Suicide Squad’s Jared Leto Pays Respect To Killing Joke-Era Villain In New Photo

This week marked a key moment in pre-production on the upcoming DC Comics movie Suicide Squad. Director David Ayer assembled his veritable cast, which we now know includes a couple of newbies, for the all-important script read-through. To document the occasion, Ayer did as he normally does: he Memorexed the moment with a quick snap which he then posted to Twitter. There was one thing missing, however.

Nowhere amidst the smiling faces of the impressive cast could we spot the film’s villain. As it turns out though, Jared Leto was indeed in attendance, which makes sense as he’s likely a major part of the script.

Here’s Ayer’s proof, posted to Twitter no less:

#WhereIsJared #SuicideSquad pic.twitter.com/D5tMnMGBop

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) April 10, 2015

A lot of Suicide Squad pre-amble has discussed which comic series will be referenced as its source. Of course, most filmmakers tasked with crafting a movie based on a comic book character usually dip into more than one. Judging by earlier rumors and speculation, Leto’s take on the Joker was thought to be mined from Frank Miller’s short-run series The Dark Knight Returns. The obvious reference in the above picture suggests otherwise, as it’s a clear homage to the Alan Moore and Brian Bolland one-shot comic Batman: The Killing Joke. More than that, the composition is a direct copy of that book’s eerie cover (which you can see at the top of this page).

Whether or not Ayer plans to harvest elements of each Joker to form a new hybrid version is unknown, but as mentioned above, it’s still possible. There’s no stipulations preventing a mixture of Jokers to unite for an even more swarthy adversary for Batman, and it could just be that Ayer thought it’d be fun to throw it up on social media.

Co-starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Joel Kinnaman and Cara Delevingne, Suicide Squad opens on August 5, 2016.