Newly Revealed Batman Concept Art Shows A Live Action Battle Fans Always Wanted

While James Gunn and Peter Safran have gutted the Snyder-led DCEU in favor of their rebooted DCU, some fans still long for what could have been, and a recent social media post is sure to get the conversation going all over again.

Deathstroke is one of the most impressive villains in the DC Universe, having the powers of a super soldier and enough skill to go toe to toe with some of the most gifted martial fighters in the comic book franchise. While the character has been featured in several different mediums in opposition to many heroes (most notably the Teen Titans), but the character has never played a significant role in the franchise’s theatrical offerings. This isn’t due to a lack of interest on either side, as evidenced by heaps of fan requests and even Gareth Evans’ experience trying to make a Deathstroke movie under the previous administration. However, the character would get a brief cameo in 2017’s live-action Justice League film, reigniting interest in the character becoming more prominent in mainstream DC projects.

Since that brief glimpse in a post-credit scene several years ago, the character hasn’t returned to the big screen, with only brief reminders of that iteration of the character, like Joe Manganiello posting a new Deathstroke profile picture, serving as a reminder. More recently, storyboard artist Jay Oliva took to his official X account to post a movie storyboard from the canned Batman solo film that would’ve had Ben Affleck in the titular role in honor of Batman Day 2024. The board, which features a gorgeous greyscale sketch, depicts the Dark Knight in an evenly matched rooftop battle against Deathstroke, with the latter carrying one of his trademark weapons and swinging an elbow at the hero.

Oliva, who worked with Zack Snyder on several DCEU films when he was in charge and more recently on Snyder’s new critical win in Netflix’s Twilight of the Gods, has previously shown a lot of love for the now-canned project, which was cancelled in tandem with the departure of Affleck, who was supposed to be both the lead and a director on the project. “I’ve worked on a lot of Batman things and what was really cool about it was, it was tying together a lot of really cool Batman storylines that had never been really explored,” he expressed in a 2023 interview. The film would have centered Deathstroke as its primary antagonist and given fans quite the unique take on the character, closer to what Matt Reeves has done with The Batman than the more grandiose narratives of Justice League.

Deathstroke is potentially one of the best villains that DC has on its roster. In addition to being a better Deadpool than Deadpool, this mercenary has a lot of history with a lot of heroes, as well as connections to the League of Assassins, the Court of Owls, and more. When it was revealed that the solo Batman film wasn’t moving forward, many fans hoped that the project would pivot to a Deathstroke film instead. However, this was never in the works at any point, and the DC Studios brass was far more concerned with the impending direction switch the company would have to undertake. It’s worth noting that Manganiello wasn’t hopeful about Justice League Deathstroke’s return once Affleck’s solo Batman film was scrapped, and that was before the turbulent restructuring at DC Studios.

While it’s too late for Deathstroke to return to the DCEU in light of it being discontinued, there’s no reason why the character can’t make an appearance in Gunn’s rebooted DCU. With oft-overlooked characters and teams like the Creature Commandos getting their time in the sun and a Batman film already on the slate but not yet in motion, Deathstroke still has a great shot at playing a prominent role in a live-action DC film in the near future. For now, fans can only really wait and keep their ears open for more details.

The DCEU franchise is available to stream on Max.

Source: Jay Oliva/X