'Zack Snyder's Justice League' Bringing Back Jared Leto As The Joker

Another day, another story about the infamous Snyder Cut of Justice League! The film that was once thought to be lost forever is slowly being cobbled together by Snyder, and not only is the filmmaker employing his unused footage to finish his cut, he's also doing reshoots. It was previously announced that several cast members, including Ben Affleck as Batman, would be back for reshoots. Now, a surprising new addition has been revealed: Jared Leto. Leto's Joker (you know, the one with DAMAGED tattooed on his forehead) will be part of the reshoots to appear in Zack Snyder's Justice League.

Ready to get tWiStEd?! You better be, because Jared Leto's rather dreadful take on the Clown Prince of Crime is getting a second chance thanks to Zack Snyder's Justice League. THR reports that Leto will be taking part in reshoots for the new cut. It's unclear how big of a part Leto's Joker will have – I'm guessing it's going to be an extended cameo, if that. However small or big the part is, one thing is clear: the Joker will have a presence in Zack Snyder's Justice League.

THR adds that Ben Affleck, Ray Fisher, and Amber Heard are also part of the reshoots, but it's unclear who else might be involved. A previous report indicated Gal Gadot and Henry Cavill would be taking part in the reshoots as well, but neither has been confirmed, and Cavill even stated in an interview that he wasn't involved. However, the Cavill interview came before news of the reshoots broke, so he could've been playing coy until an announcement was made.

I'm sure there are fans of Leto's Joker – who first appeared in Suicide Squad – out there, somewhere. But the actor's performance wasn't exactly what you'd call "beloved." And the Leto Joker grew even more obsolete when Warner Bros. made a standalone Joker movie with Joaquin Phoenix, and Phoenix went on to win an Oscar for his performance. That felt like the final nail in Leto's Joker's coffin, but like the Joker in the comics, the character has found a way to cheat death.

Released in 2017, Justice League was savaged by critics and underperformed at the box office. It also opened riding a wave of fan-based controversy. While Zack Snyder retained directorial credit on the film, Snyder actually left the project following the death of his daughter. After this turn of events, Joss Whedon was brought in to finish the film and handle some reshoots. Ever since then, fans have been clamoring for the so-called Snyder Cut, believing that if Snyder had been allowed to release the movie he originally intended things would've turned out differently

For a while there it seemed like an unlikely prospect, but fans kept hammering away at the idea. Eventually, HBO Max gave in and threw a ton of money at Snyder to finish the project (the estimate is around $70 million). Since then, Snyder has been piecing his film together. At first, it was reported that he would only be working with his unused footage and that there would be no reshoots. But that changed, and now Snyder is working on additional scenes to cut into the flick. HBO Max plans to release Zack Snyder's Justice League as a four-part miniseries sometime in early 2021.