Jared Leto has yet to pick his next role following his Oscar-winning turn in Dallas Buyers Club. That may change soon, though, as sources very close to Warner Bros. and DC's Suicide Squad claim he is wanted as The Joker.

While Jared Leto is said to be circling a key role in director David Ayer's super villain adventure, Warner Bros. and DC refused to respond. Representatives for Jared Leto also denied comment.

Will Smith, Tom Hardy, and Margot Robbie are all said to be in various stages of discussions for starring roles in Suicide Squad. Jesse Eisenberg is expected to reprise his Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice role as Lex Luthor in the movie. And model turned actress Cara Delevigne has been rumored for Harley Quinn in the past couple of weeks. At this time, no casting has been confirmed.

Ryan Gosling was originally being courted to star as The Joker, but he was unwilling to sign a deal that would see him reprise the role in multiple movies.

Based on the DC Comics, Suicide Squad, follows a band of super villains who get one last shot at redemption when they are tasked by the government to pull off a dangerous mission that will likely kill them all.

Jared Leto had previously expressed interest in taking the lead role in Doctor Strange, a role now believed to belong to Benedict Cumberbatch, though that has yet to be confirmed by Disney and Marvel. It is said that Jared Leto was passed over for the part because the studio wanted a more established actor to launch this lesser known character.

Heath Ledger won an Oscar for playing The Joker in The Dark Knight, and while his version of the character was left dangling off the side of a building, it is not expected that this will be a continuation of that same character, as Christopher Nolan's trilogy is not believed to be tied to the new DC Movie Universe that will continue in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

The Joker did not originally appear in Justin Marks's draft of the Suicide Squad screenplay, but David Ayer is rewriting the script and his revisions are rumored to include the Joker.