In late 2017, audiences got a quick taste of Joe Manganiello bringing Slade Wilson, a.k.a. Deathstroke, to life in the Justice League post-credits scene. Three years later, Manganiello is finally getting to reprise the DC Comics mercenary thanks to additional filming being done on Zack Snyder’s Justice League. This saw him dying his hair blonde, just like last time, but now the actor has decided to do something even wilder with what lays atop his head.
Early last week, just a few days after it was reported that Joe Manganiello would be reprising Deathstroke for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a.k.a. the Snyder Cut, the actor shared a picture of himself boasting a new blonde haircut. Now take a look at Manganiello rocking blue hair proudly for Twitter:
Unless Zack Snyder decided to change up Slade Wilson’s physical appearance as part of the tweaks he’s been making for his version of Justice League, it’s probably safe to assume that Joe Manganiello has finished filming his scenes. Granted, the blonde hair is a short step away from the white hair that Slade frequently has in the comics, but going blue would be a bit too far. Luckily for Manganiello, it’s a lot easier to color dye hair blue working from a blonde template rather than his usual dark hair, so good on him for trying something new.
While Slade Wilson/Deathstroke has also been played in live-action by Michael Hogan in Smallville, Manu Bennett in the Arrowverse and Esai Morales in Titans, Joe Manganiello is still the only person to play the character on the big screen. Slade popped up at the end of Justice League to meet up with the recently-escaped Lex Luthor, who attempted to recruit Slade into a league he was putting together to combat Superman and his allies.
Following Justice League’s release, the plan was for Deathstroke to not only be the main villain in the Ben Affleck-led iteration of The Batman, but also receive his own standalone movie, which Gareth Evans was in talks to write and direct. However, The Batman ended up transforming into something entirely different, and it doesn’t seem like the Deathstroke movie is in development anymore, or at least isn’t a priority.
But thanks to Zack Snyder being given millions of dollars to shoot extra scenes for the Snyder Cut, Joe Manganiello is getting a second bite at the Deathstroke apple. Joe Manganiello teased on social media in May that Zack Snyder’s Justice League would include “the original post credits scene,” but it’s still unclear if the new scenes Manganiello recently shot are meant to enhance the post-credits scene, or if he’ll now appear in another portion of the movie too.
In any case, new Deathstroke material is just one of many things to look forward to in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. For example, this version of the movie will also feature Steppenwolf’s master Darkseid, who was mentioned only once in the theatrical cut, and Jared Leto’s Joker, who previously appeared in Suicide Squad and was not involved in any previous iterations of Justice League whatsoever, has been added to the mix with this new round of filming.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is expected to drop on HBO Max in early to mid-2021 as a four-part miniseries, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates. Keep track of the DC movies headed to theaters in the coming years with our detailed guide.
