Jared Leto is not overly popular in the comic book community, and it’s not hard to understand why.
The 50-year-old actor (that’s right, the man’s 50) has now appeared in two separate comic book films, each of which are easily among the absolute worst adaptations of all time. Plenty of actors have fudged a comic book role in their lifetimes, but Leto is one of the few to do it twice. Ryan Reynolds and his terrible Green Lantern movie made it out by the skin of Wade Wilson’s teeth.
Leto may have hoped to erase the memory of Suicide Squad with his recent role in Morbius, but those hopes were dashed the moment the film arrived in theaters. The film, part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU), is arguably the worst release of 2022 so far, but at least it maintains as the worst kind of cult classic. Fans absolutely love to hate it, inadvertently propping the film with high viewership numbers and a truly unprecedented number of memes.
In celebration of Leto and all that he’s failed to deliver, one Twitter user took a moment to highlight his picks for the “worst comic book movie castings.” On the list are Leto as Joker—a role the fandom has largely tried to forget—Leto as Morbius, Julian McMahon as Doctor Doom (in 2005’s Fantastic Four) and Shaquille O’Neal in his oft forgotten role as Steel back in 1997.
The tweet quickly racked up likes and responses, as comic book film fans poured in their own votes for the worst castings in the genre. Jennifer Garner’s Elektra and Dolph Lundgren’s Punisher also got shout-outs, as did Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor, but the original tweet author, @SixthPunisher, was quick to remind people that “this tweet was mainly made [to] slander Leto so focus on that.”
The responses largely complied with @SixthPunisher’s request, focusing their energy on all the horrible acting Leto has graced the comic book world with. As one commenter aptly put it, the man truly is “one of the actors of all time.”
A good few commenters disagreed with both the Shaq and McMahon slander, pointing out that a terrible film doesn’t necessarily equal a terrible actor. The same argument was attempted for Leto as well, but quickly vanished beneath a horde of hilarious hot-takes about Leto’s lack of comic book aptitude.
The consensus from commenters appears to be that, while many of these characters are truly awful in their final forms, this is more due to bad writing and directing than due to the actors. Except in Leto’s case, of course.
Comic book film fans are very much here for the Leto hate train. While the man himself has received broad critical acclaim for some of his roles, it’s hard to argue that he and comic book adaptations simply don’t mesh. Hopefully Marvel and DC will keep it in mind next time they’re looking to cast the method actor.