Jared Leto can make an absurd villain worth taking seriously. We rate him when there is a recognisable feeling beneath the elaborate appearance; his aggrieved Skeletor is more rewarding than the blank serenity of Ares.
Fi1m perspective
Jared Leto’s Skeletor wants an entire planet to hear how badly he has been treated. In Travis Knight’s Masters of the Universe (2026), he plays the villain’s vanity without once asking us to share a joke about it. We grinned whenever he and Alison Brie’s patiently watchful Evil-Lyn returned, because their scenes had an energy the hero’s lacked. The film wears thin, but Leto gives it something worth waiting for.
His earlier work offers a reason to keep expecting more. He played Angel Face in David Fincher’s Fight Club (1999), before playing Harry Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream (2000). The addiction drama made useful demands on his physical and emotional commitment. After a period of fewer acting roles, he returned as Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club (2013). The subsequent move towards prominent studio characters brought the Joker in Suicide Squad (2016) and Niander Wallace in Blade Runner 2049 (2017).
Joachim Rønning’s TRON: Ares (2025) shows how little the solemn version of Leto can offer. Ares is a computer soldier learning to feel, but the murmuring and serene looks do not let us see him wanting anything. Greta Lee, playing Eve Kim, supplies the reactions and urgency that ought to make him interesting. The script repeats its questions about machines without developing them, so this is not solely an acting failure. Still, Leto’s stillness leaves his co-star with too much to do.
In Justin Simien’s Haunted Mansion (2023), his Hatbox Ghost gets a fanfare without enough character to justify it. Leto amounts to a voice and a costume, and the script’s repeated explanations do little to help. Skeletor at least has a grievance we can understand, however ridiculous his response, and Brie gives him someone who need not match his fury to be funny. Try Masters of the Universe for their scenes together, provided a good villain can compensate for a film that cannot decide how seriously to take itself.
Biography
Jared Leto is an American actor and musician. Born on 26 December 1971 in Bossier City, Louisiana, he began his career with television roles in the early 1990s, including Jordan Catalano in the series My So-Called Life (1994). His film debut came in How to Make an American Quilt (1995).
Leto received acclaim for supporting roles in films such as The Thin Red Line (1998), Fight Club (1999), Girl, Interrupted (1999) and American Psycho (2000), and for his lead performance as Harry Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream (2000). He won the Academy Award, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Dallas Buyers Club (2013). Other notable film credits include Panic Room (2002), Lord of War (2005), Mr. Nobody (2009), Suicide Squad (2016), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), The Little Things (2021) and House of Gucci (2021). He has also appeared as the Hatbox Ghost in Haunted Mansion (2023), Ares in TRON: Ares (2025) and Skeletor in Masters of the Universe (2026).
Leto is the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and main songwriter for the band Thirty Seconds to Mars, which he formed with his brother Shannon Leto. Their debut album, 30 Seconds to Mars, was released in 2002.
