Don’t Expect ‘Joker’ to Follow Anything From the Comics; New Image of Joaquin Phoenix Released

This year’s Todd Phillips-directed Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the Clown Prince of Crime, looks to be quite unlike anything we’ve seen from the DC Cinematic Universe thus far, telling a bold new origin story for the title character. And when we say “new,” we mean it.

Speaking with Empire, Phillips indeed promises an entirely fresh take on the material.

“We didn’t follow anything from the comic-books, which people are gonna be mad about,” Phillips tells Empire. “We just wrote our own version of where a guy like Joker might come from.”

The writer-director adds, “That’s what was interesting to me. We’re not even doing Joker, but the story of becoming Joker. It’s about this man.” That man being Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck.

Check out a new shot of the Joker below.

The low-budget, rated “R” film will be unleashed in theaters on October 4.