‘Batman: The Killing Joke’: First Image Reveals Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy in Animated Movie!!

After we reported Luke Skywalker and Batman voice actor Mark Hamill was to take on the Joker once again in an animated movie adaptation of The Killing Joke, Comic Book Resources has confirmed the casting with official statements from the cast and crew. Not only that, but Hamill tweeted a teaser image along with a quote that’ll be familiar to fans of the famous Joker comic.

All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy…Just one bad day. Remember there’s always madness… Madness is the emergency exit. If I have to have a past, then I prefer it to be multiple choice.

This was written by Alan Moore and spoken by the DC villain in The Killing Joke. CBR also revealed that Kevin Conroy will reprise his voice role of Batman, while Tara Strong will voice Barbara Gordon (a.k.a. Batgirl) and Ray Wise will voice Commissioner Gordon.

This is a re-teaming for Hamill and Conroy, who collaborated as their characters in Batman: The Animated Series. The former reprised Joker for various projects, including the Arkham video game trilogy and the Justice League animated series. Meanwhile, Conroy has been voicing the Caped Crusader in the animated space for more than two decades, including more recent films like Justice League: Doom.

As Hamill remarked in a statement, The Killing Joke is “what some consider the definitive origin of this iconic villain,” but it’s also one of the most controversial. Moore’s comic sees Batman racing to stop Joker as he turns his psychotic reign of terror on Commissioner Gordon and his daughter. If the depiction of Joker’s vicious treatment of Barbara wasn’t enough, a “Joker variant” cover of the title was drawn by artist Rafael Albuquerque featuring a traumatized Batgirl in the hands of the madman. Such a firestorm was ignited that DC canceled the cover.

An R-rating has been rumored for this film since cryptic comments were made by producer James Tucker at New York Comic Con, but fans will have to sit tight on that front. The film will be released later this summer.