I’ve always felt Jared Leto’s Joker got a bad rap. Sure he’s not a patch on either Heath Ledger or Joaquin Phoenix but I enjoyed his scummy, tasteless art-gangster take on the role. As such, it was disappointing that we never got to see him properly interact with Ben Affleck’s Batman. The two characters clearly shared an extensive off-screen past, as proved by the defaced Robin costume in the Batcave and Joker’s super-shiny metal grill being the result of Batman knocking his teeth out. But next month the iconic pair will finally be brought together in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
It’s notable that Snyder has gone out of his way to include Leto’s Joker, shooting new scenes for this cut. Their encounter will come during a foray into the desolate and apocalyptic ‘Knightmare’ future where it seems as if an unlikely alliance has formed between the two. In a recent interview with I Minutemen Snyder opened up on why this moment was so important to get right:
“It was important to me that Batman and Joker have a scene together. Let’s be honest, Batman/Joker are kind of the – that conflict is central to the universe. Frankly, it was a conflict that I had planned for the Knightmare sequence. And so, you know [I] was excited to like, get the opportunity to do it, to have a little taste [of] that. So, I thought it was important for fans to see their Batman and this cinematic universe’s Joker coming to some small conflict.”
Snyder had originally planned to explore Batman’s relationship with the Joker in the cancelled Justice League sequels, specifically getting into the tragic backstory of the DCEU’s Robin. That’s (probably) now not happening, so here’s hoping this scene will flesh out their dark history. If nothing else it’ll be strange to see Batman and the Joker forced onto the same side by Darkseid, especially if (as appears to be the case) Batman is going so far as to break the Joker out of prison.
All these mysteries and more will be revealed next month in a gargantuan superhero event that’s sure to dominate movie news for a while to come yet. I’m setting aside an evening to get through this 214-minute behemoth and am optimistic that it’ll be a real good time. At the very least it’ll be a feast after the COVID-induced drought of new superhero movies.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League premieres on HBO Max on March 18, 2021.
from We Got This Covered https://ift.tt/3bee2Zm
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