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Manu Bennett Criticizes ARROW’s Depiction of Deathstroke

Inarguably one of the highlights of Arrow has been Slade Wilson/Deathstroke, played wonderfully by Manu Bennett. After a recurring role in season one, Wilson became the big bad of season two. However, he has only appeared in one episode of the current season. Some fans were disappointed with Slade’s return in season three, since he only had a few minutes of screentime in the entire episode. It appears that Bennett was also displeased with this.

Speaking with theMusic, Bennett criticized the direction the Arrow writers took with Deathstroke. “I think Deathstroke had a lot of possibilities with Arrow but, I think they took it in the wrong direction.” He adds that Slade should have been influenced by the classic version in the comics, where Deathstroke was able to hold his own against many superheroes. “I think they should have honoured the Marv Wolfman character who was literally unstoppable. I read the DC comic books and thought Deathstroke was so bad arse because they make it that nobody can stop him. He’s not even super-powered, he is just a mercenary. It took the Justice League to defeat him; it took an army to take him on. In Arrow, it took a while for Oliver [Queen/Arrow] to prove his point, but [season three] was just a beating of Slade, adding insult to injury.”


So, it sounds like Bennett may not return to Arrow, unfortunately. While this take on Deathstroke is obviously different from the comics, he was still a ruthless, intimidating force on The CW series. And most of the villains featured on both Arrow and spin-off series The Flash arguably pale in comparison to Wilson.

It is also worth mentioning that Deathstroke is expected to appear in the Suicide Squad movie, with Joe Manganiello rumored to be playing him. Could that keep Slade from appearing on Arrow again? We’ll have to wait and see. Fingers crossed that Bennett and the writers of Arrow will work something out in the future to bring Slade Wilson back.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of WOBAM! Entertainment.