If you haven’t seen Justice League yet, you may want to turn away now because there be spoilers below!
As you know, Joe Manganiello was cast as Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke some time ago. We even saw some test footage that appeared to be of him in the villain’s suit, for what was expected to be an appearance in Ben Affleck’s The Batman. And then…well, a lot happened. Matt Reeves took over the film, rewrote everything, and Manganiello was left hanging as to whether he was even in it. We still don’t know the answer to that question, but the answer is “Probably not”, even though Warner Bros. obviously likes him in the role.
Those who stuck around for the closing credits of Justice League saw Manganiello dishing with Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) about the possible formation of the Injustice League or the Legion of Doom or whatever they’re gonna call it. And for those who may have had to dash, or just haven’t bought their ticket yet, Manganiello has tweeted out an image of him rockin’ the Deathstroke eyepatch and armor from that scene. Pretty sweet, but why do it now?
So what’s up? Was he just saving people the cost of a ticket or what? Warner Bros. wouldn’t be happy about that. Or maybe something’s up with that solo Deathstroke movie being directed by The Raid’s Gareth Evans? Perhaps, with all the uncertainty of the DCEU, it’s being moved up? Because right now we have no idea when Deathstroke would appear next. Could it be in next year’s Aquaman? Or maybe Wonder Woman 2 or Joss Whedon’s Batgirl? It seems unlikely we’d have to wait until there’s a Justice League 2, since who knows when that might be.
Maybe he does show up in The Batman, after all? Or in Shazam or that Nightwing movie we’ve heard a little bit about. There are so many possibilities that to guess is pretty silly. All I’m saying is that he didn’t tweet this randomly, at least I don’t think he did.
Or maybe this was all Zack Snyder’s idea? In case you forgot, Snyder teased this post-credits scene more than a year ago, and clearly he’s a fan of Manganiello as DC’s baddest merc.
