David Ayer Posts New Joker Image As Suicide Squad Director’s Cut Speculation Builds

Jared Leto’s take on the Joker in Suicide Squad comes in for a lot of criticism, a lot of it unfair. Large chunks of his performance were left on the cutting room floor. Beyond that, he had the difficult job of following Heath Ledger and has now been comprehensively overshadowed by Joaquin Phoenix. Even so, there were aspects of his scuzzy, trash punk Spring Breakers-influenced Joker I liked.

Suicide Squad director David Ayer still believes that he and Leto got it right. In the years since the film’s release, he’s continually talked up how impressed he was with the actor and his preparation for the role. Lately, he’s been posting fresh images of Leto taken during preproduction, with many theorizing we may see an announcement of a Suicide Squad ‘Ayer Cut’ on HBO Max soon.

Here’s the latest:

We already know quite a bit about what a director’s cut of Suicide Squad would restore. For one there’d be some big links with Zack Snyder’s Justice League, including Enchantress’ involvement with the Mother Boxes and Apokalyptian technology.

We’d also see the reinstatement of multiple Joker scenes, many of them involving his relationship with Harley Quinn. There’s a cut subplot about Joker’s deal with Enchantress to become King of Gotham, which we know exists but have never heard much about. Harley also gets a lot of extra material too, most interestingly her excised romance with Deadshot.

Some of this may simply be wishful thinking, but if we live in a world where Zack Snyder can complete his Justice League as a four-hour epic, then don’t rule out a completed cut of Suicide Squad.