DC Studios Developing Mystery Film With 'Captain America 4' Writer Featuring Bane & Deathstroke, Are We Getting 'Suicide Squad 3'?

DC Studios Developing Mystery Film With ‘Captain America 4’ Writer Featuring Bane & Deathstroke, Are We Getting ‘Suicide Squad 3’?

With “The Penguin” giving audiences another DC Comics villain to root for on the small screen, DC Studios is looking to give fans more baddies on the big screen, too. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed in a new report that the studio is looking to make a new feature film that includes both “Teen Titans” (a feature film has been in the works for a while) villain Deathstroke and longtime Batman rogue Bane.

We don’t have much to go on other than they’ve hired “Captain America: Brave New World” screenwriter Matthew Orton to pen the script. However, a film with two high-profile DC villains paired up begs the question, are they simply developing “Suicide Squad 3” set within the new DCU?

Concept art from James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad” revealed that in one incarnation, Slade Wilson was being considered to be part of the sequel’s roster and was seemingly replaced with Bloodsport (Idris Elba). Bane has also been a longtime fan favorite in the franchise, with the fan community once campaigning for Dave Bautista to take the role of the hulking DC Comics villain, who has been part of the team in the comics and was born/raised in prison.

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Also, at one time during the Snyderverse era, a solo film about Deathstroke was in the works from writer/director Gareth Edwards (“The Raid”), but that all fizzled out. Joe Mangellio had been in the role previously showing up in a button scene at the end of “Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice” teasing the Legion of Doom for “Justice League,” that never materialized. The actor was expected to not only lead his own solo film but appear as an antagonist in the Ben Affleck solo “Batman” movie that ended up pivoting to Matt Reeves’ “The Batman.”

Gunn once teased his interest in reviving another DC character with feature film aspirations at Warner Bros., that being Lobo. This foul-mouthed bounty hunter character (comparable to Marvel’s Deadpool and Wolverine) has been inferred before that he could be played by former “Aquaman” actor Jason Momoa. Placing Lobo into the fray of a third “Suicide Squad” film could be just as satisfying as a solo romp, honestly.

Another possibility is that this film could be a “Secret Six” film, given that Bane and Deathstroke were on that DC team together. But it seems odd that they just wouldn’t want to use the existing “Suicide Squad” branding for a villain team-up project for the reasons mentioned above.

“The Suicide Squad” elements are still going strong from Gunn/DC Studios with “Peacemaker” (A “The Suicide Squad” spinoff) season two on the horizon, “Creature Commandos,” and Viola Davis is expected to lead the “Waller” show, too. It should be noted that “The Suicide Squad” characters Weasel and Waller feature in “Creature Commandos,” a live-action Rick Flagg Sr. is appearing in “Peacemaker,” and the upcoming “Waller” series could easily plant seeds for the next “Suicide Squad” installment.

We’ll have to wait for further details and confirmation from the studio before getting our hopes up.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

‘The Suicide Squad’ Production Artwork Confirms Deathstroke Was Supposed To Appear: Did Bloodsport Replace Him?

The Suicide Squad is getting some positive reactions from fans, critics, and casual moviegoers alike. But despite all the praise the film from James Gunn, it looks like a popular DC Comics character was nixed from the sequel.

Fans have spotted that Slade Wilson, aka, Deathstroke was supposed to lead Team Two in the film via concept artwork (See below) in the production offices. However, we know that Bloodsport, played by Idris Elba, was the character that ultimately chosen. It’ll be interesting to find out why they wanted Deathstroke in the film in the first place and why they pivoted.

I’m sure we’ll see get some insight from James Gunn in the near future.

If you’re not aware, Joe Manganiello was cast as Deathstroke for a button scene in Justice League with the idea he would appear in Ben Affleck’s Batman movie and had a solo film in development from The Raid director Gareth Evans. We don’t know if Manganiello was ultimately going to play Slade Wilson in The Suicide Squad, but it was likely.

Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.

The film stars Margot Robbie (“Birds of Prey,” “Bombshell”), Idris Elba (“Avengers: Infinity War”), John Cena (upcoming HBO Max series “Peacemaker,” “Bumblebee”), Joel Kinnaman (“Suicide Squad”), Jai Courtney (the “Divergent” franchise), Peter Capaldi (“World War Z,” BBC’s “Doctor Who” ), David Dastmalchian (upcoming “Dune,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp”), Daniela Melchior (“Parque Mayer”), Michael Rooker (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films), Alice Braga (“Elysium”), Pete Davidson (“The King of Staten Island,” TV’s “Saturday Night Live”), Joaquín Cosio (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” TV’s “Narcos: Mexico”), Juan Diego Botto (“The Europeans”), Storm Reid (“The Invisible Man,” “A Wrinkle in Time”, “Euphoria”), Nathan Fillion (“Guardians of the Galaxy,” TV’s “The Rookie”), Steve Agee (“Brightburn,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”), Sean Gunn (the “Guardians of the Galaxy” films, the “Avengers” films), Mayling Ng (“Wonder Woman”), Flula Borg (“Ralph Breaks the Internet”), Jennifer Holland (“Brightburn,” upcoming HBO Max series “Peacemaker”) and Tinashe Kajese (TV’s “Valor,” “The Inspectors”), with Sylvester Stallone (the “Rocky,” “Rambo” and “Expendables” franchises), and Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Suicide Squad”).

Ben Affleck’s Unmade ‘Batman’ Movie Would Have Featured Batgirl According To Deathstroke Actor Joe Manganiello

The unmade Batman film starring, co-written, and directed by Ben Affleck sounded sort of interesting. There had been previous talk that Arkham Asylum would have been a featured location with Joe Manganiello’s Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke being set up as the film’s big bad.

Manganiello dished a few more details to Comic Book’s podcast Phase Zero (spotted by The Playlist), where he name dropped Barbara Gordon aka Batgirl needing to get involved as Batman couldn’t handle Deathstroke on his own. Adding that Wilson would be more of a horror character citing Steven Spielberg’s shark movie Jaws.

MANGANIELLO: “There was like a big huge showdown, I think between Batgirl…Batgirl jumps in to try and help Bruce because Deathstroke is so fast. He can anticipate Bruce’s movements. That leads to this big climactic battle through the streets of Gotham in the end. It’s like a real-life psychological thriller with Deathstroke. He was like a horror movie, like a shark, kind of like Jaws.”

We’ll likely never see this ever fully realized but it’s certainly interesting tidbits of information none-the-less. Affleck is said to be appearing one more time as Batman in The Flash movie and might be his last time in the role.

Matt Reeves is busy with his own Batman trilogy starring Robert Pattinson and it was revealed by DC Films that it takes place within the cinematic universe’s version of Earth 2. This allowing the studio to populate new/rebooted versions of DC Comics heroes in that world starting with The Batman.

SOURCE: PHASE ZERO/COMIC BOOK

Ben Affleck’s ‘Batman’ Movie Would Have Been Similar To David Fincher’s ‘The Game’ According To Joe Manganiello – “Deathstroke Was Like A Shark or Horror Movie Villain”

Before Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson’s The Batman, there had been plans for Ben Affleck to co-write, star, and direct a solo Batman film. Creative differences and Affleck’s apparent frustration eventually led to him first exiting the project as director then later leaving the Bruce Wayne/Batman role altogether.

We don’t know a lot of about the unmade project but there had been confirmation from cinematographer Robert Richardson (Live By Night, Kill Bill, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, Inglourious Basterds), who had been once attached to the Affleck film, that the film would involved the infamous Arkham Asylum.

RICHARDSON: “I wanted to shoot Batman with Ben [Affleck] cause that was the next film we had. There was a script, but not a loved script. There was a lot of work he was doing to it to change it. Well, he was going into the more insanity aspects. He was entering more into the Arkham, he’s going into where everyone was bad.

Deathstroke actor Joe Manganiello had been expected to reprise the Slade Wilson part for Ben’s Batman solo project allowing him to later get a meatier role than his small cameo in Justice League. While speaking with Yahoo Entertainment, Joe compared the purposed Affleck project to David Fincher’s underrated Michael Douglas thriller The Game and gave some details about the tone they were attempting to go for.

MANGANIELLO: “There were similarities to The Game…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. It was this systemic 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…It was really cool, really dark and really hard. I was very excited for it.”

Joe confirmed his return to the Deathstroke role in Zack Snyder’s extended version of Justice League for HBO Max on social media, but remains to be seen if he’ll ever play the role again.

THE GAME (1997) – Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) is a successful banker who keeps mostly to himself. When his estranged brother Conrad (Sean Penn) returns on his birthday with an odd gift — participation in a personalized, real-life game — Nicholas reluctantly accepts. Initially harmless, the game grows increasingly personal, and Orton begins to fear for his life as he eludes agents from the mysterious game’s organizers. With no one left to trust and his money gone, Orton must find answers for himself.

The David Fincher connection isn’t shocking given that Ben Affleck had recently worked with the director on the thriller Gone Girl and Matt Reeves incarnation is essentially taking cues from Fincher’s entire movie library. I’ve spotted multiple homages or nods to Zodaic, Seven, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Panic Room, and even the aforementioned film The Game in the teaser trailer.

Matt’s movie seems to be taking a similar dark tone and might be picking up on what Affleck wanted to do.

SOURCE: YAHOO ENTERTAINMENT

Jared Leto’s Joker and Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke Returning For Zack Snyder’s ‘Justice League’ – Will Be Part of Additional Photography

The additional photography of Zack Snyder’s Justice League for HBO Max will see two Batman rogues make a return.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Jared Leto will be reprising the Joker after previously playing him Suicide Squad and having his role reportedly scaled-down from the original version from David Ayer. Other actors mentioned returning include Ben Affleck as Batman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, and Amber Heard as Mera.

The Joker and Affleck’s Batman briefly tussled in a scene in Suicide Squad but never shot scenes for Justice League.

Collider also reports that Joe Manganiello will be reprising the role of Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke as well. He was briefly shown at the end of Justice League alongside Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor as a teaser for the Legion of Doom.

The extent of their return isn’t mentioned. However, this news of the inclusion of Leto’s Joker seems to reinforce the project is indeed moving beyond the edit he showed Warner Bros. brass before Joss Whedon was brought-on.

It seems like neither Henry Cavill or Gal Gadot will be part of the new filming.

Snyder’s Justice League instead of being a single film edit will be divided into four hour long segments similar to a miniseries format as confirmed by HBO Max, who is putting up the money.

SOURCE: THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER & COLLIDER