Current Events > Has any superhero movie actor failed as hard as Jared Leto?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Whether they phoned in a one-shot performance for a paycheck, like Jeff Goldblum or Hugo Weaving, or appeared in multiple movies/franchises like Natalie Portman or Idris Elba.

Jared Leto played one of the most famous comic book characters ever, a role that the previous actor had.won an Oscar for. He then played the lead character in a movie that was meant to spin off its own franchise.

His version of the Joker, a hissing, sucking freak with a scene of him trying to pimp out his girlfriend and cuckold himself, was so alienating and personally off-putting that he was essentially fired and stricken from the canon. In a later movie where Harley Quinn breaks up with this version of the Joker, he wasn't shown on screen and the Joker character doesn't factor into the plot of that movie at all aside from the break-up. His only other appearance was as a glorified cameo and sequel hook for a franchise that isn't getting another entry, as if Zack Snyder was going "fuck you, my Joker is awesome! Look at him in the post-apocalypse working with Batman, imagine how high the stakes must be!!" He fucked up the Joker right as superhero movies were reaching their peak in popularity.

Then years later, he stars in Morbius as a scientist who becomes a vampire. The movie is box office poison to such a degree that the only recognition it got was people making fun of it. Then the studio released it in theatres again to capitalise on the meme momentum, and it flopped again because people didn't even want to see it as a joke.

Jared Leto played the most unappealing version of the Joker in live-action history, and then he headed a multi-million dollar franchise movie that only just made its money back and became a global laughingstock.

Terrence Howard might have gotten fucked out of future MCU movies over money, but his role was well-liked enough before he went off the deep end and tried to convince the world that the number 0 didn't exist. People might prefer Don Cheadle, but I don't see Terrence Howard being actively hated. Jared Leto got two chances to portray some of the biggest comic book characters in the world - Morbius only counting because it was a big budget movie that Leto was headlining as the main character, that Sony was explicitly positioning as a breakout title in a Spider-Man-less Spider-Man franchise - and both times, the roles were cringeworthy, widely mocked flops that negatively impacted the movies he was in to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.

Seriously, name an actor in a superhero movie who's flopped harder than Jared Leto.

I don't necessarily blame Leto for those movies failing, the roles were garbage from the get-go.

It was ill-conceived regardless of who was playing the role.

pegusus123456 posted...

I don't necessarily blame Leto for those movies failing, the roles were garbage from the get-go.

You can definitely blame Leto for the whole "he sent condoms and live rats to his costars to get into the role" shit, though.

pegusus123456 posted...

I don't necessarily blame Leto for those movies failing, the roles were garbage from the get-go.

nah, I'd definitely blame him.

remember the used condom prank? he eventually backtracked and said that it never happened, but I'm convinced that he really did it and only said otherwise because of the backlash.

pegusus123456 posted...

I don't necessarily blame Leto for those movies failing, the roles were garbage from the get-go.

Literally every single time the Joker has appeared on screen it's critically acclaimed, except for when Leto did it.

pegusus123456 posted...

I don't necessarily blame Leto for those movies failing, the roles were garbage from the get-go.

Oh yeah for sure. Suicide Squad was a strong contender for worst DC movie, and it might have won out if Zack Snyder and Alex Kurtzmann's perennial turd BvS wasn't as big of a stinker as it was - it was like Warner Bros. execs blindfolded themselves and hit themselves in the face with a hammer until they couldn't stand it any more, then signed off on both movies because they were just so grateful that the immediate pain was over. And Sony have been milking incomplete rights to a franchise, praying for a dark horse victory that they can spin off from Spider-Man and make its own thing, after they absolutely botched their own rebooted Spider-Man franchise. The stories of both movies are incompetent, short-sighted, greedy companies shitting out box office poison out of spite for their main competitor who hit on a winning formula and made all the money in the world.

That being said, I'm still really put-off about the whole viral Joker method-acting thing where Leto mailed live rats and used condoms to his co-stars on Suicide Squad. It was hokey viral filler that failed to have the impact the studio were hoping for, and it tarnished Jared Leto's reputation in my eyes.

I don't know how good he is in other movies, but his prospects certainly weren't helped by the drooling, brain-dead executives and creative directors those movies were attached to.

A_Good_Boy posted...

Literally every single time the Joker has appeared on screen it's critically acclaimed, except for when Leto did it.

You really think Heath Ledger or Jack Nicholson would have fixed that portrayal? Cuz I do not.

And yeah, Leto seems to be an absolutely garbage person, I'm just saying that those two movies being trash aren't really his fault.

pegusus123456 posted...

You really think Heath Ledger or Jack Nicholson would have fixed that portrayal? Cuz I do not.

And yeah, Leto seems to be an absolutely garbage person, I'm just saying that those two movies being trash aren't really his fault.

I absolutely do think it's a Leto issue, and not a Joker issue. There hasn't been a single poorly received Joker, except for him. You can't even blame the movie itself for how poorly received the Joker was. Nobody shits on any other character in that movie. It's only Jared Leto as the Joker and only the Joker in the Suicide Squad movie that gets shit on.

A_Good_Boy posted...

There hasn't been a single poorly received Joker, except for him.

Because the other two Jokers were well written. Fuck me, just look at the costume design to know that the entire SS rendition is just utterly irredeemable.

The only improvement Jack Nicholson would have made to this scene is telling the director to fuck off because he's not doing it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fztSWlnSl20

tbh i can see why the movie is to blame since people definitely wanted more joker after his scene in JL snyder cut

To be fair, Suicide Squad gets plenty of shit from all angles.

"This is Katana. I wouldn't recommend getting killed by her. Her sword traps the souls of the people it kills."

Rather, I think it's fair to say that Suicide Squad Joker was the fault of both Jared Leto and Warner Bros. The depiction was absolutely a crusty mess dripping with corporate cynicism and desperation, and the way it was, I don't think many people on Earth could have salvaged that performance.

But I also think that it's a an issue with Jared Leto for going along with it. The only way the Joker role would have been made better is if the actor portraying the Joker actively tried to improve it - if they said "I don't get this, I can't work with this". Granted, that's them putting their neck on the line for a role in a severely compromised product, but it would have actually meant something. It feels like Jared Leto "method acted" it out like he was a crazy person, read his lines, got his check and bounced.

Tim Burton's Batman, in hindsight, was an insane success based on gimmick casting. Michael Keaton was a comedic actor whose most recent effort was a movie called Mr. Mom. Jack Nicholson was Jack Nicholson, playing a clown that robs banks. But it actively tried to be a good movie, from the script to the direction to the set design. The Dark Knight was a prestige movie from one of the greatest filmmakers of our time, and the Joker was played absolutely straight by a talented actor. Both portrayals were well-written for their settings and acted to terrific effect.

Suicide Squad was a corporate turd that focused on quips and licensed music to disguise a dogshit script and washed out, ugly visuals. That is absolutely an aspect of it all, and the only people on earth who could have saved it would have had to move the heavens and the earth to get WB to rewrite the movie, reshoot it, do anything to make it even remotely palatable as a product.

But that being said, it doesn't feel like there was any pushback on what Suicide Squad was or on how the characters were portrayed. Everyone did it for a paycheck, except for maybe Margot Robbie who steered hard into the role. Jared Leto let the studio have their way, they did him up like a trussed turkey, he drooled and fucked around with the role and he got paid. There was no artistry from WB, but there was no attempt at artistry from Jared Leto either. It was a shit sandwich any way you sliced it.

idk the fantastic 4 movies were pretty godawful

Also I love that we're arguing the semantics of why Suicide Squad was terrible while absolutely no-one steps up to bat for Morbius.

That's because none of us have seen Morbius lmao

MrMallard posted...

Also I love that we're arguing the semantics of why Suicide Squad was terrible while absolutely no-one steps up to bat for Morbius.

Heh

Leto is just a piss-poor actor

Jared Leto played a good Joker-type character in The Little Things.

The problems with the character were on a writer/director/studio level. It's not that he failed to play the part well. It's that the character written for him was rotten. I mean, I could be wrong. But I seriously doubt he had creative control over his character.

"I want a tattoo which says DAMAGED. And metal teeth too. 'Cause, you know, Batman punched his teeth out in an earlier encounter that we'll never reference."
"I want a cameo for a rapper where I offer my girlfriend up to him before he realizes too late it's a trick."
"Here's some dialogue I've written for the character. I hope the movie's three hours long. I've written a LOT. I particularly like the part where I say I'm not going to kill Harley - I'm just going to hurt her real, real baaad."

His cameo in the Snyder Cut was actually intriguing and showed he could probably pull it off with better writing.

He pulled so many pranks on the set of suicide squad. One time he told Will Smith he was going to get something from the "basement" and he pretended to walk downstairs while behind a couch.

Suicide Squad made like a billion dollars and won an academy award. Troll harder

My favorite part of Suicide Squad was when Killer Croc set off the explosives under water, killing the innocent (relatively) military dudes that were helping them for absolutely no reason at all

Or maybe when El Diablo exclaims he's not losing another family (the Suicide Squad lol) after killing his wife and son.

One of the worst movies ive ever seen but those two scenes make up for it due to sheer stupidity.

Yeah, SS is just a bad movie in general, Leto's Joker just takes most of the heat because the Joker is such an iconic character.

After due consideration, I have determined that Morbius (2022) is an important film, perhaps the most important film of the 21st century. What writers Burl Sharpless and Matt Samaza (the creative masterminds who penned the widely misunderstood Gods of Egypt (2016) and the vastly underrated Dracula Untold (2014)) have done here is nothing short of commendable. Director Daniel Espinosa (who also helmed sci-fi gem Life (2017)) brilliantly brings this material to life with his artful direction; the brooding and dark cinematography brilliantly conveys the theme of bats, and is at times reminiscent of the work of Argent. Samaza and Sharpless also made the brilliant decision to keep the length at a brisk and efficacious 1h 44m, as they trust the viewer to be intelligent enough to fill in the gaping holes in the plot (after all nothing is as terrifying as ones own imagination). This provides time for far more necessary scenes such as when the villain (brilliantly brought to life by Matt Smith) dances while putting in a well fitted suit; I found this scene in particular to be a wonderful demonstration of milos carefully executed character growth from a harmless cripple to eccentric vampire with the disposition of a true thespian of the silent era. Jared Leto gives perhaps his most brilliant performance since Chapter 27 (2007) as Dr. Michael Morbius. I also greatly admired the parallels Samaza and Sharpless drew between the Morbius and Nieztches concept of the bermensch (certainty a rarity for superhero fanfares). I also picked up hints of Cain and Abel in Morbius and Milos relationship (after all, is this not a biblical story at heart?). Unfortunately, I cannot delve further into the story so as not to rotten the experience of those uninitiated to Morbius (2022), but needless to say the atypical structure of the second half can only be compared to the works of new wave directors like Godard and Truffaut. I implore any and all to seek out Morbius(2022). although Morbius (2022) seems to have completely flown over most critics heads, Audiences are responding to the film in a way not scene since before the pandemic, and I personally have complete faith that Morbious will become a cult classic in the coming years.

Smashingpmkns posted...

Or maybe when El Diablo exclaims he's not losing another family (the Suicide Squad lol) after killing his wife and son.

pretty sure it was an accident when he lost control of his power.
and that quote totally makes sense.

I maintain that Jared Leto's greatest contribution to cinema was getting killed while It's Hip to be Square plays in the background.

So it seems like we're in agreement that Jared Leto has been the least successful actor in the world of superhero movies.

I'd say Ryan Reynolds failed hard as a superhero before he properly portrayed Deadpool.

His first portrayal was just dumb. It wasn't even Deadpool, it was some misfit fanfic character brought to the big screen.

So then he signed up as Green Lantern. Which was pretty bad too. Both movies are jokes in the much better Deadpool series.

I might also consider Ben Affleck too. But his Daredevil and Batman weren't as bad as Leto's Joker/Morbius or Reynolds previous Deadpool and Green Lantern.

dancing_cactuar posted...

I maintain that Jared Leto's greatest contribution to cinema was getting killed while It's Hip to be Square plays in the background.

Yes.

Edit: Also getting beaten to a pulp by Edward Norton.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/8/5/AAAJePAAEG3N.jpg