Jared Leto the new Joker!!!

Just recently the cast for the upcoming suicide squad movie was shown complete in costume but it was still lacking one very important member… Jared Leto as the Joker! The fan pressure has made DC very much aware of the need to get the joker right in their next rendition, and in an effort to build hype for this new joker they have been slooowwllyyy releasing little teases here and there about what he’s going to be like. 

Jared Leto is the lead singer in Thirty Seconds to Mars and has also played in a variety of Indy films most of which you’ve likely never heard of (I hadn’t). The only one I even recognized right away was Fight Club. He also was in a role recently as a woman, but he apparently was good enough to earn an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor so at least we know he can act right? 

 

Now you might be thinking he looks more like Jesus than the Joker and you’d certainly be right. However after being cast for the role he slowly has been going through a transformation to become the new Clown Prince of crime. 

First this image surfaced on twitter 

So he looked more like this 

Now here is where it gets interesting. Eagle eyed fans began to notice that his photos had an uncanny resemblance to famous pictures of the Joker from the comics. Whether a fun accident or an intentional homage to the comic book version of Joker we don’t really know but I’m more inclined to believe the later. 

Eventually he died his hair white and shaved his eyebrows

  

A month or two later he colored his hair green

 

Apparently he's also been bulking up for the role

And then this image was posted on his twitter

 

If you think the tattoos are a weird way to go with the character I won’t disagree with you on that, but it may ease your worries to know that it has been done before…

Now all these refrencess to the comics can also have some interesting implications for what the new Joker’s personality will be like. I think I’m safe in saying we all loved Heath ledgers performance as the Joker but it was by no means a classic version of the character. His modern take on him was amazing and will never be forgotten but I think that it would be a mistake to try to recreate Ledgers version on screen simply because nobody will be able to hit it just right. Based on what we’ve seen from Jared Leto so far I think it can be inferred that they are instead going to go with an entirely new version of the Joker that we’ve never seen before on screen, but yet is a closer version to the comics than Ledger's was, (much like the new Batman as well). Personally I think this is the best way to go. By avoiding Heath Leger's style they won’t have to worry about falling short, and can instead bring us a new, original, and exciting villain for us to see. 

Leto’s Joker seems to take most of its inspiration from the Dark Night Returns, and Batman Endgame comic lines, and I couldn’t be happier about that since those version are regarded by many as the most creepy and evil of all the Joker stories. I mean just take a look at a few of these scenes. (Spoilers for Batman Endgame) 

 

  

 

 

Of course I suppose there is the even creepier Death of the Family storyline where he cuts off his own face…

 

 

 

But I doubt that we’ll see that one on screen...

Other teases have been surfacing recently too, like this clip that shows what his voice may sound like.

It's a bit repetitive but there is one more clip at the end so keep watching 

Or these leaked images that might show him in costume

 

In the end it’s still just too early to know if Jared Leto will be successful as our new Agent of Chaos, but I think that the direction that they are taking him seems promising, and I can’t wait to see him on the big screen.

What do you think, will Leto be able to pull it off? Who’s your favorite version of the joker? (mine’s Mark Hamill)