First look at Jared Leto's return as Joker in Zack Snyder's 'Justice League' re-edit

Jared Leto's Joker from Suicide Squad did not feature in the original Justice League movie – but he's certainly pitching in for new Zack Snyder re-cut.

The director has dropped a sinister shot of his vision for Gotham City's Clown Prince of Crime, a creepy monochrome affair.

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Tagging in both Leto and Suicide Squad director David Ayer, he captioned: “Amazing character you created. Honored to have our worlds collide.”

Snyder bought Leto's Joker in during his reshoots of the movie, which were green-lit by Warner Brothers last year.

Snyder stepped away from making Justice League in its post-production period in 2017, following the tragic death of his daughter.

Read more: Jared Leto to return as Joker in Snyder Cut

Avengers Assemble and Buffy director Joss Whedon was drafted in to finish the movie, but instead began his own reshoots.

Since then, Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg, alleged abusive behaviour from the director, which lead to an internal investigation by the Warner Bros studio.

The resultant movie was panned by critics, with fans calling for Snyder's own cut of the movie to be released ever since – calls which were heard last year.

News also emerging from the US confirms that the Snyder cut – which will air on the HBO Max streaming platform in the US – will be R-rated.

Per the Classification and Rating Administration website in the US, the film will be 'Rated R for violence and some language'.

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Snyder said last year that, aside from any violence on screen, this is likely because of an F-bomb dropped by Ben Affleck's Batman, a screen first for a major iteration of the character.

The movie – which has a run-time in the region of four hours – reunites Affleck's Dark Knight with Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill's Superman, Jason Momoa's Aquaman, Ezra Miller's the Flash and Ray Fisher's Cyborg.

It's set to land on HBO Max in March, though release plans for the UK remain unconfirmed.

Watch: Zack Snyder’s Justice League tease