A lot of people were surprised when it was announced that Jared Leto’s Joker had been added to the cast for Zack Snyder’s Justice League reshoots, and not just because it looked as though Birds of Prey had officially consigned the actor’s divisive portrayal of the iconic villain to the history books for good.
The two archenemies had only briefly shared the screen in the DCEU during Ben Affleck’s cameo in Suicide Squad, with the Clown Prince of Crime subjected to just a couple of fleeting references in Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. There was a defaced Robin costume in the Batcave daubed with graffiti and a playing card taped to the Dark Knight’s weapon in the Knightmare sequence, but that was about it.
Now that Leto has boarded Justice League, though, there’s been plenty of speculation about how he factors into the plot. While he could be involved in the present day timeline of the movie, the Academy Award winner may also turn up in flashbacks that add greater depth to Affleck’s grizzled portrayal of the Caped Crusader.
It looks like Snyder may have given us an answer on the matter, too, after some online sleuthing started piecing together the Joker’s potential involvement. Over on Vero, the social media platform that’s only ever in the headlines when the filmmaker drops new information on Justice League, a fan theory was liked by the filmmaker himself, as you can see below.
In the context of the DCEU, it makes total sense for the Joker to have utilized his knowledge of Batman’s secret identity to infiltrate the Batcave and brutally murder Robin before setting Wayne Manor ablaze. It sounds pretty dark for a comic book blockbuster, sure, but Leto’s Clown Prince of Crime is expected to be portrayed as a much more dangerous threat the second time around when he returns in the all-new Justice League.