Sometimes you just have to let things go, even if it means letting go of playing a key role in the DCEU. Actor Joe Manganiello has expressed that he has fully accepted that he won’t play Deathstroke again in the DCEU and has “let go” of the role.
During a chat with ComingSoon.net promoting the animated fantasy film The Spine of Night, Manganiello looked back on his brief time as DCEU’s Deathstroke. When asked whether he would reprise the role of the assassin after Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the actor admitted that he has let go of the notion of ever playing the role again by saying, “No, I let that go a while ago.”
It’s fair for Manganiello to accept that the prospects of reprising the role are very slim. Created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke, first made his debut in the DC Comics with 1980’s “The New Teen Titans.” The character is a skilled assassin who was a volunteer for a government experiment that granted him superhuman abilities. The character has been adapted for both film and television and Manganiello made his cinematic debut as the character in the post-credits scene of the theatrical cut of Justice League. The scene was meant to set up a future for the character in the DCEU but things with Justice League, as we know now, didn’t go as planned.
The character and actor were subsequently attached to a variety of projects in the DCEU, including serving as an antagonist for The Batman when the film was to be directed by Ben Affleck. The character was also said to have his own solo film in the works from writer/director Gareth Evans. The baggage surrounding Justice League and the troubled nature of its production seemed to shift the direction Warner Bros. wanted to go in and with each shift, Deathstroke became less of a priority. There seems to be radio silence regarding the role and Manganiello playing him so I’m not surprised he has made peace with the idea that these future projects are unlikely to happen.
Do YOU think Joe Manganiello needs a fair shot at playing Deathstroke?