Deathstroke Confirmed for Justice League?

Justice League director Zack Snyder may have just confirmed that Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke is going to appear in the DC superhero team up film. Snyder tweeted out a photo of him seemingly on the Justice League set, with the caption “Cosplay” under him wearing one of Batman’s gauntlets.

However, savvy fans on the internet have already blown up and enhanced the photo, uncoveringly what looks to be a storyboard featuring a scene with Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke. See for yourself:

Fans will instantly start to speculate about what the scene in those storyboards depict. In our own estimation (and a lot of fans are echoing it already) this is a scene in which Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor is hiring Deathstroke to make some kind of strike against Batman and/or the Justice Leauge.

That reasoning stems from the depiction of the two figures in the drawings: one clearly has an eye-patch (indicating Slade Wilson/Deathstroke); the other clearly has a bald head. So either the sketch artists were too lazy to scribble in a characters hair, or (more likely) we’re seeing Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor. One curiosity is the setting; it looks in the first pictures to almost be the bow of a ship? While the main meeting takes place in an office? It looks like a first meeting, with Lex perhaps making the request that Deathstroke remove his mask (probably in that flitty, awkward Lex way). That’s all speculation, so any other theories are welcome.

If it is Lex, why this meeting is taking place at all (and not in a jail or Arkham cell) is something we will definitely need explained. As for Deathstroke: this pretty much the final smoking gun needed to say that Joe Manganiello will be appearing in Justice League. The actor was first spotted in London near JL production sporting the Deathstroke haircut; then Ben Affleck reveals video of Deathstroke on set; now Snyder is doing storyboards of the character. That’s about all the convincing that anyone should need.

This also continues to raise question as to what Lex Luthor will be up to in Justice League. We know he’s back, and under alien influence – Slade Wilson could be a really terrible weapon in Luthor’s hands, but to what end?

The DCEU continues with Wonder Woman on June 2, 2017, followed by Justice League on November 17, 2017; The Flash on March 16, 2018; Aquaman on July 27, 2018; Shazam on April 5, 2019; Justice League 2 on June 14, 2019; Cyborg on April 3, 2020; and Green Lantern Corps on July 24, 2020. The Batman solo movie, Dark Universe and Man of Steel 2 are also in development.