The Most Unexpected Character Will Be In Zack Snyder's Justice League

It looks like the Snyder Cut is going to be extra tWiSteD.

The years-long avant-garde performance piece we've all been living in, entitled Waiting For Zack Snyder's Justice League, just threw us another exciting new twist. Reshoots for the upcoming four-part HBO Max presentation of the Snyder Cut a.k.a. Zack Snyder's Justice League are underway. In addition to Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, and Ray Fisher returning to film new scenes, news just dropped that a high-profile addition has been made to the cast. That's right: Jared Leto is reprising his divisive take on the Joker for the upcoming re-release of the film.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news, which they received from several sources. They also point out that Leto's inclusion in the reshoots raises some questions about exactly what is in store for us when Zack Snyder's Justice League premieres in 2021.

The Joker didn't appear in the 2017 release of the film, nor did he shoot any scenes that were cut. So, how will this news change the story of the movie, and what does it mean that Justice League and Suicide Squad are now solidly linked? That last question is extra intriguing, considering The Suicide Squad soft-reboot is coming out in 2021, and does not feature the Joker at all.

So there's all that to digest, without even mentioning the controversy surrounding Leto's take on the iconic Clown Prince of Crime.

The decision to bring Leto back to play the Joker in the retooled version of Justice League is puzzling for a few reasons. First is the obvious point that the Joker didn't factor into the 2017 version of the movie at all, and there isn't a super obvious place in the narrative for him to be slotted in.

Secondly, Leto's Joker has become somewhat of a spectacle in the years since the 2016 release of Suicide Squad, and not necessarily in a good way. The actor's on-set pranks became notorious and drew ire from people who found his behavior unnecessarily obnoxious. When fans finally got to see his intense look and wild performance, it was met with a very mixed reaction.

Despite being a main draw for the movie, Leto's Joker was a bit player at most in the overall scope of Suicide Squad, appearing in the movie for around ten minutes, with David Ayer insinuating that there were more Joker scenes that ended up getting cut by the studio. To add insult to injury, Leto neither got the opportunity to star in the standalone Joker film (which he was reportedly furious about), nor will he be appearing in The Suicide Squad reboot helmed by Guardians of the Galaxy mastermind James Gunn. Many likely thought his time as the vicious clown had come to an end, but it turns out the joke was on them.

Whether the Joker gets a fully fleshed out subplot, or if he's little more than a high-profile cameo, it's just another odd development in the ongoing saga of Zack Snyder's Justice League. We'll have to wait until the film drops on HBO Max in 2021 to find out exactly what the deal is, but at this rate we're on pace for an insane four-plus hour ride.