Fans of Manu Bennett’s popular take on Slade Wilson (aka Deathstroke) are in for some bad news. It sounds like the iconic mercenary won’t be returning to the Arrowverse anytime soon. Arrow Executive Producer Marc Guggenheim revealed at ACE Comic Con that his series can no longer feature Deathstroke.
“For a time, [DC] was saying ‘you can’t use Deathstroke,’ and then that changed and we were able to have Slade Wilson back on the show.” Guggenheim explained in an interview with Discussing Film (the Deathstroke talk starts at about 5:15). “Now we’re back to ‘you can’t use him.’”
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Slade Wilson was a character who had a very big presence back in the first two seasons of Arrow. Although many fans called for an encore, the character didn’t return until the closing episodes of Season 5, and in a recent two-episode stint as part of the series’ sixth season. Now, it sounds like Slade won’t be available for the foreseeable future.
“These are DC’s characters, we’re just renting them,” Guggenheim said. “We use the characters that they tell us we can use, when we can use them.”
So, what could have sparked the sudden policy change on DC’s part? The executive producer has the answer: “They’re working on the feature film version,” he said, referring to Deathstroke’s surprise appearance in Justice League‘s after-credits stinger.
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Where will Deathstroke appear next, then? We don’t know, but it won’t be in the Arrowverse — that’s for sure.