‘Justice League’ Cast, Updates: Ben Afflecks Hints at Villain Deathstroke, Amber Heard Undergoes Physical Training for Mera Role in London

‘Justice League’ actor Ben Affleck hinted the appearance of the villain Deathstroke. Meanwhile, Amber Heard was spotted working out in a park in London as part of her physical training for her role as Mera, Aquaman’s love interest.

According to Cosmic Book News, the villain Deathstroke may be appearing in Zack Snyder’s upcoming action-adventure and fantasy film ‘Justice League’ based on the DC comic book characters of the same name.

Slade Wilson a.k.a. Deathstroke is known as one of the world’s greatest mercenaries in the original comic books. He has encountered Batman in numerous occasions and has a vendetta against the Titans as revenge against the murder of his oldest son Grant. He became even more of a villain following the death of his wife Adeline Kane.

The character possesses superhuman abilities such as enhanced strength, stamina, speed, and senses and has a regenerative healing factor. He is highly intelligent and is a skilled martial artist.

Ben Affleck, who reprises his role as Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman in the upcoming film, recently posted a few seconds of footage on a Tweet on August 29. The video showed Deathstroke walking towards the camera on an aircraft bay, according to Den of Geek. Speculations emerged that Deathstroke may become one of the DC Extended Universe’s (DCEU) latest villains to be introduced in the ‘Justice League’ film.

Deathstroke is portrayed by Manu Bennett on The CW’s television series ‘Arrow’. Showrunner Marc Guggenheim previously teased, "The character of Slade Wilson is currently tied up in another DC project." It was rumored that the mysterious “DC project” may be Snyder’s upcoming superhero film. This is yet to be confirmed.

Affleck is joined by Henry Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as the Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, and Amber Heard as Mera.

According to the Daily Mail, Heard was spotted working out in London in preparation for her role as the undersea warrior queen Mera and love interest to Momoa’s Aquaman.

A source close to Heard revealed, “Amber is training hard for three hours a day… A lot of it is with a trainer in the park but a lot in the gym… She’s loving doing the weight training and the cross training and she’s also doing combat and stunt training.” The course added, “Mera is a kick-ass role. It’s very empowering for women, which is appealing to Amber – especially after what she’s gone through… It’s a lot of fun and a real role model for women.”

Heard will be in London for the next six months to film in Warner Brothers Studios Leavesden, in nearby Hertfordshire. She is also set to star in James Wan’s standalone film ‘Aquaman’ scheduled to premiere on 2018.

The 30-year old actress described her costume during a previous interview. She said, "It's interesting. It's like, half suit of armor, half scales… It's strange... We're in the process of building it now, so it's coming along."

‘Justice League’ is an upcoming action-adventure and fantasy film directed by Zack Snyder and written by Chris Terrio. It is intended as the fifth installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) following the release of ‘Wonder Woman’ starring Gal Gadot. It is produced by DC Comics, DC Entertainment, RatPac-Dune Entertainment LLC, Lensberg Productions and Warner Bros.

The film is scheduled to be released on November 17, 2017.