Now that it’s returned from its winter hiatus, Fox’s Batman-without-Batman prequel series Gotham is currently chugging along through the second half of its first season. It’s already set up new backstories for a number of Rogues Gallery villains, including the Penguin and the Riddler, but the most famous one of them all has yet to make an appearance.
That’s about to change, and pretty quickly at that, as showrunner Bruno Heller has revealed that the a storyline featuring the Joker will be set up before the end of the season.
What’s the word?
In an interview with TV Guide, Heller said of the Joker, “We’ve said you’re going to be waiting a bit longer for it, but this is America — nobody wants to wait. So, we will scratch the surface of that story, yes. But just scratch it — a little tap on the door.”
That sounds like the Joker himself won’t have much of a role this season (or possibly any appearance at all), but they will be laying the groundwork for a big story featuring the character in season two.
This season? Isn’t it already almost over?
Yes and no. Gotham‘s first season was originally planned to be 16-episodes long, and we’ve gotten 14 of those so far. Late last year though, before the show went on hiatus, Fox ordered an additional six episodes for the show, to bring the season to 22 overall. That means Gotham has another eight weeks or so to start setting things up for the Clown Prince of Crime’s big introduction.
Any speculation?
Heller hasn’t given us much to go on, but it’s definitely worth noting that episode 17 is called “Red Hood,” and will feature a gang going by the same name. In the comics, the original Red Hood was a villain who appeared in a 1950s Batman story. In that story, Batman stops the Red Hood from robbing a chemical plant. To escape arrest, the Red Hood jumps into a chemical vat and swims to safety. The chemicals leave him permanently disfigured though, with green hair and white skin. I think you can see where this is going.
In The Killing Joke, one of the most iconic Batman stories, Alan Moore wrote an alternate backstory for the Joker, which featured the Red Hood gang. In that story, the pre-Joker Joker is a struggling stand-up comedian and former chemical engineer. To make ends meet for his pregnant wife, he makes a deal with the Red Hood gang to help them perform a robbery. Batman intervenes though, and once again, he takes a tumble into some chemicals, goes insane, and becomes the Joker.
If Gotham wants to introduce the Joker this season, and have an episode coming up with a title like that, it’s hard to imagine a better opportunity. That’s all speculation of course, and we’ll find out one way or another when the episode airs on February 23.
