DC’s Deathstroke & Bane Movie Gets a Major Update (But Fans Already Have Questions)

It’s fair to say that Deathstroke and Bane haven’t exactly gotten a fair shake on the big screen yet. In Bane’s case, it’s not for want of trying; in Deathstroke’s, it’s always a case of bad timing. Bane has been seen in live-action twice: in Batman and Robin, he was a mute goon for Poison Ivy, easily defeated when the hose for his venom supply was removed. In The Dark Knight Rises, Tom Hardy played up his genius aspect, while whitewashing the character and making him the butt of jokes over the combination of mannered speech and vocal distortion director Christopher Nolan and actor Tom Hardy added. The Harley Quinn animated series has had a field day utilizing a comedy version of this take.

Deathstroke, meanwhile, was meant to be played by Joe Manganiello in the Snyder-verse, in the Batman movie Ben Affleck was supposed to direct, or possibly in a future Justice League sequel. While he took the part seriously and trained in martial arts for one-eyed combat, he only ever donned the suit in post credits teases. Since James Gunn took over the DC Universe onscreen, however, we’ve been hearing about a Bane and Deathstroke movie, and now we have a title.

Savage Hunters Is the Current Movie Title

Deadline recently published an internal to-do list for the newly merged Warner Bros.-Paramount hybrid Skydance, and DC feature films listed as being in “early development” include some we knew, like Batman: Brave and the Bold and Swamp Thing, and others that have gotten less press, like Wonder Woman, live-action Teen Titans, and “Savage Hunters aka Deathstroke & Bane Movie (DC).” Early reactions online are wondering why it isn’t simply called Deathstroke & Bane, given how succesful Deadpool & Wolverine was under that simple title, with comments like “savage hunters sounds like a ps2 game you rented once” and “thats so aggressively early 2000s comic energy i love it.”

In May, Superbad‘s Greg Mottola was discussed as a strong contender to direct, but there’s a big test case standing in the way, namely Clayface. If that standalone movie, based around a Batman villain, doesn’t do well, it could kill the hopes of other Batman foe stand-alones. On the other hand, it could be like Sony’s Venom, wherein the brilliant casting choice of Tom Hardy saved a fairly pedestrian script, and led to the likes of Morbius and Madam Web failing to capture the same manic energy. Kraven essentially buried that sub-strain, but James Gunn and Peter Safran aren’t fools, and know all that just as well as we do.

The name “Savage Hunters” doesn’t seem especially significant, but it does allow for a marketing push that doesn’t depend on the casual viewer knowing who these characters are. Bane has a bit of a cultural footprint, though between Batman and Robin, Harley Quinn, and the Knightfall storyline and DTV movie, it’s one that varies wildly. Deathstroke could be perceived by non-comics fans a Deadpool rip-off, even though it’s the other way around, if anything. (Rob Liefeld still insists any connections are pure coincidence). Whatever the case, Manganiello is not likely to return, as James Gunn previously advised him to let it go.

What would you want to see from a Bane and Deathstroke movie? Do you like the tentative title? Let us know in comments!