What Deathstroke Means For The New Batman Film
We’ve seen the same villains over and over in Batman movies. Deathstroke’s addition to the roster of the newest film gives us a breath of fresh air.
Ben Affleck dropped a bomb on us all earlier this week when he casually revealed Deathstroke’s addition in the upcoming Batman film. Then a report came out and stated Deathstroke would be the main villain in the movie. If true, we’re about to enter unprecedented territory for the Batman film universe.
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In the previous main seven Batman films—from Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Rises—Batman’s main antagonists have mostly been his most popular and famous villains.
The Joker has been in two of those seven movies, as has Bane and Two Face. Penguin, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Scarecrow, Ra’s Al Ghul, and Talia Al Ghul have all been featured as villains too. All these characters are either some of the most famous of Batman’s rogues gallery of villains or are pivotal to Batman’s origin story. This time around, however, we’re getting a completely new villain to see on the big screen.
Welcome A New Villain
Deathstroke has never been mentioned, let alone featured, in a major Batman movie. So what we see in the new Batman film will be a completely new offering. Ben Affleck is not only starring in the new Batman film, but he’s also helping to write it. And it looks like he’s taking this film in a completely different direction than previous Batman movies.
We’ve already heard rumors that the new Batman film will take place largely in Arkham Asylum, the temporary home for many of Batman’s most insane villains. As crucial as Arkham is to Batman’s lore, it’s rarely been seen on the silver screen. So we get to see Batman and Deathstroke go head-to-head in Arkham Asylum. How original is that?
Deathstroke is a unique Batman villain. Instead of a criminally insane clown, Venom-infused brawler, or psychologically disturbed criminal, Deathstroke is a mercenary and assassin. He is a former soldier who has a distaste for authority and is a formidable opponent to Batman, both physically and mentally.
But how does Deathstroke end up in Arkham if he’s not mentally unstable like most of Batman’s other villains?
How Deathstroke Fits In
I think Deathstroke is sent to Arkham to “clean things up” after a riot or breakout, and Batman is there to do the same. Or maybe Batman goes there to stop Deathstroke from killing someone. It’s also possible Batman gets lured there by Deathstroke as a trap, and he attempts to kill Batman there. Regardless, this plot should be unlike anything we’ve seen in a Batman film, considering the villain and the location.
What Deathstroke’s addition to the roster means for the new Batman film is that we’re getting completely new content. We’ve already seen that with Suicide Squad and their cast of mostly unknown DC villains. Deathstroke has made his appearances in TV shows and video games, but never in a major Batman story arc in a movie.
So far, the DCEU has been less than stellar. But all the early information that’s coming out for this Batman movie has been very promising. To be fair, so were the details we got early on in Suicide Squad‘s production. This movie, however, should benefit from learning from the mistakes of the previous three DCEU films. And the general consensus is that Affleck’s direction will be just what this movie needs.
The addition of Deathstroke ensures we’ll be seeing a fresh take on a Batman story line. Now we just have to hope it’s better than what we’ve seen so far from Warner Bros. / DC.