Joe Manganiello talks Deathstroke prep & sees the character as an anti-hero

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Now that we have the director issue being settled for the BATMAN movie, maybe now we can move into talking about other aspects of the movie. On Friday we tried to imagine Lena Headey as Catwoman, and not too long ago Joe Manganiello posted a pic of some early Deathstroke concept art. Now the actor is back to discuss his character prep, and yes, he’s taking it as seriously as his ab workouts.

The actor sat down recently with Dungeons & Dragons to talk, well, Dungeons & Dragons, but towards the end he began to talk about his role as the big baddie in the superhero flick. He discusses the material he studied to get details on the character and his physical training:

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.

He went on the mention how he wanted these martial arts teachers to show him “aggressive forms of attack” someone might use, as well as varying stances, all before asking how someone would do it after “losing an eye.” But the actor has been exploring the emotion of the character, too, citing similarities between him and Bats, and coming to a realization about the dangerous assassin:

In my mind you could say Deathstroke is a villain, but there’s definitely a way to look at him that way, but there’s a way to look at him as an anti-hero or just someone who’s figuring things out in his own way or trying to work something out over the course of this two hour movie.

Manganiello certainly looks ready to pose as a physical threat to the Dark Knight, but from the sound of it he seems to really have his shit down. He’s got a great grasp on the character and his history, and is trying to get into his head in terms of physical movements. Anyone can come onto the set and swing a sword, but I’m glad the actor is trying to explore every facet of his character so he can give Batman a run for his money. At the very least they could have a “strong jaw line” competition.

We could see Manganiello’s Deathstroke as early as JUSTICE LEAGUE, which arrives November 17.