5 Things Jared Leto Could Bring To His Role As The Joker In Suicide Squad

Like you didn’t know already, Jared Leto has slipped into The Joker’s shoes for the upcoming DC villain piece Suicide Squad. His role has had about thirty to forty seconds of screen time in the form of teaser trailers so far, but it’s already been subject to considerable scrutiny and analysis from all corners of the globe. There’s been a vociferous reaction to Leto playing Batman’s biggest and most infamous foe ever since news of the cast bill filtered through the comic book community, which should perhaps come as no real surprise. Comic books have been producing some of the most colourful and captivating fictional characters for years, and when one as notable as The Joker is brought to life on the big screen, there’re always going to be questions raised as to whether the star in question has the ability to pull off a worthy portrayal. Take Heath Ledger for instance. Many scoffed when they heard the Hollywood heartthrob was set to try his hand at depicting The Joker’s sadistic grin in The Dark Knight, but those same people were forced to eat humble pie when Ledger pulled off a crackerjack performance that rivaled (and even bettered, according to some) Jack Nicholson’s in Tim Burton’s Batman way back in 1989. Ledger’s Joker looks like an impossibly maddening portrayal to top, and Leto has his work cut out if he’s to give as memorable a performance as the late, great star in Christopher Nolan’s Bat sequel. Both Batman V Superman director Zack Snyder and Suicide Squad David Ayer have seen Leto’s performance in the flesh and praised it, but what exactly is it that we can expect to see from Leto when the DC bad-guy bonanza hits screens later this year? Join us as we take a closer look. 1) Hatred One big problem with the "first" four blockbuster Batman movies (if you were to group them together in a loosely linked, semi-chronological James Bond movie kind of way) was that the Caped Crusader was much less interesting than his adversaries. Just take a look at Burton’s Batman flicks. Jack Nicholson stole the show as The Joker in 1989, whilst Danny DeVito and Michelle Phiffer were the shining lights in the murky, grim-looking sequel. Joel Schumacher’s campy take on the famous comic book character also fell victim to the exact same issue. Jim Carrey was flavour of the month at the time Batman Forever was released, and alongside Tommy Lee Jones proceeded to chew the scenery whilst Val Kilmer’s chin was left starved of any kind of attention. Arnie and Uma might have looked head-smackingly silly in Batman & Robin, but even they stood out against an off-key Clooney. The villains were better than anything else in these Batman movies. Sometimes we loved them for all the right reasons, and sometimes we loved them for being “so bad they’re good” (Arnie with an ice gun). Regardless, we couldn't help but enjoy the company of these adversaries more than we did Keaton, Kilmer or Clooney. Nolan’s franchise acknowledged this issue, and whilst Ledger’s Joker didn’t completely steal the show in Dark Knight, you couldn’t help but want to see him on screen. Sure he was evil, but in a weird way, you kind of loved him. He was funny too – offering some twisted comic relief in an otherwise deeply dark picture. Leto’s Joker on the other hand could bring something completely different to the table – a character we simply cannot stand, but for the right reasons. Director David Ayer has called the portrayal “raw” and “subversive,” which suggests Leto may have created a Joker that is the absolute definition of pure evil. Like Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Warden Samuel Norton in The Shawshank Redemption, or Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange, Leto’s Joker could prove to be a toe-curlingly, detestable character that audiences can’t help but despise. 2) Raw Energy A villain needs raw energy coursing through their veins in order to succeed on screen, and from what we’ve seen of Leto so far, it appears he may bring it in abundance to his role as The Joker. Leto’s third act performance in Darren Aronvosky’s harrowing tale of addiction, Requiem For A Dream, is a terrific example of the actor’s ability to portray a man completely out of his mind: conveying panic, desperation and anger with admirable aplomb. The Joker might not be dependent on illegal substances like Leto’s character in Requiem, but he is the owner of a similarly haunted mind nonetheless. The Joker is a role that requires raw, pulsing energy from beginning to end, and Leto looks like he’s more than capable of bringing this to the table for Suicide Squad. The question remains whether this will make for a great portrayal, or one that's kinetic enough to induce motion sickness in audience members. 3) Imbalance It probably helps to be a little bit mad already in order to play a character like The Joker. Nicholson might have had the long, arching eyebrows and Ledger might have been able to smack his lips like a dog waiting for dinner scraps, but Leto has something about him that suggests he is genuinely a little, let’s say, imbalanced. The actor has peculiarly described playing the part of The Joker as akin to “giving birth out of my prickhole,” but has also managed to compare Batman’s arch nemesis to Hamlet in a separate interview. Rumours have circulated that he was notoriously difficult to work with during the whole time he was on set for the Suicide Squad, resolutely remaining in character in between shooting takes. His method acting looked to be teetering on the tipping point of insanity at one point when it was revealed he sent a rat in a box to his co-star Margot Robbie, and a box of bullets to Will Smith as ‘gifts.’ He also smeared the question "AM I AS GOOD AS HEATH LEDGER YET?" across the skin of a dead pig and sent it to the entire cast. Leto brings a sense of natural imbalance and eccentricity to the role, the kind any committed method actor can’t help but possess, and also the kind that a character like The Joker could potentially benefit from in so many wildly unusual ways. 4) Mercilessness In The Dark Knight, The Joker was happy to allow Batman to pursue him, and proceeded to malevolently toy with the Caped Crusader like a cat with a cornered rodent. At one point during the movie, the villain’s warped sense of humour comes out in full force as he dangles from a multi-storey building. “Why do you want to kill me?” the Bat roars at his enemy. The Joker can’t help but laugh. “I don’t wanna kill you!” he replies. “What would I do without you?” There’s a more than a hint of sincerity in there, too – he’s a bad guy who gets off on torturing Batman, not defeating him. Leto’s Joker on the other hand might not be so willing to keep his enemies dangling on a string for his own enjoyment. Indeed, he may just give them a taste of what’s about to happen (“I’m just gonna hurt ya. Really. Really. Bad”) before flipping straight to kill mode. Leto’s Joker could display a new level of mercilessness that we’ve never seen before from a cinematic comic book villain – the kind that makes even the most steadfast viewer turn squeamish. 5) Reinvention We've already examined the specific characteristics, mannerisms and exploits that Jared Leto may bring to his role as the infamous comic book clown, and if all these elements come together nicely, we could see the The Joker completely reinvented from top to bottom. We might have seen mere glimpses of this madcap character, but it's already clear this freakish villain is different to what a lot of people were expecting when they heard Leto was set to take the role of The Joker. The iconic pasty white makeup is all gone. The word "dangerous" is etched in ink across his forehead. Tattoos crawl down either arm. The squint-inducing neon hair is purposely slicked back. And, unlike previous Jokers, Leto's incarnation apparently has a dentist. Metal gnashers (looking tough enough to chomp right through the surface of the skin) sit where stained, decaying teeth would ordinarily be . Thanks to Leto, The Joker, as we know him, is all set to change. It's a daring move, but after the underwhelming affair that was Batman V Superman, we're all rooting for Suicide Squad to be the groundbreaking comic book villain swan song that it has the potential to be. Leto's new Joker will surely help to dictate whether this is to be director David Ayer's magnum opus or his infamous, ambitious failure.