Ben Affleck's Batman Movie Would Have Featured Arkham Asylum-Inspired Deathstroke Fight and DCEU Batgirl, Joe Manganiello Reveals

Joe Manganiello has revealed new plot details about Ben Affleck's canceled Batman movie, including information about an Arkham Asylum-inspired fight with Deathstroke and the DCEU's Batgirl. The actor, who was cast as Slade Wilson before the comic book movie universe was rebooted with the DCU, talked about his time working with Affleck on the canned project in his new book, Bloodlines: A Memoir. Entertainment Weekly shared excerpts from the book, which said the Batman movie would have been packed with reveals – and even a death – for some of Bruce Wayne's closest allies.

Affleck's plan for his standalone Caped Crusader flick would have seen Batman primarily tangling with Deathstroke after the character was first teased in a Justice League end-credits sequence. He described the narrative as "a superhero version of David Fincher's The Game" focused on Deathstroke trying to "dismantle Batman's entire life." This is a plot description Manganiello has shared before, but now we know that the iconic DC villain had it out for Batman because he had been led to believe that he murdered his son. Slade's rampage would have also seen him breaking his way into Bruce's ever-secretive Batcave and even taking his butler, Alfred Pennyworth, hostage.

Another part that would have probably returned in Affleck's canceled movie is J.K. Simmons' Jim Gordon. According to Manganiello, Deathstroke would have killed the Gotham City Police commissioner at some point during the events of the film. Adding to the chaos would have been a new Batgirl, who would have joined Batman for a fight against Deathstroke that would nearly kill them both before they "escape via an aboveground train."

For the Affleck movie, Manganiello went as far as to explain the movie's final fight sequence, which he described as a "climactic one-on-one showdown through the streets of Gotham. The fight scene referenced here might be a well-known moment from the first trailer for Batman: Arkham Origins, which featured a lengthy scrap between Deathstroke and Batman in a snowy shipyard.

When the Deathstroke actor told Affleck that writing, directing, producing, and starring in a big-budget DC superhero movie sounded like a lot to handle, the Batman actor reportedly replied, "Yeah, I know…But don’t worry, you’re in good hands. You’re in good hands, man."