The Crown Prince of Crime, @JaredLeto. #SnyderCut pic.twitter.com/ALYZ0bXFz0
— Zack Snyder's Justice League (@snydercut) February 9, 2021
The black and white images, first revealed by Vanity Fair but then posted to Twitter by the movie's official account, show a Joker with heavy white makeup, smudged eyes and lips, and greasy, long hair. The big difference, though, is that there's not a single tattoo in sight. Yup, the much debated 'Damaged' forehead design is gone. The white coveralls disguise if his arm and hand tattoos remain, though.
We'd already heard that Joker would have a "road-weary" look in Zack Snyder's new cut of Justice League, and this version of the character is certainly that. We'd previously been granted a very blurry shot of Jared Leto's new look on Twitter, and back then we guessed that the white clothing may be a hospital gown or some kind of straight jacket/institution clothing. We can now see that it's a surgical gown, and that there's a mask hanging from his neck. Snyder told Vanity Fair that this is "probably" a remnant of his escape into the wild.
Snyder also revealed how Joker factors into the movie's story, so if you'd like to remain in the dark for your viewing of the Snyder cut of Justice League, perhaps it's best to turn away now. But if you're up for spoilers, catch them in the next paragraph.Joker will appear in a new sequence set on a ruined Earth after Darkseid has invaded the planet. This is a vision experienced by Bruce Wayne as a warning of what will happen if the Justice League fails to stop Darkseid's plans. Naturally, Batman's iconic nemesis is alive and well in this terrible nightmare future.
“The cool thing about the scene is that it's Joker talking directly to Batman about Batman,” Snyder told Vanity Fair. “It's Joker analyzing Batman about who he is and what he is. That’s the thing I also felt like fans deserved from the DC Universe. That is to say, the Jared Leto Joker and the Ben Affleck Batman, they never really got together. It seemed uncool to me that we would make it all the way through this incarnation of Batman and Joker without seeing them come together.”
Batman and the Joker have never faced off in the current DCEU movies, but in Batman v Superman we saw that the two definitely have history. Snyder suggests that this appearance will address the death of Robin, whose armour we saw in the Batcave, covered in the Joker's taunting graffiti.
For more, check out the first Snyder-issued image of Batman in his Knightmare costume, and the news that Justice League will be rated R. And don't forget that Zack Snyder himself will be joining us for IGN Fan Fest this month to talk more about his new cut of the movie. Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.
