Comic book fans would be the first to tell you that the only thing that Bane and Deathstroke have in common is that they are both villains in the DC Universe. But now, this unlikely pairing of bad guys are heading to the big screen together.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios is developing a Bane and Deathstroke movie, and a screenwriter has already been lined up. Matthew Orton, who worked on the reshoots of Captain America: Brave New World, will be writing the project.
Bane is an established Batman villain who first appeared in live action in a throwaway role in 1997’s Batman and Robin. He was better utilized in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, when Tom Hardy took over the role. Deathstroke has only appeared in a single movie before, when Joe Manganiello made a cameo appearance as Slade Wilson in Justice League. Ben Affleck’s original script for The Batman reportedly featured Manganiello’s Deathstroke as the villain, and there was even talk that the character would get his own movie as well.
A team-up between these two characters doesn’t seem very likely because they tend to have different goals. Deathstroke is a mercenary for hire and Bane is a mastermind with ambition. Barring the presence of any superheroes in this movie, the most likely way to utilize these characters is to pit them against each other. That may also mean making one of them the antihero of the film.
There’s currently no director attached to the Bane and Deathstroke movie, nor is it connected to Matt Reeves’ Batman film universe, which includes The Penguin series currently running on HBO and Max. Assuming this movie goes forward, it’s still a few years away.
