Joker has Black Panther like screen time. Yet, he's getting Iron Man like promotion.
Disagree with that, I feel like they are promoting him as he appears in the film.
First Trailer: They build up to his appearance at the end, with the laugh, and then the exclamation point of the trailer with "I'm just gonna hurt ya..." Makes people intrigued and excited to see him. ESPECIALLY after Ledger's performance, Joker is a huge character in DC canon. And the reason Joker is so important is his relationship to Batman, who is the biggest character in their roster. People are excited to see this new portrayal. Obviously, they are going to promote that in the concept art and posters.
The next trailers show really quick clips of him and one liners. They don't really show how he fits into the story, the story that the trailers tell is that of the Suicide Squad group, with just enough Joker to get people enticed and wanting more. That's what his role in the film will be. A way to introduce the character to audiences without having to base an entire film around his relationship to Batman, show enough of him and Batman to get people wanting more, while building up his character (and relationship to Harley) so that there is adequate tension built up by the time he and Batman really square off. I think it's brilliant. How else are they supposed to promote him?
People have huge expectations of the character, and also some people are so stuck on Ledger's brilliant portrayal that they aren't going to be willing to accept a new take, so Leto really has his work cut out for him. He has to give a performance on the level of Ledger, Nicholson, Hammil, Romero, and still carve his own niche, offer something unique to this Universe they are selling.
That's why the tattoos and the cartel/rock star image. This is a Joker who loves his role, who does all these crazy things because he genuinely gets a kick out of it. The funniest thing in the world to him is having a big, serious, pissed off guy in a bat suit with all these gadgets and training, relentlessly coming at him, just getting more and more pissed off every time. Joker can't get enough of it, the absolute absurdity of it. One of the best scenes in Dark Knight was Joker laughing in Batman's face because this guy in a batsuit was getting so worked up and pissed off and there was nothing he could do "with all his strength".
Ledger's Joker was an anarchist who was out to prove a point about human nature in the midst of chaos, he hangs his head out the window like a happy dog, just taking in the chaos around him.
How do you compete with that? Make him flashier (the tats and clothes and grill), make him more unpredictable, more manic, he's not out to prove a point, he's doing it because of the thrill it gives him, because it is freaking hilarious and he can't get enough of it. From what I've heard of his Method acting, and seen from the imagery of the trailers, it looks like Leto is doing a good job pulling that off, you can see it in his eyes and face when he's blasting the machine gun, getting an absolute thrill during the car chase, when he's got somebody tied up and he's about to hurt them really REALLY BAD. This is a scary MoFo, and he is gonna stand up there amongs all the great DC villain portrayals. That's one thing DC has going for them is their villains!
