Joe Manganiello Reveals Ben Affleck's Scrapped Batman Plot

Joe Manganiello says Ben Affleck's scrapped Batman film would have opened with Deathstroke dismantling Batman's world piece by piece. The revelations appear in Manganiello's memoir "Bloodlines," published Tuesday.

Affleck was attached as writer, director, producer and star. Manganiello, who played the DC supervillain Deathstroke briefly in 2017's "Justice League," wrote that Affleck planned the film as "a superhero version of David Fincher's 'The Game'" (via EW).

What would Deathstroke have done?

Manganiello laid out the revenge plot in detail. Deathstroke, believing the Caped Crusader killed his son, would systematically destroy Bruce Wayne's life. The plan included:

• Murdering Commissioner Gordon
• Holding Alfred Pennyworth hostage
• Breaking into the Batcave
• A fight in which "Deathstroke would nearly kill both Batman and Batgirl before they would both escape via an aboveground train"
• A finale described as a "climactic one-on-one showdown through the streets of Gotham"

In short, the film would have targeted Batman through his closest allies rather than through Gotham itself.

How did Manganiello react?

"It sounded good to me," Manganiello wrote in "Bloodlines." "I told Ben how great I thought his films were, especially 'The Town,' and how I was really looking forward to seeing his Best Picture version of a Batman movie."

Manganiello, also known for "Magic Mike," admitted Affleck's four roles on the project sounded like "a lot" for one person. The "Argo" director's response: "Yeah, I know…But don't worry, you're in good hands. You're in good hands, man."

The reassurance never translated into a finished film. The project never reached theaters.

Why did the film die?

Affleck has recently spoken about the period surrounding "Justice League" reshoots. On the "Happy Sad Confused" podcast, he called the reshoots "the low point of my career."

"The experience of 'Justice League' was so negative for lots of different reasons, some of which have to do with where I was at personally and some of which had to do with the tragedy that happened at that time," Affleck said. "I saw how not to make a movie like that, which is where the studio is at odds with the filmmaker. You are really making a mistake."

Affleck also addressed Zack Snyder's departure and the eventual release of the Snyder Cut. "I was really glad and gratified that Zack got to release [his version via the Snyder Cut]. That was fucking great. I was really happy for him. That was shitty, him being taken off that movie and the reshoots that we did. If you want the low point of my career, it was that."

What does "Bloodlines" add to the record?

The memoir, out Tuesday, offers the fullest account yet of a film that exists only in script form and in the memories of its intended cast. Manganiello's seven-years-later detail — from the Alfred hostage plot to the aboveground train escape — confirms the project's ambitions as a dark, Fincher-style thriller rather than a conventional superhero entry. Whether any of that material surfaces in future DC projects remains unaddressed in the source; for now, "Bloodlines" is the only record of the Batman film Affleck almost made.