A new, in focus look at Jared Leto’s Joker from “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” was revealed today. In an article by Vanity Fair, new photos of the “knightmare” version of the Clown Prince of Crime provided a more in-depth look at the character set to appear in the highly anticipated film next month.
In said photos we are granted a closer look at Joker’s detailed past. According to Vanity Fair, Jared Leto’s Joker was not part of Snyder’s original plan for Justice League before stepping away from directorial duties for the 2017 flop. Snyder’s reasoning for exiting production involved a family tragedy.
The Joker is really the only thing that I thought of in retrospect,” Snyder told Vanity Fair. “But I will say that it was always my intention to bring Joker into that world.”
Joker is set to appear in the “Snyder Cut” during the legendary “Nightmare” sequence set on a post-apokolitic (see what we did there) earth devastated after the alien tyrant Darkseid invades. It’s a dream sequence (or a psychic vision) first revealed in “Batman vs. Superman” (2016) experienced by Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne. The dream / vision reveals what will happen if the superheroes fail to prevent Darkseid’s forces.
“The cool thing about the scene is that it’s Joker talking directly to Batman about Batman,” Snyder said. “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.”
Since “Man of Steel” (2013), the director has been plotting an over-arching, originally complex, storyline.
“The scene explains why Bruce had the Joker card taped to his gun that you see in Batman v Superman,” the director says of his 2016 film, which also hinted that that Joker murdered the Caped Crusader’s sidekick by showing the absent Robin’s armor, spray-painted with “Ha Ha, Joke’s On You, Batman.”
In Justice League, fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince (Gal Gadot), to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes — Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) — it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.
The screenplay is by Chris Terrio, story by Chris Terrio and Zack Snyder and Will Beall, based on characters from DC, Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The film’s producers are Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, with executive producers Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Wesley Coller, Jim Rowe, Curtis Kanemoto, Chris Terrio and Ben Affleck.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is set to premiere March 18, 2021 on HBO Max.
