Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League has hyped up fans with exciting buildup from teasers and trailers. If you watched the trailer, then you already know that Jared Leto makes a short appearance at the end. Along with teaser photos that have circulated on social media, we have been expecting Leto’s presence.
To question whether Leto’s Joker will be redeemed, has good reasons. Particularly, many fans did not appreciate his performance in Suicide Squad (2016) including myself. I gave his performance a 3/10 in my recent article Ranking & Rating The Live-Action Joker Portrayals.
In that article, I made the point about how “The Joker” is a personality where anyone can be “The Joker,” but there’s still characteristics to stick to. For instance, Leto’s Joker in Suicide Squad was dressed as if he was a gangster with his tattoos and gold grills. This goes outside of the “Joker realm”, giving him a portrayal that is not very Joker-esque.
Perhaps that was the costume department, or the director’s fault on how they imagined Leto’s Joker, but let’s look at his portrayal in a specific scene. In a club with Harley Quinn (his lover), Joker meets Monster T (portrayal of the tattooed Man in the comics, also a crime boss in Gotham City) for the first time. At some point, Monster T looks over to see Harley dancing in the distance and says, “Mm, you’re a lucky man. You got a bad bitch.”
The atmosphere of this scene did not fit the general Joker’s typical hangout. He is being portrayed as some gang leader, when Joker is known mostly for being a loner and using people to do parts of his dirty work. Not directly including himself in certain events, let alone being in a club.
Joker calls Harley over and says she is his gift to Monster T. He refused Harley because she was Joker’s girl, and said he didn’t want any beef with Joker, and Joker killed him.
Joker is an essence of chaos, but killing Monster T over some “jealousy” was not chaotic. Frankly, I’m not sure what it was, because Monster T was respecting Joker by politely declining Harley’s advances. Yes, Joker tends to do whatever he wants without reason, but this had no appeal whatsoever to be something Joker would do.
Therefore, scenes such as this, Joker’s appearance, and the acting of Joker is simply not Joker-esque. Perhaps it was from a bad directorial, a bad script?
Moreover, some fans of Leto’s Joker argue that he represents the comic appearance and is therefore an accurate representation. Yet, as aforementioned, Leto’s Joker has tattoos and teeth grills. Joker is supposed to be the “Clown Prince of Crime”, not the Gangster of Gotham.
Now, his appearance from teaser photos and short appearance in the trailer is of his longer hair (much like Heath Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight) and a white ragged dress(?) over white ragged pants. The gangster/mobster appearance is finally gone.
As seen in the trailer, he is sitting at the front of a car with the same uniform along with a SWAT vest and gun.“We live in a society where honor is a distant memory.” He says to Batman.
In another teaser image, his outfit had the addition of a thorn crown resembling that of something Holy, or perhaps something to do with the antichrist. Fans on Twitter even sarcastically suggest he’s playing himself. Whatever it’s supposed to represent, I’m somewhat intrigued.
His makeup is also different from Suicide Squad. It’s more sinister, and actually has more Joker-esque to it, though it seems a bit too neat.
If Gotham City is in ruins and they’re at war, apart from his messy lip-look, how does his makeup-job look like he just got out of an appointment with Ulta Beauty?
Until there are more teasers of Snyder’s Cut or until streaming day on HBO this year on March 18, there’s not much to go on if Leto’s Joker will be a better improvement, whether it’s his appearance, acting, scripting, or portrayal as a whole.
The question simply remains, will Leto’s Joker be redeemed? Take a look at the trailer below if you haven’t already!
With that said, I hope my insight has enlightened you and I’d love to talk about this in-depth! If you’d like to see more of my random content or would like to contact me, you can find me on Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr. You may also email me at jrnw99@gmail.com if you prefer.
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