So the rumour is Jared Leto is circling the role of the Joker for the Suicide Squad movie. And as I wrote in my previous post about the ridiculous nature of the internet’s knee jerk reactionary response, the reaction to this has been pretty negative by many people which is pretty silly and short-sighted. But with calm heads let’s discuss this rumour, and what the inclusion of the Joker could mean for the wider DC cinematic universe.
Update: official Jared Leto image has come out and the internet is angry! I think the insane look is fitting for an insane character . Full discussion post about the official image can be found here!
Firstly Jared Leto is a fantastic actor. After this rumour broke out I saw a lot of dramatic responses by people who thought their world was going to end because Leto is a horrible actor in a horrible band and there is no way in the world he could play the Joker. I mean the guy just won an Oscar for acting, and if you’ve seen films like Requiem for a Dream or Mr. Nobody, then you should know that he is actually a really good actor. I think he would be an interesting choice for the Joker.
And of course the Heath Ledger comparisons were bound to come out. I read a really umm ‘interesting’ comment online from someone about this news, and they basically said that only Christian Bale can be Batman, only Christopher Reeve can be Superman and only Heath Ledger can be the Joker. If you truly think that only one actor can play a particular character then you must be extremely narrow-minded. But honestly, most people say crap like that to join in with the crowd. Because unfortunately it seems as though it’s cool to be angry and hateful online, so why not say a comment like that and get heaps of likes on Facebook? Regardless that train of thought is simple and silly.
The Joker is a huge part of the Batman mythos, so it makes sense to bring him back. Of course there have been complaints about the fact that Batman has so many other villains, why not use them? Well first of all the Joker is one of, if not the best Batman villain. He is the perfect contrast for Batman. But that aside, movies are made to make money. Everybody knows the Joker, so if you’re creating a Suicide Squad movie, something that 99% of the population haven’t heard about, it’s smart to put such a popular character in there to bring in some interest.
But now the question is, what part will the Joker have to play in the film? Apparently the original version of the script did not include the Joker or Lex Luthor, but David Ayer added them in. So how will the Joker fit in with the film? I doubt he will become a member of the team. Joker is too crazy to be in a team, I mean can you imagine? However the Joker could be the antagonist to the team. Most likely we’re going to see Harley Quinn in the film. A big question brought up by characters in the new 52 Suicide Squad is why the heck is Harley Quinn even on the team? You got Deadshot, who is an amazing assassin and King Shark who is a complete tank, yadda yadda yadda, basically everyone has great skills. So what’s Harley’s skill? What does she add to the team? It’s often brought up that Harley is actually quite intelligent, but what if she’s brought on the team in the film because of the Joker. Maybe Amanda Waller, who is running the team wants to go after the Joker for some reason, puts together the Suicide Squad, and adds Harley to the team because of her past connections to the Joker.
If we’re going off the new 52 comics, Harley and the Joker are broken up, and Harley absolutely despises the Joker. So with her knowledge and hatred of the Joker, she could prove to be quite a useful asset.
I also doubt that the Joker is going to purely confined to this one film. I expect him to pop up in the future Batman solo film, and if we have an established Batman, I’m going to assume that Batman and the Joker already have a past. This could lead to a really interesting dynamic to the pair that we haven’t seen before in the films. They hate each other, but almost feel as though they need each other. But then you know, the Joker takes it that one step too far, e.g. tries to cut the faces off of the Bat Family because he felt they were not worthy of Batman, and then shit really starts to go down.
So overall I’m pretty excited to have the Joker in this new DC Cinematic universe, and even though he’s been used in the past, he’s such a pivotal and exciting character, that the world wouldn’t feel complete without characters like the Joker and Lex Luthor.
So what do you think about the inclusion of the Joker in Suicide Squad? Are you for Jared Leto potentially playing him? Let me know!
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Categories: comic book movies
Girl-On-Comic-Book-World 
I think that there are a lot of villains in the Batman comics which should get their due on the big screen, too. Thus said, I have no idea how big the role of the Joker is in the Suicide Squad. I didn’t even know that he was part of it…I know, though, that Harley Quinn is.
All in all I am pretty lukewarm, but you never know what they intend to do with him. I think it would be fatal to built the movie around the Joker…not because I think that nobody could top Heath Ledger (whose casting I supported from the get go), but because I have as much Joker fatigue as I have Batman fatigue.
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I feel like if they do use the Joker, he will either be used as the main antagonist or he will just have a cameo setting him up for future films.
Hmm I get a lot of people will want something new, but personally I still don’t have Joker or Batman fatigue haha
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Well, if they do make a new batman movie, I hope they emphasis his detective abilities (something which was missing from the last adaptations – the character was inspired by Sherlock Holmes after all) and pick the Riddler as main villain (always my favourite of the 1966 show…and yes, I like it).
I have seen so many variants of the Joker by now, and they were all good. I fear if they include him in the suicide Squad he might either steal the spotlight, or he might disappoint…there are no less than four beloved performances for the character, and while a fifth one which lives up to them is a possibility, sooner or later they have to stumble.
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Yes I completely agree, we need an actual world’s greatest detective Batman in these movies, which I think we may get hopefully. I love the Riddler too, they just did an arc in the comics where he completely takes over the city and really lays out a bunch of different and complex puzzles Batman has to show, so if they do something like that not only will we get an interesting villain, but also a full on detective Batman
That’s true as well, I definitely don’t want it to become more of a Joker film and less of a Suicide Squad focused film because I absolutely love the Suicide Squad! If Jared Leto is the Joker, I feel like his performance will be very similar to Heath Ledger’s performance, so it will be interesting at least to see how that does down with the audience
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Reblogged this on The Man on the Street Knows Everything… and commented:
Reblogged on 11/9/14
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First I’d like to point out that surrounding the only one actor comments then it all depends on opinion because if I had to choose one batman and one joker based on past portrayals it wouldn’t be Heath Ledger or Christian Bale. I actually disliked both portrayals. I did like Heath Ledger’s character I just didn’t see the character as the joker if you understand what I’m saying he was too dark and too crazy unlike Jack Nicholson’s joker who I found to be a lot more on script with the comics.
Now that I got that out of the way I think you summed it all up pretty well. I have mixed feelings about the joker casting but not because I don’t think anyone else can do it, not because I don’t think Jared is good enough but because I haven’t seen enough of his acting to form a real opinon. I’m still really looking forward to the movie & to see how they incorporate Joker into the story line.
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That’s very true
Yeah and even if you’re not really for the casting yet, people should go in with an open mind like yourself, instead of shutting it down straight away
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