It won’t be long until the DCU gets rebooted into a new timeline, featuring new iterations of our favorite DC superheroes. However, before we can embrace the new, we must mourn the old, which is why DC fans are bidding farewell to the original Snyderverse cast and mourning the “what could have been” after test footage for one DC villain in particular emerged on social media.
A short test footage of Deathstroke‘s appearance was shared on r/MovieLeaksAndRumors. It was assumed that the video in question is related to the rumored Ben Affleck Batman solo movie. In the video, Deathstroke emerges somewhere underground, possibly to face Batman for a fight. It was also rumored that Deathstroke would have been the main villain of the Batman solo film if it still went through production.
This video upset fans anew since they’d just seen what could have been the DCU if Warner Bros. hadn’t decided to intervene and cancel projects. Fans have speculated about the possibility of a Batman vs Deathstroke confrontation since the Dark Knight tends to fight the Joker across multiple film iterations.
According to the Direct, this test footage was leaked by Affleck back in 2021. Deathstroke’s actor Joe Manganiello theorized during Justice Con that Affleck “pulled out his cellphone,” filmed the test footage, and leaked it. And no one could reach him at the time since the DC actor turned off his phone due to air travel.
“…I guess Ben pulled out his cellphone and filmed it off the monitors during my test. He was about to get on a plane, or he was on a plane, and he tweeted that out. He then shut his phone off and went on a transatlantic flight. No one could yell at him. No one could reach him. No one could stop him. He just leaked it out there.”
Deathstroke was first introduced in the DCU in Justice League, and later returned in the Snyder Cut in 2021, both in the film’s end credits. In the 2017 film, he was invited by Lex Luthor to join his Legion of Doom after the Justice League was formed. In the 2021 remake, Deathstroke revealed that he has reasons to kill Batman, to which Luthor responded by revealing the hero’s identity.
The rumored Batman solo film was going to have Affleck direct and co-write the film with Matt Reeves. Unfortunately, Reeves parted ways on the project, only for him to work on a separate Batman film starring Robert Pattinson. James Gunn hasn’t announced who will play Batman in the DC adaptation of Batman: Brave and The Bold, but it’s unlikely it’s going to be Affleck donning the mask once more.
Published: Apr 6, 2023 12:51 am