Game of Thrones fans would agree that Arya Stark slaying Littlefinger was one of the most rewatchable moments in the entire series. British actor Aidan Gillen put up a convincing performance and made the character as despicable as possible. Little do fans know that Gillen was a part of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy. Interestingly, his character was one of the most widely debated ones in Nolan’s universe.
Gillen appears in a brief role during the opening scene of The Dark Knight Rises and gets killed off quickly by the villain Bane. While the character’s name is not mentioned in the film, some online clues led fans to believe that he is a major Batman supervillain.
Game Of Thrones Villain’s The Dark Knight Rises Role Causes Major Confusion
Aidan Gillen is listed as CIA Op during the credits of Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight Rises. During his scene in the film, the character is introduced only as CIA to the Russian nuclear physicist Dr. Leonid Pavel, who is being extracted from Uzbekistan. However, in Greg Cox’s novelization of the film, the character was named Bill Wilson.
Interestingly, the character’s CIA file circulated on the internet which gave fans some clues about the nameless operative. The document remains unverified as to whether it is from the film’s marketing team or a fan-made one. Famous scooper @MyTimeToShineH recently shared the file in response to a post about the actor’s role.
Littlefinger was in The Dark Knight Rises as Deathstroke?! https://t.co/yyB1ZkOIcB pic.twitter.com/oT3SoNuX8j
— MyTimeToShineHello (@MyTimeToShineH) May 22, 2024
The name of the operative is mentioned in the file as William Joseph Wilson. His codename is mentioned as Bill Wilson (which many fans pointed out to be weird). However, it is his alias mentioned in the file that caused the massive confusion. It is mentioned as Slade and DC fans will immediately recognize the character hint here.
Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke is a famous DC supervillain, who was an elite operative in the U.S. Army. He is the archenemy of the Teen Titans and also plays the villain to Batman, Green Arrow, and the whole Justice League. While the comic version is not CIA, fans could still draw the parallels between Bill Wilson and Deathstroke.
Aidan Gillen’s character, however, does not possess the ruthlessness of a mercenary as he only pretends to shoot his prisoners in the scene. A fandom trivia noted that Bill’s gun might be loaded with blanks since the slide on his gun doesn’t recoil like a live round (via Batman Fandom).
Nolan is infamous for throwing such character names randomly in his Batman universe. Fans still debate whether Joseph Gordon-Levitt‘s John Blake is Robin in The Dark Knight Rises. While the common consensus confirms it, some still argue that the first name alone doesn’t necessarily mean he is Nolan’s universe’s Robin.
Fans Engage In Debate Over Aidan Gillen’s The Dark Knight Rises Role
One fan on X argued that as long as it was not explicitly mentioned anywhere in the movie, Aidan Gillen’s Deathstroke claim carried no weight. Another shared that Nolan could have possibly added it only as an Easter Egg and that fans were trying to read too much into it. Others also claimed the document to be a fake.
However, fans supporting the Deathstroke theory shared that if they accepted John Blake as canon Robin, then they would have to accept Aidan Gillen’s character as Slade Wilson too. Some of the fan reactions read:
No, in the movie credits hes only credited as "CIA Agent" or "CIA Op", all the stuff that are not in the movies (or the bonus features, like the Gotham Tonight News) are not actually canon
— Jaziel (@JAZ1ELL) May 22, 2024
It's just an Easter egg. It doesn't make him comic book slade Wilson. He is an insignificant character and Nolan gave him the name of a comic book character
— Trey Wessel (@WesselTrey) May 22, 2024
Why tf are people saying this was Nolan's version of Deathstroke? are we just lying now just hate on this movie even more?
— Axel Droga (@AxelRDroga) May 21, 2024
Christopher Nolan had tons of Easter eggs in his Batman trilogy like how they made a regular cop, Blake as Robin and this CIA guy was actually Slade aka Deathstroke. Check out his file. pic.twitter.com/hv4EOVIOvA
— I may have (@QuincyWandera) May 21, 2024
For the people in this post going “HIS NAME IS SLADE WILSON AGHHHHHHAHAGSIWBDIEHAJAAAA!”
Read two lines down from the name..
— Bamboo-zled (@notnicericefoo) May 22, 2024
While fans are unsure about Deathstroke in Nolan’s Universe, Zack Snyder’s DCEU definitely had an underutilized Deathstroke, played by Joe Manganiello. The actor tried to secure the same role in James Gunn‘s DCU, but he admitted that it was very unlikely. Gunn’s universe will probably have the character as they have a Teen Titans movie coming out.
The Dark Knight Rises is now available for streaming on Max.
