10 Movie Dreams That Died In 2019
9. Jared Leto's Dream Of Becoming A Fan-Favourite Joker
Even though he hasn't acted in any movies this year, 2019 hasn't been too kind to Jared Leto, and he has one man to thank for that: Joaquin Phoenix.
This all started when Leto played the Joker in 2016's Suicide Squad, a turn that was met with a lot of "meh" reactions at best, and a lot of vitriol at worst. From there, it was clear that the future of the character hadn't been properly mapped out (talks of a solo movie and a Harley Quinn team-up did the rounds, but didn't get very far), and with Warner Bros doing its best to reinvigorate the DCEU after a streak of poor movies, it wasn't clear if we'd ever see Leto play the character on the big screen again.
And with the recent release of Joker, those doubts have only increased. The majority of people love that movie, and it made a billion dollars worldwide. That's over $200 million more than Suicide Squad. Phoenix's Joker was received infinitely better than Leto's, and even though the two exist in separate universes, it's easy to imagine Warner Bros positioning Phoenix as their "main" Joker, while letting the less-beloved Leto fade into the history books.
Reportedly, the success of Joker has annoyed Leto quite a bit, likely because he hoped to get another crack at the character in the near future. But with Phoenix coming in and absolutely dominating the role, there's basically no chance of Leto ever earning that same level of fan adoration.