Joe Manganiello talks "canceled" Deathstroke appearances in Justice League 2, Batman, and Suicide Squad 2

News
By , published

Exclusive: Joe Manganiello tells SFX about his unseen journey as Deathstroke

Deathstroke
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

In a surprising move, Zack Snyder's Justice League brought back Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke for a Knightmarish epilogue. The character sported a white mohawk and was, in a strange twist, working with Batman rather than against him.

Although Manganiello has been attached to the Deathstroke role for years, his version of the character has only appeared in Justice League. There were, the actor explains in the new issue of SFX magazine, meant to be many, many more, but they have nearly all fallen out of view.

"It went from my Batman movie being canceled to negotiations with Gareth Evans for a 'Deathstroke Origins' film being canceled," he says. "I worked for six months with an Oscar-nominated writer on the pitch and the outline for that project. That was six months of my life I spent on this thing that got canceled. 

"Then they altered my [Justice League] scene with Lex Luthor in post. They did ADR with Jesse Eisenberg to tease a Justice League 2 that was going to be the Injustice League: that got canceled. There was a version of Suicide Squad 2 that got canceled. There was talk of a Deathstroke/Deadshot movie. That was dead in the water. Then there was mention of Deathstroke showing up in other films that didn’t happen. At some point, you just have to let it go!"

You can check out the full interview with Joe Manganiello in the current issue of SFX Magazine, which features Godzilla vs Kong on the cover. Zack Snyder's Justice League is streaming now on Now TV and HBO Max in the US. For more from SFX, make sure to sign up to the newsletter, sending all the latest exclusives straight to your inbox.

TOPICS
Bryan Cairns
Freelance Writer

Bryan is a freelance writer who contributes regularly to SFX, along with ET Canada, Sci-Fi Magazine, SYFY Wire, Scream Magazine, CBR, and more. He's a sci-fi expert in the movie and TV space, and also has a great knowledge of comics.