Here’s Why James Gunn Didn’t Include The Joker!
Published on July 16th, 2021 | Updated on July 16th, 2021 | By FanFest
The Suicide Squad is out soon, and it’s not quite a sequel not quite a reboot. It’s sort of trapped in this middle zone where it’s a bit of both. The film seems content to carry over what it needs and wants to. On the other side though, it’s willing to throw away what it feels is unnecessary. Like the Joker. And now we know why James Gunn didn’t include the Joker!
Jared Leto portrayed the Joker in the original Suicide Squad film from a few years ago. Jared Leto hasn’t really been seen as the Joker since. He appeared in Zack Snyder’s The Justice League, but considering the fact that WB seems to want nothing to do with that… well, it speaks for itself.
There was never any reason to believe that Jared Leto would be in the film, but we also know that James Gunn isn’t exactly… a fan. He’s called Leto out before, on Twitter, along with actor Dylan Sprouse, where he made some serious accusations against Leto.
You can check out the Tweet below!
He starts at 18 on the Internet?
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) May 16, 2018
While speaking with The New York Times, Gunn made it absolutely clear that Joker would not be showing up. In fact, he feels incredibly strongly that Joker would be no help in the kinds of situations The Suicide Squad will be in.
Here’s what he told the New York Times previously, and thank you to ComicBook.com for the quote. “Joker, no. I just don’t know why Joker would be in the Suicide Squad. He wouldn’t be helpful in that type of war situation. Will — I really wanted to work with Idris. It is a multi-protagonist film. We go off for a while with Margot, and Daniela [Melchior, who plays Ratcatcher 2] is the heart of the film in a lot of ways. But if there’s one protagonist, it’s Idris. And I wanted somebody who had that gruff, “Unforgiven”-type feeling about him. This guy who had been reduced from being a bigshot supervillain — he took Superman out of the sky — who is now scraping gum off the floor at the beginning of the movie. He absolutely doesn’t want any part of it — he just has accepted this is his life. And I just think that character is Idris Elba.”
So, there you go. That why James Gunn didn’t include the Joker in The Suicide Squad.
Alexander is passionate about everything related to gaming, comics, television, and film. You can usually find him watching some kind of DC show and can also find his writing on Multiversal News, something he’s helping to build.
