7 Ways Jared Leto's Joker Will Be Different To Heath Ledger

6. The Make-Up Reveals Altered Psyches

Both characters have the same basic features, but present it very differently; Ledger's Joker wore white make-up with panda eyes and a ragged red slash for a mouth, but Leto's Joker is far more tidily made up. That tells us a lot about the differences between the two in terms of their motivations and worldviews. The smudged, sweat-cracked look of Ledger's make-up was a great visual metaphor for his fractured psyche and crumbling sanity, but also a constant reminder that there was a man underneath the scars and greasepaint who had been corrupted by a world which hadn't been kind to him. The Joker mantle was one he chose to take on as a response to that. By contrast, Leto's is trapped within this alien-looking face by rather than making a deliberate choice to look like a clown to terrify people. He can't drift into anonymity like Ledger's could if he wanted to, there is no alias to take cover under; he is the Joker entirely and irrevocably, but it was forced upon him. That might point to Leto's Joker being a more tragic character than Ledger's. Certainly, Leto has said recently that his character is "almost Shakespearian", which bodes well.