Suicide Squad's director says The Joker isn't former Robin Jason Todd

As is the case with the build-up to any big blockbuster movie, Suicide Squad has been subject to a fair amount of pre-release speculation. Indeed, the true identity of Jared Leto's Joker is the chief mystery that fans have been keen to unravel in recent months, with some concluding that Batman's nemesis is actually his former sidekick Jason Todd. When WSVN-TV asked director David Ayer about the most ridiculous rumour he's heard about his movie however, his response was pretty definitive:

"That The Joker is Jason Todd… it ain’t the case. He’s not!".

Having one of Batman's former sidekicks driven to such mad lengths could have made an interesting twist under the right circumstances, but given Ayer's respect for the source material it was always unlikely. While we now know for sure that Jason Todd isn't the Clown Prince of Crime, it will still be interesting to see just how much detail we get on Batman and Joker's history when Suicide Squad hits cinemas in a few days time.   

Directed by David Ayer and starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, and Joel Kinnaman, Suicide Squad will open in the UK and US on August 5, 2016.

Images: Warner Bros.

Amon Warmann

Amon is a contributing editor and columnist for Empire magazine, but is also a Film and TV writer for GamesRadar+, Total Film, and others. He has also written for NME, Composer Mag, and more, along with being a film critic for TalkSport. He is also the co-host of the Fade to Black Podcast, and a video mashup creator. Can also do a pretty good Bane impersonation.