We are less than a month away from the release of Zack Snyder‘s recut of Justice League.
Now, the director is further teasing the controversial return of Jared Leto‘s Joker in the Snyder Cut with an eerie new photo. As it turns out, the Gotham City villain is getting a biblical makeover in the upcoming HBO Max film.
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So far, Zack Snyder has shared plenty of teasers surrounding Jared Leto’s return as Joker. Earlier this month, Snyder confirmed Leto’s return with a cryptic photo before completely unveiling Joker’s new look in the Justice League recut. Although Leto’s Joker has ditched his tattoos and short hair, many fans still aren’t convinced about the villain’s return.
Now, Snyder has shared another exclusive photo of Leto as the infamous villain ahead of Justice League‘s premiere on Mar. 18. Courtesy of Vanity Fair, the haunting new image depicts Joker in a completely new light as he tries to emulate Jesus with a biblical crown of thorns.
This new section contains Justice League spoilers.
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Last week, DC fans finally got a glimpse of Leto’s Joker in the thriller new Snyder Cut trailer. In the visual, viewers see Ben Affleck‘s Batman and Leto’s Joker come face to face in an eerie new clip. Soon after its release, Snyder revealed the real reason why that scene between Batman and Joker needed to happen.
According to Vanity Fair, Joker appears in the new 4-hour Justice League during a sequence set on a ruined Earth after the alien tyrant Darkseid invades the planet.
“It’s a dream sequence, a psychic vision, experienced by Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne that reveals what will happen if the superheroes fail to stop the onslaught. Joker is sort of the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, supplying motivation through terror.”
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For Snyder, this scene is particularly intriguing because it’s the first time Leto’s Joker and Affleck’s Batman truly come together.
“The cool thing about the scene is that it’s Joker talking directly to Batman about Batman,” Snyder says. “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.”
According to Snyder, the Joker scene in Justice League will also answer a question that many DC fans had after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – why was Joker’s card taped to Wayne’s gun? The new scene will also touch on the theory that Joker actually killed Batman’s partner Robin.
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“I’d always wanted to explore the death of Robin,” Snyder continues. “And if there ever was going to be a next movie, which, of course, there probably won’t be, I wanted to do a thing where in flashbacks we learn how Robin died. [Also] how Joker killed him and burned down Wayne Manor, and that whole thing that happened between he and Bruce.”
The Snyder Cut of Justice League may not be the only time we see Leto play Joker in the future. Currently, rumors are swirling that David Ayer could release an Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad. As we all remember, Suicide Squad was recut post-filming. This led to the elimination of a lot of Leto’s screen time.
Over the years, reports emerged that Leto’s scenes were cut because Warner Bros. officials didn’t care for his portrayal of Joker. However, director David Ayer has largely disputed this. In fact, Ayer has shared various glimpses into Leto’s cut scenes, leading to many requests for a recut of the film. Additionally, Leto finally addressed that rumor he gave Margot Robbie a dead rat on the set of Suicide Squad in a telling new interview.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League premieres Mar. 18 on HBO Max.
What are your reactions to the new photo of Jared Leto’s Joker? Are you planning to watch the new Justice League on HBO Max in March? Let us know in the comments below.