AceShowbiz - The first "Joker" teaser trailer is now made available online after being screened at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Tuesday, April 2. In line with the footage description, the teaser shows the movie's dark take on the origin of Batman's villain.

Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck is depicted as a failed stand-up performer who is going through emotional turmoil, possibly after a major loss, as he's seen having a therapy session with a psychiatrist. His intimate moments with his mother flash, as he remembers her advice, "My mom used to tell me to smile and put on a happy face. I thought my purpose was to bring laughter and joy to the world."

Arthur struggles in his day job as a clown. Several young guys steal a sign he's holding up on the street and he gets hit with the sign when he chases down the boys. "Is it just me or is it getting crazier out there?" he asks, as he writhes in pain on the ground.

There's a scene featuring him with his love interest Sophie Dumond (Zazie Beetz), him heading to Arkham State Hospital, and him meeting a friend in an institution. He laughs maniacally in a train, prompting other passengers to call him "freak" and beating him up, but he continues to laugh.

He's also seen running through an alley with a big bag and being kicked out of a building, which seems to be a theater presenting a performance by Charlie Chaplin. He gets a gun and dances while being half naked. Toward the end of the video, he dyes his hair green as he makes his complete transformation by putting on a red suit and the full clown makeup.

At the CinemaCon presentation, director Todd Phillips said that a lot of the rumors and reports about what "Joker" is about were inaccurate. "But that's to be expected when making a film about a character that has no definitive origin story," he added, as the trailer shows a major departure from various versions of Joker's origin story in the DC Comics.

Phillips wrote the script, while Robert De Niro, Shea Whigham, Frances Conroy, Marc Maron, Brett Cullen and Douglas Hodge also join the cast. The movie is slated to arrive in the U.S. on October 4.