'The Raid' Director Gareth Evans and Joe Manganiello teaming up for 'Deathstroke'
The latest exclusive from The Wrap reports DC supervillain Deathstroke may be getting his own movie
News out of The Wrap confirms The Raid filmmaker extraordinaire, Gareth Evans is in early talks to write and direct a solo film about DC's mercenary super soldier, which would star Magic Mike‘s Joe Manganiello. For those keeping score, Manganiello's attachment to Deathstroke is not exactly today's news, but report of a solo film far exceeds any previous excitement about his attachment to the character and soothes any wounds after Ben Affleck's The Batman took a 180.
Deathstroke's introduction to the DCEU was first revealed shortly after Affleck announced the supervillain would appear opposite the Dark Knight in his written and directed standalone The Batman. Since then, Ben stepped down as director, and The Batman's original vision penned by Affleck and Geoff Johns went out the door as soon as director Matt Reeves came onboard. Leaving Manganiello and Deathstroke's immediate future up in the air.
Enter Gareth Evans, who burst onto the scene with his HAM Indonesian martial arts-action series The Raid: Redemption and The Raid 2: Berandal. The series developed a cult-like following so great that Sony Pictures couldn't leave well enough alone and decided to remake the series with Joe Carnahan and Frank Grillo. We'll leave our opinion(s) about that remake for another piece. For now, just watch Evans' series.
Manganiello will portray Deathstroke also known by Slade Joseph Wilson or 'Terminator', an ex-Army vet who was chosen for a secret experiment that imbued him with enhanced physical powers in an attempt to create metahuman super soldiers for the U.S. military (hmmm...). Originally the archenemy of the 1980's The New Teen Titans, writers have developed Deathstroke over the years as an adversary of other heroes in the DC Universe and the character has been substantially adapted from the comics into multiple forms of media, including the Teen Titans animated series.
While we simmer in this goodness, we can look forward to Evans next collaboration with Dan Stevens in the period thriller “Apostle” - Stevens travels to a remote island and attempts to rescue his sister after she’s kidnapped by a religious cult. Sounds like another winning combo.
In Gareth Evans We Trust.
Now go follow @joemanganiello to see what he’s Tweeting about.
