Zack Snyder's Justice League Reveals First Full Look at Jared Leto's Joker

The first official look at Jared Leto’s return as Joker in HBO Max’s long-awaited Zack Snyder’s Justice League has finally been revealed in two new photos released by Vanity Fair. Featuring Leto’s Joker in a very different look from 2016’s Suicide Squad, you can check out the full photos below!

No Laughing Matter: Your first look at Jared Leto’s all-new Joker from the #SnyderCut of Justice League. https://t.co/IuqLYQYf4k

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) February 9, 2021

The inclusion of Leto’s Joker wasn’t actually part of Snyder’s original vision for the DC film in 2017. However, when Snyder was given the opportunity to conduct additional photography for his Justice League cut, Leto’s Joker was the only thing he wanted to add to the upcoming HBO Max film.

“The Joker is really the only thing that I thought of in retrospect,” Snyder said in an interview the outlet. “But I will say that it was always my intention to bring Joker into that world.”

Justice League will be hitting HBO Max solely as a four-hour movie on March 18. It was originally revealed at DC FanDome that the movie will release on HBO Max in 2021 by being broken up into four one-hour parts that will also be released as one four-hour film, but Snyder’s new comments seem to indicate it will solely be released as the one-off film instead of the four-part series. In an informal Q&A with the director via the comments, Snyder also revealed that there will be no after-credits scenes, the release date is still set for March even as potential competition Godzilla vs. Kong just moved to the same month and its runtime is four hours prior to the credits.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League has reportedly cost around $70 million in order to properly finish the editing and visual effects of the director’s original vision, as well as the additional photography. The original post-production crew is also expected to return along with the cast members to record additional dialogue for the cut.

Fueled by the hero’s restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Justice League sees Bruce Wayne enlist the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

Justice League, which features a screenplay from Chris Terrio from a story by Snyder and Terrio, stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Willem Dafoe as Nuidis Vulko, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, with J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon, and Amy Adams as Lois Lane.

Released in November 2017, the film earned mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike, praising the action and performances from Gadot and Miller while criticizing every other aspect of the film, namely the inconsistent tone that many fault Joss Whedon (The Avengers) for after taking over directorial duties from Snyder. With a large budget of $300 million and a break-even point of $750 million, the film is considered a box office bomb having grossed only $658 million.