{"id":2448,"date":"2021-07-30T09:00:31","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T07:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1298927"},"modified":"2021-07-30T09:00:31","modified_gmt":"2021-07-30T07:00:31","slug":"is-the-joker-in-the-suicide-squad","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/is-the-joker-in-the-suicide-squad\/","title":{"rendered":"Is The Joker in The Suicide Squad?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\"> Harley Quinn&#8217;s former partner-in-crime played a small but significant role in 2016&#8217;s Suicide Squad \u2013 but does he feature in its quasi-sequel? <\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By David Craig\n                \t\t<\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Friday, 30 July 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p><hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n\n<p>James Gunn blockbuster <a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/sci-fi\/the-suicide-squad-release-date-dc-movie\/&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener&quot; noopener noreferrer\">The Suicide Squad<\/a> has only the loosest of connections with its similarly titled 2016 predecessor, but the return of Margot Robbie\u2019s Harley Quinn led some to wonder if Jared Leto\u2019s Joker could also reprise his role.<\/p>\n<p>Fans were divided on Leto\u2019s initial performance as the iconic comic book villain, but opinion seemed to sway slightly in his favour recently after a brief reprisal in <a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/movies\/justice-league-2-release-date-sequel\/&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener&quot; noopener noreferrer\">Zack Snyder\u2019s Justice League<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Some have also called for him to get his fair shot, following claims from director David Ayer that his film was fundamentally changed in the editing process, with many scenes featuring the Joker left on the cutting room floor.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, after taking the reins on the Suicide Squad franchise, Gunn opted not to bring Leto\u2019s Joker back into the fray even for a cameo, explaining his decision in a recent interview with the <a href=\"\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/07\/14\/movies\/james-gunn-the-suicide-squad.html&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener&quot; noopener noreferrer\">New York Times<\/a>.<\/p> <p>\u201cI wanted it to be its own thing completely,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen Warner Bros. said they wanted me to do this, I watched the first movie for the first time, and I called them back and said, \u2018What do I have to keep from this movie?\u2019 And they said, \u2018Nothing.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey said, \u2018Listen, we would love it if Margot\u2019s in the movie but she doesn\u2019t have to be. You could come up with all new characters or you could keep all the same characters.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The publication pressed Gunn on whether the Joker featured in any early draft of his Suicide Squad story, but again, he confirmed that the Clown Prince of Crime was never in contention for a role.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJoker, no,\u201d he responded. \u201cI just don\u2019t know why Joker would be in the Suicide Squad. He wouldn\u2019t be helpful in that type of war situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>At this stage, it\u2019s unclear if Leto\u2019s Joker will ever make a return to the big screen, with the actor recently jumping ship to Sony\u2019s Marvel Universe for the upcoming <a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/movies\/morbius-release-date\/&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener&quot; noopener noreferrer\">Morbius<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, it appears that Joaquin Phoenix\u2019s version of the character will become Warner Bros\u2019 most prominent, with rumours of <a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/movies\/joker-2-release-date\/&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener&quot; noopener noreferrer\">Joker 2<\/a> continuing to gain traction.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Suicide Squad is playing in UK cinemas from Friday 30th July. Check out more of our <a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/movies\/&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener&quot; noopener noreferrer\">Film<\/a> coverage or visit our <a href=\"\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/tv\/tv-listings\/&quot;\" target=\"&quot;_blank&quot;\" rel=\"&quot;noopener&quot; noopener noreferrer\">TV Guide<\/a> to see what\u2019s on tonight.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Harley Quinn&#8217;s former partner-in-crime played a small but significant role in 2016&#8217;s Suicide Squad \u2013 but does he feature in its quasi-sequel? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":2449,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/is-the-joker-in-the-suicide-squad.jpg",2048,858,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/is-the-joker-in-the-suicide-squad-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/is-the-joker-in-the-suicide-squad-300x126.jpg",300,126,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/is-the-joker-in-the-suicide-squad-768x322.jpg",768,322,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/is-the-joker-in-the-suicide-squad-1024x429.jpg",800,335,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/is-the-joker-in-the-suicide-squad-1536x644.jpg",1536,644,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/07\/is-the-joker-in-the-suicide-squad.jpg",2048,858,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Harley Quinn's former partner-in-crime played a small but significant role in 2016's Suicide Squad \u2013 but does he feature in its quasi-sequel?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/2448"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}