Oliver Queen has taken on plenty of formidable villains on Arrow, but perhaps the most dangerous of them all was his old nemesis Deathstroke.

Manu Bennett played unhinged Slade Wilson in 34 episodes of the superhero series between 2013 and 2015.

But the actor appeared to quash all hope of a return when he criticised the direction that the character took in his last appearance.

"I think Deathstroke had a lot of possibilities with Arrow but I think they took it in the wrong direction," he said.

The CW

"I read the DC comic books and thought Deathstroke was so badass because they make it that nobody can stop him. It took the Justice League to defeat him; it took an army to take him on.

"In Arrow, it took a while for Oliver to prove his point, but [season three] was just a beating of Slade, adding insult to injury."

Bennett's last appearance on the show - in 2015's 'The Return' - saw Deathstroke taken down by Oliver (Stephen Amell) and his sister Thea (Willa Holland) on the island of Lian Yu.

Speaking to Digital Spy about his comments, Bennett said: "I probably voiced myself in an open forum at a Comic Con and then all of a sudden it became a comment against my own producers or whatever.

"I think as an actor you've got to have some freedom at these events to speak openly about your experiences and how you feel.

Diyah Pera The CW

"Maybe that was a bit unfortunate, because it got exacerbated by the way people would tweet it, it was like, 'How dare he bash these producers who'd given him this opportunity?' - all this sort of stuff.

"But I think the comments that I made had a huge resonance with most fans, who agreed that Deathstroke is meant to be this undefeatable force. We built him up to that and then I guess the next phase is what will determine what all that means."

The next phase? So does that mean that Bennett would be willing to reprise the role?

"There's a lot of fans wanting Deathstroke back," he said. "If Deathstroke shows up again on Arrow, everyone will be a lot happier if they didn't know [in advance]."

We're still holding out hope. In the meantime, Deathstroke will reappear on the big-screen, with Joe Manganiello taking on the role in The Batman.

Manu Bennett stars in Death Race 2050, out on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday (March 20).

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