Obviously, there are many reasons to get excited for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, but one of the most interesting aspects of an altogether interesting project is no doubt the return of Jared Leto’s Joker.
The Academy Award winner is an excellent actor if he’s given the proper material, but his take on the Clown Prince of Crime didn’t exactly impress comic book fans or general audiences. Sure, a lot of his scenes may’ve been left on the cutting room floor, but the fact that Leto basically presented Mr. J as half pimp, half Juggalo means that even with some additional footage in the film, it would still be a divisive take on the character.
Of course, Joker wasn’t a part of Justice League initially, so it’ll be fascinating to learn how he fits into the movie when Snyder’s Director’s Cut arrives on HBO Max later this year. And ahead of that, the filmmaker has now revealed our first look at the Clown Prince with the image below, which cryptically teases his new appearance.
As you can see, it’s not the most clear or revealing shot, but we do indeed see Mr. J holding up a playing card, and while his face and makeup remain blurred, you can still begin to work out how he may appear in the pic. For now, we’re getting a bit of a Heath Ledger Joker vibe from what we see here, though it’s too difficult to say for sure if that’s what Leto’s take will resemble given that we can’t make out a whole lot of detail.
In any case, with Zack Snyder’s Justice League on course to hit HBO Max on March 18th, we don’t have much longer left to go before we get to witness the actor’s return to the role in full and see if it goes over better than his last stab at playing the iconic DC villain.