The DC universe took over Las Vegas on Tuesday afternoon.

Warner Bros. gave a glimpse of Joker a day early (the first trailer drops online Wednesday; watch in the player above) to the crowd at CinemaCon. A poster also debuted earlier in the day. 

Joker (set to open Oct. 4) stars Joaquin Phoenix and is from director Todd Phillips. In an era in which comic book movies are generally made to set up shared universes and sequels, Warners has insisted that Joker will be a one-off; there will be no sequels.

Phillips took the CinemaCon stage to joke about his time living at Caesar's Palace for three months while making The Hangover. He noted that Joker was a difficult movie to talk about, as it's an origin story about an iconic character with no definitive origin.

"I don't have a lot to say about the film, as it's still taking shape, but also because I want it to be a surprise. That said, there's been a lot of chatter about what this film is and what it isn't, and most of it hasn't been accurate," said the helmer. "When the marketing department at Warners asked me the other day to describe the movie, I said 'I can't.' They said at least tell us the genre, and I thought about it for a minute and said, 'It's a tragedy.'"

Phillips showed off the trailer, which begins with Arthur (Phoenix's future Joker) in therapy.

"My mother always tells me to smile and put on a happy face," the character says in voiceover, as it shows him helping bathe his mother (Frances Conroy). "She told me I had a purpose, to bring laughter and joy to the world."

He ends up getting attacked in the street, an incident that seems to move him down a dark path. "Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?" Arthur says.

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