A Bad Joke
Let’s talk about Suicide Squad.
The year was 2016. The trailers looked wild, the soundtrack slapped, and we were all cautiously optimistic that maybe, just maybe, DC could pull off something fun.
And then he showed up.
That… thing he called the Joker - part gangster, part Hot Topic manager, part “what if the word cringe became a person.” The tattoos, the laugh, the grill, the “damaged” forehead - it was like someone ran every bad idea through a blender and decided, “Yeah, let’s film that.”
Worst of all, he thought he nailed it. He reportedly sent dead animals to cast members while “staying in character.” I’m sorry, but mailing a rat to Margot Robbie doesn’t make you Daniel Day-Lewis. It makes you someone HR needs to talk to.
It's Morbin' Time!
After that performance, most actors would’ve taken a long reflective walk in the woods. Leto? He signed up for Morbius.
And I’ll give him this - the memes were great. “It’s Morbin’ time” might be one of the most unintentionally hilarious internet moments in film history. But the movie itself? It was a cinematic void. A black hole of charisma.
It’s almost impressive how Leto managed to make a movie about a vampire superhero feel like an Ambien commercial.
Worst of the Best
Even when he’s in great movies, he somehow manages to be the worst thing about them.
Blade Runner 2049 is one of the best sci-fi films of the century - it's amazing. But every time Leto slithers onto the screen with that whispery, “I am so mysterious” energy, the entire film grinds to a halt.
Now, he’s taken his talents to Tron: Ares, and from early reviews, it sounds like déjà vu all over again. Another franchise, another opportunity for Leto to make everything feel like a high-budget perfume commercial.
I don’t know what it is about this guy and tech-saturated sci-fi worlds, but he’s like catnip for casting directors who confuse “weird” with “deep.”
Weird ≠ Brilliant
Somewhere along the way, Leto decided that if he just acted odd enough, people would mistake it for genius.
Long pauses. Cryptic stares. Saying normal sentences like they’re ancient prophecies.
It’s not compelling - it’s exhausting.
Being unpredictable isn’t the same as being interesting.
And being eccentric off-camera doesn’t automatically make you a tortured artist. Sometimes it just makes you unpleasant.
The Leto Effect
What frustrates me most is that he keeps showing up in fandom spaces that deserve better.
Superheroes. Sci-fi. Cult classics. These are the genres where creativity thrives - where you can get weird in a way that works.
But instead of elevating them, Jared Leto drags them down with this over-serious, self-important energy that smothers all the fun.
I’m not saying he should never act again. I’m saying maybe - just maybe - he could take a little break from ruining major franchises and go do an experimental art film somewhere in the desert. He’d love that. He could live in a yurt, commune with his own reflection, and record a thirty-minute monologue about how misunderstood he is.
We’d all be happier for it.
So Can You Not?
Jared Leto isn’t the worst actor alive. He’s just the most consistently misplaced. He’s the cinematic equivalent of adding pineapple to a burger - it doesn’t ruin the whole thing, but it definitely makes you wonder who thought that was a good idea.
So please, Hollywood, I beg you: stop giving this man your biggest franchises.
Let him do his band thing. Let him make his weird arthouse projects.
But keep him out of my sci-fi universes.
