One of the bigger surprises for Zack Snyder’s Justice League was the addition of Jared Leto’s Joker to the movie.
Joker had nothing to do with the original theatrical release and there were questions why he was needed at all.
However, as photos from Zack Snyder’s Justice League show, Joker is part of Batman’s Knightmare scenes.
Snyder now explains his reasoning for bringing Joker into the movie.
Why is Joker in Justice League?
Zack Snyder was speaking to Total Film Magazine about the addition of Joker to Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max.
“[Joker] was a thing I had wanted to do,” Snyder said. “Because frankly, the ultimate conflict in a universe where Batman exists is for him to confront Joker.
“I was afraid that if this was the last Justice League with Ben and Jared, it would be remiss if I couldn’t figure out a way for them to come into conflict.”
So, the entire idea is that Snyder was never able to make his Batman movie where he dealt with Joker, so he added it to Justice League, so he would be able to say that he did it.
He also said he planned this since Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.
“It was a wish of mine to bring Joker into the continuing storyline,” Snyder explained. “I hinted at it in Batman v Superman – when you see Batman’s gun in the post-apocalyptic world, it has a Joker playing card taped to it. This has a little bit to do with that concept.”
What is Joker doing in Zack Snyder’s Justice League?
As the images released shows, this is not the Justice League timeline from the movie, but the Knightmare timeline with a future where Superman has become evil.
Joker was talking to Batman, not fighting him, and it seemed the two enemies had to work together with a greater evil in the world in Superman.
“The cool thing about the scene is that it’s Joker talking directly to Batman about Batman,” Snyder said. “It’s Joker analyzing Batman about who he is and what he is. That’s the thing I also felt like fans deserved from the DC Universe.
“That is to say, the Jared Leto Joker and the Ben Affleck Batman, they never really got together. It seemed uncool to me that we would make it all the way through this incarnation of Batman and Joker without seeing them come together.”
Zack Snyder’s Justice League hits HBO Max on March 18.