Anyone excited about the Justice League?

[thunderbolt]

After his Oscar win, Leto was viewed as a blue chip Hollywood talent. His Joker was supposed to be the draw to see "Suicide Squad"... since most of the public had never heard of these characters.

The fact that so much of his performance ended up on the cutting room floor is telling in and of itself.

yeah, I figure there was a reason so much of it was dumped, either its bad, or Will Smith's ego demanded more screen time, or just bad direction/editing. What we did see of his Joker was pretty weak and trying to be hip and edgy, its the Poochy syndrome pushed by the suits.

[Hector]

Is Leto officially out as the Joker yet? There were rumors...

God, I hope so.

Think I'd rather see Supergirl beat up on Superman again...than see Leto as the Joker in another flick...

[PNGwynne]

Pretty sure Aquaman will be the stand out.

Part of me hopes so, and the other part of me realizes that, if you're right, we're in big trouble as far as a movie DCU goes.

[huedell]

After his Oscar win, Leto was viewed as a blue chip Hollywood talent. His Joker was supposed to be the draw to see "Suicide Squad"... since most of the public had never heard of these characters.

The fact that so much of his performance ended up on the cutting room floor is telling in and of itself.

I can't see how this is true other than that he was supposed to be a hook to draw people in.

The fact that his performance ended up on the cutting room floor had to do with the fact that when trying to shorten the running time on this debacle (think Superman IV---or even BvS DOJ!), of course the first thing to go was footage from the "Harley/Joker Romance" subplot that had little to do with the core Suicide Squad main plot.

A lot stinks about the Snyder DCCU and studio input... and I believe (for good reason, and you guys gotta back me on this) that these Snyder-Nolan (as producer)-connected DCCU movies have just not hit the screen all that well...

and if the new WW is the first and last of that era to really hit that sweet spot, then maybe we'll get lucky and will finally be embarking on an Iron Man-ish golden era of superhero movies for WB/DC.

But there's no way that I'm gonna dump the obviously "messed up to high heaven"-tainted DCCU's Suicide Squad Joker-showing on Leto's acting prowess within the Joker role as squeezed out by such a toxic gang of producers.

I'd have to see Leto miss the mark in something resembling a real "whole" Joker role before I gave him the boot. Not to say I wouldn't feel that way at some point.... just not now.

[thunderbolt]

^^^ That Joker missed the mark, big time. If you don't see it, I can't help you. It was just a flat out mess of an attempt to be edgy and cool with a timeless character that doesn't need to be hipped up for the audience to make him relevant.

[huedell]

^^^ That Joker missed the mark, big time. If you don't see it, I can't help you. It was just a flat out mess of an attempt to be edgy and cool with a timeless character that doesn't need to be hipped up for the audience to make him relevant.

It's not like I totally disagree with you. It's not like I thought he approached Ledger... or even Nicholson...although I found him scarier than Nicholson's Joker (insert joke here!).

I think our main difference is that I simply don't think he stunk ("big time").... and, to a lesser extent, I look at that "edginess" as a new take on an old character (my favorite villain of all-time next to Jadis Of Charn, the White Witch), a character who has been established as having many chaotic facets to his core character "insanity".

And, not only did I see the extra SS Joker footage and thought Leto was shortchanged... I also viewed the footage actually in SS as engaging enough, if pretty off-kilter... specifically I enjoyed the tension as he used Harley as some kind weapon to tease that gangster character.

All I'm saying is that I'm up for seeing him again.... I'm still not sure if he could carry the villain role in a film where he was the main villain, but SS was far from that twice over.

[comicmike]

I'm looking forward to it. Wonder Woman and Aquaman, too.

I agree. I loved the Wonder Woman movie, so she will undoubtedly bring much well-deserved diversity to the new team-movie's release. Aquaman truly brings forward a fresh new cinematic take on different eras of his comic book counterpart, IMO.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Suicide Squad's Joker also suffered from the suits and all involved wanting to diversify the character from Ledger's Oscar-winning portrayal. But that version proved the Joker can be relevant without giving into "hip" visuals such as grills and tons of tattoos. They should have learned from that.

Chris

[Hector]

Leto's Joker tattoos are cringeworthy and lame...telling the world he's mad through art...how narcissistically self-aware of himself is that, lol..

[thunderbolt]

Leto's Joker tattoos are cringeworthy and lame...telling the world he's mad through art...how narcissistically self-aware of himself is that, lol..

And the Joker of all people does not need to advertise.

[Hector]

Exactly...

[huedell]

And the Joker of all people does not need to advertise.

I couldn't agree more with this "tattoo lameness" perspective for this particular "Insane" tattoo.

Three things though:

1. Chris' point that they had to veer far from Ledger to be taken seriously was certainly a challenge they were faced with

2. Leto's "Rock star" Joker as a follow-up to Ledger's "punk" Joker made perfect sense to me... Leto's Joker was the "dandy" rock version of Ledger's "gutter" rock

3. Rock stars have tattoos... so, I'm for this Joker having tattoos... however, the tattoo was very "now" in style.... I would've preferred something more 60's "mod" ... but, I still thought the tat "idea" was "Glam Rock" Joker appropriate.

Frankly, I never saw the tat much once I was fixated to the movie... but for those entranced with the tat (and it's "self-aware" verbage) leading up the movie... the damage was done... how can I (or anyone at WB) erase that from people's mind's? That's why I say, it may be too late to seduce anyone already turned off to Leto's Joker no matter how insignificant that tat should be in the context to all else related to Leto's performance.

It's too bad that seemingly they may have to replace Leto based primarily on reactions to promo pictures for a movie in which Leto couldn't even get a fair shake in the editing room.