The Joker is the kind of comic book character who never gets old for fans. Everyone from Heath Ledger to Jack Nicholson to Jared Leto have put their own spin on Batman's grinning nemesis.

He's almost as old as Batman, having made his comics debut in 1940. And this year, Joaquin Phoenix will present his own version of DC Comics' laughing psychopath in the upcoming Warner Bros. film Joker. With the film rumored to be given an R rating, it seems an adult version of the Clown Prince of Crime will take center stage.

The first trailer, out April 3, puts on a perversely happy face, revealing a dark and potentially disturbing story...

Put on a happy face. #JokerMovie - in theaters October 4. pic.twitter.com/TxF3Jqxjjr

Warner Bros. gave some early hints about the film, describing it to Hollywood Reporter as an "exploration of a man disregarded by society [that] is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale."

"I wouldn't quite classify this as like any genre," Phoenix said in an interview with ComicBook.com in 2018. "I wouldn't say it's a superhero movie, or a studio movie. It feels unique. I think, underneath the excitement of these films, and the size of them, there are these incredible characters that are dealing with real life struggles. So I always felt like there were characters in comics that deserve the opportunity to be studied."

Here's the earliest released glimpse of Phoenix in the film.

Camera test (w/ sound). Joker.

A post shared by Todd Phillips (@toddphillips1) on Sep 21, 2018 at 10:00am PDT

Filming began in September 2018. The movie is rumored to be working with a roughly $55 million budget.

This grown-up version of the Joker is co-written and directed by Todd Phillips, best known for adult comedies like The Hangover. Scott Silver, who wrote rap movie 8 Mile, is the other scriptwriter. And it's executive-produced by cinematic legend Martin Scorsese.

The film boasts a seriously impressive cast. Along with Phoenix, Joker also stars Alec Baldwin, Shea Whigham, current hot property Zazie Beetz and comedian Marc Maron. Robert De Niro is in it, which seems appropriate given the Taxi Driver-esque feel of the trailer.

It doesn't look that way. The film isn't connected to the DC Extended Universe series of movies, so it's a different version of the Joker than appeared in Suicide Squad. But the cast list suggests a young Bruce Wayne will appear, along with his trusty butler Alfred -- and Wayne's ill-fated father, suggesting the film is set before Bruce Wayne was orphaned and set on the track to become Batman.

As well as being separate from the DCEU movies, this film is unconnected to the TV show Gotham, which also recounts the younger days of Bruce Wayne. Gotham will have its own, very different version of the Joker appearing in its upcoming final episode.

Not directly, as far as we can tell. But it does seem to be influenced by The Killing Joke, a 1988 comic exploring the Joker's origins written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Brian Bolland. The comics often obscure the Joker's real identity to maintain his nightmarish mystique, but this comic's dark and character-based tone has been hugely influential ever since.

Although it's not directly inspired by the plot of The Killing Joke, we're certainly thinking the serious and grown-up new film will be more Dark Knight than Marvel movie.

Joaquin Phoenix films a scene for Joker in Brooklyn in September 2018.

So far, plot details for Joker have been scarce. But on April 2, Warner Bros. gave a presentation at industry event CinemaCon 2019 in Las Vegas that included a first look at some footage. Phillips then added a cryptic message about the film.  

"There's been a lot of chatter about what this film is and what it isn't, and most of it hasn't been accurate," he said. "When the marketing department at Warners asked me the other day to describe the movie, I said 'I can't.' They said at least tell us the genre, and I thought about it for a minute and said, 'It's a tragedy.'"

The first trailer suggests this is an origin story for the Joker, whose real name in this version of the story is Arthur. The new video footage shows Arthur in therapy, talking about his mother.

"My mother always tells me to smile and put on a happy face," Arthur says in voiceover. "She told me I had a purpose, to bring laughter and joy to the world."

Work.

A post shared by Todd Phillips (@toddphillips1) on Sep 24, 2018 at 4:24pm PDT

When Arthur is attacked in the street, he decides to fight back. "Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?" Arthur says.

We then see Arthur slowly transforming into the Joker as he tries different clown looks. He goes from a green clown wig to dying his real hair green. Soon he dons a red suit and struts into the world.

"I used to think my life was a tragedy," he says. "But now I realize it's a comedy."

Joker will be released in Australia on Oct. 3, 2019, and then worldwide on Oct. 4.

Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck/Joker

Marc Maron as Ted Marco

Robert De Niro as Murray Franklin

Alec Baldwin

Shea Whigham

Zazie Beetz as Sophie Dumond

Brett Cllen as Thomas Wayne

Dante Pereira-Olson as Young Bruce Wayne

Douglas Hodge as Alfred Pennyworth

Frances Conroy as Penny Fleck

Glenn Fleshler

Josh Pais as Hoyt Vaughn

Bill Camp

This article was originally published on April 2, 2019, and will be updated as news rolls in.

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