It isn’t that long ago since Joe Manganiello completely closed down any belief he would be playing Deathstroke again in the DCEU, but now he has reopened that box of hope just a little by updating his Instagram account with a new photo of himself as Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke. The randomly colored image was used by the actor as his main image, leading him to comment, “New profile pic…”

As you would expect, the image led to many hashtags about the Snyderverse, Justice League, and even a solo Deathstroke movie being posted in the comments and on other social media sites where the image was shared by fans. Of course, without any context at all from the actor, it was always going to lead to more speculation about where the DCEU arm of Warner Bros. DC output may be heading in the future.

Manganiello first appeared as Deathstroke in Justice League, in which he was seen joining forces with Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor. Once Zack Snyder’s version of the movie was released, fans were instead shown an alternative vision of Deathstroke as he appeared in the epilogue to team up with members of the Justice League, Mera and Joker to take on a dark version of Superman. When the original Justice League was in production, Deathstroke had a detailed future ahead of him before Snyder left the project, including a role in Ben Affleck’s Batman movie and his own spin-off feature. Of course, plans changes, Affleck’s Batman movie became Robert Pattinson’s The Batman and the Snyderverse fell apart.

Manganiello Suggested That He Would Not Be Returning as Deathstroke, But Still Seemed Keen On The Character

Back in December, Joe Manganiello was asked whether he would be playing Deathstroke again in another DCEU movie, and the actor simply said, “No, I let that go a while ago.” However, his new profile picture suggests that he may not have been expecting to play the role again, but the character is one that he still clearly has an affiliation with.

A few months before that, the actor went into detail about what a Deathstroke movie was going to look like. He said, "It was more of a Tom Clancy ripped from the headlines sort of story, or even like a Bourne Identity where it was going to be really grounded, and political with military drama as far as what it would take to go from devoting his life to his country for this life he believed in to, you know, having the rug pulled out from underneath him and being stabbed in the back and not knowing who to trust."

There is currently more uncertainty about the direction of the DCEU than ever, thanks to the arrival of The Batman, which seems to be set to take the Caped Crusader down a completely separate path to that of the DCEU, the upcoming The Flash and its inclusion of both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton in the Batman role, and Keaton’s inclusion in the Batgirl movie heading to HBO Max. Whether there is still a glimmer of hope for Manganiello to reprise his role in the DCEU, or whether his new profile image is nothing more than that, we can only wait to find out.