Amidst all the fever, Marvel’s Avengers – Age of Ultron is raging around with, DC Comics’ and Warner Bros. managed to steal some of that light by revealing the first official look of Jared Leto’s incarnation of the iconic Joker in the upcoming anti-hero flick, Suicide Squad. From the looks of it, the Oscar Winner, Jared Leto unleashes sheer insanity, something that has been the Joker’s trump card in the DC universe.
Ever since Marvel’s Avengers (2012) smashed the box office numbers, DC has been hot on the heels in cashing on its massive comic properties. So when Christopher Nolan wrapped up the Dark Knight Franchise and refuted any further involvement with the DC cinematic universe (apart from Man of Steel), we, fans were heart-broken with the nightmare of never seeing the Caped Crusader or Gotham again on the silver screen. However things have changed for DC Comics’ fans with Warner Bros. now treading upon the path we all wished for – Justice League. Venturing further out in the DC universe, Warner Bros. announced the first anti-hero comic adaptation of Suicide Squad – a band of incarcerated master criminals and super-villains who work as expendable assets to the US Government in various Black-Ops missions.
The Suicide Squad has already made their debut on the small screen, TV show Arrow and now Warner Bros. along with director David Ayer (Fury) bring this anti-hero team to the big screen especially with the Joker in it taking DC’s experimentation days to a whole new level. Sharing his thoughts about the upcoming, Ayer stated, “You can do amazing things as a film-maker if you have the proper tools, and those are time and money…I can say that it’s a Dirty Dozen with super-villains. Then I ask the question, ‘Does a movie really need good guys?”
The Suicide Squad wishes you a Happy Anniversary Mr. J! #Joker75 #SuicideSquad @WarnerBrosEnt @DCComics pic.twitter.com/LZXz0x947Q
— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) April 25, 2015
With the official look of Jared Leto’s version of Joker unveiled we at AnimationXpress.com try to draw parallels of the Jokers brought on-screen over the years especially when Heath Ledger’s dramatic and psychotic version in Nolan’s The Dark Knight exquisitely stood out winning the late actor the Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards (2012).
The Man Behind The Smile
In 1989, Tim Burton’s classic Batman saw the Hollywood legend Jack Nicholson play the sadistic criminal mastermind, Joker while Michael Keaton played the serious billionaire and vigilante Batman. The then 52 year-old Jack shaped the homicidal character convincingly well. Jack’s mischievous voice and intense and terrifying performance coupled with the tidily comic adapted version iconized the Joker on screen.
Years later, Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2012) brought out something darker, sinister and yet a crowd puller with Heath Ledger’s incarnation of the Joker. In a series of unfortunate events, Heath passed away before the screening of the smashing box-office grosser which left the world shaken with his performance as the Joker, which also won him the Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars for that year. As per some stories, Heath had shut himself out for days only to flush out the intensifying insanity to the character.
David Ayer’s Suicide Squad brings another Oscar winner Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers’ Club) to the Joker’s club. Jared Leto’s chiseled long face make him the perfect candidate as Frank Miller’s adaptation of Joker in the Dark Knight Return. Miller’s version of the Joker was broad shouldered and had a matured calmness which only made him the perfect psycho something we have a feeling Jared would bring out well.
Make Up And Looks
Jack’s look for the Joker was closely lifted from the comic book strips. Having fallen into the jar of chemicals this Joker flaunted straight bright green hair, bleached white skin pouty red lips making him prance around as the gaudy super-villain in the purple coat.
Nolan’s interpretation of the Batman comic has throughout been realistic and Heath’s Joker was no exception. Heath’s ragged, bruiting and disfigured facial appearance was far from the comic books but never the less, none of us were left unconvinced when Heath uttered , “Why so Serious?”Ledger’s grungy look with the half peeled off make-up, strangled green locks in his expensive signature purple coat made Heath Ledger Gotham’s best on-screen villain till date with the persona that he is the ‘Freak’ Gothamites wouldn’t want to mess with.
Jared’s first look of his Joker tells us a lot about the irrational and terrifying insanity he is about to bring to the big screen. Bleach white skin, a hint of the signature purple glove with shorter bright green hair make him simply look like he leapt straight from the comic pages from Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s comic series The Killing Joke. What’s intriguing and menacing are the tattoos carved on Jared’s skin which may have tales of their own to tell.
The Maniacal Mannerisms
Iconised for his craziness, the psychotic villain, Joker has been Batman’s ultimate nemesis pushing the Dark Knight to the edge of his wits and sanity. From comic books to cartoon movies, Joker has always been judged by his maniacal mannerisms. In Burton’s Batman, Jack paid serious attention to those details and he didn’t disappoint with crazy-catchy phrases. His notorious cackle and style stayed true to the comics.
But Heath brought something of his own to the ‘clown prince of crime’. His outstanding performance drove the world crazy and pushed the sequel to make all box-office records kneel. Heath’s Joker was simply the agent of chaos in Gotham. Sadly for our Caped crusader, Heath stole the show all along with his maniacal cackle and the enigmatic screen presence. From well-planned bank robberies to pushing the city to chaos, Heath’s Joker brought out an applauding maniacal monster. His embodiment of the Joker has yet to be topped and we seriously doubt that it can ever be imitated.
Jared will try to bring his crazy antics in Suicide Squad that hits theatres on 5 August 2016 and so far we only have the first poster of the new Joker to keep us guessing what’s to be expected. None-the less the first look does hint towards Jared pushing the envelope here as we see clear parallels of his look taken from the comic Arkham Asylum.
While we have drawn parallels amongst the interpretations of the maniacal super-villain, Joker we have seen on the big screen, Jared may have a hard threshold here to beat with Heath’s incarnation ratcheting up the stakes too high for anyone who puts on the make-up as the Joker.It is undeniable how much we all miss Heath Ledger but we can still hope for Jared Leto to not disappoint us.
Suicide Squad has also tossed in a few biggies from Hollywood including the likes of Will Smith as Dead Shot, Margot Robbie as Joker’s love interest, Harley Quinn and Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang among others.
