Of all the DCEU villains slated to debut over the course of the next few years, arguably none has us more excited than Deathstroke. The mercenary is a legend in DC lore, and Joe Manganiello is a perfect casting choice. Now it seems that he's taking his preparation for the role incredibly seriously. Manganiello recently sat down for an interview and explained that he has primarily looked to the comic books and the script itself for his take on Slade Wilson. The actor elaborated:
I'm somebody that likes to start preparing way ahead of time. I have read almost all the comic books involving him, just to get the information out of them. Some of them are useful, some of them are not going to be useful. Because ultimately the script, that's my text, I have to play that. I started katana training recently. Like live sword training and I started meeting with various martial arts teachers and discussing with them.
That's the type of answer that legitimate, die-hard fans of the DC mythos like to see. Joe Manganiello, who made this reveal in an interview with Dungeons & Dragons, isn't messing around when it comes to how he plans to portray Slade Wilson, and he's using the actual source material to inform his take on the character. This development seems like a reliable indication that the actor at the very least understands that fans want to see something faithful and accurate to the comics.
It's also good to learn that he's taking the physical training for his role as Slade Wilson incredibly seriously as well. Joe Manganiello is already a beast of a human being, but Deathstroke is a super soldier, and one of the best fighters in the entire DC universe. We need to believe that he can pose a genuine threat to Batman (Ben Affleck) after the Caped Crusader has faced off against Superman (Henry Cavill), and this extreme level of combat training (sword training in particular) has us excited.
Of course, if Joe Manganiello is looking everywhere he can for inspiration regarding his portrayal of Deathstroke in the DCEU, then I would also suggest that he take a good look at Manu Bennett's take on the character during the second season of Arrow.
We obviously don't want him to copy Bennett completely, but there's some solid DNA for the character that's entirely worthy of examining and possibly emulating.
As always, CinemaBlend will bring you more information related to the entire DCEU as more details become available to us. Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke is currently rumored to make his debut appearance in Zack Snyder's Justice League on November 17, 2017.
