Joe Manganiello is reportedly returning as the deadly assassin Deathstroke for the HBO Max cut of Justice League. This should be treated as a rumor, though a credible one, as Collider cited an anonymous source, with TheWrap corroborating.
Hard evidence of the casting is lacking. Along with their anonymous source, Collider cited Manganiello appearing on Twitch with gray hair as the main thing pointing to this information. Manganiello has been sporting a salt-and-pepper beard for years, so it’s tough to call that genuine evidence, but it’s not impossible either.
Deathstroke’s time in Snyder’s corner of the DC cinematic universe was relatively short-lived until this point. Manganiello first appeared as the merc in the post-credits scene of the theatrical cut of Justice League. In that scene, Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) was asking him to join his team of bad mean men to fight the newly-formed Justice League.
At one point, DC and Warner Bros. had a Deathstroke movie in the wings with Gareth Evans (The Raid) set to direct, though that movie was later canceled. Screen test footage of Manganiello meant for Ben Affleck’s Batman film even leaked out via Affleck himself.
Zack Snyder’s untitled cut of Justice League will see the movie transform into a four-hour episodic mini-series on HBO Max, with a reported $70 million budget (on top of the theatrical cut’s original budget) currently attached. Ben Affleck, Ray Fisher, Amber Heard, and Jared Leto are all confirmed to be filming new footage for the movie; Henry Cavill, on the other hand, has said that he isn’t doing anything of the sort.
