DC Comics confirmed today Joe Manganiello‘s role as Deathstroke, an ultra-enemy, assassin and war machine who will face Ben Affleck at the newest Batman film. The rumors of Manganiello portraying the character started a couple of months back when Affleck tweeted a teaser of the villain.
Joe Manganiello who is best known for being Alcide Herveaux, the leader of a wolf pack in True Blood, has been chosen to play the character of Deathstroke, a villain made famous by DC Comics back in 1980. The actor also appeared oi the comedy films “Magic Mike” started by Channing Tatum, in which he played the role of an athletic male dancer. Manganiello is also a director, author, and producer other appearances include roles in tv series such as ER, How I Met your Mother and One Tree Hill.
The role of Deathstroke in the most recent Batman film was confirmed by Ben Affleck’s Twitter account. The director, producer, and actor posted a short video teasing the appearance of the character back in August.
Fans began to wonder who might be behind the black and orange mask, and Manganiello’s name came up after the actor was spotted in London, the same place where the Justice League’s most recent film is being produced. The actor also started to follow the film’s director, Zack Snyder on Twitter who had the fans wondering.
Deathstroke and DC
Geoff Johns is DC’s Entertainment president and chief creative officer, and he’s also the person who made Manganiello’s announcement to the Wall Street Journal on early Thursday.
Johns was being questioned about the upcoming Batman film when he announced Manganiello’s adding to the casting list, confirming all of the fans rumors. However, Johns didn’t confirm whether Deathstroke will have a cameo in the upcoming Justice League’s film, set to appear in theaters in November.
DC’s president also left the public with the uncertainty on when the newest Batman film, starred and directed by Affleck will be released. Rumors ensure the movie might come as early as 2018, but no confirmations have been made.
— Ben Affleck (@BenAffleck) August 29, 2016
Deathstroke is a fictional assassin character that first appeared in DC’s world on 1980, originally called Deathstroke the Terminator who was a villain for the New Teen Titans; the character was well accepted by the public and even landed it’s own comic series in 1991.
The series lasted for 65 issues which reduced the characters name to just Deathstroke; the mercenary is also linked to the Batman universe thanks to DC’s parallel Universe, as well as with Green Arrow, which was already shown the character on the Warner TV series portrayed by Manu Bennet.
Deathstroke’s name is Slade Wilson, who started as a 16-year old kid in the army with great combat abilities and fell in love with his Captain Adeline Kane. Kane later married Wilson and had a child with him, in the meantime, Slade was asked to participate in a ultra-secret mission in which the state turned soldiers into metahumans giving him superpowers.
Slade’s kid was kidnapped by Jackal, a criminal, that wanted information and scarred the throat of Wilson’s kid who lost his ability to speak forever. That event turned Deathstroke into the ultra-villain and mercenary showed in Teen Titans, and that will appear in the upcoming Batman film.
Source: WSJ