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Tomas Franzese is the Weekend News Editor at Polygon, following and reporting on the latest goings-on in the gaming and entertainment spaces. During the week, you can find him working on Remastered, his newsletter about video game history and retro gaming, or contributing to GameSpot and other publications. Previously, Tomas was the Gaming Segment Lead at XDA and a Staff Writer at Digital Trends.
Deathstroke actor Joe Manganiello gave us our best overview of Ben Affleck's scrapped Batman movie yet
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While rumors about the plot of Ben Affleck's scrapped Batman film have circulated for years, Deathstroke actor Joe Manganiello finally revealed more details about its story in his new memoir, Bloodlines.
What did Joe Manganiello reveal about Ben Affleck's Batman film?
In the 2010s, Ben Affleck was attached to direct a Batman film, starring his version of the superhero from Zack Snyder's DCEU. It never materialized because Ben Affleck backed off directing the film for personal reasons, but Joe Manganiello was still cast as Deathstroke, an iconic Batman and Teen Titans villain.
Entertainment Weekly reports that, in Bloodlines, Manganiello describes the movie as "a superhero version of David Fincher's The Game" where Deathstroke would try to "dismantle Batman's entire life" after the death of his son Jericho. His relentless attacks on Batman would've led to the kidnapping of Alfred and a shocking death, as Deathstroke would've murdered J.K. Simmons' Commissioner Gordon during his conquest.
Manganiello also claims Batgirl would've appeared in the movie, and that Deathstroke would nearly kill the heroes in a mid-movie fight before they escape via train. The movie was then supposed to culminate in a brutal fight between Batman and Deathstroke inspired by the iconic CG trailer for Batman: Arkham Origins.
It sounds like a pretty brutal premise for a Batman movie fitting for the DCEU's darker take on the character. Keep in mind the movie never entered full production, so if it had seen the light of day, Ben Affleck's Batman could've differed somewhat from this premise that Manganiello recalls. Still, I definitely would've been seated for a Batman movie bold enough to kill Commissioner Gordon.
Ultimately, Ben Affleck's Batman film never came to pass, and Manganiello would appear only as Deathstroke in Justice League and Zack Snyder's Justice League. In a recent interview, Manganiello said he'd be interested in reprising the role.
Warner Bros. would go on to produce The Batman starring Robert Pattinson instead of Ben Affleck's film. Now, The Batman Part 2 and DCU-canon Batman and Deathstroke movies are in the works.