After his brief tease in 2017’s Justice League, fans wanted more of Joe Manganiello’s take on iconic Batman villain Deathstroke. Known for his gun and sword mastery, Deathstroke is a perfect match for the Dark Knight, and fans almost got to see Manganiello face off with Ben Affleck in Warner Bros.’ aborted Batman solo movie.
This version of The Batman would ultimately never come to be, with Affleck exiting the role and director’s chair and Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson coming on board to reboot the property. However, Manganiello still speaks fondly of the project, and during an interview with Yahoo for his new film Archenemy, the actor dove into what inspired the David Fincher-like tone of Affleck’s script, comparing it to Fincher’s 1997 film The Game.
“There were similarities to The Game,” Manganiello said, going on to add that the original pitch had Deathstroke systematically destroying Bruce Wayne’s life. “It was a really dark story in which Deathstroke was like a shark or a horror movie villain that was dismantling Bruce’s life from the inside out. It was this systemic thing: He killed everyone close to Bruce and destroyed his life to try and make him suffer because he felt that Bruce was responsible for something that happened to him.”
While we never got to see Batman and Deathstroke squaring off, both Affleck and Manganiello have recently reprised their roles for reshoots on Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which is coming to HBO Max in 2021.
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