David Ayer’s DC Comics adaptation Suicide Squad has, according to recent reports, targeted high profile talent like Ryan Gosling, Tom Hardy, Margot Robbie and Will Smith with subsequent reports claiming that the studio is also keen on adding Jesse Eisenberg as his Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice antagonist, Lex Luthor. Now TheWrap claims that the Academy Award-winning Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) — said to have been in the running for Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange — is being eyed to play The Joker!

Created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru back in 1959, the Suicide Squad team has included countless DC villains among its ranks, including Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Bane, Killer Frost, Poison Ivy, Count Vertigo, Deathstroke, and Harley Quinn. The CW’s “Arrow” introduced their own version of the team in the most recent season of the series and the recent animated film, Batman: Assault on Arkham, offered another version of the team.

The line-up for “Task Force X” in the upcoming film is rumored to include the super strong Blockbuster, the self-replicating Multiplex, the speedster Jaculi, the illusion-casting Mindboggler, the original Captain Boomerang George Harkness, the animal mimicker Vixen, and Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot.

If the Joker is part of the story (even if Leto doesn’t ultimately take the role), his appearance would mark the first time the character has appeared on the big screen since The Dark Knight, wherein the late Heath Ledger won an Academy Award for what turned out to be his final full performance.

Suicide Squad is currently set for release on August 5, 2016.

(Photo Credit: Alberto Reyes / WENN.com)

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