Joe Manganiello Sparks Speculation of His Deathstroke Return In the DCEU

By Cameron Bonomolo

A new profile picture with an old hairdo has fans questioning if Joe Manganiello is hinting at a return to the DC Extended Universe. Manganiello makes a cameo in 2017's Justice League as Slade Wilson/Deathstroke, a one-eyed assassin with a vendetta against Batman (Ben Affleck), and reprises the role in director Zack Snyder's Justice League Snyder Cut. Manganiello was set to appear opposite Batfleck in Affleck's The Batman, but the solo movie was retooled as a reboot starring Robert Pattinson as the younger Dark Knight of a standalone Batverse. 

"New profile pic...," Mangianello captioned the photo of his Deathstroke mohawk shared on Instagram and Twitter.

"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.'"

The post-credits scene between Deathstroke and Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) set up Manganiello's role in The Batman, which would have teamed Batfleck and Batgirl. Manganiello also engaged in talks with The Raid director Gareth Evans about a Deathstroke solo movie, causing fans to call for a series or movie on HBO Max. 

"Unfortunately, I don't own the IP," Manganiello told ET of the DC Comics character. "But I will say that a very prolific director, Gareth Evans...we had a long talk one night on Skype. He wanted to shoot an origin film for Deathstroke with me kind of in the air of The Raid. That didn't happen."

"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." 

"Joe Manganiello is teasing something on Deathstroke related? I would love if we got to see him in Peacemaker [Season 2] or Suicide Squad," one fan tweeted after James Gunn identified Deathstroke as one of the characters he considered for use in The Suicide Squad. Wrote another, "You're Deathstroke @JoeManganiello." 

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