Nothing gets a conversation and/or debate going faster than an alternate casting. Everyone has their own opinion about what actor should play which role and, more importantly, nobody can ever agree with anyone else’s picks. If it’s even slightly different than what you pictured in your head, you will immediately disregard it and ridicule the person who suggested it. The FanCast aims to inspire conversation, create debate, and provide ammo for the bloodthirsty nerds who can never be wrong.
DC Studios is currently working on an untitled Bane & Deathstroke movie, with Matthew Orton writing the screenplay. While James Gunn has confirmed the project, he also hinted that the movie might not just focus on the two fan-favorite supervillains. This has got us thinking over in the SAW offices that the movie may actually be a secret Secret Six movie, with Deathstroke possibly standing in for longtime member Deadshot.
While there have been multiple Secret Six teams within the pages of DC Comics, the best-known iteration was penned by Gail Simone, who was the main creative force behind the Secret Six comics from 2006 through 2016. Similar to Justice League and Suicide Squad, Secret Six features a revolving lineup of mainly villainous characters who undertake missions of dubious moral quality that often result in a high body count. They are led by a mysterious figure named Mockingbird, whom the villains assume to be one of the other five members.
A Secret Six movie seems like a natural choice for Gunn’s DC Universe, considering that he seems to love telling stories about broken characters with dark tendencies (The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker, Creature Commandos, need I go on?). So, whether Bane & Deathstroke is a Secret Six movie or not, here are who Sailor and I think should be cast in such a project. Let’s begin…
Martyn Ford as Bane
Bane is an integral member of the Secret Six. He’s in almost every lineup, and it would be ridiculous to exclude him from the movie even though he’s capable of handling almost any threat by himself. The Dark Knight Rises did a pretty good job of depicting how strong and intelligent he is, but it’s still a far cry from just how brutally efficient he is in the comics. He didn’t just beat Batman; he beat him with very little effort. Much like how Doomsday bodied the entire Justice League with just one arm before Superman showed up, Bane only used venom to show how fast he could’ve ended the fight. He’s a hulking meat mountain fueled by rage but is always in control. He’s not a berserker; every one of his strikes is planned out in advance. He’s a master strategist who just happens to double everyone in size.
Bane is Batman on extreme steroids and needs an actor of immense size to accurately portray him. Nathan Jones is the biggest actor out there, but he’s getting on in age, so I decided to go with Martyn Ford, who is only a couple of inches shorter but every bit his size. He’s a bodybuilder who’s been slowly getting into movies. He’s been hired as the gigantic muscle in numerous movies, but 2025 seems to be the year when he gets a chance to shine. He’s the main baddie in both Red Sonja and Mortal Kombat II, which are by far the biggest roles he’s gotten to date. Even if he sucks as an actor, it doesn’t matter. All I need him to do is stand there and punch things. His size will sell the character. You can always dub him later.
–Sailor Monsoon
Scott Adkins as Deadshot
We’ve already seen Deadshot on the big screen, played by Will Smith in Suicide Squad. We’ve also seen him on the small screen across the Arrowverse, where Michael Rowe brought him to life. However, Deadshot is too cool to be confined to just two notable live-action performances. Done right, Deadshot could be as big as Harley Quinn. He’s got a pretty cool costume, bad-ass wrist-mounted guns, and a mask with built-in targeting sight. He’s considered one of the deadliest marksmen in the DCU and has tussled with the likes of Batman and Green Arrow. So, who am I fancasting for the role? Well, have you heard of Scott Adkins?
Adkins might not be the first name that pops into your mind when you consider who should play Deadshot. Adkins is a martial artist, so having him play someone who could sit on a rooftop and just snipe people without moving most of his body seems odd. But, visually, he’s a dead-ringer for the man under the white mask, Floyd Lawton. Also, let’s not forget that most movies have their characters either running out of ammo, having their tech malfunction, or some other third scenario. Casting someone like Adkins as Deadshot would allow for a killer scene where the antagonist taunts Deadshot for not having a gun, only for Deadshot to absolutely mop the floor with this guy, proving that he’s not only deadly as a marksman but also as a hand-to-hand combatant.
–Marmaduke Karlston
Katy O’Brian as Knockout
If DC has the guts to make a Secret Six movie that doesn’t sand off the weird edges, they need a Knockout who can go full beast mode, melt your heart, and crush your spine in one breath. Katy O’Brian is that Knockout. For those of you who have never heard of this badass brawler, Knockout is a New God stripper turned assassin with the moral compass of a drunk crow and the fashion sense of a post-apocalyptic go-go dancer. She’s Lobo if Lobo looked like female propaganda posters from WWII, and O’Brian is the only one with the charm, looks and muscles to bring her to life. The actress looks like she was carved out of granite and then given the power to smirk. She’s not just muscular, she’s believably lethal. You buy her as someone who could go toe-to-toe with Wonder Woman and come out asking for round two.
However, what makes her more than a meat slab is the charisma. O’Brian doesn’t just fill the screen; she dominates it. Whether she’s a villain, anti-hero, or rebel soldier, she commands every second with coiled menace and surprising vulnerability. Perfect for Knockout, who is both an alien bruiser and a tragic, messy queer icon. Knockout’s relationship with Scandal Savage is not a footnote. It’s one of the most iconic gay pairings in comics. And O’Brian (an out and proud lesbian actress) would bring authenticity and fire to the role. Not to mention, imagine the chemistry between her and whoever plays Scandal. It would melt steel beams. DC’s been fumbling the ball with queer rep, but a Secret Six movie starring O’Brian could spike it in the endzone and moonwalk away.
–Sailor Monsoon
Cody Rhodes as Catman
Okay, so the only reason I picked Scott Adkins for Deadshot is because Sailor didn’t want me to waste Alan Ritchson on Catman. Listen, I know he’d make a good Batman, but if I want a new season of Reacher every year or two, I can’t have Ritchson tied up in the DCU long-term, so a role like Catman, where he might pop up only every three years or so, seemed like a good fit. That got Sailor to tell me I needed to cast a martial artist like Adkins in the role, to which I then joked, “Scott Adkins as Deadshot.” Then I loved it, and there ya go.
In the end, I set Ritchson aside and chose WWE wrestler Cody Rhodes. He has the right build for the role, and he’s slowly picking up more acting roles, such as in the upcoming The Naked Gun. But also, can you not just see Rhodes’ Catman and John Cena’s Peacemaker getting along? I have no clue what Rhodes and Cena’s WWE history might be, whether they’re friends, enemies, or some sort of “fake” friends or enemies, but in the sort of B-tier superhero/villain side of the DCU, Rhodes’ Catman and Cena’s Peacemaker existing alongside one another just makes sense, and that’s the main reason I’m going with him for the feline anti-hero version of Batman.
–Marmaduke Karlston
David Howard Thornton as Rag Doll
A Secret Six movie will inevitably be compared to Thunderbolts* due to the fact that they’re both movies about teams made up of villains, so to further distance themselves from that movie, this team needs a character who isn’t fun but is a legit problem. Rag Doll (the triple-jointed chaos goblin of the Secret Six) is the perfect candidate. He moves like a member of the Jabbawockeez high on crystal meth and talks in whispered poems. He is a murderous contortionist who lives in a suitcase and scares the shit out of everyone around him. This is why David Howard Thornton was born to play him.
After cutting his teeth in three Terrifier movies, I think he’s proven that he doesn’t just wear horror makeup—he becomes it. All rubber limbs and sinister smirks and pantomime malevolence. He’s a silent film demon dropped into a grindhouse bloodbath. They may just be cheap-o slashers, but there’s no denying Thorton’s dedication to the role. It’s time to reward him with a bigger movie to showcase his abilities. And to finally give him a character that moves like a nightmare mime but who can actually talk. Rag Doll is a drama queen with a death fetish. He quotes poetry, flirts with knives, and drops lines like Shakespeare filtered through a death cult. He is every ’90s serial killer merged into one, and Thornton could make every word sound like a lullaby made of broken glass. Secret Six isn’t the Justice League. It’s a nest of psychos, killers, and the tragically unbalanced. But Rag Doll is their wildcard, their gallows-humor gremlin. He’s not the strongest. Not the leader. He’s the guy who asks if they can eat the hostages. And Thornton has the energy of a guy who’d eat the hostages and do a little jig while doing it.
–Sailor Monsoon
Olivia Cooke as Jeannette
Jeannette is a character created by Simone specifically for her Secret Six run. A white white-haired banshee who dresses in Revolutionary France era clothing, Jeannette arguably has the best powers on the team, with superhuman strength, accelerated healing, mortal clairvoyance, and, because let’s not forget that she’s a banshee, a sonic scream. She’s also, depending on who is drawing her, easy on the eyes. I knew that I couldn’t cast someone too big or famous in the role, as Gunn’s preference so far with the DCU has been to let the characters sell the movie instead of the actors. But hey, I also knew that Gunn liked House of the Dragon.
Olivia Cooke is an actor whose career I have been keeping an eye on since Bates Motel. She flirted with the big screen after that hit Psycho prequel series ended in 2017 with the Steven Spielberg-directed sci-fi hit Ready Player One, which would have made her into a film star had the movie not been extremely mid. She’s currently killing it on House of the Dragon as Alicent Hightower, but since that show only films a new season every two years, the door is open for her to jump to the DCU during the production hiatus to let out a few sonic screams as Jeannette. Make it happen, Gunn!
–Marmaduke Karlston
Are you familiar with the Secret Six? Do you agree with our fancasting? Who do you want to see in these roles? Let us know down in the comments!
