Michael Fassbender is a terrifying hitman in first trailer for David Fincher's new Netflix crime thriller

The first trailer for David Fincher’s new thriller The Killer has arrived.

Per the official longline: “After a fateful near-miss, an assassin battles his employers and himself, on an international manhunt he insists isn't personal.” Michael Fassbender plays the assassin in question, wielding guns, donning disguises, and repeating hitman-themed mantras to himself throughout the entire trailer.

“Empathy is weakness, weakness is vulnerability," Fassbender's hitman says. "This is what it takes if you want to succeed."

Fincher directs from a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker (reuniting with the writer who he worked with him on Seven), adapted from the French graphic novel series of the same name written by Alexis Nolent and illustrated by Luc Jacamon. Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Sophie Charlotte, Kerry O'Malley, Gabriel Polanco, Emiliano Pernia, and Tilda Swinton (who we catch a glimpse of in the trailer) also star.

Fincher has had plans to adapt The Killer into a feature-length film since 2007, with Paramount Pictures originally set as distributor. The prolific director hasn't helmed a feature-length thriller since 2014's Gone Girl, taking a six-year hiatus from film overall before returning with the biographical drama Mank in 2020. 

During said hiatus, he directed two episodes of House of Cards, seven episodes of Joe Penhall's Mindhunter, and an episode of Netflix's trippy adult animated anthology series Love, Death & Robots.

The trailer feels like a callback to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, with a hint of trippiness that reminds us of Fight Club. We are so ready.

The Killer is out November 10 on Netflix and in select UK cinemas. For more, check out our list of the best Netflix movies to stream right now.

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for 12DOVE currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

Read more
Art from The Killer.
The Killer – the hitman comic that inspired the Michael Fassbender movie of the same name – returns with Affairs of the State II
Tom Hardy in the Havoc teaser
Tom Hardy’s upcoming Netflix action movie from The Raid director gets its first ultra-violent teaser trailer
The Accountant 2
Nearly a decade later, the first trailer for surprise sequel The Accountant 2 arrives where Ben Affleck and Jon Bernthal reunite to solve a murder
Black Bag
This new spy thriller starring Michael Fassbender earns near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score with glowing first reviews
Freaky Tales
Pedro Pascal seeks revenge in the first trailer for bloody new horror movie from Marvel directors
Josh Hartnett in Fight or Flight
Trap star Josh Hartnett's wild new thriller Fight or Flight is designed to be "be an anti John Wick", but with the same killer action
Latest in Action Rpg
Monster Hunter Wilds trailer screenshot showing a young woman with long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail smiling slightly, pumping her left fist in the air
Monster Hunter Wilds' infamously confusing menus spare no player, not even Gemma's voice actor herself: "This is honestly what I’m struggling with the most"
Monster Hunter Wilds
Monster Hunter Wilds players are tricking the action RPG into thinking they completed hunt quests in mere seconds using the power of poison ammo
No Rest for the Wicked
Ori and the Blind Forest developer is now "fully independent" after "months of negotiation" with what remained of its gutted publisher
Monster Hunter Wilds
Monster Hunter Wilds dev says the game's success is thanks to an "emphasis on the story," but I think that's only a tiny aspect of it
A Monster Hunter Wilds character holding binoculars.
Despite Monster Hunter Wilds suffering monstrous performance problems on PC, it still outsold the PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in the US
Skyrim
It took Skyrim players nearly 15 years to discover ingenious loot hack that completely changes the game and, uh, requires you to desecrate a couple corpses
Latest in News
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft guild cheats its way to winning Race for World First, gets caught, banned, then reverses its name and does it all over again
A AMD Ryzen 7 8700G being put into it's socket by a reviewer
AMD's new Ryzen 9 X3D processors launch today, here's the stock I've found so far
GTA 3 Mobile screenshot showing claude running away from police near a casino
The fan-made Dreamcast version of GTA 3 is looking way better in the latest look, introducing tech that "would’ve previously been a slideshow"
Scarlett Johansson in Jurassic World Rebirth
Jurassic World Rebirth studio asked Scarlett Johansson to join Instagram, but she refused: "The film will do fine"
Deltarune
Undertale creator Toby Fox's tomfoolery leaves Deltarune testers thinking an intentional nerf was actually a bug after they "independently" discovered it
Pokemon Go player trying to catch a Croagunk
Pokemon Go developer Niantic is being bought for $3.5 billion, CEO says it'll help its games be "'forever games' that will endure for future generations"