Here's Why Jared Leto's Joker Wasn't in the Birds of Prey Trailer

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) dropped a full trailer earlier this week. The trailer was centered around Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn with some glimpses at her impressive supporting cast also being featured. While there were references to the Joker, a version of the character portrayed by Jared Leto introduced in Suicide Squad, the DC Comics villain never showed up in the trailer. If he is indeed in Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), at all, then there are a couple reasons for him to be sidelined for this trailer.

First of all, the trailer for Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) will play in theaters before screenings of Joker this weekend. The new movie sees Joaquin Phoenix step into the role of Arthur Fleck, a character descending into madness and become Gotham City's Joker. Joker is a standalone movie, existing in its own isolated world with no connections to previous or future DC Comics movies. The point here is that having Jared Leto's version of the Joker featured in a trailer playing in theaters before a screening of Joaquin Phoenix's Joker would be confusing for some less informed moviegoers and could also devalue the appearance in Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).

Furthermore, the trailer for Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) focused on the women of the film and it has a handful of characters to introduce to fans. While it's not outside of the realm of possibilities that Leto's Joker could appear in the film given his connections to Harley Quinn, the focus of the trailer was not to hook audiences via others characters.

After all, would anybody be mad if Warner Bros. managed to keep such a cameo or role an actual secret?

Nobody is saying that you should bet on Leto's Joker appearing in Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (or any DC Comics movie down the line) but if he is going to be appearing, it makes more sense to leave him out of the trailers -- at least, for now. In fact, I'm hearing the Joker will make an appearance in the upcoming film, but Jared Leto will not.

Do you think the Joker should be Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram and Twitter!

Joker hits theaters on October 4. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) hits theaters on February 7, 2020.