Joe Manganiello Reportedly Got Deathstroke In The DCEU Thanks To Fan Art

Deathstroke in Justice League

Warner Bros. has announced plenty of projects, but we've still got a while to go before anyone can watch them in theaters. The next DCEU film isn't until Aquaman arrives in December, and Warner hasn't answered many questions on what to expect from the other films. That includes Joe Manganiello's take on Deathstroke. Fans got a tease of Manganiello in costume at the end of Justice League, and the actor definitely nails the look of the character. Apparently, that's actually a huge part of how Manganiello got the part after executives saw fan art of him as Deathstroke.

Comic book movie fans are likely familiar with the work of BossLogic by now. BossLogic is an artist who creates fanart based on DC and Marvel movie characters, such as creating posters or fan casting actors as comic book characters. The latter gets the online artist plenty of internet attention (we've covered plenty of his work on this site), but he's also drawn the eyes of the people making the movies. The Russo Brothers have given Boss Logic a shout out based on his Captain Marvel and Avengers: Infinity War in the past, and it looks like DC executives took notice as well.

While appearing at Oz Comic-Con in Melbourne, Joe Manganiello reportedly told attendees that he got the role of Deathstroke in part due to Boss Logic's art. According to Manganiello, at the time Geoff Johns and Ben Affleck were writing the script for The Batman (that feels like forever ago), they wanted to introduce Slade Wilson at the end of Justice League. Producer Jon Berg googled Deathstroke, saw BossLogic's art of Manganiello, and the actor later got the call.

If this is true, that's actually pretty cool. Fan casting is inherently fun and it's cool to see a skilled artist portray what actors would look in costume way before the studios do so themselves. I doubt very much that Manganiello only got the role because he looked cool, and he likely had to audition, but it's neat that this is how he got his foot in the door. At any rate, it must be a surreal experience for the artist.

We don't have any idea when we will next see Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke, as he might no longer be in The Batman, but stick with CinemaBlend and we'll be sure to keep you updated with new information as soon as it is available. In the meantime, there are plenty of movies that are coming out soon, so find out what's arriving in a theater near you with our 2018 movie release guide. For everything hitting during the summer season, here are all the must-see movies coming soon.

Matt Wood

Matt has lived in New Jersey his entire life, but commutes every day to New York City. He graduated from Rowan University and loves Marvel, Nintendo, and going on long hikes and then greatly wishing he was back indoors. Matt has been covering the entertainment industry for over two years and will fight to his dying breath that Hulk and Black Widow make a good couple.