Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice

[OL]

I will be highly surprised if this DC Universe works out.

Zack Snyder laying the foundations FFS. Probably the no.1 director known for style over substance. BvS won't flop, but it won't be colossal like The Avengers either. Man of Steel left a bad taste in a lot of mouths that still haven't forgiven.

^^You underestimate the capabilities of the dorky elite.
"The last movie was terrible, this one will be too!
...but I'm still gonna go see it."
BvS is gonna be a massive hit. Batman is an even bigger character than Superman these days, and his inclusion guarantees that a helluva lot of people -- even ones that didn't see Man of Steel -- are going to fill those theater seats and make a whole lotta money for the movie. And yeah, I'm imagining Avengers-level numbers for it.

And here's what The Joker looks like for the Suicide Squad movie.

I hate it.
I absolutely hate it.
He looks less like a proper rendition of the Joker himself, and more like a grittied-up member of the Jokerz from Batman Beyond. Someone who's trying way too hard to live up to the hardcore reputation of the genuine article.
A poseur.
It might not be so bad if not for all the stupid tattoos. Honestly, can you imagine the Joker sitting still long enough for a torso full of tats like that? Would he honestly give enough of a shit about appearances to get all that done?
I could understand if it was maybe a whole bunch of scars or something. I could imagine him cutting "HAHA" into himself over and over, something like that. It's instantaneous. Maybe more of a Zsasz schtick, but it could still work.
But a bunch of professionally-designed tats? It's a pathetic attempt at making the character "grittier," when it really just makes him looks like a sad little poseur.
Especially the "Damaged" one on his forehead. All I'm reminded of when I see that, is insecure 20-year-old girls who get tattoos that say things like "Precious."
The Joker is who he is. He doesn't have to remind himself by getting it illustrated all over his body.
Not to mention that, despite his first appearance being in the Suicide Squad movie, The Joker is still a Batman villain. He's supposed to be THE Batman villain. And possible quality of writing aside (never know, the writing might be good), does this honestly look like a worthy nemesis for what's been shown of Affleck's Batman?
Not in the fucking least.

So yeah, seems like the Suicide Squad movie might be fucked. I was already turned off when I heard that Will Smith was signed to play Deadshot; there's absolutely nothing about him that screams "Floyd Lawton," and I have no doubts at all that he only took the gig because he desperately wants to be in a massive hit again (not to mention that I find it slightly racist). But now seeing an actual visual element from the movie... I'm just not interested anymore.
Suicide Squad could have been the coolest fucking thing ever. The concept is pure gold. But this is looking uglier by the minute.

[Shenmuedabest]

You might be right. Amazing Spider-Man 2 took a lot of money, but not the amount that Sony was expecting. Hence why he's partially gone back to Marvel, Sony realised dey dun fuct up. Yes, Batman is a massive cultural behemoth, so granted numbers will be large, but I don't think people are that stupid to go and watch a film just because of a character. Back in '97 people steered clear of a Batman film that was teeming with some of the biggest names in cinema (at the time). That was because of the negative critique it received which people have way more access to than they did back then.

Fully agreed on the Joker imagery though. It's too contrived.

[MiTT3NZ]

I dunno, I really bought into Morrison's "super sanity" approach to the Joker. The look makes sense and isn't half as bad as air thought it'd be.

[OL]

I really like the super sanity angle too... but in what scenario does it warrant a one-gloved rockstar/Lil' John version?
I dunno, I just don't see how it makes any sense at all. It just looks like Travis Barker in a lazy Halloween costume to me. I always took the super sanity bit to imply a change in personality to fit the times, not necessarily an overhaul in fashion taste. I think the makers of The Dark Knight understood that; their Joker was partly inspired by punk rockers, but they didn't make it so on-the-nose. It was a personality thing; only a slightly "dirtier" look, visually, what with the messy makeup and all.

[Kenny]

[MiTT3NZ]

I really like the super sanity angle too... but in what scenario does it warrant a one-gloved rockstar/Lil' John version?
I dunno, I just don't see how it makes any sense at all. It just looks like Travis Barker in a lazy Halloween costume to me. I always took the super sanity bit to imply a change in personality to fit the times, not necessarily an overhaul in fashion taste. I think the makers of The Dark Knight understood that; their Joker was partly inspired by punk rockers, but they didn't make it so on-the-nose. It was a personality thing; only a slightly "dirtier" look, visually, what with the messy makeup and all.

We'll have to see how it plays out, but there are a number of things to consider...

- Batman has retired. Could Joker be "Going Sane" and trying to cling to his identity?
- He's always been about the publicity, he loves having adoring fans. In the modern age, I could just imagine him tweeting a selfie of him getting tattooed, then several hours later, a similar one of him and the corpse of the tattoo artist.
- Have they gone for the angle in which Joker is actually sane, and just using the insanity thing to get out of the death penalty?
- Joker has, at times, been more of a psychotic mob boss than a lone, deranged killer. The days of the mob are pretty much over, it's much more about street crime nowadays. Would it not make sense for his overall fashion sense to be more in line with that in the modern age?
- He's as vain as they come. Sometimes it isn't clear who he loves more... himself or Batman. Maybe he just wanted to look good.
- If the face-painted weirdos in the Batman V Superman trailer are Jokerz, then this would further prove why this current look fits in much better than a Jack Nicholson or Heath Ledger style.
- To add to that, other than Morrison's Clown at Midnight (which I'm sure has had a slight influence on this look) or Snyder's Faceless Joker, how many other styles are there? His physique, at least, seems to be more in line with Miller's Dark Knight Universe.
- Does his traditional look really fit in with this new cinematic universe? Does Nolan's?

This look makes so much sense, imo, that I don't understand why you'd be against it. Joker's traditional look is dated. He's meant to be stylish. This is look is more fashionable by modern standards. I was initially very skeptical about Leto, but I reckon they've got it bang on.

As hastily as this cinematic universe seems to have been cobbled together, it seems to be that WB/DC are throwin the kitchen sink at it, and I'm looking forward to it more and more.

Finally, about the Will Smith thing... I reckon he'll be perfect. This could essentially be his comeback, as he's done some pretty awful films recently, and I'd like to see him get back to his best. I've no doubt he'll grip this opportunity by the bollocks til it screams his name.

[Henry Spencer]

2edgy4me.

Yeah, it looks pretty bad at the moment, but I'll wait it out for Leto's performance in the trailers and such before declaring he'll be a "bad Joker". I do think the makeup artists got really carried away. Not really Leto's fault, he could still pull off the best Joker performance yet, only time will tell.

EDIT: This is making the rounds now:



So either that promo photo is a joke/troll or he gets his tattoos later on into the movie and is initially without them? Or it's a fake, but it seems unlikely.

[Kenny]

It can easily be a fake.

There's apparently a post-teaser in Avengers 2 that was going around but it has been confirmed to be a fake as well, despite it looking so convincing.

[Henry Spencer]

Sure, but also just seen this doing the rounds too - Leto is also part of a band and people think this is him testing out his Joker voice, could be completely different in the film, but Joker's voice is definitely an integral part of the character:

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[OL]

Yeah, to be clear, my complaint still isn't on Leto himself, just the look being put on him.
His band sucks balls, but that voice doesn't sound too bad if that's what he's going for.

Some interesting points Mitts, but I'm still not keen on it. For certain characters, I just believe in exercising a sort of timelessness for their adapted renditions, which this look obviously does not have. This piece of design work, all by its lonesome, will only serve to date the movie it's in to a severe degree; people in 2030 will look back at the movie and joke about how laughably "2000-teens" it looks, just like popped collars on polo shirts in 80s teen movies. And I don't like the thought of subjecting classic characters like he Joker to that sort of thing. Call it dated if you like, but the classic suit and vest look never really goes out of style. Tiny alterations here and there, and it'll always look fresh. No real reason to stray from it, I believe.
Opportunities to put a character like the Joker on screen, in live action, are few and far between, and I just think they should be handled a little more delicately than to slap such an almost Elseworlds-esque, disgustingly "current" look on him.
I wouldn't mind it in the comics or something, because that shit always eventually passes and reverts back to its roots. But movie renditions tend to determine how the non-comic-reding public views these characters, and this looks simply is not a good rendition of he Joker.

[OL]

Well here's one of the first shots (ha) of Deadshot in the Suicide Squad movie.



And I was exactly right.
You hire Will Smith to play Deadshot, and you're not hiring him to play Deadshot; you're hiring him to play Will Smith.
Maybe he'll have some kind of costume beyond this or whatever, but it doesn't matter; it's still just Will Smith playing Will Smith, the same as he always does.
But hey, what do I know? I suppose my impression of Deadshot is antiquated anyway, since I'm mainly familiar with him through the 80s/early-90s comics featuring him. I'm a grumpy old man, while they're very apparently trying to make this movie hip for the youngsters.

[Kenny]

Like how hip Wild Wild West was to youngsters back in the day.

[OL]

Kids nowadays say things like "jiggy," right?

[Calshot]

To play the Devil's Advocate, here's Deadshot's original appearance.

Smith's costume looks a lot like the Deadshot costume in the Gotham Knights short films, at least to me.

[Shenmuedabest]

This is going to suck so hard.