JARED LETO AS THE JOKER

After weeks of teases including a haircut and some sneakily snapped private images, director David Ayer used Twitter last week for a reveal from his super-villain team-up film Suicide Squad. Fans were stunned by the first image of Jared Leto as the new version of the Joker for the film, which began production this month.

Leto's Joker looks unlike any live-action Joker we've seen before, and different from any Joker the mainstream public is familiar with. But comic book readers will probably recognize some of the key influences for this latest big screen incarnation of the Clown Prince of Crime, and however strange he might look, he's definitely adapted from specific comics and is aesthetically pretty faithful to them. 

Everybody knows a lot is riding on Batman v Superman, as it will officially set up most of the rest of Warner's superhero universe on film. But it's fair to say there's much riding on Suicide Squad as well, since reactions to that film — which releases in late-2016, eight months after Batman v Superman is expected to blow the doors off the box office — are going to come early in the DC world's creation and will affect how audiences feel about spinoffs outside of the studio's superhero team-up event movies.

In particular, the Joker is probably the most well-known and popular villain of the superhero cinematic genre, and after Heath Ledger's beloved and Oscar-winning turn in the role, the bar is set high and everyone will be watching closely to see how the new version holds up by comparison. Fair or not, that comparison will have a huge impact on the overall perception and success of Suicide Squad; which is why Warner turned to Oscar-winning actor Jared Leto.

Leto amazed with his award-winning performance in Dallas Buyer's Club in 2013, as well as his popular roles in the films Fight Club, Requiem for a Dream, Chapter 27, Lord of War, and in the television series My So-Called Life. Critical and fan reactions to his casting as the Joker was overwhelmingly positive.