About a week ago, Ben Affleck stirred up some hype for the Justice League movie universe by tweeting out a mysterious video of somebody dressed as Deathstroke, DC Comics’ preeminent one-eyed mercenary with a passion for bright orange. Affleck didn’t provide any other details, but word eventually got around that Deathstroke—a.k.a. Slade Wilson—would be the villain in Affleck’s solo Batman movie. Now, The Wall Street Journal has confirmed that Deathstroke will be played by Magic Mike star Joe Manganiello, with the report also revealing that it was even Manganiello wearing the suit in Affleck’s video.
That information came from a chat with DC Entertainment’s Geoff Johns, who wouldn’t say much beyond that, including whether or not Slade would make a cameo in the Justice League movie or when the Batman movie might be released. That means Affleck’s tweet might be the last we’ll see of Manganiello in that classic two-tone mask for quite some time, which leaves us with a chance to really pick at this casting and decide whether or not it’ll be the thing that finally saves DC’s movie universe.
For starters, Manganiello is a bit younger than Affleck, meaning the movie Deathstroke won’t be the older man he typically is in the comics. But he definitely has the right cartoonishly buff physique for the character. Basically, just imagine his gas station scene from Magic Mike XXL but with a mask and a sword, and it kind of works: