The Hidden Joker Easter Egg Zack Snyder Included In The Justice League Trailer
Now that we've all gotten over our shock at the news that the Snyder Cut of Justice League is — not only real — but forthcoming, and our compounded shock that Warner Bros. would be willing to pony up $70 million for reshoots and new visual effects, we can finally move into the next phase of geeking out over Zack Snyder's Justice League.
The new cut, which will take the form of a four-part miniseries, is officially headed to HBO Max sometime in 2021. Snyder is back in the editing room, and boy does he sound excited about the opportunity to restore his original vision. The Sucker Punch director recently took to Vero to offer fans an hour-long breakdown of the new teaser for Justice League black-and-white frame by black-and-white frame.
DCEU superfans will no doubt spend the next few weeks dissecting every cryptic detail offered up by Snyder, but there's one question that looms large above the rest: What is going on with Jared Leto's Joker?
The new teaser didn't tell us much, nor did the director's Vero commentary, but one small Easter egg hidden in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it frame is an obvious reference to Leto's controversial interpretation of the Clown Prince of Crime.
Snyder is editing Leto's Joker back into the DCEU
Jared Leto's Joker took some licks in the press after David Ayer's Suicide Squad, a movie so fumbled that it's already getting a reboot under the steady hand of Guardians of the Galaxy auteur James Gunn. All that's water under the bridge for Zack Snyder, however, since the director announced that he would be reintroducing Leto into his cut of Justice League.
Since that announcement was made, we've had little information about Joker's role in the plot of Justice League or to what extent Leto would have to participate in the much-talked-about reshoots ... which makes this tiny glimpse of Joker paraphernalia in the new trailer all the more tantalizing.
In a shot that features the ruins of Wayne Mansion, we can clearly see that Snyder has decided to keep the Thomas Wayne portrait in-frame. In the next instant, the Joker's calling card that was found taped to Batman's (Ben Affleck) gun in Batman vs Superman floats through the air — a detail definitely absent from the theatrical cut. Alone, this might not mean much, but Snyder mentions in his Vero commentary that some major pieces of the puzzle he has planned are visible in this shot, which suggests the Joker card is no coincidence.
With Zack Snyder's Justice League likely approaching completion, new info should continue to trickle out, so stay tuned.