James Gunn Teases Possibility of Deathstroke in DCU

Deathstroke may be coming to the DC Universe. Though James Gunn and Peter Safran have yet to unveil their plans for the new franchise, the former has continued to be one of the most active filmmakers on Twitter. As such, fans have been asking the director-turned-executive various questions about the new DC Studios, including which characters could end up appearing in projects for the company. As one fan was quick to find out, one of DC’s most popular villains could be joining the new cinematic universe before too long at all.

In response to one fan asking if there are any plans for Slade “Deathstroke” Wilson to appear in the DCU, Gunn responded with a simple tweet saying, “Could be…”

Could be…

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) December 20, 2022

Will Joe Manganiello return as Deathstroke?

Though Deathstroke has appeared in multiple live-action forms, the most popular is the unrealized version played by Joe Manganiello in the closing moments of Justice League. At the time, a post-credits scene was supposed to set up the villain’s antagonistic role in Ben Affleck’s canceled solo Batman flick.

“Once [Affleck’s] Batman got canceled, I kind of wrote it off and thought, ‘This is over,’” Manganiello told Entertainment Tonight last May about his short-lived turn as Deathstroke. “I had actually shifted gears and started working on the studio on an origin film for Deathstroke that also didn’t happen. So for me, I just let it go. And then two weeks before Justice League came out theatrically [in 2017], I got a call from one of the executives who said, ‘By the way, we’ve retooled the scene and it’s back in at the end to advertise a Justice League 2.’”

“I think fans’ appetites are wetted for more, they want more. And the Deathstroke origin wouldn’t necessary have anything to do with this [SnyderVerse] path, it was its own separate story,” Manganiello added. “So it isn’t necessarily a part of that universe, it was its own separate part.” 

At one point Gunn also considered the character for inclusion in The Suicide Squad, though he didn’t ultimately make the cut. It’s unclear if Gunn hoped for Manganiello to reprise the role or if the filmmaker planned on casting someone new.