Will Jared Leto play the DCU Joker? Here's what you need to know

If the Peacemaker Season 2 premiere is to be believed, Jared Leto's tenure as the Joker is over. That's because the episode contains not one but two potshots at Leto's band, Thirty Seconds to Mars. While the jokes directed at the band itself are funny, fans immediately interpreted the potshots as confirmation that the DCU, going forward, will recast Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime.

Even his version of Joker appeared twice in DCEU projects: 2016's Suicide Squad and 2021's Zack Snyder's Justice League. Leto's interpretation failed to impress fans and critics; therefore, it's not surprising that an already unpopular version of the character will not be returning in the newly built DCU. Moreover, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has been open about not being a fan of Jared Leto either.

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James Gunn might've purposefully roasted Joker actor Jared Leto's band in Peacemaker Season 2:

As mentioned earlier, Peacemaker Season 2 contains two scenes in which James Gunn takes potshots at the former Joker actor's band, using Christopher Smith and Emilia Harcourt as his medium. The first time shots are fired at Thirty Seconds to Mars is at the midpoint of the episode. Referring to the damaged dashboard of Harcourt's car pays a reference to the band. Chris is the first to name-drop the band:

"Last time I was in that car it was playing Spin Doctors or Thirty Seconds to Mars or some s***. I was gonna kick its a** then but you two seem like you're on good terms."

To this, Harcourt responds with:

"I am not on good terms with Thirty Seconds to Mars. How dare you?"

While Leto isn't named, it is clear that Harcourt is not a fan of the band specifically because of its frontman. While accusations against him surfaced recently, a few months ago, fans have been aware of him for a long time. This might be the case even in the DCU continuity. Gunn doubles down on the roast in the post-credit scene of the same episode. This time, Harcourt is the first to speak:

"You can't be looping Spin Doctors in with Thirty Seconds to Mars. Spin Doctors are so good."

Peacemaker then went on to reveal that his short-lived garage band was better than Jared Leto's band:

"Yeah, jeez, anybody is better than Thirty Seconds to Mars. My garage band, I was in for two seconds, is better than Thirty Seconds to Mars."

Thus, it is clear from the episode that James Gunn is not a fan of Jared Leto, and roasting his band could've been his way of making his distaste for the actor public. However, this is not the only time that people learned that Gunn is not a fan of Leto's. It has been public knowledge.

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Trigger Warning: This portion mentions inappropriate behavior towards kids. Reader discretion is advised.

Gunn had responded to Dylan Sprouse's Tweet back in 2018:

On May 16, 2018, actor Dylan Sprouse, who played Zack Martin in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, tweeted on his Twitter (currently referred to as X), accusing the Joker actor of being inappropriate towards young women. His tweet read:

"Yo, Jared Leto, now that you've slid into the DMs of every female model aged 18-25, what would you say your success rate is?"

To this, Gunn made a shocking revelation about the Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman:

"He starts at 18 on the internet?"

It must be noted that this tweet was made by Gunn nearly two months before he was controversially fired by Disney from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. He was rehired by Disney for the project in March 2019 and was ultimately given the keys to run DC Studios along with Peter Safran. Needless to say, Jared Leto is not returning as the Joker.

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How do you feel about Jared Leto not returning as The Joker, and what's your fan cast for the DCU Clown Prince of Crime?