Villains really are the new superheroes. DC Studios has tapped screenwriter Matthew Orton (“Captain America: Brave New World”) to write a feature film that will involve Batman villains Bane and Deathstroke , Variety has confirmed. The project is still in its infancy: There are no stars or director attached, and DC Studios chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran have been clear that they will not greenlight a project until they are satisfied with a complete screenplay.
The movie follows a growing trend in the superhero space of projects focusing as much on the villains as on the heroes, from the ongoing HBO series “The Penguin” and Disney+ series “Agatha All Along” to Warner Bros. upcoming sequel “Joker: Folie à Deux” and Sony’s upcoming Marvel adaptations “Venom: The Last Dance” and “Kraven the Hunter.” Bane and Deathstroke have also appeared in previous DC adaptations.
Most famously, Tom Hardy played Bane in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises,” in which the hulking, masked king of the underworld broke Batman’s back — as he did in the character’s famous comic storyline “Knightfall” — and held Gotham City hostage. Bane also featured as a secondary villain in 1997’s “Batman & Robin,” as played by professional wrestler Robert Swenson, and Shane West played the character on Fox’s Batman prequel series “Gotham.” Deathstroke — a superpowered mercenary also known as Slade Wilson — is also a recurring Batman nemesis, bu.