“BOYCOTT THIS FAKE JOKER!” – Jared Leto’s venomous strike at Barry Keoghan’s Clown Prince just lit the Bat-Signal for all-out DC war. Tattoos, teeth-grills, and now total takedown: Is Leto’s grudge the chaos Gotham deserves… or the punchline that kills the reboot? Fans are rioting, Gunn’s gloves are off – who’s laughing last in this clown car crash? Peel back the greasepaint on the meltdown:

The Caped Crusader’s rogues gallery has always thrived on anarchy, but when the Clown Prince of Crime turns his smeared grin on a fellow Joker, even Gotham’s underbelly recoils. In a blistering Instagram Live rant that clocked 4.2 million views in under 24 hours, Jared Leto – the tattooed, grill-flashing Joker from the doomed DCEU era – unleashed on Barry Keoghan’s iteration of the iconic villain, branding it “fake,” “insulting,” and a “slapdash sideshow that wouldn’t scare a mime.” The outburst, dropped September 27, 2025, amid reshoots for Disney’s Tron: Ares (where Leto stars as a digital demigod), came packaged with leaked set photos from Matt Reeves’ The Batman universe, where Keoghan’s Joker lurks as a shadowy Arkham inmate. Leto’s war cry – “Boycott this fake Joker before he boycotts sanity!” – ignited a powder keg in the already fractured DC fandom, spawning #FakeJoker and #LetoLives hashtags that trended worldwide with 1.8 million posts. As petitions to “restore the real Joker” surged past 120,000 signatures on Change.org, DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn – no stranger to Leto’s toxicity – was dragged into the fray, issuing a terse Threads missive that only fanned the flames: “Chaos is the point, but this? It’s just noise.” With Warner Bros. Discovery reeling from Joker: Folie à Deux‘s $200 million box office bloodbath and the DCU reboot limping toward Superman‘s July 2026 lifeline, Leto’s broadside threatens to tip the franchise into full-blown pandemonium – a meta-meltdown where actors feud over a role that’s chewed up and spat out more careers than the Joker’s acid vats.

Leto’s venom didn’t materialize in a vacuum; it’s the toxic residue of a career built on boundary-pushing that often blurs into self-sabotage. His 2016 turn as the Joker in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad – a neon-drenched, Gucci-clad gangster with a penchant for Harley Quinn and homemade grenades – was meant to redefine the character post-Heath Ledger’s Oscar-haunted masterpiece. Leto dove deep into method madness: mailing co-stars live rats and used condoms as “gifts,” isolating on set, and sporting diamond-studded teeth that cost $20,000 a pop. The performance, slashed to a scant eight minutes in the theatrical cut after Warner Bros.’ infamous reshoots (rumored to be at Ayer’s behest but later denied), polarized from the jump. Critics like those at Rolling Stone hailed it as “a rock-star reinvention,” while The Guardian dismissed it as “more Hot Topic than Hades.” Box office? A $746 million global haul masked deeper woes: A 26% Rotten Tomatoes score and whispers of Leto’s “cursed” influence, echoed in later flops like Morbius (2022), where his Vulture cameo couldn’t salvage the $167 million vampire dud. Fast-forward to 2025, and Leto’s Tron gig – announced in 2023 amid House of Gucci buzz – hit snags when co-star Evan Rachel Wood cited “creative differences” tied to his “intense” prep, fueling fresh scrutiny over his 2018 tour antics and grooming allegations resurfaced by James Gunn’s decade-old tweet: “He starts at 18 on the internet?” Gunn, then a Marvel up-and-comer, was skewering Leto’s DMs to teen models; the quip, unearthed in August 2025 amid Peacemaker Season 2 hype, now reads like prophecy.

Keoghan’s Joker, by contrast, slithered into view like a riddle wrapped in a straitjacket. The 32-year-old Irish breakout – fresh off Banshees of Inisherin‘s Oscar nod and Saltburn‘s viral bathtub scene – teased his take in The Batman‘s 2022 post-credits stinger: a gaunt, giggling inmate trading barbs with Robert Pattinson’s brooding Bruce Wayne. Obscured by bandages and shadows, Keoghan’s Clown evoked a “broken-down boy,” per his Variety chat, blending Ledger’s menace with a raw, relational vulnerability absent in Leto’s bling-bling brute. Reeves, architect of the $770 million hit, confirmed the cameo as “no Easter egg” but a harbinger, teasing a sequel slated for 2027 where Joker emerges as a “charming, hurt” foil to Pattinson’s detective. Deleted scenes, dropped post-premiere, amplified the intrigue: Keoghan’s taunts – “You’re building my story, Bats” – dripped with intimate dread, earning 78% fan approval in a Screen Rant poll versus Leto’s 42%. Yet, as The Penguin – HBO’s smash Batman spin-off – wrapped its first season to 95% acclaim, rumors swirled of a Keoghan-led Joker series bridging sequels. Gunn doused them November 2024 on Threads: “Absolutely no truth to this… hasn’t even come up.” Keoghan, ever coy, told GQ in September 2025: “I’d love to dance that dance again, but the Bat’s callin’ the shots.” His restraint? A velvet glove over the iron fist Leto wields.

The explosion was instantaneous. On X, #BoycottFakeJoker ballooned to 850,000 mentions by September 28, with Snyderverse die-hards – still smarting from the 2023 DC reboot – rallying behind Leto as “the uncut king.” Posts like @SnyderQueen_’s video plea for the “Ayer Cut” – showcasing Leto’s full, feral arc – racked 216 likes, decrying Keoghan as “a generic ghoul.” Reddit’s r/DC_Cinematic erupted in 2,300-comment threads, tallying 1.8K upvotes for “Leto’s chaos > Keoghan’s whimper,” while r/DCFans split 55-45, with one viral meme pitting Leto’s “Duh” grill against Keoghan’s skeletal leer captioned: “Rockstar vs. Rabies Patient.” TikTok fared worse: Duets of Leto’s rant set to Suicide Squad‘s “Heathens” amassed 45 million views, spawning fan edits that morphed Keoghan into a “fake” filter, complete with pixelated tattoos. Black Twitter and LGBTQ+ corners pushed back hard, resurfacing Leto’s accuser pool – from 2015’s “underage fan” claims to Wood’s veiled barbs – with @Fauxmoi threads hitting 4K upvotes: “Leto calls others insulting? The irony’s thicker than his eyeliner.” Even neutral ground cracked: The AV Club dubbed it “DC’s dumbest diva duel,” while FandomWire traced Leto’s “curse” to Morbius‘s meme-fueled flop and now Tron‘s rumored $50 million overrun.

Gunn, the reluctant referee, waded in September 29 via Threads: “DC’s about stories, not shade. Let the Clowns clown – we’ve got Superman to save the world.” The post, liked 120K times, doubled as a dig – echoing his Peacemaker Season 2 opener, where John Cena’s Peacemaker trashes Thirty Seconds to Mars as “worse than a garage band,” a not-so-subtle nod to Leto’s frontman gig. Gunn’s history with Leto runs colder than Mr. Freeze: That 2018 tweet implied predatory vibes, and his Suicide Squad sequel axed Leto’s Joker outright, quipping Waller “wouldn’t use him.” Now, helming a $200 million Superman soft reboot – starring David Corenswet as the Man of Steel and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois – Gunn’s plate overflows: Lanterns greenlit, Paradise Lost in script, but whispers of Joker fatigue plague the slate. Reeves’ Elseworlds – separate from Gunn’s DCU – shields Keoghan, but crossovers loom, per a Deadline exclusive on potential Batman/Superman teases. Leto’s assault? It risks tainting the well, especially post-Folie à Deux, where Joaquin Phoenix’s musical misfire (starring Lady Gaga as Harley) tanked with a $93 million domestic gross against $190 million costs, sparking #JokerCurse memes tying it to Leto’s “legacy.”

The fallout’s fractal. Leto, 53 and Oscar-laden from Dallas Buyers Club, parlayed his Joker into a villainous brand: Morbius’s Vulture, Blade Runner 2049‘s Niander Wallace, and now Tron‘s Ares – a “digital devil” per plot leaks. But the method mantle frays: Co-stars like Wood (alleging “emotional terrorism” in a 2023 Jezebel piece) and Margot Robbie (who told Vogue Leto’s “gifts” creeped her out) paint a portrait of intensity veering into intimidation. Fans, divided like the Court of Owls, flood petitions: One for Leto’s “uncut” return (75K sigs) clashes with another axing him forever (89K). Snyder loyalists, mourning their steel-blue aesthetic, lionize Leto as “the DCEU’s dark heart,” per @SandMan99588’s quip: “Lol didn’t know there was a real Joker to begin with.” Keoghan stans – buoyed by his Penguin adjacency – counter with edits of his unhinged laugh over Leto’s auto-tuned warble, amassing 30 million views. Gunn’s response? A masterclass in deflection, but insiders tell The Hollywood Reporter it’s “forced his hand” – accelerating Joker plans for The Brave and the Bold, rumored to eye unknowns over “baggage.”

Broader strokes reveal DC’s dire straits. Warner Bros. Discovery, under David Zaslav’s cost-slashing scalpel, has bled $1.2 billion since 2022’s Snyder ouster: The Flash‘s $271 million flop, Aquaman 2‘s pandemic pall. Gunn’s gambit – a “kinder, connected” DCU – hinges on Superman‘s splash, but Leto’s chaos amplifies the reboot’s risks. Variety analysts peg a 20% viewership dip if fan wars escalate, echoing Star Wars‘ Sequel Trilogy schisms. Reeves, wisely walled off, told Empire in October: “Joker’s a mirror – reflects what we fear. Barry gets that.” Leto? His mirror’s cracked, per @CheesePersonMan’s viral burn: “Hires Jared Leto” over AI woes.

As Tron: Ares preps for 2026 – sans Leto’s full commitment, per Collider – and The Batman Part II inks, the Joker’s throne wobbles. Leto’s “war” isn’t just pettiness; it’s a symptom of a franchise fractured by egos bigger than the Batmobile. Gunn’s quelling words mask mounting pressure: Restore order, or watch the Clown claim another crown? In DC’s descending circus, one laugh echoes loudest – but whose? The fans, fangs bared, decide.