One of Joe Manganiello's first big movie roles was as the bully Flash Thompson in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man. That movie swung into theaters way back in 2002 and the actor has since suited up as DC's Deathstroke in both Justice League and Zack Snyder's Justice League.
Thanks to that role, there was a time when Manganiello was being lined up to star in both The Batman (Ben Affleck's version, not Matt Reeves') and his own solo project directed by The Raid's Gareth Evans. Ultimately, neither project came to fruition.
ComicBook.com recently caught up with the actor and despite his minor role as Flash in that Spider-Man trilogy, they wondered whether he'd be open to playing the Agent Venom version of the character.
"Would I love to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? I mean, sure. Of course it'd be fun in the right project," he said. "I heard Sam Raimi's doing Secret Wars, is that right? I don't know, man. I don't much about [Agent Venom], I'd imagine that'd be over at Sony. It would be very funny to come back that way."
Asked if there have ever been talks about him about suiting up as Agent Venom, Manganiello responded, "Zero. Years ago, Taika Waititi wanted me for one of the Thor movies and I couldn't do it. It was impossible for me scheduling-wise to do it at the end of the day. But that would have been my reappearance back into the Marvel Universe. But I couldn't do it."
We're guessing that was probably for the role of Skurge the Executioner, a character ultimately played by The Boys star Karl Urban.
It's unclear whether Manganiello will ever get a second chance in a comic book movie but his time as Slade Wilson is almost certainly over now DC Studios is rebooting the DCEU as the DCU.
The actor has repeatedly expressed a desire to play Deathstroke again, revealing back in 2021, "Deathstroke origin as a series on HBO Max...Absolutely. I think it'd be such a fun series and people would absolutely love it and there's not a lot like it out there right now. It would have its own tone and its own place within the universe. I think it would be very fun and tonally very unique."
Manganiello would be a fun addition to many Marvel or DC franchises but only time will tell whether he gets the chance to play these or any other comic book heroes or villains.