According to The Hollywood Reporter’s “sources,” Jared Leto might be playing The Joker in Warner Bros. upcoming Suicide Squad movie. But wait! Don’t rush off to your preferred social media outlet to tell everyone your extremely important opinion just yet. This is actually a fantastic opportunity to get on the ground floor of something that could be very special. Remember the reaction when Heath Ledger was cast as The Joker? Well, Geektyrant remembers, and it was not especially positive. Even the whiniest of comic book nerds has to admit that Ledger’s Joker was really good, though, so who can say that 30 Seconds To Mars’ frontman won’t also be able to bring it? He did just win an Academy Award, after all. Accolades like that are usually a good indicator of someone’s acting ability, even if they have a propensity for doing douchey bullshit.
We’re not saying anyone should abandon their God-given right to complain about comic book movies on the Internet, we’re saying that if you jump on the #30SecondsToJoker bandwagon now, you’ll be able to gloat like crazy if this turns out well. After Suicide Squad comes out and Leto’s Joker blows everyone away, people will start retweeting your predictions and apologizing for doubting you, then you’ll go on The Tonight Show to talk about your never-ending faith in Jared Leto, and then he’ll show up and give you a hug and ask you to join his band. All of that will happen because you took a moment to be optimistic about something. Of course, it’s still just a rumor at this point—and there’s no guarantee Leto’s Joker would be any good—so it might be a bit premature to invest too heavily in #30SecondsToJoker. That won’t stop us, though!
Besides, there’s an actual piece of this rumor that comic book fans should be annoyed by: Why would The Joker be a part of the Suicide Squad? Traditionally, the team is made up of B-list characters at best. It’s bad enough that Lex Luthor might be in the movie, so why does The Joker have to be there? It’s like DC is missing the point of the Suicide Squad, and it’s up to us—as comic book fans on the Internet—to complain about it incessantly until the movie comes out. This can’t possibly backfire.