Now that we know director Matt Reeves is knee-deep in formulating the story for The Batman, moviegoers and pundits alike can’t help but speculate which villains he’ll utilize. Will he retain Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke, whom we know to be a product of Ben Affleck and Geoff Johns’ canned screenplay? Or will he play it safe by incorporating fan favorite baddies like the Joker and Harley Quinn?
Well, if this fan-made poster crafted by DigestingBat is to give us an accurate representation of the future, the answer is “all of the above.”
On this particularly striking piece, we see Ben Affleck’s Batman in profile (assuming that Reeves doesn’t recast the Dark Knight) joined by the aforementioned Deathstroke, in addition to Jared Leto and Margot Robbie’s respective iterations of the Joker and Harley Quinn. Suffice it to say, it shouldn’t be too hard for any professional scribe who has an intimate knowledge of these characters to weave them into a coherent tale.
Now, while we can theorize how such a puzzle could come together, it’s difficult for us to see these icons in constellation and not recall writer/artist Tony S. Daniel’s Deathstroke Vol. 1: Gods of War. In that particular trade paperback, the Caped Crusader and Slade Wilson engaged in a brutally visceral battle for the ages, with Harley Quinn in attendance.
Of course, we’re not sure if The Batman will be able to get as bloody as that specific comic book – it’s probably striving for a PG-13 rating, mind you – but it’d be wise for Reeves and company to include Daniel’s work in their research if indeed this is to be the core cast. And if you require visual aids, we’ve included some excerpts from said comic in the gallery above.
Published: Jan 9, 2018 7:34 PM UTC