Jared Leto has been marred in a lot of controversies, but very few come as close to his very famous cult, the Echelon, and the equally unusual Mars Island events held by his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars. This started in 2019, when the band invited the fans to a retreat on an Obonjan Croatian island. The second event’s prices for packages ranged from $1,500 to $6,500.
This event saw the actor clad in white robes as he hosted hundreds of his devotees for a 3-day music festival, complete with yoga and movie screenings. The band even tweeted photos on X, featuring the Morbius actor leading hundreds of people, who were notably also dressed in white, with the caption of the post reading,
Yes, this is a cult #MarsIsland.
Of course, this wasn’t the first time for them to embrace that phrase, since it has already appeared on the band’s merchandise and even their music videos quite a few times. But the weirdest part about it all is the fact that the adoring fans even paid money to be isolated on an island with Leto and be indoctrinated into his cult.
Yes, this is a cult 🔺 #MarsIsland pic.twitter.com/4I7JROg90w
As @thecinemavigilante explained on Instagram,
Mars Island is a three-day retreat on a private Croatian island for only $6499. You can get VIP experience that includes alone time with Jared Leto and priority entry into the Church of Mars.
The source didn’t hesitate to mock Leto either, asking the question “What kind of fans were you hoping would take you up on this offer?” while observing the be the lot of “females flocking to these islands of various ages and shapes.” He also mocked the numerous pictures of “Leto being on top of a rock all of his fans surround him while he’s giving these speeches.”
To say the least, this weird private island retreat was nothing short of pompous and was even disapproved by the fans.
Jared Leto’s ‘Mars Island’ Event Earned a Disapproving Response From Fans
Although the images showed that numerous fans showed up to that three-day music festival on the private island, the event has since garnered tremendous controversy from the other part of Hollywood’s fans as well. Things like how Leto and his fans were all clad in white in the photos and the actor himself was often in a Jesus-like pose led to comparisons to real-life cults.
A post shared by Zaffy (@thecinemavigilante)
In fact, even the Instagram handle @thecinemavigilante suggested in his criticism that Mars Island might be a vehicle for Leto’s “god complex” and narcissism, fueled by his “desire for self-aggrandizement.” The source said,
I think Jared Leto wants to be Jesus Christ and wants you and everyone else on earth to believe that he is a Messiah of some sort. The cult of Jared Leto… This is cult level shit. For Jared, he actually wants this to be true, and he wants that perception to be real because it’s self-aggrandizing for him.
Continuing, the handle further took a jab at the Suicide Squad star, asking him to “chill out” with his god complex. The Instagram page said,
I believe that Jared Leto had an emerging cult of personality from his time in the band that developed a god complex for him, and over time, he started implementing the god complex that he would use in every movie and every interview, and all that. Jared Leto, chill out.
This Instagram handle is not the only one to criticize this move as unusual for a celebrity, especially a well-established one like Leto. Besides the comments on the post supporting the scrutiny, multiple other fans also took to social media platforms to express their disapproval of the same (see Reddit, for instance).
What is Jared Leto Currently Up To?
While his other controversies continue to engulf him, Jared Leto is currently focused on his most recent film, Tron: Ares, which was released earlier this month. He was the lead actor, starring as Ares in the flick, which filmmaker Joachim Ranning helmed.
The film has received mixed reviews from fans and critics. While the Popcornmeter, which features reviews from audiences, has given the movie a sweet 86% approval score, the Tomatometer, which features reviews from the critics, deems the movie rotten with a 53% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film holds a 6.7 out of 10 score on IMDb.
Ares’ box office performance was pretty disappointing, too. Made on a budget ranging from $180 million, the film managed to gross only $103 million from box offices worldwide so far, turning out to be a dismaying result for the project (per The Numbers).
Apart from that, he is also concentrating on his music career with Thirty Seconds to Mars. Then there are Leto’s other upcoming projects, including Masters of the Universe, the 2026 flick in which he is slated to play Skeletor, and Lunik Heist, on which he is listed as a producer, with the film currently being in pre-production.
You can catch Tron: Ares in theatres now.
