When Jared Leto's look as The Joker in Suicide Squad was revealed last week, there was one element in particular that caused a bit of backlash: the tattoos. While the green hair and pale skin is on point, many have been negatively vocal about the ink that the character is sporting, from the design on his stomach to the word "damaged" on his forehead. As it turns out, however, the more critical fans may have nothing to worry about, as there is now some suggestion floating around that the tattoos won't actually be part of The Joker's new design.
There hasn't been any official word on this matter, but some sources have been suggesting that the body art featured in the first image of Jared Leto's Joker was simply there to celebrate the character's 75th anniversary. The suggestion first popped up from Indie Revolver, which posted on Twitter that the tattoos featured in the image were merely for a promo shoot:
And while it's far from confirmation, Latino-Review Tweeted that they have heard similar things about the Joker shot:
As for evidence that this might be true, we turn to MoviePilot, which has collected a few images that they claim to be Jared Leto on the set of Suicide Squad. While the actor seems to have the same green hair and sunken eyes that are featured in the official image, it's notable that he doesn't seem to have the "Damaged" tattoo on his forehead.
There are definitely two ways to examine at what's presented here. On the one hand, this could be a collective act of wishful thinking, with people who don't like the tattoos really wanting to believe that they aren't actually part of the Joker's look in Suicide Squad (after all, if they aren't part of the movie design, why hasn't director David Ayer or anyone at Warner Bros. or DC said anything about it?). On the other other hand, the idea of Jared Leto being covered in different kinds of Joker iconography specifically for the 75th anniversary of the character does make a certain degree of sense.
What do you guys think? Can you believe that the tattoos were merely for a promo shoot, or do you think that we can expect a tat-covered Joker in Suicide Squad? Hit the comments with your thoughts.
