Spider-Man: Joe Manganiello came very close to losing Flash Thompson role

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Before Joe Manganiello found greater fame thanks to roles in Magic Mike, True Blood, and Justice League, one of the actor's very first jobs found him playing Flash Thompson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. Although the role was relatively brief, Joe Manganiello certainly put his own spin on Peter Parker's bully, but the actor revealed that there was someone who didn't want him in the role.

While speaking with THR, Joe Manganiello said that after already winning the role of Flash Thompson, he received a call which informed him that someone didn't want him to play the character and that they would be looking for someone else to take on the role; however, after nearly two months, he got another call that gave him back the role.

There was a call— jeez. (Manganiello sighs.) I won’t name names, but there was someone who didn’t want me as Flash Thompson [in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man]. So for a month and a half, they went ahead and auditioned everybody else in town all over again. Then, on Christmas Eve, I got a call that I got the role back. Well, no, the way it was phrased to me by my agent at the time was, “They didn’t find anybody else. The role is yours.”

Joe Manganiello would go on to reprise the role of Flash Thompson for a cameo in Spider-Man 3. Manganiello also recently discussed the original pitch for Ben Affleck's version of The Batman, which the actor teased would have had a strong David Fincher vibe. "There were similarities to The Game," Manganiello said, adding that the film would have found Deathstroke (Manganiello) systematically destroying Bruce Wayne's life piece by piece. "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." Although Joe Manganiello may not have gotten to to face off against Ben Affleck's Batman, he will be returning to the role for Zack Snyder's Justice League as he was brought in to shoot new footage for the HBO Max project earlier this year.