Arguably no superhero has a richer cinematic history than The Caped Crusader. Batman has been handled a number of different ways by a number of different filmmakers over the years, and each director has brought a distinct sensibility to the character. With such a well-worn history at the movies, the duty now falls on Ben Affleck to truly set his take on Batman apart from previous silver screen outings in his upcoming solo film. According to Deathstroke actor Joe Manganiello, that's something we can definitely expect and get excited about. The actor explained:
His take is a fresh take, but I think the audience is going to be surprised. Because it's a road that no one's really gone down that's completely integral to, you know, who Batman is. And I think it's going to be refreshing, but at the same time completely familiar. But it's going to take this franchise in a direction that I think A LOT of people are going to be really happy about. It's going to be gritty and action packed and cerebral and all of those elements that people love about Batman. Ben's a great director, man. I mean, the last movie that man directed won best picture. He's got an Oscar for writing. Like, this is all the components to go down as a... everything is lined up for a really really really great movie. Not only a superhero movie but just a great great movie.
During a recent appearance on the Mark Madden, Super Genius podcast, Joe Manganiello addressed his involvement as Deathstroke in the upcoming solo Batman movie and expressed his excitement for the project. Although he wouldn't (or couldn't) go into specific detail regarding what makes this new take on The Caped Crusader so different from previous incarnations, he remained steadfast in his belief that Ben Affleck's Batman movie would ultimately look and feel unlike anything audiences have seen before. By his own estimation, Ben Affleck's take on the character is something entirely new and "cerebral," but it remains true to the core of Batman as a character overall.
This isn't necessarily surprising, as the framework is already in place for Ben Affleck's solo movie to do something genuinely new with the source material. The promise of Slade Wilson (a character who has never appeared in a film before) serving as the main antagonist of a "villain heavy" storyline is unlike anything we have seen from a Batman movie in the past. Beyond that, this will be the first Batman movie to take place in a cohesive cinematic universe, which means that Ben Affleck has far more DC material to draw from than any filmmaker that preceded him.
Of course, Joe Manganiello's vote of approval also goes a long way towards instilling confidence in the project. Rumors have swirled over the course of the last few days that Ben Affleck's script isn't coming together as well as we had previously thought. However, Manganiello seems to have quite a bit of faith in Affleck's creative direction. As someone who is intimately associated with the development and production of the upcoming DCEU adventure, Manganiello positive take on the film's status should help to ease any concerns we may have about the film's potential problems.
We will bring you more information concerning the future of the Batman solo movie as new details become available to us. The Dark Knight will make his next appearance in Zack Snyder's Justice League on November 17, 2017.
