When Batman: Arkham City was released in 2011, Mark Hamill announced that the Joker's death in that game would be his last time voicing the character. He was retiring his incarnation of Batman's arch-nemesis for good.
That same year at San Diego Comic-Con, Hamill mentioned the one thing that could convince him to bring his Joker out of retirement: an animated version of Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's seminal Batman-vs.-Joker comic, The Killing Joke.
Hamill and Rocksteady Games both kept (spoiler alert) Joker's involvement in Batman: Arkham Knight a secret. Hamill returning for Arkham Knight was a huge surprise; it was his first time as Joker in four long years, and Rocksteady had lead fans to believe that Joker would not appear in the third Arkham game. As it turned out, Hamill's Joker had one of the biggest speaking parts in Arkham Knight of any character in the game — and it was one of the actor's finest performances, too.
Today, Collider is reporting that now that DC Entertainment is moving forward with that long-awaited animated production of The Killing Joke, Hamill is definitely voicing the Joker for the project. In fact, he's already finished recording his dialogue for the direct-to-video film.
The Killing Joke is probably the most famous Joker story in Batman's 75-year history, but it's not a comic aimed at kids. This is the infamous 1988 story in which Joker shoots Barbara Gordon, shattering her spine and ending her career as Batgirl. (Later creators would have Barbara find a new way to fight crime as data-hacker extraordinaire Oracle.) Joker used this to try to literally drive Commissioner Gordon insane. It also contained an origin story for the Joker himself, showing for the first time ever his pedestrian life before he became the clown prince of crime.
Interestingly, Batman: Arkham Knight includes a flashback scene that depicts the pivotal Killing Joke moment when Joker enters Barbara's apartment and shoots her.
It should be interesting to see how DC Entertainment translates this extremely mature tale into an animated film. DC's direct-to-video movies have always straddled the PG/PG-13 line, but The Killing Joke is a decidedly R-rated story. Will DC really take it all the way? Fans will probably consider it sacrilege if DC delivers a sensored version.
The Killing Joke is expected to release sometime in 2016.
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