Joker Solo Movie: 10 Origin Stories It Could Adapt

10. The Killing Joke

Alan Moore's seminal one-shot The Killing Joke is a strong contender for greatest Batman story never to grace cinema, which is all the more reason to use it as the basis for the Joker's solo outing.

The writer delivered a plausible origin story for the Clown Prince of Crime inspired by the 1928 silent horror film The Man Who Laughs, and it caught on enough to find its way into the mainstream DC universe.

The gritty graphic novel depicts the Joker as an unnamed engineer with a pregnant wife who quits his job to try his hand at stand-up comedy, only to fail miserably because he's about as funny as Adam Sandler's recent Neflix films.

Desperate for cash to support his soon-to-be expanded family, Mister J offers to guide a pair of crooks through a chemical plant where he once worked so they can rob a playing card factory next door, unaware that they were planning to stitch him up.

Somewhere between the death of his wife in a household accident and the two criminals being gunned down by security guards on the job, the plan goes awry, and things hit rock bottom for the future Joker when Batman shows up.

Terrified, he leaps into the chemical plant's waste pound lock to escape, but that comes with the unfortunate side effect of permanent disfigurement, which coupled with the loss of his family, drives him completely round the bend.

What The Killing Joke does best is highlight that The Joker is a dark mirror for Batman. In many ways, they are one and the same - the result of one harrowing day.

This has to be The Joker movie's endgame, to juxtapose him to the Dark Knight, so is there a better story than this to draw influence from?