Suicide Squad’s David Ayer admits that Joker’s tattoos were ill-conceived

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

While JOKER fans are busy arguing over the character's new look featured in a recent camera test and set photos for director Todd Phillips' upcoming origin film starring Joaquin Phoenix as DC's Jester of Genocide, SUICIDE SQUAD director David Ayer recently confessed that he might have gone "too far" when coming up with Jared Leto's overly-tattooed version of the iconic villain. In fact, the filmmaker admitted as much after a Twitter user asked him if the "damaged" tattoo on Leto's forehead was his idea.

I wasn't going to say anything, but seeing as Ayer is willing to admit to defeat, I'll go on the record by admitting that I'm one of the many people who thinks that Leto's Joker is way over-the-top, and that's putting it mildly. Back in June of 2016, during the lead-up to DC's villain-centric adventure, Ayer told Yahoo Movies that The Ace of Knaves tattoos told “a very specific story,” and that "eventually people will decipher them and understand what’s going on, but obviously they’re contentious, any time you do something new it’s contentious.” 

Ayer also went so far as to say that, “There’s very specific stories and Easter eggs in those tattoos. And even his teeth, there’s an entire story behind that which is absolutely canon. It’s putting his history on his body. This Joker is a little more working class, who I believe could live in our world.”

Absolutely canon? Really? I find this last bit is a little hard to swallow, especially when you consider that Joker's tattoos in SUICIDE SQUAD amounted to nothing more than a distraction, though perhaps that was for the best? I poke fun, but my hat is off to Ayer for finally admitting that he might have gone too far when plotting the look of Leto's Joker. I suppose that my biggest gripe about the style – aside from the Sid Vicious Goes Pimp motif – is that it's just different for the sake of being different. To my knowledge, none of the ideas Ayer had about the tattoos were capitalized on in SUICIDE SQUAD, and who's to say that the upcoming Joker and Harley Quinn movie will fill in the blanks? To that end, will fans even care at this stage of the game? I think not. Honestly, the whole thing comes off as some sort of bad joke.

What are your thoughts on Leto's Joker's tattoos? Do you dig the look? Are you genuinely interested in finding out what inspired the Clown Prince of Crime to raid Dolemite's wardrobe then head to the tattoo parlor carrying a magician's bag filled with emotional baggage? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.