Joe Manganiello has revealed new plot details about Ben Affleck's canceled Batman movie, including information about an Arkham Asylum-inspired fight with Deathstroke and the DCEU's Batgirl.
The actor, who was cast as Slade Wilson before the comic book movie universe was rebooted with the DCU, talked about his time working with Affleck on the canned project in his new book, Bloodlines: A Memoir. Entertainment Weekly shared excerpts from the book, which said the Batman movie would have been packed with reveals – and even a death – for some of Bruce Wayne's closest allies.
Affleck's plan for his standalone Caped Crusader flick would have seen Batman primarily tangling with Deathstroke after the character was first teased in a Justice League end-credits sequence. He described the narrative as "a superhero version of David Fincher's The Game" focused on Deathstroke trying to "dismantle Batman's entire life."
This is a plot description Manganiello has shared before, but now we know that the iconic DC villain had it out for Batman because he had been led to believe that he murdered his son. Affleck's Bruce Wayne has been known to take lives in the past, but how involved he would have been with the killing of Slade's son is unclear. It sounds like that wouldn't have stopped Deathstroke from tearing Gotham apart to get revenge.
Slade's rampage would have also seen him breaking his way into Bruce's ever-secretive Batcave and even taking his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, hostage. This Alfred likely would have been the one played by Jeremy Irons in movies like Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. Another part that would have probably returned in Affleck's canceled movie is J.K. Simmons' Jim Gordon. According to Manganiello, Deathstroke would have killed the Gotham City Police commissioner at some point during the events of the film.
Affleck was never able to put his Batman movie together, but these details suggest the project was planned, at least at one point, to be pretty busy for a standalone superhero outing. Adding to the chaos would have been a new Batgirl, who would have joined Batman for a fight against Deathstroke that would nearly kill them both before they "escape via an aboveground train."
Comic book movie watchers will remember that Batgirl never made an appearance in the DCEU – at least not officially. An also-canceled standalone movie focused on the character was once in development with Leslie Grace in the titular role before Warner Bros. made the infamous decision to pull the plug well into production.
Set photos and early details for that film had Michael Keaton's Bruce Wayne back in the Batsuit and Simmons back as Gordon, so it's hard to say exactly how it would have fit into the DCEU should it have been released. Whether Grace would have played the character in Affleck's Batman movie is also unclear.
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