Timmy’s Take: The Joker Movie

Let's just say it flat out, I'm a Batman fan! I'm a comic nerd, love Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, etc. I'm one of the very few who really liked "Batman vs. Superman." I also really loved "Captain America: Winter Soldier." So yes, I take the good with the bad in some people's minds. When I saw the teaser test footage of Joaquin Phoenix as the clown prince of crime a couple of months ago and heard The Guess Who singing "Laughing," oh my God, I was sold.

So when the new trailer dropped earlier this week, I was smiling bigger than a '90s Joker Toxin Fish! (Comic nerds know what I mean). I'm all for what this new take on the Joker will be, the new story it'll tell. Will it be considered as the "cannon" origin? We will find out. There is a part of me that hopes not, because that is one of the things that has made the character so awesome throughout the years -- the fact that he has no actual origin. Some stories have him as a failed comedian who gets mixed up with the Red Hood Gang. Some have him as an up- and-coming mobster. There are stories that tell how the Joker is immortal, and kind of a "Pennywise" from the movie "IT" spirit that is the very evil of Gotham, and has been hiding in the shadows for all of history. "The white man," he has been called. There is even one story where Batman from the future got stuck in a time paradox having to shoot his own parents, knowing that history has to happen so he could be created, and driving him crazy and becoming Joker. Right now in DC Comics the current storyline is that there are actually three Jokers, and have been this entire time. I'm glad to see that this movie, at least from the trailer, looks to be a brand-new story.

There is one main thing that seems off to me about the trailer. In the comics, Batman and Joker seem to be roughly the same age. In the trailer, the little boy that Joker makes smile is, in fact, Bruce Wayne according to IMDB. Then again, stage makeup can hide age lines really well. I just hope that we don't have Phoenix Joker shoot the parents like Jack Nicholson's Joker did in "Batman" back in '89. Speaking of my hopes, here's a few things I would love to see in this upcoming film.

I would love for Joker to say that this is not origin ... or is it? In the comics, he teases numerous times throughout the years, that he doesn't even know his back story.

If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!
- Joker (Batman: The Killing Joke)

In the Dark Knight, Heath Ledger Joker tells different tales throughout the movie of how he got his facial scars. Why not toy with it like that? I think, it would be an awesome ending to the movie, to show him in an interrogation room at GCPD finishing the telling of his story, then pause and say something like, "I think that's how it happened." Bam! Blackout, roll credits. That would keep to the mythology of the character and help keep it fun.

I want this to be the actual Joker. In the "Gotham "TV series on Fox, the actor Cameron Monaghan plays the Joker. Well, (spoilers)  three different characters that eventually lead/inspire the Joker. If you have not seen his portrayal of the character, it's right up there with Mark Hamill's voice casting from the Arkham series of games. Monaghan does a great job, and for the TV ,show that's awesome. I just hope that this movie is about the Joker, and not Phoenix inspiring someone else to dawn the smile.

I wish for at some point in the film (probably toward the end) he scales down on the makeup. Traditional Joker makeup/look is white face, red smile, green hair. Sometimes black around the eyes. No red eyebrows, nose, or blue eye designs. Picky I know, but it's my blog.

The last thing, I hope, is to see Batman at some point. Just the back of the cowl would be fine. I have hopes that something might happen because during early filming, reports came of the 1966 Batmobile (Adam West) was seen on the set. I can see that interrogation scene mentioned above having Batman sitting hearing the story!

The film opens on Oct. 4, a week before my birthday. No matter how it turns out, I know it'll get my money. Probably a lot of it, if it's good. We shall see very, very soon.