Concept art for Ben Affleck’s version of The Batman shows an updated design for Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke.
Before Robert Pattinson put on the cape and cowl for Matt Reeves’ The Batman, Ben Affleck was set to reprise his DC Extended Universe role for a solo film. Affleck was originally supposed to write and direct the project but opted to retire from the role instead, making The Flash his expected final appearance as The Dark Knight. The project then eventually landed in Reeves’ lap, who decided to make a gritter version of The Caped Crusader.
While the current iteration of The Batman has proved to be a critical and commercial juggernaut, we’d be lying if we said we weren’t just a little bit interested in what Ben Affleck had cooking up. Details are slim from the scrapped project but it was expected that Joe Manganiello would suit up as Deathstroke after his brief appearance in Justice League to take on The World’s Greatest Detective. Unfortunately, we never saw that.
Artist Keith Christensen, who worked on Ben Affleck’s take on the film, took to Instagram to share concept art of Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke. The art shows an updated and sleeker suit, which would have likely influenced Manganiello’s actual suit. While it seems unlikely that Affleck’s version of The Batman will see the light of day, the art serves as a fantastic reminder of what could have been!
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Ben Affleck’s Batman and Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke were last seen in. Zack Snyder’s JusticeLeague. Here is the synopsis for the film:
“In ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE, determined to ensure Superman’s (Henry Cavill) ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) aligns forces with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. The task proves more difficult than Bruce imagined, as each of the recruits must face the demons of their own pasts to transcend that which has held them back, allowing them to come together, finally forming an unprecedented league of heroes. Now united, Batman (Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) may be too late to save the planet from Steppenwolf, DeSaad and Darkseid and their dreadful intentions.”
Both versions of Justice League are available to stream on HBO Max. Stay tuned for the latest news regarding the future of the DCEU, and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!
Source: Instagram
