Joe Manganiello says the cancellation of Ben Affleck’s standalone Batman film hit him harder than most fans realised, because the Deathstroke role was tied up with his recovery from a serious illness. IGN reports that he was battling an autoimmune disease when he was cast, and that his weight fell from 235 to 176 pounds. He had appeared only briefly as Deathstroke in Justice League, but was due to play the lead villain in Affleck’s film.
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight while promoting his memoir Bloodlines, Manganiello said “I lost my mind when that happened”, as The Blast reports. He explained that he had taken the offer as a sign things would turn out fine, which gave him a reason to regain the weight and get in better shape. When the film vanished, he lost that goal, and he said the scars he saw in the mirror made it real that the illness had happened to him. He now reads it differently: the role kept him fighting, and he says it left him in the best shape possible for the surgery to reconnect his digestive system.
That reframing hasn’t cooled his enthusiasm for the character. Asked whether he’d play Deathstroke again, Manganiello said the helmet from his first turn in the suit sits in his office and he looks at it daily, calling it the greatest achievement of his life. He closed with “You want a warrior? You know who to call.” The earlier chapter of this story, covering how the offer arrived mid-recovery, is in our report on his memoir excerpt.
Affleck has given his own account of why the project fell apart. On the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he said Justice League was a deeply negative experience, partly because of where he was personally and the tragedy during production. He also said he saw first-hand how a film goes wrong when the studio and the filmmaker are at odds, and that this doomed his Batman plans. Warner Bros. moved on with Robert Pattinson and director Matt Reeves, whose The Batman Part 2 IGN says is planned for early 2028. IGN also reports that filming recently halted while Reeves stepped away for personal reasons.
Who was Manganiello due to play in Ben Affleck’s Batman film?
Slade Wilson, better known as Deathstroke, the lead antagonist of the planned standalone film. Manganiello appeared briefly in the role in Justice League but never got to make the Batman film.
Why did Ben Affleck’s Batman film fall apart?
Affleck was originally due to write, direct and star before stepping down as director, and the film was eventually cancelled. He says the troubled Justice League experience, including a studio at odds with its filmmaker, doomed it.
Is Manganiello returning as Deathstroke?
There’s no announced return. He says he’d be up for it, but that’s the extent of what he’s confirmed.
