Is Joe Manganiello the unluckiest person to have ever signed a contract to appear in the DCEU? Looking at the facts, it’s hard to say otherwise.
At one stage, the actor’s Deathstroke was poised to have a massive impact on the superhero series, but circumstances outside of his control kept thwarting him at every turn. Slade Wilson’s Justice League post-credits debut was supposed to see him play a major role in Zack Snyder’s sequels, while he was also set for a solo movie to be directed by The Raid‘s Gareth Evans, on top of playing the villain in Ben Affleck’s The Batman, and he was even part of early concept art for James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad.
Instead, his total screentime in the franchise amounts to roughly five minutes, and it’s a crying shame. While fans have never given up on the idea of Manganiello potentially making a glorious comeback to the DCEU, he was asked in an interview with Coming Soon if he was optimistic about Deathstroke getting reintegrated into the mythology, and his answer was illuminating.
Manganiello’s brief answer of “No, I let that go a while ago” doesn’t inspire any confidence whatsoever, and it’s a real bummer to hear the previously-enthusiastic star begin to lose his enthusiasm for a potential Deathstroke return.