What Jared Leto’s Joker Tattoos In Suicide Squad Really Mean

In case you haven't been checking off the days, Suicide Squad opens in theaters this Friday. And since we first heard that Jared Leto was taking on the role of Joker, we've gotten tiny little clues to what his portrayal will look like. He'll be wearing track suits and carrying a pimp cane. He's sent everything from bullets to rats to his co-stars in order to get into character. But what we've been most interested in learning about is the actual look of the Joker. How did Leto's Joker become the inked-up, skeletal, gold-plated-teeth-wearing version we've seen in the trailers? Turns out it had a lot to do with director David Ayer. "He has a very strong, personal connection to things, as we all do, and he brought all [the tattoo ideas] to the table," Leto explained to Refinery29 in an exclusive interview. "We talked about sources of inspiration, and that included everything from dictators to cartel leaders." Ayer himself told Yahoo that he pulled lots of inspiration from drug lords on Instagram. (Which is apparently a thing?) "There's very specific stories and Easter eggs in those tattoos," he told the site. "It's putting his history on his body. This Joker is a little more working-class, who I believe could live in our world." We'll have to wait a few more days before we get a good look at those tattoos, but something tells us they'll be just as delightfully creepy and entertaining as we imagine.