First glimpse at Jared Leto’s transformation into the Joker

Yesterday, David Ayer posted a photo on his Twitter feed of the cast for Suicide Squad, assembled for a script reading. Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney – they were all there, along with a few new faces. But someone was missing: Jared Leto. We can only assume that Ayer decided to leave Leto out of the limelight, as his appearance as the Joker will be one of the film’s big talking points – but that’s not to say the director doesn’t have a sense of humour, either. He then posted the below image on his Twitter feed:

#WhereIsJared #SuicideSquad pic.twitter.com/D5tMnMGBop

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) April 10, 2015

Here, we get our first look – if a blurry, obscured one – at Leto’s physical transformation into the Clown Prince. The most notable aspect of his appearance so far is that short, dyed-green hair – a world away from Heath Ledger’s greasy locks in The Dark Knight. But what about Leto’s pose with the camera? Take a look at the cover of one of the most famous Batman comics of all time, ‘The Killing Joke’:

A wonderful allusion to that famous cover. The tweet also sports the hashtag ‘#WhereIsJared’; it’s clear that Ayer is knowingly keeping his cards close to his chest for Suicide Squad – and one of them’s the Joker.

Suicide Squad is released August 5, 2016.