For years no Marvel Studios has been telling fans that “it’s all connected” in regards to their cinematic universe, which also includes their television properties. But DC has taken a different approach, as they’ve opted to keep their TV and film universes separate from one another, and this sometimes causes issues.
Slade Wilson/Deathstroke has always been one of the most popular characters on “Arrow” but he pretty much disappeared after season 2 because DC had big plans to use Deathstroke in the DCEU. Joe Manganiello was cast as Slade Wilson, and it seemed that he was set to play a big role in the next standalone Batman film, but now it’s not clear when or where we’ll be seeing Manganiello’s Deathstroke.
It’s been rumored that the new standalone Batman film is going in a different direction, and Slade Wilson’s return to “Arrow” got a lot of people talking. It appears that DC have reshuffled the deck as executive producer Marc Guggenheim recently noted that their plans for Deathstroke have changed during an interview with Collider.
“It was a function of – you know, DC control these characters. We went through a period where DC said, ‘We’ve got plans for Deathstroke that don’t include Arrow.’ That changed at the end of this year because I basically, you know, we knew we were going to Lian Yu and we had to see Slade Wilson, so I went to DC and said, ‘Listen, I know you guys have plans for him and, you know, that’s all cool, but you’ve got to give us this one because we can’t go to Lian Yu and not see Slade Wilson,’ and as part of those conversations we also were like ‘and he’ll also need to be in the season premiere of season 6 because that ties into, you know, our plans, and it would be really great if we could tell a, you know, a Slade Wilson-centric story. We’ve never truly done that.’ So we’re doing a cool two-parter, episodes 5 and six this year and the flashbacks will be from Slade’s perspective and it’s very much a Slade/Oliver two hander. It’s always great having Manu on the show, and, again, it’s like, we just have to operate, you know, within the requirements of DC.”
Judging from his comments it looks like plans for Deathstroke could have been placed on the back burner for now.
Joe Maganiello was asked about Deathstroke’s big screen future in a recent interview and he was tight lipped. When asked if he’ll be appearing in the next Batman film, he noted that that’s a question that should be directed at Warner Bros. and DC.
We’ll just have to wait and see what happens with the DCEU version of Deathstroke, but for now Slade Wilson is back on “Arrow” and the fans are happy.
“Arrow” will return on Thursday, October 12.
After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) was missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the North China Sea. He returned home to Star City, bent on righting the wrongs done by his family and fighting injustice.
As the Green Arrow, he protects his city with the help of former soldier John Diggle (David Ramsey), computer-science expert Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), his vigilante-trained sister Thea Queen (Willa Holland), Deputy Mayor Quentin Lance (Paul Blackthorne), brilliant inventor Curtis Holt (Echo Kellum), and his new recruits, street-savvy Rene Ramirez (Rick Gonzalez) and meta-human Dinah Drake (Juliana Harkavy).
Oliver has finally solidified and strengthened his crime-fighting team only to have it threatened when unexpected enemies from his past return to Star City, forcing Oliver to rethink his relationship with each member of his “family”.
