The Last True Believer: One DC Star Won’t Abandon the Snyderverse After Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck Exit

DC nostalgia is doing laps again. Zack Snyder hopped on IG to basically shout that Henry Cavill is Superman, and right on cue, Joe Manganiello popped up to remind everyone that, yes, he was Deathstroke — and apparently still very into it.

Joe Manganiello stirs the pot (again)

On October 20, 2025, Manganiello re-posted an AI-generated clip of himself as Deathstroke on X. The post came stamped with the fan-favorite rallying cry: #SellWBtoNetflix. That old hashtag tends to reappear whenever people want DC characters licensed out to Netflix, so of course it lit up the timeline. The quick read: fans took it as a nudge that Manganiello would happily suit up as Slade Wilson if someone, somewhere, gave him the shot.

Why he is not Deathstroke in the new DC era

Short version: the DCEU is done, and so is Manganiello's Deathstroke — at least in James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Studios reset.

Manganiello did get on screen as Slade in Justice League, but DC's many pivots chopped those plans to pieces. He kept pushing anyway. He had a full Deathstroke origin movie script in hand, took meetings, and when the film stalled, he tried to reframe it as a graphic novel. According to Manganiello, "Jim" (as in DC's Jim Lee) read it and wanted it as a graphic novel series. The catch: nobody could guarantee that if the book got heat with directors and producers, he would actually be attached to any adaptation. So he walked.

"James Gunn was just like, 'Let it go'."

— Joe Manganiello, recalling Gunn's advice in a ComicBook interview

Translation: despite the rumors that never die, a Deathstroke comeback for Manganiello is not in the cards under the current DC regime.

So where does he channel that energy? Netflix's One Piece

Netflix's One Piece already broke the live-action anime curse by, you know, being good. Seasons 2 and 3 are on the way, starting next year. And Manganiello is set to play Crocodile — not a cameo, but one of the earliest and most formidable villains Luffy faces on the Grand Line. Crocodile is a major pivot point for the hero, which means real screen time. The people behind the show have had Manganiello in mind for the role, and he is doing the homework: he has watched the anime, read some of the manga, and even switched his Twitter banner to the very pleasant image of Crocodile stabbing Luffy. Subtle.

• One Piece at a glance: Showrunners: Matt Owens, Steven Maeda; Main cast: Inaki Godoy, Emily Rudd, Mackenyu, Jacob Romero Gibson, Taz Skylar; IMDb: 8.3/10; Where to watch: Netflix

If you want to revisit where Manganiello first popped that mask, Justice League is streaming on Max in the US.