SUICIDE SQUAD Director David Ayer Confirms Fan Theory About Joker's Controversial "Damaged" Tattoo

Yeah, that doesnt change that it looks bad. Really think the biggest problem is the damaged tatoo. Take that away and it looks fine, but that tatoo just goes too far. Whether he is actually a good joker, we will probably never know, considering they cut most of his footage for making people uncomfortable, which the joker really should do

Doesn’t work... the film says that she was an accomplice in the murder of Robin, and the Joker already had metal teeth before he abducted and changed her into Harley, so the metal teeth can’t be a result of Batman punching out the Joker’s teeth for revenge, and the “damaged” tattoo isn’t some sly taunting.

Ayers is just grabbing onto some fan’s defense after the fact.

controversial? i guess being so stupid it is pretty shocking

Prefer the debunked 'Joker is a Robin that went insane after being tortured' theory. It's the only reason that iteration of Batman wouldn't have killed him years ago and it would have left room for a real Joker in that universe.

It's crazy how underdeveloped Batfleck was. Actual dialogue, explaining that he lost his partner, and how that traumatized him, would've been great. Instead of a random graveyard scene where he encounters a giant bat, Bruce's (first) nightmare should've been about Robin's death. That would've helped provide more context to why Batfleck was so effected by his employees dying, during the Supes & Zod battle. Just basic and fundamental storytelling.

Definitely "antagonises and infuriates" me every time I see Leto's face.

That's the most generous use of "ingenious" I think I've ever seen. It's a pretty straightforward (and not even particularly clever) sequence of events. There's no second layer to it. There's no secondary thematic representation or reference. It's not even a pun. It's... just text. Spoon-fed text.

If the tattoo had been a domino-mask like Robin wore, then maybe we're talking about something deeper (every time Batman looks at Joker he'd see the twisted mockery of his dead sidekick). Or even a taunting message like "You failed him" or something, it's actually a message. But "Damaged" isn't something that would infuriate Batman. Batman doesn't care if the Joker lost a few teeth.

If, on the other hand, Ayer had said that the message was for Harley, as an (unsubtle) way to (mis)label the Joker as a pathetic soul in need of sympathy, then it at least makes sense. The Joker isn't really "Damaged", he's a psychopath, but he presents himself as just possibly redeemable through understanding and therapy. Quinn sees a victim, not a predator. That tattoo may as well be a label Quinn sees to excuse the Joker's behavior, which makes sense as we only ever really see the Joker from Quinn's perspective in the movie. (Her patient, her tormentor, her savior, her soulmate, whatever it is, Leto's Joker is weirdly a victim of a sort of female-gaze in Suicide Squad that renders him the mess he is.)

It's still all garbage, no matter how you try to explain it. Just people wanting to put their stamp on something without appreciating the value of it. More vandalism than adaptation. (And the same could be said for Gunn's Guardians, except that Gunn is actually a damn good storyteller and the Guardians were obscure enough that most people didn't care. Stamp, stamp, stamp.)