Is Jared Leto's joker Jason Todd?
One thing I just happened to notice today while browsing around iMDB was the cover photo of Suicide Squad. I noticed the Joker standing apart from the rest of the Squad. I zoomed in, just intersted in him when I took notice of his stance and how he was holding is cane. He's holding it like a staff. He's also holding it just like that Robin suit is holding it in Batman v Superman's batcave. Maybe just a coincidence (although James Gordon would tell us we're not allowed to believe in coincidence), but I think this could just the slightest hint at the Joker being Jason Todd. Plus his "damaged" tattoo indicating that he's all around just messed up in the head and was somehow possibly betrayed by Batman, his mentor. Oh and before you just rip me apart, I am aknowledging the fact that this is a stretch, I mean a big stretch, but still fun to discuss.
The Joker very well could be Jason Todd. From hints at it in Batman v Superman when Bruce Wayne asks Alfred "twenty years in Gotham, how many good guys are left? How many stayed that way?" To the real obvious hint that Bruce Wayne/Batman has already encountered the Joker by saying to Clark Kent "maybe its just the Gotham in me, we just have a history with freaks dressed like clowns" (plus we've already seen in the Suicide Squad trailer that Batman is on top of that Lamborghini being driven by the Joker). The third hint being the Robin costume hanging in the batcave as some sort of shrine. The way Bruce glances at it almost as a reminder of how he failed his old friend.
Sure this would be a huge change from the comics but would it be a bad one? (Please don't light your torches and stab me with pitch forks). It would definitely be a fresh take on the character, something we certainly haven't seen on the big screen. Reading some articles and watching some vlogs of people reviewing Batman v Superman the question was raised "if Batman has no problem killing then why is the Joker still alive?" A legitimate question but one that I believe can be answered quite easily. The Joker/Jason Todd was Bruce Wayne's friend. Turned bad guy or not, It's Bruce's friend. Someone he fought crime with and had respect for. Could he just turn and kill him? I think he'd try and save him from himself first. Maybe before Bruce Wayne became this grizzled angry maniac branding criminals he was a vigilante who stood for justice and tried saving lives before taking them. He didn't want to kill his old friend once becoming the Joker. I belive the Suicide Squad movie will take place before the events of Batman v Superman. Maybe something happens in Suicide Squad trailer that turns Batman so cold and killer like. We hear Amanda Waller in the trailer referencing "maybe Superman was some kind of beacon for them to creep back from the shadows". Clearly I believe she is referencing his appearance in the Man of Steel film.
As fun as this theory is, it actually contradicts another theory that I have. The downside of loving to speculate and try and guess where the movies are going. Here is a counter argument of why he is NOT Jason Todd which a lot of people believe (and that I think is possible, but probably not true despite this article). SO many peope bitched about Leto's version of the Joker. They hated the tattoos, but above all else the fans and my close friends just absolutely HATED what they were calling a grill in his mouth. Well upon further inspection of photos of Let's joker you can see it is not a grill. His teeth are actually quite mangled and seem to have a lot of metal in his mouth. My theory from the second the photo came out was that the Joker killed Jason Todd. I believed that in Suicide Squad we would get a flashback sequence of a fight between Batman and Joker. In this theory, Batman is after Joker for killing Jason Todd. It'd be a good fight but in the end leaning in Batman's favor. I imagined an alley way or street in a bad neighborhood. Pouring rain, making Joker's makeup drip from his face. The final blow either being some sort of punch by batman (in a Zack Snyder kind of slow motion filming) knocking some of Joker's teeth out and chipping others (hence the dental work we see on Joker) Have the camera zoomed in on Joker's eye and as it zooms out it shows blood coming from his mouth with teeth laying next to him OR maybe Batman delivers a blow that knocks Joker down but despite being beaten by Batman he just starts laughing and this drives this bad ass scary Batman we see in 'Batman v Superman' stomp on his mouth and this is what ends up being the reason Joker needs so much dental work. I can just see him spitting his teeth out of his mouth with this menacing Batman standing above him.
These are my theories. Maybe you liked some of them, maybe you hated all of them. Let me know what you think. Not many authors would completely contradict themselves in an article but thats what happens when you've got more than one theory