Jared Leto took over the role of Batman's greatest enemy The Joker in last year's "Suicide Squad" movie for the DC COmics Extended Universe (DCEU). He played a side character that was just there as a break to the action but he seemed to be ready for a bigger role at the end when he reunited with his flame, Harley Quinn. There were plans to bring him back, possibly for a solo-Batman movie but now there are now rumors that a Joker stand-alone film might be coming and the DCEU wants a different Joker for that film.
Jared Leto on returning as Joker
Jared Leto was talking about the recent launch of the new video game "Destiny 2" and an interviewer questioned him about his role in the DCEU and the possibility of a stand-alone Joker movie without him.
Leto was honest and claimed the same confusion as many fans about the news.
“I’m a little confused too, but yeah, there are a couple of things happening in the DC world and I loved the Joker," Leto said, continuing by saying, "he’s a great character, a really fun character to play." Leto then said that he has no problem if he already has to pass the baton to the next actor and is excited to see what happens next.
What is next for The Joker?
It appears that the DCEU is planning a new Suicide Squad movie, which likely means the return of Harley Quinn - without The Joker. There was also talk that Harley Quinn would get an all-female movie with Poison Ivy and possibly Catwoman but there has been no recent news on that.
As for The Joker, he was expected to be part of a Batman movie but the first Batman movie in the new DCEU was looking to have someone like Deathstroke as the main villain and that would mark that idea off the list. Since Jared Leto was part of this DCEU world, that is where he needs to exist.
However, the word from Warner Bros.
is that the upcoming work on a Joker stand-alone movie will be a separate world from the current DCEU and that means a completely different actor in the role of the Clown Prince of Crime. The original rumors were that Martin Scorsese would produce the movie and Warner Bros. wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to play Joker in this movie.
That would seem like a huge jump, to go from Jared Leto to Leonardo DiCaprio but it isn't like The Joker hasn't shot for the stars before. Leto could be compared in some ways to Heath Ledger, who won a posthumous Oscar for his role in "The Dark Knight" and DiCaprio could be compared to Jack Nicholson, who played the character in Tim Burton's "Batman" film.
