Does Birds Of Prey Confirm Jared Leto's Joker Is Dead?!

Is it curtains for Mr J?

By Andrew Pollard /

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With the latest trailer having arrived just last week for next month’s Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), we may all have overlooked one small, yet key detail.

From revisiting this trailer, the footage may actually be implying that Jared Leto’s Joker is dead.

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As Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn delivers a monologue as the trailer gets going, we see the Maid of Mischief’s words being accompanied by visual nods. And one such nod sees her recollection of breaking up with the Joker being paired with the visual of a truck crashing into the ACE Chemical plant and exploding. Combine that explosion with an ecstatic reaction from Quinn, and you could realistically piece together the notion that she’d planned to kill off her beloved Mr J.

Could Quinn’s talk of the duo going their separate ways be a cheeky way of saying that the Clown Prince of Crime is dead and buried? Given that Jared Leto’s time as the Joker is expected to be over before it really began, it could well be.

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Leto’s Joker and Robbie’s Harleen both debuted in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad back in 2016. While the response to Harley Quinn was a hugely positive one, this particular take on the Joker most certainly split opinion.

Despite initial plans being fast-tracked for a twisted romance movie for Joker and Harley, those plans were quickly shelved. While Leto has since signed on to headline Sony’s Morbius the Living Vampire movie – which is, of course, a picture based on the blood-sucking Marvel Comics character – any future appearances by his Joker have only been cast further into doubt by Joaquin Phoenix’s stunning portrayal of the title character in Todd Phillips’ Joker.

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By all accounts, it’s extremely unlikely that we’ll ever see Jared Leto’s Joker grace the silver screen again. As such, it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility to hear that this incarnation of Harley Quinn’s puddin’ has been killed off by the time Birds of Prey rolls around – potentially even at the hands of Quinn herself.

Considering how Harley Quinn was created purposely to be the Joker’s main squeeze and sidekick, there’s so often a sense of Harley being in the ominous shadow of the Joker since she debuted in 1992. By establishing early on in Birds of Prey that the Joker is completely out of the equation, that would allow Quinn to fully take centre-stage and leave all ties to the Harlequin of Hate behind.

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Directed by Dead Pigs’ Cathy Yan, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) hits cinemas worldwide from February 7th.

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