Joe Manganiello Deathstroke Status Update Isn’t Looking Too Great

One of the highlights of the Justice League was when Deathstroke arrived on Lex Luther’s boat. Even better, in Snyder cut, we got to see a bit more of him. Deathstroke was part of Batman’s surviving team in the Knightmare future. For a while, there were big plans for Deathstroke actor Joe Manganiello in the – what we now call – Synder-verse. First, he would be the villain of the Ben Affleck-directed Batman movie. Then he was going to get his own movie. But, several years later, there’s still no sign of Deathstroke or the fantastic goatee Joe Manganiello grew out. So, will we ever see him suit up again?

Joe Manganiello Comments On the Future of Deathstroke – It’s Not Good

Image via Warner Bros.

In a recent interview with Coming Soon, the actor talked about his career and upcoming project, The Spine of Night, a rotoscope animated film with an impressive cast and a lot of violence. Most of the interview focused on what Manganiello did throughout his career, and how he loves pro wrestling. However, the friendly, upbeat interview ends on a bit of a sour note. Coming Soon’s editor-in-chief TylerTreese asked:

You got to reprise the role of Deathstroke for the Snyder Cut of Justice League. Are you still optimistic that you’ll get to portray him more in-depth down the line?

And here, Joe Manganiello put the future of Deathstroke to, well, death.

No, I let that go a while ago.

And there it is. End of interview. Not even a wrap-up. Much like how Warner Bros canceled the New Gods movie, Deathstroke is another Snyder element the studio decides to skip. Though Deathstroke appeared in the theatrical Justice League, Warner Bros is trying hard to make people forget the movie ever happened.

So, Joe Manganiello won’t reprise his role as Deathstroke…until the same fans who made Restore the Snyder Cut a reality decide to make it their top priority. But, hey, it worked once, right?

Roman Colombo finished his MFA in 2010 and now teaches writing and graphic novel literature at various Philadelphia colleges. His first novel, Trading Saints for Sinners, was published in 2014. He's currently working on his next novel and hoping to find an agent soon.