The first trailer for Batman: The Killing Joke, starring Mark Hamill as the Joker, Kevin Conroy as Batman, Tara Strong as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, and Ray wise as Commissioner Gordon, has arrived. I’m decidedly not a fan of Alan Moore’s iconic story, but I will say that Hamill and Conroy sound great as always in their roles, and that, no matter what, I’m excited about two such talented voice actors getting a chance to star alongside each other again. (As a side note, Jared Leto could take a page out of Mark Hamill’s book—Hamill is starring as one of the darkest iterations of the Joker ever, and I doubt he sent a single dead animal to anyone in the cast.)
As an early sneak peek of the film revealed, the animated movie will attempt to improve on the source material somewhat by focusing more heavily on Batgirl. Supposedly, Batgirl will feature in a 15-minute, prequel-like part of the film that establishes Barbara Gordon’s backstory. That is, as Carly wrote a few weeks ago, the absolute least DC could do to improve on The Killing Joke‘s treatment of women.
Hopefully the movie will allow the prologue to inform Barbara’s characterization for the entire story, so that we don’t just see her kicking ass in the first few minutes only to have the brutal attack she endures afterwards be framed only through the eyes of the men in her life. It sounds like we’re going to get to know Batgirl a lot more in the movie than we did in the comic, so I hope that, if the movie doesn’t change some aspects of the Joker’s attack entirely, it at least focuses on them from her point of view rather than just using them to further the arc of male characters. I’m also hopeful that the movie will bookend the actual Killing Joke story by focusing on Barbara—if we’re getting a prequel starring her, is it too much to hope the movie might end with an epilogue about her as well?
Batman: The Killing Joke received an official R rating earlier this month, and is set to debut in its entirety at Comic Con this July. An official release date has yet to be announced.
(via The Verge)
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