Ever since Suicide Squad revealed the new looks for the Joker and Harley Quinn, fans have had mixed feelings, but director David Ayer is offering up some new information on the tattoos and their purpose.
Suicide Squad may be one of the most highly anticipated summer films, but it hasn’t gone without complaints. One of the biggest things fans have spoken out about is the new looks for Harley Quinn and the Joker, which aren’t the typical ones fans are used to. Don’t worry though, director David Ayer has a very good reason for going with the looks that he did.
In a recent interview with Yahoo Movies, Ayer revealed that he wanted to create a Joker that could realistically exist in today’s world. He even took to social media for ideas, saying, “If a guy like him really existed today, where would he come from? How would he do business? Who would he know? What would he look like? In my mind, I took a lot of inspiration from drug lords on Instagram. It’s a great way to understand the lifestyle of a villain.”
One of the features that makes this Joker stand out from previous versions includes the tattoos covering his body, but those are also important to the character. Ayer explains, “The tattoos tell a very specific story, and eventually people will decipher them and understand what’s going on, but obviously they’re contentious, any time you do something new it’s contentious.”
For fans that love to piece things together on their own, Joker’s tattoos are like a treasure map waiting to be deciphered. “There’s very specific stories and Easter eggs in those tattoos,” said Ayer. “And even his teeth, there’s an entire story behind that which is absolutely canon. It’s putting his history on his body. This Joker is a little more working class, who I believe could live in our world.”
Margot Robbie also revealed some interesting information on Harley’s tattoos, saying, “She did these herself in prison. They’re stick and poke tattoos, prison-style tattoos, that you do when you don’t have a tattoo gun. She did them herself out of boredom and desperation.”
Most of Harley’s tattoos seem to be dedicated to the Joker, which means that she goes into prison seriously dependent on him. It’s previously been revealed that the film would be showing Harley gaining her independence, so it should be interesting to see how she feels about those tattoos by the end of the film!