Kevin Conroy Talks Expanded Killing Joke Plot

The Killing Joke animated movie will expand on the original graphic novel

The Killing Joke is a seminal piece of work and one that’s probably long overdue for a film adaptation, animated or otherwise. But the story as is doesn’t necessarily translate to film so well with a straight adaptation of the material. So for Killing Joke, they are expanding some parts of the story. We already covered how Batgirl will have more of a backstory in the film, but Kevin Conroy, who voices Batman in The Killing Joke movie talked about that as well as some other additions they made to the film:

"They’ve actually expanded it a bit, they’ve expanded some of the story a bit. There’s much more of Batgirl in this, um, so that plotline is more developed, and the struggle, the internal struggle that Batman has, that Bruce Wayne has in wrestling with the demons in the Joker is much more explored. There are a couple of really wonderful scenes that I have with Mark that I’m really proud of."

Next: The Killing Joke Getting One Night Theatrical Release

Comics are definitely not a one-to-one medium with film, so The KIlling Joke movie not being a straight adaptation of the comic makes plenty of sense. When you do a slavish adaptation, the results are usually not pretty. Include scenes straight from the comic and follow the basic plot and narrative structure, sure, but adapt and change where it’s needed. The Killing Joke will have it’s world premiere at this year’s San Diego Comic Con July 22nd, then be in theaters around the country for one night only through Fathom events on July 25th. It will actual come out on digital download the following day July 26th, then finally release on Blu-Ray and DVD August 2nd. You can be sure we’ll review somewhere in that period…

h/t Comicbook.com