The Joker has been an iconic supervillian since he first appeared in the pages of the first Batman comic back in 1940. Originally planned to die in that issue, he’s gone on to star as the archenemy of Bruce Wayne for the last 80 years. And now the first trailer arrives for the Joker film, starring Joaquin Phoenix.
It’s a challenging role to play, following in the footsteps of previous big screen Joker actors Jack Nicholson, Heather Ledger and Jared Leto. Not to mention the 1960s TV version of Cesar Romero. And eight decades of the Joker in print, including the 1988 Alan Moore story arc, Batman: The Killing Joke
The Joker is due out in October 2019, and also stars Robert De Niro. It’s directed, produced and co-written by Todd Phillips. It’s set in a pre-Batman universe, and unusually, it names the identity of the villian as Arthur Fleck.
There’s definitely a 1970s gangster feel, which makes sense when Martin Scorsese was involved as a co-producer early on.
Interestingly the film focuses on his descent into madness and becoming the Joker, but doesn’t appear to take any inspiration from the origin shown in The Killing Joke, with a comedian tricked into a criminal heist which results in a chemical injury bleaching his skin