‘Batman: The Killing Joke’ Official Trailer Released


The official trailer for Batman: The Killing Joke has been released, and it gives viewers a glimpse of what can be expected in the DC Original Movie’s upcoming film. The movie is based on the 1988 graphic novel created by Alan Moore, Brian Bolland, and John Higgins.

The graphic novel Batman: The Killing Joke focuses on The Joker’s origin story. The storyline follows Joker’s path from being an engineer and a struggling stand-up comic to being a psychopath and one of the most loved supervillains in comic book history.

The trailer, as Entertainment Weekly reports, teases a big showdown between Batman and Joker. The trailer starts with Batman visiting Joker in prison.

“I wanna talk. I’ve been thinking about you and me. About how this is going to end. About who will end up killing who. Perhaps you’ll kill me. Perhaps I’ll kill you. You know that, don’t you?”

The trailer then goes into a montage of scenes from the movie and then ends with a statement from Joker.

“All it takes is one bad day.”

As reported by MTV a few weeks ago, Batman: The Killing Joke was rated R by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), the first movie from the DC Original Movie franchise to have such rating. It is the second Batman movie to be rated R, the first being the recent Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which will have an R-rated version when in comes out on Blu-Ray later this year. To date, there are no plans to release a PG-13 version of Batman: The Killing Joke.

With an R rating, fans of the comic book will be happy to know that the upcoming movie will remain true to its source. As Den of Geek reports, Sam Register, the President of Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Digital Series, talked about the direction of Batman: The Killing Joke.

“From the start of the production, we encouraged producer Bruce Timm and our team at Warner Bros. Animation to remain faithful to the original story — regardless of the eventual MPAA rating.

The Killing Joke is revered by the fans, particularly for its blunt, often-shocking adult themes and situations. We felt it was our responsibility to present our core audience — the comics-loving community — with an animated film that authentically represented the tale they know all too well.”

In addition to Batman and Joker, Batman: The Killing Joke will also feature Barbara Gordon/Batgirl. In the comic book, Batgirl was sexually assaulted and tortured at the hands of Joker. According to an article from Hit Fix, there will be something in the movie that wasn’t in the comic book, and it has something to do with Batgirl.

Some fans of the comic book have long been talking about Barbara Gordon’s poor treatment in the comic book just to push the Batman and Joker storyline forward. According to Hit Fix, the movie will feature Barbara Gordon’s story arc, “making her an integral part of the story instead of an afterthought.” The 15-minute prologue in the film, as Blastr noted, will tackle Batgirl’s arc.

Batman: The Killing Joke features Kevin Conroy (Batman/Bruce Wayne), Mark Hamill (The Joker), Ray Wise (Commissioner James Gordon), and Tara Strong (Batgirl/Barbara Gordon).

Batman: The Killing Joke is scheduled to premiere at the San Diego Comic Con on July 21-24. The Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital HD release will follow later this year.

[Image via YouTube]

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