Warner Bros. is turning The Killing Joke—one of the most disturbing Batman graphic novels ever written—into an animated movie. The news comes from writer and artist Bruce Timm, who made the announcement at a Comic-Con panel for his upcoming direct-to-video movie Justice League: Gods And Monsters. The film adaptation of The Killing Joke is expected out in 2016.
The 1988 graphic novel was written by Alan Moore and drawn by Brian Bolland, and offers one of many possible origin stories (and one of the the most unsettling ones, at that) for Batman’s long-time nemesis The Joker. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the supervillain’s creation.
No casting announcement was made, but Mark Hamill, who has voiced The Joker in animation and video games on-and-off since Batman: The Animated Series, has previously expressed interest in returning for a Killing Joke adaptation.