Fans have a new look at what they could have seen in Ben Affleck‘s version of The Batman. Concept artist Keith Christensen shared on Instagram concept art of Deathstroke (played by Joe Manganiello), showing how the villain would have appeared in the film.
In the post, Christensen wrote “My design for Deathstroke from the Ben Affleck version of #thebatman.” Affleck, who was going to direct, co-write, and star in the film, announced in September 2016 that Manganiello would appear as Deathstroke/Slade Wilson in his solo Batman film. “He’s a great villain because – I just had an instinctive feeling that he would match up with him well,” Affleck told Collider in October 2016. “You know, I’m a big admirer of that character, as well, especially in the New 52 the way they did Deathstroke, and I thought that it could work.” “It was a really dark story in which Deathstroke was like a shark or a horror movie villain that was dismantling Bruce’s life from the inside out,” Manganiello said about the film in 2020. “It was this systematic thing: He killed everyone close to Bruce and destroyed his life to try and make him suffer because he felt that Bruce was responsible for something that happened to him.”
Manganiello would later appear in post-credit scene of the 2017 theatrical cut of Justice League. In the scene, he meets Lex Luthor (played by Jesse Eisenberg) to discuss the villains forming a team of their own. In the 2021 extended cut Zack Snyder’s Justice League, an alternate version of the scene appears with Luthor telling Deathstroke that Batman’s secret identity is Bruce Wayne. The character also appears in Bruce Wayne’s dreams, in which Batman forms a team to stop an evil Superman. The team includes: Deathstroke, The Flash (Ezra Miller), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), Mera (Amber Heard), and the Joker (Jared Leto).
You can check out what Deathroke could’ve looked like below:
Affleck announced that he would not be directing The Batman in January 2017, although he was still attached to star in the film. Matt Reeves was later hired to direct the next Batman film in February 2017. In January 2019, it was announced that Affleck would no longer play Batman in the film and that it would focus on a younger version of the character. Robert Pattinson was later cast as Batman in the film in May 2019. However, Affleck will return to play the Dark Knight in next’s year’s The Flash (directed by Andy Muschietti), which will also bring back Michael Keaton as his version from the Tim Burton Batman films.
Reeves’ version of The Batman starring Pattinson as the Dark Knight is currently playing in theaters.
via Collider