--- title: Joe Manganiello Playing Deathstroke in Ben Affleck Batman description: Ben Affleck's Batman will do battle with Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke in the DC Extended Universe's upcoming Dark Knight standalone movie. canonical: https://time.com/4484268/joe-manganiello-deathstroke-ben-affleck-batman/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-08T19:15:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:36:19.031Z og:title: Joe Manganiello Is Deathstroke in Ben Affleck's Batman Film og:description: From Magic Mike stripper to DC Comics assassin og:url: https://time.com/4484268/joe-manganiello-deathstroke-ben-affleck-batman/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3bbf4237088efcf/6988a53dfb4eac451f88f05a/joe-manganiello.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Premiere Of Starz Digital Media's "Tumbledown" - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Joe Manganiello Is Deathstroke in Ben Affleck's Batman Film twitter:description: From Magic Mike stripper to DC Comics assassin twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3bbf4237088efcf/6988a53dfb4eac451f88f05a/joe-manganiello.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Joe Manganiello to Play Supervillain Deathstroke in Ben Affleck's Batman Film  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 8, 2016 7:15 PM UTC  Actor Joe Manganiello attends the premiere of Starz Digital Media's 'Tumbledown' at Aero Theatre on February 1, 2016 in Santa Monica, California. Actor Joe Manganiello attends the premiere of Starz Digital Media's 'Tumbledown' at Aero Theatre on February 1, 2016 in Santa Monica, California.Vincent Sandoval/FilmMagic  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Sep 8, 2016 7:15 PM UTC After facing off against [Henry Cavill’s Superman](http://time.com/4454489/henry-cavill-superman-suit-justice-league/) in his first go-around as Batman in _Dawn of Justice_, [Ben Affleck](http://time.com/4271943/sad-ben-affleck-batman-v-superman-reviews/) will do battle with [Joe Manganiello’s](http://time.com/4123879/sofia-vergara-joe-manganiello-married/) Deathstroke in his [Dark Knight standalone movie](http://time.com/4291678/ben-affleck-batman-2/). According to the [_The Wall Street Journal_](http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2016/09/08/joe-manganiello-will-play-deathstroke-in-ben-afflecks-batman-movie/), DC Entertainment president and chief creative officer Geoff Johns confirmed Thursday that the _Magic Mike_ actor had been cast to play the comic book mercenary in the DC Extended Universe. However, he would not comment when asked if Manganiello’s villain will make an appearance in _Justice League_. Affleck recently shared footage on Twitter of Deathstroke in his full-body armored suit, but did not reveal who the actor inside the costume was. Watch Affleck’s cryptic teaser clip below, and read more at [WSJ.com](http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2016/09/08/joe-manganiello-will-play-deathstroke-in-ben-afflecks-batman-movie/). > [](https://twitter.com/BenAffleck/status/770259217940746245) Joe Manganiello Playing Deathstroke in Ben Affleck Batman ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4484268/joe-manganiello-deathstroke-ben-affleck-batman/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4484268/joe-manganiello-deathstroke-ben-affleck-batman/"},"headline":"Joe Manganiello to Play Supervillain Deathstroke in Ben Affleck's Batman Film","datePublished":"2016-09-08T19:15:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:36:19.031Z","description":"From Magic Mike stripper to DC Comics assassin","url":"https://time.com/4484268/joe-manganiello-deathstroke-ben-affleck-batman/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","Ben Affleck","Batman"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3bbf4237088efcf/6988a53dfb4eac451f88f05a/joe-manganiello.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte3bbf4237088efcf/6988a53dfb4eac451f88f05a/joe-manganiello.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Premiere Of Starz Digital Media's \"Tumbledown\" - Arrivals","caption":"Actor Joe Manganiello attends the premiere of Starz Digital Media's 'Tumbledown' at Aero Theatre on February 1, 2016 in Santa Monica, California.","creditText":"Vincent Sandoval/FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4484268/joe-manganiello-deathstroke-ben-affleck-batman/","name":"Joe Manganiello to Play Supervillain Deathstroke in Ben Affleck's Batman Film"}}]}] ```