Zack Snyder wants to see Ben Affleck's Batman and Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke "go at it"

Ben Affleck as Batman in Zack Snyder's Justice League
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

Zack Snyder has said he'd like to see a fight between Ben Affleck's Batman and Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke. Both are appearing in Zack Snyder's Justice League, the alternate version of 2017's similarly titled Justice League

Speaking to I Minutemen, Snyder commented: "I love Joe, he's great. I really would love to see those two go at it, that would be fun." He added: "Who knows?" then said, "We know that Ben's gonna be in The Flash movie, which is nice to see him... It's trickling down, it's nice."

A showdown between the vigilante and the mercenary was the original plan for Affleck's mooted Batman solo movie. Manganiello recently revealed more about what the film would have featured, explaining: "It was a really dark story in which Deathstroke was like a shark or a horror movie villain that was dismantling Bruce's life from the inside out." According to the actor, Deathstroke "killed everyone close to Bruce and destroyed his life to try and make him suffer because he felt that Bruce was responsible for something that happened to him."

While there's no word on another Batfleck or Deathstroke project yet, it's encouraging to know Snyder wants to see the fight brought to life – although there also seem to be no plans for a Justice League 2, which could mean the battle might never see the light of day.

Snyder also gave an update on his IMAX remaster of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in the I Minutemen video. Answering whether the new version would release on Blu-ray and 4K, Snyder said: "I believe so, I believe so. Blu-ray, 4K. Yes, I just approved the Blu-ray box the other day. So it for sure [will] exist on Blu-ray, and then I think it'll exist on HBO Max... Look, I have to confirm that, but for sure we've been talking about the release. It's meant to, especially for the special edition, it's to replace the one that was kind of messed up a little bit... The Blu-ray I think, it was okay, but just not the [4K]." 

As for what went wrong with the 4K release, Snyder added: "I remember watching it on Apple movies or wherever it was, or somewhere, and going, 'Wait, what? That's not, that's not correct.'" He continued: "The reds were all blocked up, it was really weird."

There's no release date for the remaster yet, but Zack Snyder's Justice League arrives this March 18, 2021 on HBO Max as one four-hour-long film. Until then, check out how to watch DC movies in order for a catch-up movie marathon.

Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English. 

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