When it was revealed how Jared Leto’s Joker was to look in the upcoming Warner Bros take on Suicide Squad, fans were a little taken aback. The thing is, this Joker looks nothing like we’ve ever seen before for a number of reasons.
Firstly, there’s all the tattoos. We can’t really imagine the Joker spending days within a tattoo parlour to get them all. Not without at least killing a few tattoo artists.
Then there’s that weird grill thing on his teeth – kind of like if Vanilla Ice was trying to be a cool rapper in the late noughties.
No, Jared Leto’s Joker might look pretty cool, but he’s certainly far from the psychopath we’re used to in the comics. But then there came an explanation/theory from Reddit user Jason-G169. What is this Joker is actually Jason Todd?
For those unfamiliar with Jason Todd, he was the second Robin to go alongside Batman after Dick Grayson left to become Nightwing. Unlike Grayson who was the perfect pet sidekick and followed all his order, Jason Todd was a different kettle of sidekick-fish.
Jason Todd was fiery and believed he could take on any supervillain that Batman could. A trait which was to be the demise of poor Jason Todd in A Death in the Family as he was beaten to death by the Joker and left for dead within an explosion. An event which has haunted Batman ever since as he blamed himself for Todd’s death.
So why is there a theory about this new Joker being Jason Todd? Well here’s the evidence so far:
1. Have a closer look at his tattoos
When we first saw the Jared Leto Joker and all his tattoos, we just presumed they were random. Which was silly, nothing the Joker does is random. In particular the Todd theory looks at two tattoos:
The first is the “J” on his face. Yes, this could stand for Joker but it could also stand for Jason. There is also what looks to a bird on his arm – a bird that is very likely to be a robin.
2. The Red Hood
One of The Joker’s ‘maybe’ origin stories is that he was forced to become the z-list villain Red Hood when he fell into a vat of acid. When Jason Todd was resurrected from death (it is comics) he took on the mantra of Red Hood an anti-hero who went against Batman’s wishes of no guns.
3. The note left for Bruce Wayne
“You let your family die” a note left for Bruce in what looks like it could be the Joker’s handwriting. Now there was a leaked photograph which showed a gravestone with Dick Grayson’s name on it – Batman’s sidekicks are his family. As the theory goes, Jason/Joker could be taunting Bruce over these deaths. But the fact that it’s Bruce reading the note with the note points to someone that would know Batman’s real identity i.e. Jason Todd.
4. The Robin suit
What we first thought to be a Batman suit in the trailer has since been discovered to be an old Robin suit. Now is the Jared Leto Joker mocking Batman because he killed a Robin or because he used to be a Robin? Now unless this costume is in a museum, how exactly did the Joker get to it? Not unless he’s been in the Batcave before…
5. The Robin suit has two holes in it
Which appears to line up with two scars on the Jared Leto Joker…
Which is very, very interesting.
6. ’20 years in Gotham, how many good guys are left? How many stayed that way?’
That’s what we hear Bruce Wayne say in the trailer for Batman vs Superman, but what is Bats referring to? Could it be that his own hero-prodigy has turned to the darkside and became the Joker?
You make some interesting points. That last one, though. You could be right about it, but couldn’t it also just be BvS’ version of the Dark Knight’s quote “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain”?