It might seem like shooting fish to suggest that Leto's new take on the Joker is going to reference the first actor to play the character, but that doesn't make it any less true. Unlike Nolan's made-up Joker who added the warpaint to highlight his physical deformities, Leto's Joker will take the same physical cues from Jack Nicholson's Joker origin. Skin bleaching will jump a generation, as Leto's clown prince will have chemically altered skin pigment (presumably after some sort of incident like the Axis Chemicals incident in Batman 1989). That much was revealed by Heroic Hollywood's Umberto Gonzalez. It's a smart move actually: this new Joker is already taking heat for being a departure from what we've seen so far, but anchoring him in the character's earliest origin story (and alluding to the Red Hood storyline) gives him credence. So too does tying him to Nicholson's Joker, rather than attempting to have him compete with Heath Ledger's. The references to Nicholson don't end with the Joker however: that line from the first teaser trailer that caused so much excitement ("I'm not going to kill you...") can't have been an accidental reference to The Shinings' "I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just going to bash your brains in." if it turns out he's talking to Harley Quinn (and turning her into what she becomes), you can count the reference doubly. Are you excited to see Jared Leto's version of the Joker? Share your thoughts below in the comments thread.
