‘So they want the film to FAIL?’: Jared Leto threatens to ruin another franchise as he enters talks to play one of pop culture’s most iconic villains

Planet Hollywood, it is becoming clearer and clearer, is not just a restaurant chain but an entirely separate plane of existence in which every movie studio exec resides which is alternate, and potentially antithetical, to our own. This must be the case, surely, otherwise why would they continually insist on casting Jared Leto when the world is begging for them to stop.

Eight years on from his Jim-Carrey-possessed-by-a-cat take on the Joker in Suicide Squad and two years on from his one-man attempt to kill the superhero genre stone-dead with Morbius, Leto is threatening to infect another legendary franchise that’s getting a reboot. This reboot has been in development in one form for a full 17 years, and just when it’s finally getting somewhere producers may be deciding that it’s Leto they need to light a fuse under it. See, this is the kind of cockamamie thinking that gave us Borderlands and A Minecraft Movie.

The reboot in question? Masters of the Universe, the upcoming film based on the He-Man toy range and classic cartoon which stars the ubiquitous Nicholas Galitzine in the lead as the bowlcut-sporting hero. So far, the cast of this Amazon Studios production, from Transformers: Rise of the Beasts director Travis Knight, is shaping up quite nicely. Camila Mendes is He-Man’s love interest Teela and Alison Brie is Evil-Lyn, Skeletor’s right-hand woman. But what of the skinless supervillain himself? Who could play him? Yes, I think you can see where this is going.

As per the latest internet scuttlebutt, Jared Leto has been offered the part of Skeletor in the Masters of the Universe movie. To be clear, this is just a rumor for now, but even the whiff of this casting being put out there is enough to leave fans fuming.

Morbin Time is so 2022.

He must be stopped. Somebody sic Martin Scorsese on him.

Are we sure the studios isn’t pulling a Producers-type scheme with this one?

This guy’s saying what we’re all thinking!

A far superior choice. Has Willem Dafoe ever turned down an acting job in his life? He’s portrayed Green Goblin four times — he’s bound to be up for playing a cackling skeleton.

A campy, cartoonish villain he may be, but Skeletor has previously been brought to life by some serious heavyweights — see Frank Langella chewing up the scenery in the original 1987 film opposite Dolph Lundgren and Mark Hamill channeling his Joker in the recent Netflix animated series. Maybe bosses couldn’t get Hamill so thought “well, Leto’s also played the Joker, he’s the next best thing.” Let’s just hope that, by the power of Grayskull, fans have the power to change their minds.