Manganiello, who played Deathstroke, gave some insight into Affleck’s version of the story. In an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, he stated that Deathstroke, whose real name is Slade Wilson, would have destroyed Bruce Wayne’s life as both a leading citizen in Gotham City and his private life as Batman.
Manganiello described the story as “really dark” and that Deathstroke was like a “shark or a horror movie villain that was dismantling Bruce’s life from the inside out.” He added that Affleck’s film would have taken inspiration from director David Fincher, whom Affleck worked with on Gone Girl, drawing from his 1997 cult film The Game.
Warner Bros. announced in 2016 that Affleck would write, direct, and star in a new standalone Batman movie. However, Affleck dropped out of the project, citing that he was “never happy” with his script for the action film. He told IGN in an interview that he was trying to figure out how to crack the script, but he was never happy enough with it to make it.
