Jared Leto Circling Joker Role In SUICIDE SQUAD

THR reports that Oscar winner Jared Leto (Fight Club, Requiem For A Dream, Lord of War, Dallas Buyers Club) is circling the role of The Joker in David Ayer's Suicide Squad. It's more likely that Joker would be the actual threat of the film, rather than a member of the team. The Joker was previously used as the real villain in the recent animated film from Warner Bros, which had the Suicide Squad as the focus. A lot of people have been curious when or if we would see the return of The Joker in Zack Snyder's DC universe.

Leto had been linked for being in the running for Doctor Strange, so he's obviously looking for a high-profile project to get involved with. After Heath Ledger's casting, I can't really say I'm against Jared as the iconic Batman villain. Since it all comes down to the on screen performance and we haven't seen Jared play the role to actually judge him.

The Joker's inclusion could also possibly mean Batman might have a cameo, or at the very least referenced through-out the film. It's hard to believe that if the Joker is running-around, we won't see Ben Affleck's Batman show-up for a scene, to give him a good ass-kicking.


We've sort of assumed that there would be a Joker reference in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Considering that Suicide Squad is shooting post-production of Batman v Superman, they could shoot a couple of Joker scenes for that film as well. It's expected that Snyder will spend some of of 2015 editing and completing pick-ups and reshoots. Placing Joker scenes into the mix wouldn't be entirely shocking. The villain has a role within the Frank Miller comics, which the film is inspired by. Waiting till the end of the production or during reshoots to film those scenes, might be a way to keep fan down expectations of his appearance.

The image above was posted on Twitter by cinematographer Larry Fong. This picture sort of teases an intense fight between Batman and The Joker that happens in the Miller comic. Fong actually got in a lot of hot water for it. Leading a lot of fans (including us) to speculate the Joker was on his way. While it's unknown if he'll be apart of Batman v Superman, it's looking like a sure thing he's going to be apart of Suicide Squad.

There is already talk that Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor is very likely involved in the project. I assume he very well could be paying for the whole organization, or could even take the place of Amanda Waller (more likely her boss). A character that might have been ruined because of showing-up in Green Lantern. While Will Smith, Tom Hardy and Margot Robbie are in the mix for leads as well.

SOURCE: THR