New Joker Movie Synopsis Released

The first trailer for DC Comics and Warner Bros. Pictures‘ new comic book movie revealed it will be unlike any other superhero film they’ve released yet. Joaquin Phoenix plays a man named Arthur Fleck, and it looks like we’ll journey with him on a descent into madness in Joker.

While we still don’t know much about the upcoming film, Warner Bros. have just released an updated synopsis that teases what fans can expect from the movie by director Todd Phillips. Check it out below:

“Joker centers around the iconic arch nemesis and is an original, standalone story not seen before on the big screen. Phillips’ exploration of Arthur Fleck (Phoenix), a man disregarded by society, is not only a gritty character study, but also a broader cautionary tale,” the synopsis reads.

This updated blurb tracks with what the filmmakers have revealed about the movie so far, as Phoenix has teased the themes of Joker. Many fans were curious to learn when he signed on to make the film, as he typically shies away from big budget blockbusters such as superhero movies, but the actor explained to Collider that this project is right in his wheel house.

“I wouldn’t quite classify this as like any genre,” Phoenix explained. “I wouldn’t say it’s a superhero movie, or a studio movie or a … It feels unique, and I think more then anything, and probably the most important thing, is Todd seems very passionate about it and very giving, and so that’s exciting. I think, underneath the excitement of these films, and the size of them, there are these incredible characters that are dealing with real life struggles. And sometimes that is uncovered and exposed, and sometimes it isn’t, and so I always felt, like, there were characters in comics that were really interesting and deserve the opportunity to be kind of studied. And so I think that’s what Todd sees appealing about this idea.”

Joker will carve its own path forward, forgoing the inspiration of the comics in order to tell its own story.

“We didn’t follow anything from the comic-books, which people are gonna be mad about,” Phillips said. “We just wrote our own version of where a guy like Joker might come from. That’s what was interesting to me. We’re not even doing Joker, but the story of becoming Joker. It’s about this man.”

Joker premieres in theaters on October 4th.