Preface
- Today is the 75th anniversary of the Joker’s first appearance in comics, and in a timely fashion David Ayer released the first official picture of Jared Leto as the Joker! (Seen below)
- I wouldn’t typically do ‘Picture Reviews’ but the Joker is one of the best comic book villains and movie villains ever (in my opinion) so it would be a crime not to talk about this new and different incarnation.
- Plus, I’ve been in L.A. this past week and kinda need to meet my monthly minimum of at least 8 posts to that site, so… Yeah let’s jump on that!
Picture Talk
- Yeah not ‘Trailer Talk,’ Picture Talk. Keepin’ it general like that.
- So the first thing that pops to me in this photo is both the eyes and teeth
- The eyes of this Joker look like the eyes of a maniac, they look like the eyes of a comic book Joker and that’s awesome.
- One thing I’ve been saying is that I think this DC Cinematic Universe is going to end up looking a lot like the New 52 comics, and I like that it’s really continuing that.
- The teeth do not look particularly like the comics, but it follows a more realistic, scary feel.
- While Heath Ledger nailed the fright, grit and scary factor that Nolan was going for in a realistic sense, I think that Leto could nail it in more of a horrific sense.
- I haven’t seen any acting from the guy as Joker yet, so I’m blind-guessing, but that’s what it seems like!
- Next thing that you easily notice is the tattoos.
- Now I’m not gonna spend valuable minutes of my life analyzing every single tattoo this guy has, but I think the tattoos add a sense of wear-and-tear to the guy. He seems like a more weathered Joker, who’s been at it for a while and has gotten a new tat every time something momentous has happened in his Mr. J career.
- The green hair and glove look pretty cool, but ultimately I don’t want that kind of color combo.
- We’ve been there and done that in 1989, no need to go full purple suit with full green hair.
- Well I actually really like the green hair and just how bright it is on the pale skin, but no purple suit! No full purple suit at least.
- This also raises two more points for me:
- One is that I’ve said the past few months how much I’d like to have Macaulay Culkin play the Joker, in kind of a spoofy way. But this looks like Macaulay Culkin as the Joker, I enjoy how pale and gaunt he looks. (Plus, I’m waiting for someone to make a spoof with this Joker on a Home Alone poster.)
- Two is that this seemingly confirms, at least to me, that they’re going to do a more comic book ish Harley Quinn too, which I think is the only kind Margot Robbie could do.
- All do respect to her, I thought she was perfect casting as Harley Quinn, and I actually called it immediately after Suicide Squad was announced. But she wasn’t going to play a super serious version of Harley Quinn, Harley Quinn is cartoony. And you saw little cartoony and exaggerated bits of Robbie in Wolf of Wall Street, so that’s why she’ll be perfect in this role.
- That being said, having the exaggerated, cartoony Harley Quinn with the gaunt, maniacal Joker looks like it’s going to be perfect. I bet we get a picture of the two together within the next two months, and that will be one for the ages.
In Conclusion
- In Conclusion, I liked Jared Leto being cast as the Joker from the beginning.
- In fact, I have a lot of faith in the whole Suicide Squad concept in film format.
- Seeing this picture shows me that Jared Leto looks like he is going to be more of a maniac than either of the past Jokers (including especially collected Jack Nicholson). It also shows me that I think he’ll be paired really well with Harley Quinn, and will have a weathered taste to him, especially with the whole Dark Knight Returns concept going forward.
- And oh my God! I can picture him with Affleck’s Batman now too!
- Overall, I can picture Leto fitting into the DC Cinematic Universe, and that helps build it for me.
- I wasn’t super impressed by the Batman v. Superman trailer, but this picture gives me a very minor guide as to where the universe might actually be established, and makes me all the more glad that Jared Leto was cast as the Joker.
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So guys, those are my thoughts on the first picture of Jared Leto as the Joker in Suicide Squad! What are your thoughts on this picture? Let me know in the comments down below, and as always, thanks for reading guys.
