It's hard to imagine a more perfect take on the Joker than Heath Ledger's portrayal in Suicide Squad. What many didn't expect was that Leto's take on the iconic Batman villain would receive the response it got -- while Suicide Squad was far from a critical success, it was the Joker who got the lion's share of the criticism.
Now, two fans have decided to take the Ledger/Leto comparison one step further, with the creation of a short video that pits these interpretations of the character against one another.
Ismahawk, fan-filmmaker duo Danny Shepherd and Jeremy Le, released their latest in a series of character-vs-character videos called Minute Match Ups. This latest offering sees Leto's Joker bursting in on Ledger's Joker (played by Jan Flugum and Noel Schefflin), as the two throw down over a woman in an orange jumpsuit with a bag over her head. At around five and a half minutes long, the video follows the usual MMU formula, with a particularly fan-pleasing twist at the end!
Shepherd and Le have put their usual level of care and attention into this video, with phenomenal movie-accurate costumes and a fantastic set. The video is clearly biased toward the Ledger fans, with this version of the Joker emerging victorious. However, it's not the Joker who kills the Joker -- in a brilliant twist that celebrates Robbie's Quinn, the woman in the jumpsuit turns out to be Harley herself. Played by Charlie Starling, this is the Harley we met in Suicide Squad, but even she prefers Ledger to Leto, as she reveals that 'it was all part of the plan', before taking a knife to the tattooed Clown Prince of Crime.
This Minute Match Up will give fans a thrill to see Harley turn against the Suicide Squad version and side with The Dark Knight's adversary. As always, it's also just a fun few minutes to watch -- the production values are excellent, especially for a fan-made film, and Ismahawk fans are sure to be impressed.
However, some may be disappointed with the obvious preference for Ledger. There are certainly many fans who enjoyed the most recent take on the Joker, and for those who are a little sick and tired of Leto being criticized, this just continues to pile on. These characters are also not super-powered, which means that we don't get to see the kind of fantastic special effects that Ismahawk has treated us to in previous videos like The Flash vs Quicksilver. However, even Leto fans can find something to enjoy in the other Minute Match Up videos on the channel.
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Source: Ismahawk