Get Ready For A Slow Burn With The Joker On GOTHAM

Gotham may be eager to explore the origins of Batman’s villains before they put on their colorful costumes and went off the deep end, but there’s one bad guy they’re being especially careful with. While talking with Digital Spy, showrunner Bruno Heller discussed how they were approaching these villains for the show, specifically how we won’t see the “the full theatrical, spandex costume aspect of the villains.” As for Batman’s arch nemesis The Joker, his true identity is unknown, so how they’ll introduce him won’t be as direct as it is with characters like Penguin and Catwoman.

We’re going to wait and get the show up and running [before we meet the real Joker]. We want to get the story right and we want to be tonally right – and then we’ll start thinking about how to bring him in. We will certainly try to surprise people, and maybe even trick people. It’s one of those expectations that everyone will be waiting for, so you can’t just present the guy with a big smile and start telling the story. Not that that would be dull, but that’s one of those opportunities to really start playing with this.

Heller also suggested that the Joker may not have come up with his “schtick” all on his own, saying that someone might have come before him, and Joker thought “Oh, that’s a good shtick. I could work with that and make it better.” This may also be the case with Batman, who saw other vigilantes try and fail to help Gotham City. Bruce Wayne learning from the mistakes of other vigilantes I could see, but I doubt there were many psychopathic mass-murdering clowns in the pre-Batman years. Then again, this is Gotham City we’re talking about. You never know what kind of evil is going to pop out of its darkest corners.

Back in July, there was a rumor that in each first season episode, a different character would shown with an aspect of the Joker’s personality or look, leaving the audience to guess which of these individuals is the future Clown Prince of Crime. Teasing each episode is excessive, but it’s definitely the right way to approach him. If they added a grinning maniac as part of the main or recurring cast, the mystery is gone, and the Joker’s past is seated in mystery! The closest they should ever come to directly acknowledging him is to show Red Hood, and even then that’s walking a delicate line.

On a side note, Heller clarified that although Batman won’t be showing up in Gotham (although I’m still hoping for a shadowy appearance in the last scene of the series), because of David Mazouz’s extraordinary performance, Bruce Wayne “certainly play a much larger part in the show than we had initially thought.” If that’s the case, once Mazouz is older, let’s get some scenes with Bruce learning how to fight. If he’s not going to put on the cape and cowl in the show, I at least want to see that brutal fighter emerge for the first time!

SOURCE: Digital Spy