Joe Manganiello might be the unluckiest man in modern superhero cinema. The actor was initially pegged to play a major role as Deathstroke in Zack Snyder’s Justice League sequels, and was also getting a solo movie with The Raid‘s Gareth Evans at the helm.
On top of that, he was locked in as the antagonist of Ben Affleck’s version of The Batman, with Slade Wilson set to tear Bruce Wayne’s life apart from the inside out, and he’d even cleared room in his schedule after being told he was part of the early drafts of what eventually became James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad.
Instead, Manganiello’s entire DCEU history stretches to a post-credits appearance in each cut of Justice League, and a supporting part in the epilogue of HBO Max’s four-hour epic, which has to be a kick in the teeth for someone that’s clearly still holding out the hope of getting something substantial to do as the fan favorite assassin.
Joe Manganiello did headline his own superhero movie last year, but Archenemy only scored a limited theatrical release and brought in just $136,000 at the box office. However, the dark and twisted psychological tale is coming to AMC+ next month, where it deserves to find a much bigger audience given that it puts an intriguingly unique spin on the superhero genre.
The 44-year-old plays Max Fist, a homeless drug addict who claims that he’s an all-powerful being from another dimension that became trapped on Earth. He befriends a troubled youngster as they team up to eradicate a crime boss and local drug gang that have put them both in danger. Is he really a superhero, or is he just a deranged and violent lunatic? It’s an interesting hook, and subscribers will be able to find out the answer next week when Archenemy comes to AMC’s in-house platform.
