In a new memoir, the actor says the unmade film's villain plan included killing Commissioner Gordon.
Joe Manganiello, who played Deathstroke briefly in Justice League in 2017, says he was set to return as the main villain in Ben Affleck's film, which was never made. In his memoir Bloodlines, Manganiello writes that Affleck, who was attached to write, direct, produce and star, planned to make it "a superhero version of David Fincher's The Game". Deathstroke would "dismantle Batman's entire life" after being led to believe the Caped Crusader had killed his son.
Deathstroke's revenge would also include killing Commissioner Jim Gordon, a role J.K. Simmons played in earlier DC films. The plan would also involve Alfred Pennyworth (Jeremy Irons) being held hostage and an intrusion into the Batcave. A mid-movie fight, according to Manganiello, would have seen "Deathstroke would nearly kill both Batman and Batgirl before they would both escape via an aboveground train." Batgirl never appeared in this iteration of the screen DC universe, though Leslie Grace played her in a solo film that was shelved as a Warner Bros. tax write-off. Manganiello does not say who would have played her in Affleck's film.
The film would have ended with a "climactic one-on-one showdown through the streets of Gotham", Manganiello writes. "It sounded good to me," he wrote. "I told Ben how great I thought his films were, especially The Town, and how I was really looking forward to seeing his Best Picture version of a Batman movie."
Manganiello says he told Affleck that taking on all those roles sounded like "a lot" for one person. He recalls the question he put to him:
"Is there another comp of this size where one person has worn all those hats?"
Affleck's reply, Manganiello says, was: "Yeah, I know…But don't worry, you're in good hands. You're in good hands, man."
Affleck himself, on a recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, called the Justice League reshoots the "low point of my career". "I saw how not to make a movie like that, which is where the studio is at odds with the filmmaker," Affleck said. "If you want the low point of my career, it was that."
Affleck debuted as Bruce Wayne in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016 and was attached to a solo Batman film. In 2019, he told Jimmy Kimmel he "couldn't crack" the project. Robert Pattinson took the role in The Batman (2022), directed by Matt Reeves, which will soon get a sequel.
Slashfilm writer Devin Meenan points to Absolute Batman #19 as a similar story. There, Batman and Jim Gordon meet on a rooftop, but the Scarecrow's Fear Toxin makes Jim jump. Bruce fails to catch him, Jim dies, and Batman is framed for the murder. Writer Scott Snyder, speaking on the ComicPop Returns podcast, said the death was meant to show how different that series is: "it's not that universe, and so it just felt like I don't have a role for Jim that makes more sense" than giving him his biggest moments and then showing how devastating his loss is.
Bloodlines is now available wherever books are sold.
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