David Ayer may be strapped with mounting his own battle to win a (well-deserved) R rating for Suicide Squad 2, but that doesn’t mean the path to proper R-ratedness is hard for everyone. As previously reported, the animated Batman: The Killing Joke has already earned a source material-honoring R rating of its own, meaning Mark Hamill's Joker will have plenty of room to deliver classic (R-rated) lines.
The Killing Joke, set for a Comic-Con premiere this summer before a wide VOD release, is (of course) based on the extremely classic 1988 graphic novel by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. "The source material is not long enough to make a feature film out of," producer Bruce Timm toldCosmic Book News in January. "So we actually had to add a lot more story to it, which is tricky, but I think we came up with a really good solution on how that worked."
Hamill's clearly perfect Joker will once again be joined by Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne / Batman, continuing their previous face-offs from Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and elsewhere. Tara Strong and Ray Wise are also aboard the Warner Bros. Animation production as Batgirl and Commissioner Gordon, respectively. Given the fact that Hamill's Joker is practically speaking direct graphic novel quotes in this first trailer, all signs point to an obvious slam dunk. Thanks for the R-rated lessons, Deadpool. The industry has listened.
