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Jared Leto was reportedly left “alienated and upset” by the new Joker Joaquin Phoenix .
Leto, who played the DC villain in 2016 film Suicide Squad
According to Hollywood Reporter
In 2018, it was announced that Leto would star in his own standalone film, which would have been billed as a Suicide Squad spin-off.
However, both that film and a Harley Quinn & Joker movie – that would have re-teamed Leto with Margot Robbie – were cut from Warner Bros' slate of DC projects.
Show all 34 1 /3434 DC Comics movie villains ranked 34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 34. Ciaran Hinds as Steppenwolf (Justice League) We were so distracted by the bad jokes and Henry Cavill’s computer generated upper lip that it’s easy to forget that the Justice League faced off against a horned CGI muscle man voiced by Ciaran Hinds. So bad it effectively got everyone but Gal Gadot dumped from the franchise. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 33. Mark Pillow as Nuclear Man (Superman IV: The Quest for Peace) Presumably hired because fellow “foreign, unconvincing muscle-man” Dolph Lundgren wasn’t available, Mark Pillow made for one of the worst DC movie villains. To be fair to him, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is a famously abysmal film, but his Nuclear Man – a villain so blandly nefarious even his name feels like it came about via 30 seconds of brainstorming – doesn’t help matters. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 32. Cara Delevingne as Enchantress/June Moone (Suicide Squad) It’s not been plain sailing swapping the catwalk for the big screen for this aristocratic supermodel-turned-actor, specifically with her role in this puerile comic book film. She plays June Moone, an archeological boffin transformed into a bikini-clad witch by some haunted dust. The film got devastatingly bad reviews, despite doing well at the box office. It may well be a performance Delevingne would like to forget. (CC)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 31. David Thewlis as Ares (Wonder Woman) The one area of Wonder Woman we don’t like to talk about is its villain, as his appearance in the film’s final act turns a smart and funny movie into one just like all the others – namely with two superpowered beings throwing things at each other. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 30. Patrick Wilson as Ocean Master (Aquaman) It was always going to be tricky to make much of an impression in a movie in which Amber Heard, sporting an enormous red wig, catapults her way into underwater battle riding a dolphin. Which might explain why Patrick Wilson, playing Aquaman’s dastardly half-brother Orm, has fallen so rapidly out of memory. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 29. Faye Dunaway as Selena (Supergirl) The doomed Supergirl movie is a living testament to how badly Mommie Dearest impacted the career of Faye Dunaway, with her turn as a witchy supervillain with a dangerous love spell at her disposal secretly the nadir of her Eighties career. She may nail a certain level of camp here, whether deliberate or not, but Dunaway is certainly no good – it’s no surprise she was awarded a Razzie for her performance. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 28. Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor (Superman Returns) A big gulp in 2019 for obvious reasons, but also pretty regretful because it's an incredibly dull performance from an actor who was, whether we like to admit it or not, masterful at playing villains in his prime. Here, however, Spacey is just a snooze. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 27. Yahya Abdul-Mahteen III as Black Manta (Aquaman) About as threatening as a Power Rangers villain and just as stupid-looking, Aquaman's recurring nemesis is more a perpetual irritant than someone particularly enjoyable to watch. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 26. Liam Neeson as Ra's al Ghul (Batman Begins) Ra's al Ghul, or "The Demon's Head" in Arabic, jumped on the climate activism bandwagon nice and early. For him, the human race is a cancer poisoning the Earth, and he wants to eliminate people to save the world from environmental disaster. Neeson played the villain so well because he really believed in him. “It was quite a good argument he comes up with,” the actor said. Terrifying. (EH)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 25. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr Freeze (Batman & Robin) Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn't so much playing Mr Freeze in Batman & Robin as he was The Pun King, few surviving his merciless deployment of woeful gags. Schwarzenegger is by no means good here, but he's absolutely captivating nonetheless. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 24. Sharon Stone as Laurel Hedare (Catwoman) Only one of the worst DC villains because her evil plot was to poison Gotham City via killer face cream, Laurel Hedare at least allowed Sharon Stone to be devious, slinky and cartoonish for the first time since Basic Instinct. It's a very minor victory, though. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 23. Jared Leto as Joker (Suicide Squad) It would be easy to pity Jared Leto, who was always going to be compared to the late Heath Ledger’s transcendent portrayal of the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, if it weren’t for how much hype he built up before Suicide Squad was even released. There were the tattoos, his green hair, a shiny grill in his mouth, and a ludicrous number of articles about his supposed bad behaviour on set. So it was downright embarrassing when it turned out Joker wasn’t even the lead villain in the movie, and instead just an annoyance who turns up to mock the lead cast every now and then. (RO)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 22. Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate (The Dark Knight Rises) Although many will purely remember Cotillard’s performance in The Dark Knight Rises for that awfully awkward death scene, she was great in the rest of the movie. She played one of Batman’s most interesting female adversaries with a slyness and a deception that was mysteriously alluring and effective. (EH)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 21. Michael Shannon as General Zod (Man of Steel) The kind of role Shannon could play in his sleep, his General Zod is more angsty and human than his live-action predecessors playing the same character, but harmed by the relentlessly dank surroundings of Zack Snyder’s film. He’s also saddled with the most unflattering haircut in all of DC movie history, which couldn’t have helped. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 20. Tom Hardy as Bane (The Dark Knight Rises)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 19. Burgess Meredith as The Penguin (Batman 1966) Entirely unsubtle work from Meredith here, the actor grinding his teeth and chewing on the end of a large, thin cigarette to emphasise the Penguin’s dastardly villainy. But it’s a lot of fun to behold nonetheless. (AW)
20th Century Fox
34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 18. Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor (Superman) The Oscar-winning actor was easily the most fun incarnation of Lex Luthor when he was cast in the 1978 Superman. As the hero’s arch nemesis, his light-hearted and theatrical portrayal came across as more comical than menacing. But despite the fact it was hard to take him as a serious threat, he was still a compelling villain to watch. He reprised the role in Superman II and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. (CC)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 17. Parker Posey as Kitty Kowalski (Superman Returns) One of the few bright spots in an otherwise drab and rapidly forgotten Superman reboot, Parker Posey very much plays to type here. But it's such a delicious, mischievous performance, all eccentricity and barely-concealed madness, that it's not remotely a problem. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 16. Joaquin Phoenix as Joker (Joker) The role that, for better and for worse, Phoenix was born to play, his Joker is disturbing and brilliantly oddball. But it’s a performance that is also suffocating by nature of how present it is. Without any respite, in the form of a Christian Bale or a Michael Keaton, it ends up feeling a lot like Phoenix swallowing you whole, and that’s not the best of experiences. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 15. Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle (The Dark Knight Rises) Catwoman – the thieving, on-again, off-again love interest of Batman – was brought to life brilliantly by Anne Hathaway who deftly encapsulated her slinky, feline energy and gave an emotionally nuanced performance which offered a fresh perspective on the character after Michelle Pfeiffer’s turn in the Nineties. (EH)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 14. Lee Meriwether as Catwoman (Batman 1966) The actor, who is now 84, is unforgettable in her portrayal of Catwoman in the 1966 film. Using feline movements when she walks, she winds up with one of the best scenes in any Batman: when disguised as a Soviet reporter called Miss Kitka, complete with Sixties Beehive hair, she seduces Adam West’s Caped Crusader so she can abduct him. They have a very passionate kiss, but when he figures out she is Catwoman, he is heartbroken. (CC)
20th Century Fox
34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 13. Cesar Romero as Joker (Batman 1966) It may be an unpopular opinion, but Cesar Romero always had the best Joker laugh – a shrill, gleeful racket of purely mad joy. He’s also one of the few actors to play the character without a heap of exhausting off-screen intensity, too. With his white makeup merely painted over his moustache because Romero couldn’t be bothered to shave it off, there’s a blissful, unique ease to his work in the original Batman movie. (AW)
20th Century Fox
34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 12. Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy (Batman & Robin) Batman & Robin may feature a vast ensemble of stars all acting in very different films, but Uma Thurman is the only one truly in keeping with the gaudy, camp vision that director Joel Schumacher (probably?) had in mind for it. Her Poison Ivy is basically a ludicrous, plant-groping drag queen dressed occasionally in a gorilla suit, and playing up the absurdity is arguably the smartest acting choice in the whole damn film. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 11. Jim Carrey as The Riddler (Batman Forever) Released at the peak of Carrey’s Nineties fame, Batman Forever didn’t cast Carrey because he would be perfect for The Riddler, but because they wanted Jim Carrey – squirming, scenery-chewing, face-contorting and all. It ends up falling somewhere between genuinely brilliant and mildly awful, but on occasion becomes actually chilling. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 10. Frank Gorshin as The Riddler (Batman 1966) Gorshin’s work on the original Sixties Batman series, and its 1966 film, has always been underappreciated. It’s partly due to The Riddler himself, a character notorious in Batman’s rogues gallery of villains, but always one that has struggled to be well portrayed on-screen. But Gorshin tried his best, morphing his Riddler into a sinister genius with a maniacal laugh and a fearsome, intimidating intelligence. (AW)
20th Century Fox
34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 9. Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face (Batman Forever) “I will not sanction your buffoonery,” Jones reportedly told his co-star Jim Carrey on the Batman Forever set. One of the most notorious examples of Jones's famed workplace grouchiness, his unhappiness working on the film at least wasn't visible on screen. He's fantastic here, all mad cackling and hysterical showboating. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 8. Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow (Batman Begins) Cillian Murphy didn’t get the screentime he needed – or deserved – to really develop what could have been one of DC’s most intriguing villains: a corrupt psychopharmacologist testing his wares on the inmates at Arkham Asylum. What works is his understated manner and appearance; Scarecrow didn’t need an outlandish costume because the terror he instilled was all in your head. (RO)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 7. Christopher Walken as Max Schreck (Batman Returns) The true villain of Batman Returns, the tragic humanity of Catwoman and The Penguin entirely lacking in Schreck's capitalist, salacious and pro-gentrification business mogul. It's no surprise there have been Trump comparisons in the years since. But it's also important to not forget quite how brilliant Walken is in the role, too. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 6. Aaron Eckhart as Two-Face (The Dark Knight) Less spoken about by nature of the stunning work by Heath Ledger elsewhere in The Dark Knight, Aaron Eckhart is also the film's secret weapon. His Harvey Dent is noble and well-intentioned and dripping with vaguely Kennedy-esque suave, which only makes his eventual transformation into Two-Face that much more tragic. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 5. Danny DeVito as The Penguin (Batman Returns) Few villains are as memorable as Danny Devito’s Penguin. The 1992 performance in Tim Burton’s gothic Batman Returns is as entertaining as it is menacing, and he even instils a sense of pity with his role as a monster who just wants to be accepted – or at a pinch, feared – by the society that rejected him. (RO)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 4. Terence Stamp as General Zod (Superman II) A villain played with delicious apathy and verve by Terence Stamp, General Zod is far and away the finest nemesis Christopher Reeve’s Superman ever had to face off against. Ruthless, menacing and dressed like the coolest cat on the Studio 54 dancefloor, he’s a blast. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 3. Jack Nicholson as The Joker (Batman) The only thing lacking from Jack Nicholson’s Joker is an element of surprise. Even in 1989, there was something admittedly tried-and-tested about Nicholson playing insanity with such ripe conviction on screen. But regardless, his work here is terrifying – not quite Jack Torrance levels, but equally as captivating. It’s no wonder he got top billing over the guy who actually played Batman. (AW)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 2. Heath Ledger as The Joker (The Dark Knight) The best of the best: Heath Ledger transformed himself completely and made the role his own opposite Christian Bale’s Batman in The Dark Knight. His performance was so outstanding that he has become the gold standard to which all other actors aspire when they take on a villainous role. It’s hard to believe there will ever be a better Joker. (RO)
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34 DC Comics movie villains ranked 1. Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman (Batman Returns) The mystery over Catwoman's moral allegiances has been alive almost as long as she has in comic book lore, but it also makes her the most captivating sort-of nemesis in all of the DC movies. Michelle Pfeiffer is a sensual, terrifying and incredibly funny presence throughout Batman Returns, her irresistible allure making her the most threatening individual Batman has ever faced off against. She also gives one of the greatest performances not only in comic book movies but in all movies entirely, to whom all her successors, Catwoman or not, can't help but pail in comparison. (AW)
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Leto is also notably absent from the upcoming Suicide Squad sequel. When making the original film, Leto reportedly sent a dead pig to the first table read.
Phoenix recently said he would be very interested in playing Joker again, following rave reviews of his performance in the film and its success at the box office.
Joker is out now in cinemas.
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