Manganiello will be filming additional footage as Deathstroke for 2021's Zack Snyder's Justice League on HBO Max.
Joe Manganiello's return is unexpected although not as shocking as Jared Leto's, since Deathstroke did appear in the end credits scene of the original 2017 film. In that scene, Slade Wilson met with Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor as he proposed the formation of their own villainous team. Deathstroke was being set up to appear in The Batman back when it was going to be directing by and starring Ben Affleck, but after that film became a standalone story, it seemed like Deathstroke was just another forgotten aspect of the DCEU.
It's unknown how large of a role Deathstroke will have in the Snyder Cut, but I'm not expecting anything very significant. Manganiello joins Ben Affleck, Ray Fisher, Amber Heard, and Jared Leto for the Justice League reshoots. The director's cut will debut as a four-episode limited series in 2021.
I liked Deathstroke's design in Justice League, and I'm interested to see how he'll fit into the Snyder Cut. However, much like Jared Leto, his addition also confuses me. Why are these characters being brought back when there's no plan for them to appear in future movies? Of course, Warner Bros. could be planning a return for these characters without the public knowing, but I can't really see what projects they'd fit into. We already know that Leto's Joker will not be appearing in The Suicide Squad and he's out of Harley Quinn's life (as seen in Birds of Prey), while Deathstroke has presumably been cut out of The Batman since it's no longer set in the DC Extended Universe. I guess we'll have to wait and see!
What do you think of Deathstroke returning? Comment below!
Zack Snyder's Justice League will debut exclusively on HBO Max sometime in 2021.
Source: Collider