Is DC’s Deathstroke and Bane Movie Secret Six?

Under the guidance of DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran, the DC Universe is about to look very different in the next few years. The duo are shepherding a new era of movies and television shows, both within a central DCU continuity and in their own standalone Elseworlds canon. Late last month, an unexpected new entry was reported to be added to that roster, with news that Captain America: Brave New World scribe Matthew Orton is writing a movie involving the Batman villains Bane and Slade Wilson / Deathstroke. This news definitely surprised — and slightly confused — a number of DC fans, as Bane and Deathstroke have only sporadically crossed paths in the comics. Subsequent reporting seemed to indicate that Bane and Deathstroke won’t be the only main characters in this mystery movie, leading fans to wonder exactly what the project could really be. In particular, is there a chance that Bane and Deathstroke’s DCU debut could ultimately become a Secret Six movie?

The concept of the Secret Six originally came from the Silver Age of Comics, offering readers a traditional and clean-cut team of spies on espionage missions. The concept was radically reimagined in 2005 by Gail Simone, Dale Eaglesham, Brad Walker, and Nicola Scott, using the title to build a team of mostly-established villains who go on secret and dubious missions as mercenaries. While the modern-day roster has ebbed and flowed in the years since, readers mostly associate the team with some combination of Bane, Catman, Deadshot, Scandal Savage, Rag Doll, Knockout, and Jeannette.

Even before Gunn and Safran took over DC’s film and television output, there was already a clamoring for a Secret Six project, potentially as a spinoff involving characters who survived the events of Gunn’s 2022 The Suicide Squad movie. But now that the forthcoming DCU can utilize a larger number of heroes and villains, a proper Secret Six adaptation could very well be within the realm of possibility — albeit, with some slight tweaks.

It is unclear at this point what shape this mysterious Bane and Deathstroke project will ultimately take — much less if it even gets officially greenlit by DC Studios, as neither Gunn or Safran have publicly acknowledged the reports surrounding this project — but it isn’t out of the realm of possibility for the movie to fully become Secret Six. After all, Bane is regarded as something of a modern-day staple on the Secret Six roster, and introducing him through the lens of that team would provide general audiences with something wildly different from his previous live-action portrayals as a campy henchman in Batman and Robin and an anarchic terrorist in The Dark Knight Rises. Although Deathstroke is not usually associated with the Secret Six in the comics, he could easily be a stand-in for Deadshot’s role as a no-nonsense marksman on the Simone-era roster, all while providing a fresh angle from Joe Manganiello’s short-lived take on the character in the DC Extended Universe, or even Manu Bennett and Esai Morales’ portrayals on DC’s various television shows. Placing Bane and Deathstroke — two characters that general audiences have some existing knowledge of — on a Secret Six movie team would also help sell the film on a broader level, especially once the rest of the roster is populated by lesser-known and weirder characters like Rag Doll and Catman.

Plus, depending on where this hypothetical Secret Six project fits into the DCU’s release schedule, the movie could easily establish both Bane and Deathstroke’s status quos in the universe without needing to have Batman himself fully fleshed out. The Brave and the Bold, the DCU’s planned solo movie for Batman and Damian Wayne / Robin, has quietly remained in development for the past year and a half, with the last major update being that The Flash director Andy Muschietti is set to helm it. Since then, reports have also indicated that Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow screenwriter Ana Nogueira is writing a Teen Titans movie script — a project that just-so-happens to center on Deathstroke’s biggest adversaries. Bane and Deathstroke’s stories could easily weave in and out of these projects in any order, creating connectivity between the DCU when it is still in its early days.

Granted, time will only tell if the Bane and Deathstroke movie becomes a reality, much less if it ends up being Secret Six. The question of who will play Bane and Deathstroke in the DCU is an entirely separate can of worms from there, as Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy collaborator Dave Bautista, who has publicly advocated to play Bane for years, argued in early 2023 that the DCU appears to want a “younger” take on the character. But given Gunn’s track record with ragtag teams like the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Suicide Squad, and even the forthcoming Creature Commandos, the Secret Six would certainly be a fitting addition to the DCU’s plans.