Academy Award-winning actor and 30 Seconds From Mars rocker Jared Leto will be tackling perhaps his highest profile role yet (not counting Jordan Catalano) as infamous super villain The Joker in the Warner Brothers movie ‘Suicide Squad’ directed by David Ayer and based on the DC Comics concept of the US government employing imprisoned super criminals to take on possibly lethal covert missions in exchange for shortened sentences.  Although the government must be hard pressed to employ a psychotic murderer like The Joker.

Production on the movie is set to begin this month in Toronto and in preparation for his role, Leto has shed his long rock star hair and stubble for a cleaner cut look more in keeping with the villain’s depiction in the comic book source material.  Director Ayer teased that a ‘Suicide Squad’ announcement was coming and followed that up with the following tweet, depicting a newly clean cut Leto:

 

Okay, so yeah it’s in black and white… mostly black, so it’s a bit hard to really make out.  But overall, it is clear that this makeover is pretty dramatic from his Jesus-y former appearance.

Here is a picture of the classic comic book Joker for comparison.

What do you think?  Does Leto suit the role?

‘Suicide Squad’ also features Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Will Smith as Deadshot, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Jai Courtney as Boomerang, Cara Delavigne as the Enchantress and maybe Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor (although that has yet to be confirmed).  It’s currently slated to be released on August 5th, 2016 and the hope is that it will lead to an ongoing franchise.

Are you looking forward to the bad guys taking center stage?

Source: ComicBook.com