Now that he's been officially confirmed as playing the villain known as Deathstroke in Ben Affleck's stand-alone Batman film, currently known as The Batman, actor Joe Manganiello is free to talk about the movie. And it seems he's rather excited about it.
Appearing on Mark Madden's Pittsburgh sports podcast, Manganiello was asked about the film. "When I met Ben we sat down and we talked about, you know, the role. We talked about the movie. His take is a fresh take but I think the audience is going to be surprised," he says. "Because it’s a road that no one’s really gone down that’s completely integral to who Batman is. And I think it’s gonna 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. I told him in the room man, when I met him, "I should be so lucky, I’d be in great hands to work with you, I love your movies, let’s do this." Which is nice. You can hear the whole interview at Madden's site.
In related Bat-news, Ezra Miller, out doing the publicity rounds for Fantastic Beasts talked up the buddy comedy relationship that will develop between Affleck's Bruce Wayne and his Barry "The Flash" Allen in Justice League. "I think it's the relationship between someone who is naive and excited and someone who is experienced and jaded," Miller told IGN. "And it's that seeing each other as reflections of one another and being amused, and maybe sometimes annoyed, by one another.
"I think Bruce and Barry get a kick out of each other because they're seeing themselves but reflected in this very warped mirror, you know? Bruce, the aged Batman, is everything that being a superhero means you could become, in terms of being, like, pretty shut down and having seen all this horror. He's like a veteran of this struggle against evil. And Barry is just getting into it, and it seems exciting! And very fun! And so, I think they have a lot to learn from each other, like in any great friendship. I think it's a fascinating relationship." Batman having a bit of a laugh? Surely not! We'll see when Justice League arrives on 17 November next year.