The old Warner Bros. and DC Films regime had a terrible habit of announcing projects before proceeding to do absolutely nothing with them until they ended up fading away into the ether of development hell, but one of the biggest missed opportunities of them all was the demise of Gareth Evans’ Deathstroke.
The prospect of the director responsible for The Raid and its sequel tackling a relatively inexpensive R-rated comic book adaptation inspired by Korean noir and martial arts cinema headlined by Joe Manganiello’s grizzled vigilante Slade Wilson was mouthwatering to say the least, but it ended up slipping away into nothingness.
Now that James Gunn and Peter Safran are in charge, though, all bets are off. The boss has plenty of experience delivering violent DC delights through The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, and Manganiello has admirably voiced his desire to return as Deathstroke in spite of his tenure being reduced to a couple of all-too-brief cameos.
Interestingly, Gareth Evans responded to both Gunn’s lenghty address on the wide-ranging DC rumors and a fan’s demand to see the project dusted off and brought back to life, which was then liked by the Guardians of the Galaxy director in another curious twist, most likely because it’s an entirely different Gareth Evans.
Surely having the writer, director, editor, and fight choreographer responsible for one of the greatest action movies of all-time taking on a mid budget DC flick with a grizzled badass in the lead is too good of an opportunity to turn down? Obviously, we’ve all been burned before, but maybe it’s time to cross those fingers just a little tighter in the hopes Deathstroke can live to fight another day.