Joe Manganiello, who was set to reprise the role of Deathstroke in Ben Affleck’s scrapped Batman film, is telling all about what would have happened had the superhero film made it to theaters.
In his new memoir “Bloodlines,” published on Tuesday, the actor wrote that Affleck, who was attached as the writer, director, producer and star, planned to make the film “a superhero version of David Fincher’s ‘The Game’” in which Deathstroke would “dismantle Batman’s entire life” after being made to think the Caped Crusader killed his son (via EW).
Manganiello, who first played Deathstroke, a DC supervillain, briefly in 2017’s “Justice League,” wrote that murdering Commissioner Gordon, holding Alfred Pennyworth hostage and breaking into the Batcave would all be a part of Deathstroke’s revenge plan, and that the film would have included a fight in which “Deathstroke would nearly kill both Batman and Batgirl before they would both escape via an aboveground train.”
According to the “Magic Mike” actor, the film would have concluded with a “climactic one-on-one showdown through the streets of Gotham.” “It sounded good to me,” Manganiello wrote. “I told Ben how great I thought his films were, especially ‘The Town,’ and how I was really looking forward to seeing his Best Picture version of a Batman movie.” He went on to explain that Affleck’s roles on set sounded like “a lot” for a single person, to which the “Argo” director responded: “Yeah, I know…But don’t worry, you’re in good hands. You’re in good hands, man.”
Ultimately, the film never came out. Recently, Ben Affleck appeared on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast and called the “Justice League” reshoots the “low point of my career.”
“The experience of ‘Justice League’ was so negative for lots of different reasons, some of which have to do with where I was at personally and some of which had to do with the tragedy that happened at that time,” Affleck said. “I saw how not to make a movie like that, which is where the studio is at odds with the filmmaker. You are really making a mistake. I was really glad and gratified that Zack got to release [his version via the Snyder Cut]. That was fucking great. I was really happy for him. That was shitty, him being taken off that movie and the reshoots that we did. If you want the low point of my career, it was that.”