Each and every announcement of projects or casting for the nascent DCU under James Gunn and Peter Safran has been cause for excitement. Granted nothing has even come out yet, but we couldn’t be more jazzed. The most recent bit of news, which comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter, definitely has us intrigued. Also slightly confused. We’re not even close to the announced Batman: The Brave and the Bold movie, presumably the first appearance of the Caped Crusaders in the DCU, but the studio already has a Bat-villain team-up in the works? Specifically, a movie starring both Bane and Deathstroke.
The THR piece explains the movie doesn’t have a title or a director attached. What it does have is a script from Matthew Orton, one of the writers on Captain America: Brave New World in development.
The combination of characters is what makes it especially intriguing. Deathstroke first appeared as a master assassin and main antagonist during Marv Wolfman and George Perez’s seminal The New Teen Titans run in 1980. Issue #2 in fact. The character has fought Batman and other Justice League members over the years, steadily growing in prominence. His real name is Slade Wilson, and yes, Deadpool is modeled after him. Originally, Deathstroke was going to be the villain of The Batman, back when it was going to be a mainline DCEU movie with Ben Affleck. Joe Manganiello played the character briefly in the post-credits of Justice League in 2017 to set up that ill-fated full appearance.
Bane is much more well known to the average moviegoer, thanks to appearing as the main antagonist of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. With a Tom Hardy performance that out-there, how could he not stick with you? Bane first appeared in 1993’s Batman: Vengeance of Bane #1. He later gained notoriety for breaking Bruce Wayne’s back in the Knightfall event. He too is a mercenary and assassin for hire. Difference, of course, is that while Deathstroke has skill and armor, Bane uses the venom toxin to gain superhuman size and strength. And he dresses like a Luchador because why not.
While it’s easy to assume this could be a more comedic take, a-la Deadpool & Wolverine, neither character is particularly jocular. What seems more likely to me is that it could be an espionage-style mission movie. Or even both men after the same target, like Batman. Both have been members of villainous teams like the Suicide Squad, the Secret Six, and the Society of Super Villains. In any case, this team-up in a feature film was not on my DCU bingo card.
So far the DCU’s roster contains several heavy hitters like Superman, Supergirl, and Swamp Thing. The biggest outlier on the feature side of things has been The Authority. Knowing the Gunn and Safran company are encouraging this kind of exploration from writers continues to give us hope for what’s to come.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.