First of all:Spoiler Alertfor anyone who hasn’t made it out to the theater to seeJustice Leagueyet and cares to not have the film or its post-credits scenes ruined.
Now then. At the very, very end ofJustice League, after all the song credits have been listed and the special thanks have been doled out, we got to see what the members of the Justice League might be facing in presumed subsequent installments. The final stinger involvesJesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor on his yacht, meeting with Slade Wilson (Joe Manganiello), the man who we will come to know as Deathstroke, a brilliant assassin and freelance mercenary. Luthor proposes combining forces with some other baddies to fend off the goodness onslaught that is Justice League.
It’s an interesting idea to bring Deathstroke into the universe, even though its not entirely original, as the character can also currently be seen onArrowandTeen Titans. Nevertheless, he is the perfect foil to Luthor in that his power is derived mostly from his physical ability to carry out his masterful operations and hits, rather than having enough money to survive anything short of a to-the-death brawl with any member of the Justice League. Deathstroke can and almost certainly will fight Batman, a very gifted combatant in his own right, whereas Luthor is often tasked with funding or creating monsters to kill Superman.
We knew that Deathstroke was meant to appear in some way in Justice League, thanks to some scratchy footage of the costumed killer jumping off the back of a plane, but this is not exactly the way anyone was expecting. What we do know is that DC has big plans for the character, as he is rumored to appear in bothMatt Reeves’The Batmanand his very own movie which may or may not be directed byGareth EvansofThe Raidmovies. To (presumably) tease these future projects, Manganiello took to Twitter today and posted what looks like a still from theJustice Leaguestinger, showing the eye-patched, white-haired Wilson with his orange-and-black helmet off. You can see the image below. It’s still unclear if these plans will hit any speed bumps in the wake ofJustice Leagueand its fiscal disappointments but Manganiello is still clearly game to continue on with the character. And to be honest, the two projects he’s slated to appear in are a thousand times more promising thanJustice Leagueever was. As always, we shall see.
Here’s the latest image of Manganiello as Deathstroke:
