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Suicide Squad: The Killing Joke Homage

By Steve Lam

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Suicide Squad director David Ayer just tweeted a picture of Jared Leto as the Joker.  Comic fans will immediately know that it’s an homage to Batman: The Killing Joke (March 1988) — one of the greatest Joker-centric stories ever written.

Batman: The Killing Joke was written by Alan Moore with art by Brian Bolland.  The one-shot documented the Joker’s origins and had events that rippled throughout DC’s universe — most notably Barbara Gordon’s devastating paralysis from being shot by the Joker.  This event would be the first stepping stone in Barbara transforming herself from Batgirl into Oracle — a genius hacker who provided informational and technical support for Batman.

Jared Leto, known for immersing himself into the characters he plays, has been sharing images of his preparation to play the Clown Prince of Crime.  Fans seem to have embraced his new incarnation — which is no small feat due to the popularity of the late Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning performance in The Dark Knight (2008).

Suicide Squad has a United States release date of August 5, 2016, and will be part of DC’s new shared universe of films which started with Man of Steel (2013) and will include the upcoming highly anticipated Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  Suicide Squad is being written and directed by David Ayer, and the current confirmed cast includes Jared Leto as The Joker, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Will Smith as Deadshot, Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg, and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller.

Next: Could Batman make an appearance in Suicide Squad?

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