Another unexpected development in the world of DC Comics live-action movie adaptations has just arrived. According to a new report, director Gareth Evans, best known for his work on the acclaimed action movie The Raid, is in talks to helm a Deathstroke spin-off movie for Warner Bros. At the present time, not much else has been revealed, but Joe Manganiello, who was originally supposed to play the role in The Batman, is attached to play the fan-favorite mercenary in the movie.

Last year, Ben Affleck made a lot of DC fans excited when he released some shaky test footage of Deathstroke while filming Justice League. It was later revealed that the man donning the classic black and orange armor was none other than True Blood and Magic Mike star Joe Manganiello. It was also revealed that, at the time, the character was set to be the main villain in The Batman, which Affleck was set to direct at the time. However, Affleck later decided not to direct the movie, so Matt Reeves (War for the Planet of the Apes) took over.

Once Matt Reeves was hired to do The Batman, he scrapped the script that Ben Affleck was going to use. So the future of Deathstroke in the DCEU was in doubt. As this new report outlines, Gareth Evans was brought in as a potential director for Justice League Dark. Even though he passed on that project, he decided to pitch Warner Bros. a Deathstroke spin-off movie and, apparently, they loved it. So, they decided to move ahead with that project instead and now the director is in negotiations to bring Deathstroke to the big screen. Though, it should be noted no official deal has been signed just yet.

Deathstroke is a character that has become a true favorite over the years and many fans were excited about the possibility of seeing him on the big screen in The Batman. Even though that doesn't appear to be happening now, he's getting his own movie. The character was created by the legendary Marv Wolfman and the equally impactful George Perez. He is a highly-skilled mercenary and deadly assassin. Deathstroke first appeared in as a villain in The New Teen Titans in 1980, but has since gone on to appear in many other books and has been the subject of his own solo series several times in the history of DC Comics.

Gareth Evans is also going to write the script for the Deathstroke movie, assuming the deal goes through, per The Wrap's report. Warner Bros. has a lot of DC projects in the works, so it's unclear how this fits into their schedule and how quickly the project could come together. At the moment there's no indication of a potential release date being eyed as the project is in the early stages. Still, this is a potentially exciting development as anyone who's seen Evans' movies knows, this guy can direct action arguably better than anyone working today. We'll be sure to keep you up to date as more details on the Deathstroke movie are made available.