He was the rumored choice. Now he is the confirmed choice. After some speculation, it turns out that Magic Mike and True Blood star Joe Manganiello will in fact be playing master assassin Deathstroke in Ben Affleck’s upcoming Batman film. This isn’t the most surprising news, many saw it coming. However, it’s a big deal for fans of Batman and the expanding DC cinematic universe.
The not-so-breaking news comes from the Wall Street Journal. They received the information via an interview with DC Entertainment president Geoff Johns. He was sneaky about Deathstroke’s first appearance, though. Johns wouldn’t say if the villain would somehow find his way into Justice League. Chances are his presence will be known in the upcoming Zack Snyder film.
For the uninitiated, Deathstroke is a deadly hitman who is capable with plenty of weapons, most notably his trusty sword and hands. He has faced off with multiple DC heroes over the years. There is no doubt he will prove to be quite the nemesis for Affleck’s Batman. This will be the first big screen iteration of the character though he has popped up on TV before, namely on the CW’s Arrow.
Was that him in the video?
We all remember when Affleck tweeted a short video of some actor dressed as Deathstroke on the set of some movie. Well, we might not know which movie set it was shot on but we do know which actor was under the mask. As for other information about the future Batman film, we don’t have much. Will Deathstroke be the only villain? Will Batman be the only hero? Any truth to the rumor that it’ll be based on the popular Arkham Asylum comic? That seems unlikely since Deathstroke had nothing to do with that story.
The rumored release date is sometime in 2018 though that could change. The last we heard from writer/director/star Affleck he said he was hard at work on the script. Take your time, Ben. Just give us some quality Batman.