Back in 2024, the trades reported that a "Bane and Deathstroke" project was in development at DC Studios. Details were sparse at the time, but Captain America: Brave New World writer Matthew Orton was said to be working on the script.
We assumed the movie must have been put on the back burner, but earlier this year, we learned that Superbad director Greg Mottola was being eyed to helm (the filmmaker has also directed a couple of episodes of Peacemaker season 2), with Ilya Naishuller (Nobody, Harcore Henry) also in the mix.
Reacher star Alan Ritchson is a popular fan pick to play Batman, and previously confirmed that he did meet with DC Studios - but not about potentially playing the Dark Knight. Last night, a rumor that Ritchson was in line to play Bane and Josh Brolin was in talks to play Slade Wilson circulated, and while it seems Fortress of DC may have been on to something, they appear to have mixed Ritchson's character up.
According to Jeff Sneider on last night's episode of The Hot Mic, Ritchson was actually speaking to DC about playing Deathstroke, but talks never progressed. Sneider added that there's a chance it could have been Bane, but we really don't see Gunn and Safran casting another non-Latino actor to play that character.
Former Nexus Point News scooper Apocalyptic Horseman has also weighed in. He believes that the role was Ritchson's if he wanted it, but the actor decided to step away because the project has not been officially greenlit and has no director attached (Sneider has also heard that Mottola will not be helming the movie).
Both villains have previously appeared on the big screen, with Tom Hardy playing Bane in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, and Joe Manganiello making a (very) brief appearance as ruthless mercenary Deathstroke in the post-credits scene of Joss Whedon's theatrically released Justice League movie.
Whether these bad guys will be teaming up to take on an even bigger threat or facing off against each other remains to be seen, but we're sure they will clash beforehand, even if they do ultimately put their differences aside. There were rumors that the project might actually be a Secret Six movie, but we won't know for sure until more details are disclosed.
We assume the plan is for one or both characters to come up against the DCU's new take on Batman at some point, possibly even in the planned The Brave and The Bold movie.