Jared Leto’s Joker Expected in Suicide Squad 2 & Gotham City Sirens

 

Jared Leto’s The Joker, which originally appeared in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad last year, is expected to return in future DCEU installments Suicide Squad 2 and Gotham City Sirens. Warner Bros. has been building up their DC Comics shared universe, the DC Extended Universe, since Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel in 2013, but the superhero world truly launched in the director’s 2016 followup, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. The DCEU continued to expand in Suicide Squad and Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, to the point that all the major players for Justice League have been introduced – as well as plenty of villains in the DC-inspired universe.

Suicide Squad in particular introduced fan-favorite villains like Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), and the Clown Prince of Crime himself, The Joker (Leto) – though the latter wasn’t included on the titular team of anti-heroes. Now, amidst news of Warner Bros. launching a new banner in the studio to develop non-DCEU-related adaptations of DC Comics characters, it’s been confirmed that Leto will reprise his role as The Joker in two upcoming DCEU installments.

In Deadline’s report on the Joker origin story movie, the publication mentions Leto “will reprise in the Suicide Squad sequel and the Harley Quinn spinoff.” Currently, neither Suicide Squad 2 – which doesn’t have a director attached – nor Gotham City Sirens have confirmed release dates in the DCEU, though Warner Bros. does have a pair staked out in 2020 for as yet unknown DC Comics movies.

Of course, Joker appearing in the Suicide Squad sequel and Gotham City Sirens likely won’t surprise DC fans, since the Clown Prince of Crime appeared in Ayer’s first villain team-up film and the character is closely tied to Harley Quinn – both in the comics and in the DCEU. Still, even as recently as last month, Leto refused to confirm he’d be in Suicide Squad 2 or if he’d be involved in Gotham City Sirens, so it was unclear whether he would reprise his role in either films. Now, those who enjoyed Leto’s portrayal of The Joker – which was divisive from the start, but did win over many fans – can hopefully look forward to the actor reprising his take on the character in future movies.

That said, Suicide Squad 2 is still without a director and Gotham City Sirens is still in the early stages of development – and neither film was included on Warner Bros’ DCEU slate at Comic-Con. So it’s possible either or both movies will go through some creative changes before they eventually hit theaters, meaning Leto’s Joker may not be involved in the final films that fans get to see. While it certainly makes sense for The Joker to return for Suicide Squad 2 and Gotham City Sirens, Leto’s actual future involvement in the DCEU remains to be seen until Warner Bros. moves forward with these particular entries.

KEY RELEASE DATES
Justice League release date: Nov 17, 2017
Aquaman release date: Dec 21, 2018
Shazam! release date: Apr 5, 2019
Wonder Woman 2 release date: Dec 13, 2019
Cyborg release date: Apr 3, 2020
Green Lantern Corps. release date: Jul 24, 2020