Iconic Batman villains are to set get their own DC movie

The decline of the superhero film may well be overstated, and now the spotlight is even extending out to the villains.

A movie that focuses on Bane and Deathstroke is in the early stages of development according to The Hollywood Reporter.

This gives us another clue as to what new DC Heads Peter Safran and James Gunn see as the future of this side of the superhero cinematic universe.

Focusing on a villain rather than a superhero may initially seem counterintuitive. But these days? It’s happening with seeming increasing frequency.

This week Joker: Folie a Deux is out in cinemas, and The Penguin TV series has just started streaming on HBO and NOW.

Sympathy for the devil? Bane has the benefit of having already been a major part of a Batman movie, in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Night Rises (2012). He was played by Tom Hardy, in which the actor became massive and muffled to a meme-worthy degree.

Deathstroke had a brief appearance in Zack Snyder’s The Justice League, played by Joe Manganiello, but nothing on the level of Bane's starring role.

According to the report, the script is being worked on by Matthew Orton, who wrote for Moon Night and is part of the writing team of Marvel’s Captain America: Brave New World. No director has been attached to the project yet.

Joker: Folie a Deux aside, the next big DC movie on the slate is Superman, due on June 11, 2025. It will be the first movie produced under the new DC order of Safran and Gunn. A lot rests on its success.

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