I’d actually forgotten that DC Studios was developing a movie revolving around Deathstroke and Bane, but the project may be taking a leap forward. Deadline has reported that Greg Mottola is a front-runner to potentially direct the Deathstroke and Bane movie, but adds that others are in the mix as well.
It’s still early days on the project, so we’re a ways off from knowing anything concrete. When word of it first emerged, it was said that Matthew Orton, who worked on Captain America: Brave New World, had penned the script, but Deadline’s report states that it still hasn’t come in.
Mottola has already worked with DC Studios, having directed several episodes of Peacemaker‘s second season. He’s also helmed episodes of Undeclared, Arrested Development, The Newsroom, and more. On the big screen, he’s known for directing Superbad, Adventureland, Paul, and Confess, Fletch.
Bane has made the leap to live-action on several occasions. He was portrayed by Robert Swenson and Michael Reid MacKay in Batman & Robin, by Shane West in Gotham, and by Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises. As for Deathstroke, we’ve seen several incarnations of the character in live-action, including Antonio Sabàto Jr. in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Michael Hogan in Smallville, Manu Bennett in Arrow, and Esai Morales in Titans.
Joe Manganiello played the character in the post-credit scene of Justice League. He was intended to continue the role as the main villain in Ben Affleck’s standalone movie. “There were similarities to [David Fincher’s] The Game,” Manganiello previously explained, adding that the original pitch would have found Deathstroke systematically destroying Bruce Wayne’s life piece by piece. “It was a really dark story in which Deathstroke was like a shark or a horror movie villain that was dismantling Bruce’s life from the inside out. It was this systemic thing: He killed everyone close to Bruce and destroyed his life to try and make him suffer because he felt that Bruce was responsible for something that happened to him.” As we know, the project fell apart when Affleck exited. Matt Reeves took over and decided to make the project a relaunch of the character, starring Robert Pattinson.