To me he was very threatening, wierdly excentric, even erratic, with a scarily goofy streak in his behavior. He was an uncomfortable presence in the room, which I walways imagined him to be.
I was quite unexpected that they made him sincerely love Harley, but I like it, Joker is all about being unexpected. The only real problem I have with him is the forehead tattoo. The rest I can live with.
Now, I have to confess, that I'm not that much into DC, so maybe I simply don't know some key characteristic, that makes or breaks a Joker, but I still don't understand. Explain, please.
Awfully written with absolutely atrocious dialogue, no real reason to be in the movie other than marketing purposes (tell me, what is his main purpose in the story aside from speeding out about Harley?) and embarrassing overacting from Jared Leto (his laugh is awful as well).
Benjamin Cook
He's not Heath Ledger and normies love Heath! Literally the ONLY fucking reason
Robert Hill
He wasn't anymore threatening than your average gun and knife and explosive and henchmen toting goober He had zero charisma
I appreciate bringing Joker back to his gangster roots, but I was hoping for something a bit less flaccid. The only thing I can say kind about this portrayal is it's not as bad as DCU Movie universe Lex. Or DC Movie U Superman, for that matter.
Jayden Cooper
his point in the movie was to basically be the temptation pulling Harley away from the team, due to Harley more or less having the central arc in the story of her learning to find family in the squad
And ironically its all undone at the end when Joker breaks her out.
Ethan Fisher
Because he wasn't as good as pic related would've been in the role.
Nolan Morgan
People who don't like him never read Morrison Batman. He was a fine Joker. The movie had other, bigger problems.
Also people hate the DCEU with a passion because company wars are back, but this time the normies are involved due to movies.
Christian Reed
I thought people were just having giggles at him because they hate the DCEU, but then I saw him "acting" and it was disgustingly awkward and I would say it made me cringe, but the word is overused to I won't. I totally did though.
It's one thing to be disgusted by a character's actions, another to be disgusted by how bad an actor's portrayal of that character is. Fucking nitwit.
Anthony Wright
Morrison Joker was smart and slightly spooky, though
This guy's just a juggalo gangster. Granted, all we have to base that on is his appearences in Suicide Squad, but he didn't give any impression other than that.
Nathaniel Howard
Because he wasn't funny. He had the edge, but didn't make me laugh.
Charles Cox
Joker's whole character is being overly edgy though
William Miller
idk that seems like a pretty spot on Joker
Jack Butler
it seemed right in line with Morrison Joker when he had Harley jump into the vat for him or when he was toying with Common before shooting him.
Nathan Phillips
Is Joker even supposed to be funny?
Mason Davis
Gangster roots? What, you think the Joker's roots are in the Tim Burton Batman movie? Last I checked he was just a gimmicky serial killer in his first appearance.
Aiden Garcia
He does have lots of good moments.
Jordan Rogers
watch almost any animated version of the character and you'll see that's not true
Anthony Mitchell
Occasionally. Even Leger had that line about Maggie Gyllenhall being beautiful. Started cracking up in the middle of the theater after that one.
Chase Thomas
>Not Muh Joker
Honestly, he was great. It's pretty different from the traditional Joker, so of course it provokes blind hatred.
Gavin Ortiz
Basically, Joker, like Batman, has been redefined so many times, that there is no definitive version of him. Most people have their own "MUH Joker" version in their heads which they compare every new iteration to. The success or failure depends mostly on how close they turn out to be.
Zachary Roberts
Honestly, as presented, it struck me more as lazy than anything else. There's so much joker stuff out there, and it feels to me like we were left to fill in the blanks on his performance. I don't know if that was a function of scripting or editing or the actor, but it honestly felt to me like the only reason the joker was there was because quinn was, and they could have subbed him for any other crime boss otherwise.
Eli Ward
Eh, I think, Joker should never be intentionally funny. Like, sometimes he'd say or do something hilarious, but he never intends it to be that way. And every time he tries to make people laugh on purpose, he fails miserably.
Nathan Sanchez
But he's very often intentionally funny and it works great. Look at the Killing Joke for example. Those jokes he's making after shooting Barbra? They were funny. It was horrible, but it was funny.
Jeremiah Sullivan
Because he's a bland, uninteresting 8-year-old child's interpretation of what "scary bad guy" means.
Ryder Lee
That joker was edgy as fuck.
Ryder Taylor
Real talk? okay.
He's ok to me. i love his modern gangster joker. also liked the suit and his slim body. i just don't like the tattoo on his forehead and the grills and his cringy lines but that's not his fault.
he's got a lot of hate more than he deserves. dc fanboys are the whiniest fanboys on earth.
if he's got a good script next time, maybe i'll like him more than heath.
Carson Perez
He raped batgirl for shits and giggles.
Ryder Jones
>he was threatening
The Joker being threatening is bollocks. I can think of at least 10 villagers from my hometown that would smoke him with their hunting rifle for going HONKA HONKA around them.
Benjamin Richardson
Good thing edgy is a perfectly legitimate option for a Joker
Luis Hall
I don't hate him
In fact, he's my second favorite live-action Joker after Jack
Eli Hernandez
like in the actual comics
EVERY SINGLE TIME
John Clark
>Eh, I think, Joker should never be intentionally funny.
You need to read more Joker comics. He gets fucking pissed when his jokes don't get a laugh.
Kevin James
BEEEEEEEEF
He was just grating to listen to
Blake Mitchell
having no eyebrows weakened his ability to emote
having nonwhite teeth weakened his smile
Jason Robinson
Morrison's Joker was absolutely the weakest part of his run though.
Benjamin Fisher
I found him more annoying than threatening or funny,I'm sure his interpretation fits for some people but I didn't enjoy any of his scenes and his design really bugged me
Caleb Rodriguez
>they could have subbed him for any other crime boss otherwise.
This. Any threatening, erratic, and violent dude with a gold chain and grill would have gotten the job done.
For me personally, whole movie was painfully edgy and tryhard. I mean, what other reason would they have for scribbling 'Damaged' and 'HA HA HA' all over the Joker other than to appeal to people who think neck tattoos are the epitome of badassery.
Joshua Sullivan
To be honest, edge to me is the wrong way to go with the Joker. Joker should be the least threatening dude out there. He should be sort of Silver Age goofy and zany and more than a bit pathetic, so that when he does something gruesome, it catches you by surprise. Joker's terror should lie in that disconnect between how he looks and acts and what he does, just like Batman looks and acts as threatening and scary as possible, but is actually a really nice guy underneath.
If you telegraph straight away that the Joker is a fucking psycho, then I don't really care anymore. He's just another psycho.
Christopher Jenkins
The movie was more about Quinn than it was about Joker because it's a Suicide Squad flick, dummy. He was a celebrity guest star and not the main event, he was there largely for Harley's backstory.
Christian Sanchez
What is with Sup Forums and calling shitty villain "threatening" when they're not threatening in the slightest?
Alexander Sullivan
Well, yeah, sure. And there's a huge trope/cliche, that Joker's goons and partners have to fake laughter, because they know, that he will stab them with a screwdriver in the thigh if they won't laugh. He doesnt have to be actually funny, he just has to believe that he is.
Bentley Morales
I grew out of my hot topic, boring overall. It feels like they went with the most marketable idea instead of actual character.
Hunter Collins
You guys make it sound like he's pretty much Tuco Salamanka.
Gavin Butler
Because what Joker thinks is funny isn't what you find funny personally. Everything from the smiling teeth tattoo on his palm to DAMAGED is shit he thinks is funny, usually due to it mocking Batman.
Brandon Collins
TIGHT TIGHT TIGHT
Alexander Smith
But a good joker can be funny to the reader and horrifying to the in universe characters too.Him not being funny to anyone but himself seems to be a Scott Snyder interpretation and it's not that great honestly
Parker Flores
The tattoo are funny though to the audience if you bother to think about it. He even had a Robin tattoo on his chest, IIRC, which is hilarious when you remember Robin is dead in DCEU.
Jaxson Cooper
It's more that I hate Batman due to his "thou shall not kill even if the lives of millions depends on it because then I'm worse than him" bullshit. At least Superman isn't afraid to take desparate measures when dealing with really dangerous foes like Zod, Doomsday, and Darkseid.
Along with Bob Kane being an utter prick who stole the idea from Bill Finger.
Colton Russell
Eh he was ok.
Oliver Ramirez
I don't see what's funny about the tattoos,the robin one is kinda twisted but damaged,the J and the playing card don't feel like there meant to be funny or clever just too on the nose
Juan Howard
i didnt hate him, i hated his look though
Josiah Peterson
No, he molested Batgirl
Jayden Hill
>The only real problem I have with him is the forehead tattoo. That and the script. Leto's acting was fine. Even on point, for what the character was given in the script. Take the forehead tat off and hand the man some decent lines. Then we'll see a joker.
Benjamin Cruz
There was also the scene after he meets the mobsters they threaten him but then he pulls out grenades and say "ah ah, you wouldn't want to blow this out of proportion now" which I thought was pretty funny.
Aaron Barnes
How is it funny?
Aiden Walker
It's a funny pun.
Brandon Smith
It's a pun, funny is debatable.
Jayden Rogers
Yeah.... obviously?
Leo Lee
>Why do you hate this Joker?
Because it wasn't anything resembling the Joker most people have come to know through years of pop culture osmosis - specifically, from B:TAS and "The Dark Knight".
Yes, Joker has always been something of a gangster and a thug, but most modern interpretations make him a sociopathic genius who wants more than to rob banks and skip away merrily with the cash. Modern!Joker is a philosophical mirror to Modern!Batman; as cliched as it is to bring it up now, "The Killing Joke" shows this idea perfectly.
Leto!Joker was...different, yes. This interpretation went back to the roots of Joker as a gangster, and that in and of itself is not a bad thing. But that has to overcome Leto's bad acting, the lack of screentime for the character, the horrible dialogue, and the characterization that eschews "Batman's mirror opposite" in favor of "crazy albino gangster". In this case, "different" does not equal "good".
(Leto's off-camera behavior did not help his case. Fuck that asshole.)
Carson Wilson
>they could have subbed him for any other crime boss
This is the big issue here. In "The Dark Knight" or even the '89 "Batman", Joker felt like an irreplacable part of the story - a piece of the puzzle that, if taken out, makes the puzzle incomplete. In "Suicide Squad", Joker was no such thing - he was more a prop than a character, a mere object to push along Harley's story.
If Joker can be replaced in a story by some other mob boss, that is a shitty Joker. It is a Joker that does not deserve to see the light of day.
Christian Nelson
100% agree here. Leto did a great job with the script and direction he was given. He filled the role that was given to him pretty well.
If they had given him a better script and told him to really go for it (read: LAUGH DAMNIT) it would have been much better.
Adrian Harris
>He was an uncomfortable presence in the room That was actually a big problem i had with him. Many comics and cartoon versions walked along the line, but in suicide Squad they took it too far in my opinion, as if Joker is willing to kill just anyone. And the problem with that is, such a person would be killed by one of the other gangsters long long before the events of the movie. Normally the joker makes it clear he IS willing to kill anyone, but usually doesn't do it unless he knows he can get away with it and it would benefit him.
Here, he just shoots his partners for fun because "lol i'm crazy" and no one cares
Isaiah Flores
Joker's sense of humor is meant more as "dead baby comedy" than "average stand-up comedian". What he finds funny is meant to scare the average person, and all so that he can get the last laugh.
Lincoln Hill
>dead baby comedy But that's one of the most hilarious kinds of comedy.
Ian Nelson
>the joker makes it clear he IS willing to kill anyone, but usually doesn't do it unless he knows he can get away with it and it would benefit him
And if it would be funny (to him).
Robert Martin
That's a matter of perspective, really.
Angel Torres
that's just the thing, he doesn't do it. He never does things for "lolrandom", there is always a point no matter how much he tries to deny it.
Chase Miller
Well, he got advice from Morrison.
Julian Thompson
>Leto did a great job with the script and direction he was given.
Explain.
Aaron Lewis
Way too tryhard and subtle pandering to the SJW cuck crowd
I prefer the more nihilistic Ledger joker to this Le qUiRkY sO cRAzY LoL XD RaNDuM joker.
Also Ledger was just all around an infinitely better actor than Jared "15 isn't pedo" Leto
Adam Cox
>At least Superman isn't afraid to take desparate measures when dealing with really dangerous foes like Zod, Doomsday, and Darkseid.
>“I think that I brought so much to the table in every scene, it was probably more about filtering all of the insanity"
This, along with multiple interviews where he describes just how excited he is to play Joker, leads me to believe that the toned down version of the Joker we are in the film was due to direction and editing.
Also >Leto also said in the interview he told director David Ayer during production that “Suicide Squad” should be rated R.
>“I always wished this film were rated R,” he said. “It felt like, if a film was ever going to be rated R, it should be the one about the villains.”
Matthew Rodriguez
Tuco was scarier tbdesu.
Oliver Ross
Who wasn't? There was nothing scary about Leto's Joker.
James Diaz
I prefer Nicholson's classic mob boss/deranged artist to Heath Edger and Damaged Gangsta.
Carter Nguyen
>non-white teeth
so did DCAU and Ledger
I didn't really notice before but the metal made the whiteness of the teeth stand out
Jaxson Gray
This. I'm sick of anyone saying they like or even know a single fucking thing about Batman if they can't grasp this simple fact.
Dylan Bennett
not Marvel
Charles Wilson
But Ledger wasn't like any version and still managed to win people over.
Eli Flores
>And ironically its all undone at the end when Joker breaks her out. Yeah, allmost as the upper part of your post is made up. Even if he didn't break her out, there was nothing of an character arc here. Joker pulled her into the plane and both would have gotten away if said plane wasn't shot down and she only waited for the rest to pick her up again.
Joseph Cox
yet he was put at the centre of the ad campaign
Henry Ross
>15 isn't pedo By definition, it isn't
Luis Mitchell
Oh no, advertising lied to me!
Nicholas Johnson
What is Sauron doing in that comic?
Daniel Butler
The problems with the DCEU Joker are readily apparent to anyone with functioning eyeballs and an age above 16
Carter Turner
I just felt really bad for him. Leto is a good actor, but this Joker was just... a little embarrassing? The design started to grow on me, I could have looked past it, but what they made him do and say in the movie.. It's hard to explain really. There is a hard fine line you need to walk with Joker, he so easily becomes cringe.
Ledger's Joker looked like edge incarnate, but his actual portrayal was pretty funny - and that's kind of the point of Joker imo. Anons often argue 'Joker isn't funny!' but in the comics/shows that are good, he usually is. Maybe not laugh-out loud, but a chuckle here and there over a shitty pun or his obsession with making Batman rustled.
WB also shot themselves in the foot by promoting this Joker as 'truly fucked up' and the 'scariest version of the character yet!' when the actual Joker in the movie was just a thug who likes makeup and cares for his girlfriend.
Josiah Cook
The key aspect of every solid Joker performance so far has been charisma. Nicholson's Joker is very different from Ledger's Joker who is very different from Hamill's Joker, but they all have an abundance of charisma and showmanship.
It's fun to watch them do what they do, in part because they enjoy it so much and in part because of the flourish Joker's typically put into their crimes.
This Joker wasn't fun to watch. He had zero charisma. What I can only assume were his attempts at jokes weren't funny and lying down laughing among a meticulously placed collection of knives and guns was just nonsensical
I get the feeling I was supposed to laugh at the "hunka hunka" line but I was just embarrassed for everyone involved in the scene.
Joshua Jackson
Wasn't he called "the clown prince of crime" initially?
Robert Butler
When did Nicholson or Ledger ever have an ounce of charisma?
Sebastian Bailey
I'm not much of a comics guy myself, but I agree with the rest of the anons here. I've seen better jokers, but I like the weird sexuality and more physical approach they gave him. The script was a steaming pile and the look was horrible (though that was a complaint I had with every single costume in the movie) but as a performance, it's an unconventional but not necessarily bad.
Christian Scott
You have no soul
Owen Reyes
You think people here read comics? Leto's Joker is the most Joker a live action movie has had, save for Romero.
Charles Gray
that's how Batman was drawn after entering Akham Asylum in that comic, the writer said he wanted 'draw Batman as his enemies see him', so he's drawn as a shadow which flits around in the darkness and occasionally comes out to fuck someone up
Isaac Howard
I beg to differ.
James Clark
>he wanted 'draw Batman as his enemies see him But most Batman villains rather got used to his appearance.
Matthew Price
this comic also focused rather heavily on the various villain's mental illnesses, in the depictions of the characters shown there, them not having an entirely rational view of Batman makes sense