Empire Magazine covers reveal new looks at Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

JOKER stars Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck, failed stand-up comedian who is driven insane and becomes the psychopathic criminal mastermind known as the Joker. Even after that first trailer for the Todd Phillips directed flick, I'm still somewhat uncertain of what to expect, but I certainly have faith in Phoenix to deliver something unique and disturbing in his performance.

Empire Magazine has revealed the regular and subscriber covers for their upcoming issue, hitting newsstands on July 11th, which offer up two glimpses of Joaquin Phoenix's take on the Clown Prince of Crime.

Brian Tyree Henry (CHILD'S PLAY), who was glimpsed in the first trailer, has previously given his two-cents on just what separates this new Joker story from its predecessors.

I think it’s going to be very different because it really goes into just the origin story. Villains are never born that way, they’re made. There’s something that happens in their lives that they give up their faith in humanity; they see the flaws of humanity and mankind and feel like they must correct it. And what happens with Joker is you start to see how he really was a happy person. He really was trying to find this…hope in humanity until it broke him down and he just had to give up and reshape it.

"Also, there’s going to be a connection [made] about a boy and his mother," Henry continued. "That is another thing that you’re going to see—that he was capable of love at some point. But, at the end of the day, I think it’s all about how he was made that way, how he didn’t start being that kind of person." JOKER will hit theaters on October 4, 2019.