Director David Ayer explains the reason why Joker's teeth are a plot hole in Suicide Squad. Although it now looks like Warner Bros. and DC have figured out a plan for their cinematic universe, they hit a few speed bumps along the way. Their villain team-up movie Suicide Squad proved to be one of those odd entries, as it was destroyed by critics, but still wound up earning a ton of money at the box office. It was the first film to feature standouts like Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn or Will Smith's Deadshot, but also controversial additions like Jared Leto's Joker.
From the very first image of Leto's Joker, it was clear that Ayer was taking the character in a different direction. Not everyone was a fan of this in the end, but it did result in a Joker with a built-in backstory involving this universe's Batman. Joker's creepy smile was without his regular teeth, as Batman had punched them out and forced Joker to wear a grill. Yet, the timeline of events that resulted in this incident doesn't line up, and Ayer's now explaining why.
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A fan asked Ayer on Twitter about the strange plot hole that Joker's teeth are at the center of. Batman only knocked out Joker's teeth after the Clown Prince of Crime murdered Robin. He has the resulting grill while he's locked in Arkham Asylum, the place he'd first meet Harleen Quinzel. But, Harley's bio at the start of Suicide Squad confirms she was an accomplice in Robin's death, which could've only happened after she met and became infatuated with Joker. As the fan on Twitter notes, Joker shouldn't have the grill when he meets Harley originally, so what happened? Ayer responded by saying, "The timeline was changed after filming."
This is an interesting revelation for Ayer to offer up, depending on how the timeline was changed. If it was done during the editing process, then there's not too many ways for this to ever have lined up in the first place. If Joker always had the grill when he first met Harley, then the only change that could've taken place to mess up the continuity would be what's included in Harley's bio. The original idea for her bio may not have included a connection to Robin's death, allowing for the rest of the events to play out and make chronological sense.
However, Suicide Squad was also a project that underwent a tremendous amount of reshoots that overhauled the movie. Ayer alluded to this fact recently on Twitter by saying his original cut is very different than the theatrical release, so this inconsistency may be a result of changes mandated by the studio. Since Leto wears the grill throughout the movie, it may have just been an oversight by the crew running reshoots to include the grill where it didn't make sense to. This may be the more believable outcome, given the heavily covered history of Suicide Squad's production schedule. Unless Ayer further clarifies what happened though, this is one of those small details that many won't even notice. And, the continuity of Joker's teeth is hardly one of the film's biggest problems, so opinions on Suicide Squad would hardly be changed if the error hadn't occurred.
MORE: How Joaquin Phoenix's Joker Compares to Past Versions
Source: David Ayer
