Last night, director David Ayer - who is helming the 3rd film of the DC Cinematic Universe, Suicide Squad - took to the Internet to celebrate the Joker’s 75th Birthday and give fans a glimpse of the film’s main villain: Jared Leto’s Joker.

It’s not what we expected, that’s for sure.

Taking the archetypical version of the Joker and mashing him up with, I dunno, I suppose Lil’ Wayne?, has resulted in this new vision of the Joker for the modern age.

[caption id=“attachment_20323” align=“aligncenter” width=“600”] He’s not quite sure how magnets work.[/caption]

You know, I understand the logic - they want to remove the character from the Ledger interpretation (which in and of itself was a wilder, more extreme version of the classic Joker look), but I can’t help but feel like this version is too far. The tattoos (including the way too on-the-nose “Damaged" on his forehead), the grill, all of it just screams desperation, and decidedly makes the look dated as soon as it appears.

I think this image is a perfect example of what Warner Bros is getting wrong with their DC Comics movies. Marvel Studios takes their rich history of characters and simplifies them to make them work for greater audiences. Based on Man of Steel, the trailer for Batman v. Superman, and now this image of Jared Leto’s Joker, it’s clear that the goal isn’t to create lasting interpretations of these characters, but instead take the DC Universe and jam it into a more extreme, darker version of the source material.

Thus far, from what I’ve seen across the web, the fan response has been anything but optimistic, with many jokes being made at the expense of the character and the look. That, of course, should be taken with a grain of salt, as anyone who wants to Google far back enough knows that fans hated the announcement of Michael Keaton as Batman for the 1989 Tim Burton edition and the announcement of Heath Ledger as Joker in The Dark Knight. This felt different to me, however. Jared Leto is coming off of an incredible, transformative performance in Dallas Buyers Club. If I could see anyone going the distance as the Joker, it’d be him. But instead, we’re given this version, which - visually at the least (as we haven’t seen footage) - is an absolute joke.

Maybe I’m wrong - God knows I’d like to be optimistic (and honestly, that’s been a goal here at Blast-O-Rama, to be more optimistic about the culture I consume) - but right now, this feels like such a dramatic misunderstanding of the characters and the universe they’re interpreting, that the movies can’t help but leave long-time fans disappointed. It’s decisions like these, I feel, that left Man of Steel a $700 million dollar movie instead of a $1 Billion dollar movie. And I think we’ll continue to see DC’s films chase the tail of Marvel’s, until they get the point.

I’m now really scared about how they’ll present Harley Quinn.

Jared Leto’s Joker will be seen next Summer in Suicide Squad, due in theaters on August 5, 2016. Unless, of course, he gets a surprise appearance in Batman v. Superman.