To celebrate the Clown Prince of Crime's 75th birthday, director David Ayer gave those looking forward to Suicide Squad a fitting present: the first full, official look at Jared Leto as The Joker.

Ayer revealed the eye-popping photo on Twitter, showing a shirtless Joker wearing one purple glove (pressed against his green hair) with eyes wide and chrome-toothed mouth open wide in what looks to be a crazed laugh. His chest and arms are covered in tattoos, and his forehead is marked with one telling word: "Damaged."

Time will tell if Leto's performance can come anywhere near the intensely immersive depths of Heath Ledger's mesmerizing turn as the character in 2008's The Dark Knight, but the new take on the Harlequin of Hate is certainly memorable.

Shooting on Suicide Squad is currently underway with Ayer in the director’s chair and Charles Roven and Richard Suckle producing. Warner Bros. has slated Suicide Squad for an August 5th, 2016 release in both 2D and 3D. In addition to Leto, the star-studded core cast includes the following:

  • Will Smith as Deadshot, a Gotham City villain. Deadshot is a weapons expert and assassin with a high sniping accuracy and a penchant for efficiency.
  • Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, a former psychiatrist turned murderous madwoman by The Joker.
  • Jai Courtney as Boomerang, a villain armed to the teeth in boomerangs that explode, slice, dice, and electrify.
  • Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, a sorceress able to control and focus energy, allowing her the ability to teleport, mend wounds, and pass through walls.

Also featured in the film are Common, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jim Parrack, Jay Hernandez, Karen Fukuhara, Adam Beach, Scott Eastwood, and Ike Barinholtz.

Suicide Squad follows a ragtag team of incarcerated comic book antagonists who cut a deal with the U.S. government to carry out deadly missions that come with low chances of survival.

Source: Twitter
  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.