5 Actors Who Could Play Deathstroke In ‘The Batman’

Deathstroke is finally coming to the DC Extended Universe. A few hours ago, Ben Affleck, who’s currently on the set of Justice League, shook the internet by releasing test footage of the fan-favorite DC Comics villain aboard the Flying Fox, giving us our first official look at Warner Bros and DC’s new Slade Wilson. Soon afterwards, The Wrap revealed that Deathstroke is going to be the main antagonist in Ben Affleck’s Batman movie.

Affleck has been working on the script of his standalone Batman movie alongside Geoff Johns for the past year, but the movie doesn’t have an official release date yet. This means that it’s probably going to be a while until we find out who’s going to play Deathstroke, since Affleck is still pretty busy with Justice League. However, it’s the perfect time to look at some actors who could potentially bring the character to life.

5. Julian Lewis Jones

Last month, Welsh actor Julian Lewis Jones revealed that he had joined the cast of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, though he wouldn’t give away any details about his role. Since the role of Steppenwolf has yet to be cast, many fans think that he’s either playing the villain or another character such as Zeus or the ancient Atlantean King (the role that Kristofer Hivju reportedly turned down), but what if he’s Deathstroke? You never know.

4. Gerard Butler

Gerard Butler has proven that he can tackle big action projects with movies like Gamer, Olympus Has Fallen and its sequel, London Has Fallen. The actor is perhaps best known for playing Leonidas in 300, which was directed by Zack Snyder. He can definitely get in shape to look like someone who could go toe-to-toe with Affleck’s Batman, so I feel like he’d be a great pick for not just Deathstroke, but also most of the members of Batman’s rogue gallery.

3. Tom Hardy

Tom Hardy played Bane in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he can’t portray another Batman villain in the future. The actor was originally supposed to play Rick Flag in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, but he had to drop out of the project due to scheduling conflicts. He’s definitely younger than the rest of the candidates in the list, but that also means that he would be able to continue playing the role in future DC films. Plus, he could also be in a potential Suicide Squad sequel if Warner Bros. decides to make one.

2. Idris Elba

Idris Elba is one of my favorite actors working today, so I had to include him in this list. He just wrapped filming The Dark Tower and he’ll be moving on to Thor: Ragnarok next, but he’ll probably be done with Marvel after that one, unless the studio has plans for Heimdall in Avengers: Infinity War and its yet-to-be titled sequel. The actor definitely has the right age, voice and physique to play Deathstroke, so I think that it would be pretty cool to see him suit up as the Terminator.

1. Joe Manganiello

Joe Manganiello is probably one of the most obvious picks for Deathstroke, since he has been rumored for the role for almost two years now. However, the actor has denied these reports in the past… but what if he was lying?

Manganiello recently posted a photo with his wife, Sofia Vergara, which reveals that he’s currently in London, where Justice League is filming. He’s even sporting a new haircut and a cool goatee, which look very similar to Slade Wilson’s classic look in the comic books. Maybe this is all one big coincidence, but there’s one more clue: Zack Snyder was the last person that the actor followed on his personal Twitter page, which is definitely interesting.

So, could Manganiello be the man behind the mask? Who knows! Either way, I think that he’d be an amazing Deathstroke, so it would be a shame if Affleck and Warner Bros. don’t at least give him a shot. What do you guys think?

Michael Bezanidis

Michael Bezanidis

Michael is the Managing Editor of Heroic Hollywood. When he's not playing video games, he's usually writing about film and television.