Batman: The Killing Joke Animated Movie Will Add Some New Elements To Story

To fill out the length of an animated feature film, the producers of Batman: The Killing Joke have added new content to the movie, which may alleviate some of the concerns critics of the best-selling comic have had about the film.

As revealed on the special features on the Justice League vs. Teen Titans Blu-ray, just released, The Killing Joke will include more or Barbara Gordon's time as Batgirl than did Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's graphic novel.

HitFix's Donna Dickens, who has been one of the film's most vocal critics, got a few extra details, suggesting that the extra screen time may be able to help offset one of the longest-running problems with The Killing Joke: the fact that Barbara Gordon being shot and sexually assaulted uses a beloved female character as little more than a prop to support the male characters in her life.

"The one big difference about it, as opposed to those other projects (The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 & Part 2), is The Killing Joke... the source material is really not long enough to make an entire feature film out of," executive producer Bruce Timm said back 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."

The DC Universe animated films generally run between 65 and 75 minutes, and the Batgirl "prologue" is characterized as being 15 minutes long, meaning that fans will likely see around an hour of the original story, bolstered by the new material. Don't be too surprised if we get a little Barbara later in the film, as well; nobody particularly cared what happened wiht Batgirl when the comic was released, so leaving the possibility open that she might never be seen again was something they could get away with. Of course, everyone knows now that Barbara's role in the DC Universe was only cemented by the success of The Killing Joke and criticisms over her treatment in it.

Batman: The Killing Joke will come to streaming video services, Blu-ray and DVD this summer.