DC’s Deathstroke & Bane Movie Gets Shocking Update (But It Actually Makes Sense for Gunn’s Universe)

The DCU was fully unveiled to the world in January of 2023, with Peter Safran and James Gunn revealing a full slate of projects that would make up “Chapter One” of this new franchise. Among those titles were films and shows that we’ve already gotten, like last year’s blockbuster Superman movie, plus Creature Commandos and even the second season of Peacemaker. This year will see even more of that initial announcement come to fruition, with the arrival of Lanterns and Supergirl later this summer. Though some of the projects, like The Authority, appear to have been put on the back burner, the DCU is cooking.

One of the most distinct things about the DCU under Gunn and Safran, though, is how willing the pair are to pivot to a new idea even if it wasn’t part of their original plan. Later this year we’ll see the Clayface movie debut, a film that wasn’t on anyone’s radar at DC but which built enthusiasm thanks to writer Mike Flanagan’s pitch and take on the material. Another project that has quitely been brewing at DC that hasn’t had a formal announcement is a rumored Deathstroke & Bane movie. Now, the project appears to be picking up steam, with a report today revealing that director Greg Mottola is the frontrunner to potentially take on the film.

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According to a report from Deadline, Mottola, best known to film fans for his work on the big screen with Adventureland and Superbad, is a “frontrunner” to direct the film, but there are caveats. The first is that Mottola is just one of several names potentially up for the task, and the second is that development on the project is still in the early days, as no script has been completed just yet. It was previously revealed that Matthew Orton (Moon Knight, Cleaner) had been tapped to write the film. Though Mottola’s comedy work may make this seem like a surprising decision, Mottola previously helmed episodes of Peacemaker, making him already a part of the DCU family.

Though the project has earned the name of the “Deathstroke & Bane” movie in the press, DC has never fully committed to it being a thing, nor have they confirmed that the potential project will even focus on the two Batman villains. In a previous interview, Gunn confirmed that Orton was working on a script for the studio and noted it was “something kind of like” a Deathstroke/Bane story. Gunn has always maintained, though, that no project will be greenlit at DC Studios without a great script already completed, so the potential for this project not to go forward is very real.

It remains to be seen what the story of this upcoming film will be, as Deathstroke and Bane don’t exactly have much history of teaming up together in the pages of DC Comics. Given how both characters have a distinct rivalry with Batman as well, it may be difficult to pull off a film that has both of these characters involved, but somehow doesn’t feature Batman. The future of the Dark Knight Detective in the DCU is a tricky subject, though he has appeared in canon via Creature Commandos, the character will seemingly not make his first big screen appearance until the planned The Brave and the Bold movie. If this film starring two of his deadliest movies beats that project to the punch, though, it could either make fans annoyed that Batman hasn’t appeared or build anticipation for his eventual arrival.

It’s worth noting that Bane and Deathstroke have already appeared on the big screen before, with differing levels of fidelity to their comic book counterparts and screentime. Bane appeared in Batman & Robin, where he was notably a terrible adaptation of the character’s persona and story from the comics. The version played by Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises pushed it closer to the right direction, even going on to perform his most famous act, breaking Batman’s back. Deathstroke, on the other hand, was previously limited to a post-credit scene with Joe Manganiello playing the one-eyed mercenary in the post-credit scene of Justice League‘s theatrical cut (he got a slightly bigger role in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, though).