Is Jared Leto the Joker and Should He be in the Suicide Squad Movie?

While Casting News has always been followed by heated debates on message boards throughout the intranets, few characters fuel the fire more than the Joker.  One has to look no further than when Heath Ledger was announced as the Clown Prince of Crime in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight to see how fiercely DC Comic fans rage over the selection of their most iconic villain.  It's also the best example of an entire group opening mouth and inserting foot after seeing the final results.  Heath Ledger was awesome and (posthumously) won an Academy Award for his performance.  I know some people who go so far as to say they could never see anyone else as the Joker after Ledger's performance.  Well, I guess they better close their eyes real tight.

The Wrap announced that Jared Leto may be the next Joker in the big screen adaptation of the Suicide Squad.  Directed by David Ayer, the Suicide Squad is the story of a Government run program where Villains can work off their sentences by going on deadly missions that are often...suicide.  The "team" is still up in the air as well as the actors portraying them, but the rumor mill has churned out names like Tom Hardy, Will Smith and Cara Delevingne as potential stars.  The last name is crucial since she is rumored to be playing Harley Quinn which gives the Joker a reason to be around.  Mind you, I didn't say the reason was good.

Word is that Ayer is rewriting the script to include the Joker and that news is enough to have me worried.  Why wasn't he in the original script?  I'll tell you why, because having the Joker in the Suicide Squad is ridiculous.  He would never be involved in such a thing and I really think he's too much of a wild card for the Government to even pursue it.  It just reeks of DC's higher ups demanding their most famous villain be thrown in to a movie they are already worried about.  It shouldn't be surprising, it is based on a comic that keeps getting cancelled. Of course, the Joker could be in the movie and not necessarily be on the Squad.  This is where Harley may factor in.  Joker and Harley go together like Peanut Butter and more Peanut Butter, but even then it feels more like a cheap ploy than anything else.

In closing, I think Jared Leto is a really good actor, a good choice to play the Joker and an all around dreamy guy.  He's an Oscar winner for Christ's sake.  I'll even go out on a limb and say he will indeed play the Joker in the Suicide Squad movie.  However, I'll also say that I think it's a ridiculous move and shows that DC is already worried about this movie to the point of desperation. The announcement of the Joker's return to the Silver Screen should be cause for cheers, but in this case, I'd only have jeers.