Whether or not you're up for a Joker solo film, let alone an origin story, you have to admit the notion of a character study on the Clown Prince of Crime is an intriguing one, to say the least. Director Todd Phillips has long championed the idea of giving Joker his due in the limelight and he's steadfastly pushing forward with it.

While we're still waiting to hear who takes on the role -- Joaquin Phoenix has been repeatedly linked to it, but has not been confirmed -- production is gearing up as Warner Bros. is moving forward with the non-DC Extended Universe take on the character.

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As new details emerge, they paint a picture indicating Phillips may well be moving the Joker out from the shadow of the Batman, focusing not just on the birth of the criminal, but on a tale based on sympathy and oddly enough, relatability.

For some time, The Killing Joke was mentioned as the reference point the director will be using. The graphic novel, which debuted in 1988 from Alan Moore and Brian Bolland, is famous for Joker paralyzing Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), but it's more interested in delving deep into the psyche of a failed comedian who turns to a life of crime due to poverty. In the book, the comedian loses his pregnant wife in an accident, then, at all-time low, he desperately attempts to rob the Ace Chemical Factory. He's ultimately stopped by Batman, only to fall into a chemical vat and become the Joker.

A new round of purported casting details seem to support the belief that Killing Joke is the film's starting point, emphasizing the importance of the man behind the smile, along with his family and acquaintances. Character descriptions reference Penny, an old woman who's bed-ridden, and whose son moves back home to be with her. Her descriptions says she's obsessed with her former employer, who might be responsible for her plight. It seems Phillips is using her instead of the comedian's wife as the catalyst to break the criminal-in-the-making. A failed comedian living under duress with his mom might even have a bit of Psycho to it, thus sowing seeds for why he eventually goes crazy.

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Penny's former employer is also most likely to be Ace Chemical. Given the business the company is in, it'd make sense for Penny to fall ill from working there, whether it be from carcinogens or other toxic materials, and basically get cast aside with little to zero compensation. This would provide all the more reason for her grudge to transfer to her son when she dies, thus leading him to attempts to exact revenge, which in turn would lead to his accident.

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Other notable descriptions include Murray Franklin, an older and strong-willed individual who might be played by Robert DeNiro. Phillips may well be lining him up as the head of Ace Chemicals, thus providing a solid antagonist for the pre-Joker to play off.

Last but not least, the role of Sophie appears to be one designed to strike a sense of empathy with the audience. As a down-on-her-luck single mother, she may be the Joker's love interest (possible why the working title is "Romeo"), or someone who joins him out of desperation for his big heist.

Basically, what Phillips is doing is creating a web of individuals we feel sorry for and whose lives deserve better. Thus, the beginning of Joker's journey comes from a place of sentiment, and all these tragedies he experiences along the way are what will frame him to become deranged beyond cure.

These people are more or less what Crime Alley was to Bruce Wayne, the place that mentally broke him when his parents were murdered there, thus turning him into Batman. Both men have always acted as mirrors to each other, so the Joker movie seems intent on giving them some common ground as to what motivated them to embark on the paths they did.

The woes of the downtrodden fueled the Joker's war on Batman, on a sociopolitical level, in Sean Gordon Murphy's Batman: White Knight, so there's a lot for Phillips to mine in terms of Gotham's broken system, and whether its cops, corporations, nasty politicians or the Batman himself are responsible for creating the very monsters Gotham's citizens will come to fear.

Phillips seemingly wants to riff off of this, humanizing the Joker as much as possible, so we get the reason why he evolves, or in his case, devolves into a lord of chaos. Every hero or villain has a starting point, and it's usually steeped in angst, after all. Just like his arch-nemesis, Joker's looks like it's coming from somewhere in his life where the concept of family was shattered, or worse yet, died. Only time will tell just how dark Phillips' rabbit hole truly is, but for now, is seems apparent that he wants to paint someone we connect with emotionally before turning into a madman.

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Joker may not have been a hero before his sinister descent, but by using the Batman as a boogeyman to haunt him psychologically as he remembers, or even tries to avoid his past, we get someone who prior to it all, simply wanted more for the people he loved. And if he thinks the Dark Knight is one of the reasons people like him can't achieve this in life, then we'll now have the perfect excuse for his ruthless vendetta and lifelong crusade of blood.