The CW’s TV show ‘The Arrow’ has showcased a great deal of iconic and forgettable villains. Those better ignored are Ra’s Al Ghul and Brother Blood. Whereas the unforgettable ones include Malcolm Merlyn and Damien Darhk. However, no villain, no matter how modern or savage or insane could match the popularity of Deathstroke played by Manu Bennett. His arrival in Arrow Season 2 was a true spectacle.
He not only had that unmistakable air of evil around him which the other Arrowverse villains (excluding Prometheus and Reverse Flash) had missing, and then there was Manu’s amazing accented depiction of Slade Wilson. Prometheus is rated as the greatest villain of Arrowverse, ever. However, if only Slade Wilson not gone down the anti-hero path recently, he would have been right up there with Adrian Chase/Prometheus.
Therefore, the scenario of his exit from Arrowverse led to a tremendous backlash from fans. He was eventually compelled to reappear in the Arrow Season 5 and recently in Season 6. His repeated presence made fans expect that Deathstroke would be around for a long time and might even join Arrow’s team. (That would have been quite a thing!)
But the latest buzz has brought terrible news related to Manu Bennett’s Deathstroke. If the news is true, then Deathstroke might have already made his last ever Arrowverse appearance.
Deathstroke’s last Arrowverse performance will be in Arrow Season 6. The days of hoping for Slade Wilson to become a part of Team Arrow are over. The days when we hoped to see Slade Wilson come back in the next year’s epic crossover event, are over. Slade Wilson is done and dusted. Courtesy Warner Bros., Deathstroke won’t be seen again in Arrowverse.
It is not the first time that WB tried interfering with Arrowverse. When talks started about Arrowverse casting a Suicide Squad with John Diggle and Harley Quinn, the 2016 movie Suicide Squad led those plans to be shelved. Now that Joe Manganiello is portraying Deathstroke in DCEU and most likely in the upcoming sequel to Justice League, WB has no intention to confuse the fans between the Deathstroke from Arrowverse and the DCEU version. The only way out is to wrap up Manu Bennett’s version of Deathstroke.
During ACE Comic-Con, the Arrowverse showrunner, Mark Guggenheim was questioned about the current status of Deathstroke in Arrowverse. He replied by saying:
These are DC’s characters, we’re just renting them ya know, so we use the characters that they tell us we can use when we can use them, and we work around whatever limitations that places us … For a time they were saying ‘you can’t use Deathstroke,’ and that changed and we were able to have Slade Wilson back on the show, and now we’re back to ‘you can’t use him.’ They’re working on the feature film version; it really is sort of now that you’ve got obviously Slade, spoiler alert, Deathstroke appears at the end of the Justice League movie.
In essence, Guggenheim meant that the WB had taken him out. His blunt tone is difficult to miss. Deathstroke will no longer be a part of the Arrowverse, and even the Arrowverse showrunner can’t do a thing about it.
The studio reasons that there can’t exist two Deathstrokes. However, we already have two Barry Allens aka The Flash. Grant Gustin is The Flash of The CW TV show, and Ezra Miller is the DCEU’s The Flash who debuted in Justice League and will now star in the upcoming Flashpoint film. We have seen Henry Cavill’s Superman star in three DCEU movies although Superman is also a supporting character in Arrowverse’s show Supergirl. If characters as iconic as The Flash and Man of Steel can defy this logic then why a lesser known Deathstroke being punished. It simply doesn’t add up.
Arrow Season 6 featured the best moments of Deathstroke in the Arrowverse. Slade Wilson hired Oliver Queen to find his long-lost son. The plan went wrong, and Slade put on the mas of the vigilante before embarking on a rampage. The episode culminated with his son who has become a terrorist like his father, being on the run and Deathstroke returning to the shadows after bidding farewell to Oliver Queen.
By no means, the Episode can be considered an apt send off to Slade Wilson by Manu Bennett, that’s how it has to be. Season 6 didn’t shut the door on Deathstroke. Maybe Warner Bros. will once again apply their mind and let Deathstroke star in Arrowverse.
