck is retiring the Batsuit, Henry Cavill’s Superman cape is hanging in a closet somewhere, and Ray Fisher has refused to play Cyborg again until the studio owns up to their part in his alleged mistreatment.
While things don’t look promising in terms of A-List DC superheroes, The Snyder Cut gave the studio a lot of other characters to work with for future projects. Now, Joe Manganiello is adding fuel to fire on social media. In a post on Instagram, the actor shared a photo of himself as the DC villain covered in a spectrum of bright colors. The accompanying caption gives little information other than the words, “new profile pic.”
Check out the image of Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke below:
The post was unexpected following Joe Manganiello’s comments to Entertainment Tonight in 2021. At the time, the actor said he didn’t think he’d ever get a chance to explore the character, saying he let that dream go a long time ago. However, somewhere along the way, things changed. Several months ago, we exclusively reported that the Magic Mike star was in talks with Warner Bros to return as Deathstroke in a James Gunn-directed project. Perhaps his post is confirming our report and those secret talks went well.
As previously reported, the new Deathstroke project will either be a sequel to The Suicide Squad or a spinoff from the movie. Since a lot of time has passed since Joe Manganiello met with movie bosses, he could also make an appearance in the second season of Peacemaker. However, in recent interviews, James Gunn has implied that he’s looking ahead to the future. So a spin-off Deathstroke movie is more likely.
Joe Manganiello made his DC Extended Universe debut as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke in Joss Whedon’s 2017’s theatrical cut of Justice League. He appeared in a post-credits scene meeting with Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luther. Zack Snyder’s Justice League gave the character a little more screen time, with a version of that scene. He also appeared in the post-apocalyptic epilogue that showed Deathstroke teaming up with Batman, Cyborg, the Flash, Mera, and the Joker against evil Superman.
The actor was supposed to reprise the role in The Batman when Ben Affleck was still Gotham’s Dark Knight. But the project was eventually scrapped. Speaking to Yahoo Entertainment in 2020, Joe Manganiello explained that the story would have focused on Slade Wilson’s plot to systematically destroy Bruce Wayne’s public status as Gotham City’s leading citizen and his secret existence as Batman
After Affleck, who was supposed to co-write and direct the film too, ditched the project in 2017, Matt Reeves created his unrelated vision of The Batman with Robert Pattinson starring as the Caped Crusader. Although Ben Affleck’s film never materialized fans have always wondered what it would have been like to see Deathstroke in a more prominent role. Hopefully, Joe Manganiello gets a chance to show us very soon.
