Jared Leto

Warner Bros. and DC are making a lot of choices lately, and one of those choices is having multiple movies featuring the Joker, but not all featuring the actor who first played the character canonically in their universe. Jared Leto is not being courted for the Martin Scorsese-produced Joker origin movie, a move that makes sense considering they’re probably going for someone younger (but which does not make sense considering… who in the world was asking for a Joker origin movie??). Leto is, understandably, “a little confused” about the whole thing, but he also gets it. Kinda.

In under four minutes, Leto wove together classic tracks from Linkin Park, Soundgarden, David Bowie, Prince and George Michael to honor musicians we've lost.

It’s been a wild, wild week for the DCEU. First came the report on a new Joker origin story movie executive produced by Martin Scorsese and scripted by Todd Phillips, the man who puts the “Bro” in Warner Bros. But then WB topped themselves in the WTF department just one day later with news of a Joker and Harley Quinn romance film from the directors of Crazy Stupid Love. While Jared Leto won’t be participating in Scorsese’s bizarro origin film, the actor has confirmed his return for the Harley Quinn team-up, which has officially knocked Gotham City Sirens off the WB schedule (for now).

During the MTV Video Music Awards, Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto took the stage to pay tribute to Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington and Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell.

The spotlight in the DC Extended Universe is squarely on women right now. Wonder Woman is still tying moviegoers in knots; just one more good weekend will make it the second biggest DCEU movie in the U.S., and it could pass Batman v Superman for the top spot not long after. Princess Diana will get back in the spotlight in Justice League this fall, and last summer was all about Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn stealing scenes from Will Smith and the rest of the Suicide Squad. Basically DC sisters are doing it for themselves.

Jared Leto’s gritty ’n grilled take on the Clown Prince of Crime was easily the most controversial part of David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. Early photos of Leto’s tatted-up Joker drew heavy criticism from fans and launched a million jokes on social media, where he was compared to everything from a Juggalo to a Hot Topic mascot — and that was before we found out about his wacky on-set “method acting” antics, which permanently cemented his status as a ridiculous human being. But if you thought that version of the Joker was obnoxious, boy do we have some concept art for you.

Look, all things being equal, I really didn’t mind Jared Leto’s take on the Joker in Suicide Squad. Yes, the constant news items about what latest “crazy” thing he did to get in character were pretty annoying, and yes, the number of people who seem to think that Joker and Harley Quinn’s relationship is something to emulate is downright disturbing, but Leto seemed like a perfect fit for the gloomy and angst-ridden universe that Warner Bros. has created for its DC Comics characters. At another studio, he’d be woefully out of place. In this one? He’s fine.

That whooosh you just heard is the entire cast of Justice League breathing a collective sigh of relief.

By all accounts, a lot of stuff got cut out of Suicide Squad. If you believe the recent press reports, there were two totally different versions of the film competing for release: A darker take from director David Ayer, and a jokier movie edited in consultation with the company that made the film’s popular, upbeat trailers.

Jared Leto is the second name on the poster for Suicide Squad. The only actor to get billed above him is Will Smith. Leto is listed ahead of actors like Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, and Viola Davis, who, unlike the Joker, are all actual members of the Suicide Squad. Despite Leto’s billing, though, and despite the large amount of publicity surrounding his unusual version of the character (not to mention his unusual preparations to play the role, which included sending disgusting “gifts” to his colleagues), Leto has very little screentime in the final film. He’s featured mostly in flashbacks about Robbie’s Harley Quinn and her time before she was captured by Batman. When he finally appears in the contemporary story, he shows up to “rescue” Harley, fails, and crashes in a helicopter. Then he doesn’t show up again until the very last scenes of the movie, when he tries to break her out of prison.

With 'Suicide Squad' coming out very soon, all the actors have been making their way around the media. The other night Jared Leto stopped by Jimmy's show with a gift from the Joker. If you have been following the making of the movie, Leto is a method actor and would send creepy disgusting gifts to the other actors.

Odds are you’ve probably rolled your eyes more than a few times after hearing Jared Leto’s approach to playing the Joker in the upcoming Suicide Squad. We’ve talked here before about the actor’s refusal to break character and his uncomfortable gifts to his costars; what we should also remember is that Leto’s Joker seems to be the perfect version of that character for Zack Snyder and David Ayer's vision of the DC universe. If Leto’s take on the Joker proves the quiet optimists like me right, DC Films would do well to give audiences a chance to see Ben Affleck’s Batman and Jared Leto’s Joker in action.