Justice League: Zack Snyder Addresses Jared Leto's Missing Joker Tattoos

DC fans got their first look at Jared Leto's Joker return in Zack Snyder's Justice League today, and there have been some changes to the character since we last saw him in Suicide Squad. A more grim and creepy Joker stands in the place of the gangster mob boss style villain we saw last time around, much more akin to previous incarnations by Grant Morrison than anything else. One of the biggest changes to Joker is that his tattoos are now gone, and in a new interview with Vanity Fair Snyder addressed the change, but don't expect there to be a story reason for the removal.

When asked about the missing ink and what happened since we last saw him in Suicide Squad, Snyder said "I would say that there's been some water under the bridge. Who knows what's happened. I don't know if he's wearing makeup, I don't know what's happening. It's hard to say exactly."

It seems he preferred this version of the character to the one we last saw, simple as that. It also helps that Joker appears in the film as part of the Knightmare version of the world, where Darkseid has successfully invaded and decimated the planet. That means it doesn't have to tie to any continuity or explain things like the tattoos, but it will give us the Joker Batman pairing many have been waiting for.

We'll see Ben Affleck's Batman talking to Leto's Joker, and it's something Snyder was happy to finally give to fans.

"The cool thing about the scene is that it's Joker talking directly to Batman about Batman," Snyder said. "It's Joker analyzing Batman about who he is and what he is. That's the thing I also felt like fans deserved from the DC Universe. That is to say, the Jared Leto Joker and the Ben Affleck Batman, they never really got together. It seemed uncool to me that we would make it all the way through this incarnation of Batman and Joker without seeing them come together."

The design is certainly generating some conversation already, though Snyder also revealed that Joker has another look we'll see in the film, which is a bulletproof vest filled with grimy police badges, which he wears as trophies according to Snyder.

What do you think of the no tattoos look? Let us know in the comments or as always you can talk all things DC with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!