One of the big shockers announced for Zack Snyder's Justice League was that Jared Leto would reprise his version of the Joker (Last scene in the 2016 film Suicide Squad). Many believe this is to help bring a close to Snyder's version of the DCEU in it's entirety, including the meeting of Leto's Joker and Ben Affleck's version of Batman. Granted, Leto will only appear for one scene, but for what? And why...is he completely different-looking? This is of course referring to the photos released today in Vanity Fair's reveal of the Joker's full Justice League look, revealing Leto in more traditional-looking Joker make-up, his tattoos and more extreme elements gone. Check them out below:
With this reveal, Snyder has revealed the circumstances behind Leto's appearance. As it turns out, Leto is being utilized in a dream sequence experienced by Affleck's Batman that ties into the Knightmare timeline teased in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Beyond teasing him as a "Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, supplying motivation through terror." Snyder elaborated on what purpose Leto's Joker will serve in this scene and why he wanted to include Leto at all:
“The cool thing about the scene is that it's Joker talking directly to Batman about Batman. It's Joker analyzing Batman about who he is and what he is. That’s the thing I also felt like fans deserved from the DC Universe. That is to say, the Jared Leto Joker and the Ben Affleck Batman, they never really got together. It seemed uncool to me that we would make it all the way through this incarnation of Batman and Joker without seeing them come together.”
Whether you were excited for not, Zack Snyder's Justice League will bring to a close a chapter of the DCEU, finally dropping the unfinished business fans felt Snyder was owed as he was forced to leave the original production of the film with the death of his daughter. With this, may Snyder finally get to move on to new projects with a sense of completion to his DC vision.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is set to be released on HBO Max on March 18th. Stay tuned!
Can Hack Snyder polish a turd? I think not.