Majestic Twelve - Villains We Want in Gotham

Were you expecting "Shows I Expect to See Canceled of 2014"? Nah. That doesn't sound fun. Let's just talk about Batman instead. 

No, a Worst TV shows of 2014’s premier line-up will not be coming. Why? Because if I don’t care about it, I generally don’t watch it or look into it. The only show I could put on that list with any credibility would be Big Bang Theory because it aims to be like Community, but aimed for a dumber audience. And rather than insult fans of that show, I’d rather do something fun. As such, with Gotham being one of the big new items this year, let’s talk about the top twelve characters I want to see get origin stories. 

And to make things challenging and fun, we will not be using ones already shown in the first episode. No Fish Mooney, Catwoman, Penguin, Riddler, or Falcone. If I missed someone… sorry. Still need to watch it in its entirety at the time of writing. Also, keep in mind the show takes place when Bruce is a kid. Characters with the same age will likely not get much screentime because they’ll be a kid… just like Bruce. Which is why SOME will be omitted from the list. Anyway, here we go:

#12 – Joker – Yes, Joker makes the bottom of my list, but still making the list. I think the idea of exploring a POSSIBLE Joker origin might be interesting. The problem is doing so undermines the very existence of Joker… a character with no past or history. Just a random agent of chaos from seemingly out of no where to cause destruction as he pleases. By giving him a backstory, a concrete one, we basically make him less interesting (the Wolverine effect). What COULD be interesting is if they decide rather than show his origin story, just hint at it with very snippets from the various versions Joker has told throughout the comics. Give fans a taste of what they think they want, but don’t give them the full scoop. Otherwise they might get disappointed that the version of the origin story they expected doesn’t get picked. This way you please ALL the fans a little instead of pissing off a large portion of them with something unimaginative and boring. Though it might be wise to avoid Joker completely and not chance it at all.

#11 – Two-Face – I don’t know the age difference between him and Bruce and it’s always seemed like they’re pretty close. So if he’s older, good. If not, then it might not be interesting. What is interesting is that Two-Face is a district attorney by age 26 (he could be in an Ace Attorney game). So depending on when they decide to tell the story in the Batman timeline, we could see Harvey Dent interacting with the police in ways we haven’t seen much of in the past, and see it lead to his eventual transformation. That could be an excellent story arc to tackle depending on how the writers want to handle it.

#10 – Black Mask – One of Batman’s more boring villains, he might be worth retooling into more of a pre-Batman villain and have him be someone the cops deal with on a regular basis. In short, make him the central antagonist that gets the ball rolling and then make him the final confrontation for Bruce when he eventually dons the cape and cowl. This would be especially cool if you made it like a gang war things that starts with Falcone and the other main mob boss (I suddenly space on the name). Then introduce Black Mask as he forces the war to hit big and this causes more damage and chaos in the city, leading the police to push harder to fight back and eventually leading to the NEED for Batman.

#09 – Mr. Freeze – Again, not sure on the age difference here, but seeing Victor Freise before he becomes the Ice Man would be interesting. It’d be nice to see him happy for a change (going by the BAS continuity) when his wife is still around. Perhaps his story can be one of the final casualties of a gang war that causes the accident he and his wife go through that makes her ill and makes him Mr. Freeze.

#08 – Killer Croc – I don’t think I’ve ever seen him in a live-action setting. And while I speculate that Killer Croc is supposed to be younger than Batman (I don’t really know) maybe bringing in Killer Croc as an older character would be a way to introduce this monster into the Batman mythos (live action). Just so long as he isn’t over-hyped like he was for the Arkham games, then I’ll be fine with it.

#07 – Hugo Strange – One of Batman’s FIRST major villains, having him appear during Gotham would make a lot of sense. And having him be there as Batman is forming in front of him, perhaps without even knowing it at first, would be interesting given how Strange is one of the few (and first) people to deduce who Batman really is. I’m expecting him to make an appearance for these reasons alone. But if he doesn’t that would be surprise.

#06 – Slade “Deathstroke the Terminator” Wilson – Slade for short, Slade has ALREADY appeared in Arrow, which is already spun off into The Flash. Having Slade appear in Gotham would further connect the shows and expand the universe farther. Adding to that, a Titans show (based on Teen Titans) is supposed to be appearing sometime in the foreseeable future, and their biggest enemy was always Slade as well. That’s important because the leader of the Titans (for a while) was Batman’s first partner, Dick Greyson (aka Nightwing / Robin). So establishing that connection early might be worthwhile. Plus reception to Slade from Arrow, as I understand, has been somewhat positive and so it might be worth looking into connecting Gotham to Arrow. Though, by that logic, we should also get Lex Luthor from Smallville for a cameo.

#05 – Clayface – There are MANY different stories behind how Clayface is made. Whether they make a new origin story or recycle an old one, it doesn’t matter. Fact is, Clayface is one of Batman’s most underused villains as far as the movies and TV are concerned and he’s one of the most interesting ones to boot. Not many Batman foes sport mutations or super powers, making Clayface a bigger threat than most of the rogues’ gallery. Even just a hint of Clayface would be enough to keep me happy, but I still want to see full-blown mutations and an actual Clayface at some point… Needs to happen.

#04 – Ra’s Al Ghul – Make sure you pronounce it correctly because some fans take ire at that. We’d love to see Liam Neeson return as Ra’s Al Ghul for the show. Hell, even he said he’d love to come back and play the part again. I don’t expect it to happen given Christopher Nolan’s pull over WB and his unwillingness to let his movies mingle with other comic-book movies (for some reason). But ANYONE playing Ra’s Al Ghul would make sense if WB decided to stick to the origin story that Batman trained with the League of Shadows prior to the Batmanening. And he would be an interesting character to see team up with Slade (which HAS happened in the comics at least once).

#03 – Red Hood – While TECHNICALLY the same person who becomes the Joker (at one point), the Red Hood is actually just a fall guy who is different at each robbery while the real crooks do all the real work and get away. Batman, at least at first, never really knows how the Red Hood was and it isn’t until MANY years later his thought long-dead accomplice, Jason Todd, becomes the Red Hood to take crime-fighting into his own hands (violent hands). Since Red Hood is a big part of that storyline AND part of one of Joker’s origins, I feel like establishing the Red Hood would be a worthwhile investment for those guys at WB.

#02 – Hush – This was expected. Hush is one of Bruce’s long-time friends who learns of Bruce’s secret, blames Bruce for the death of his family, and then uses all this to see revenge on Bruce by spilling his secret to the Riddler to stage an elaborate chain of events to torture Bruce for a good chunk of time. In the games, Hush makes an appearance and hinted he’d be back to cause trouble in a future game where he poses as Bruce Wayne (which may be Arkham Knight in 2015). And since we’re exploring Batman’s origins and Edward Nigma seems to be a prominent character alongside Penguin, Hush only makes sense to appear here as well.

#01 – Scarecrow – Shut up. I don’t care if there’s an age issue here. Scarecrow is easily one of the most interesting and coolest villains Batman has and exploring his history would be worth everyone’s time. Not to mention the fun effects that could be used to play around with his fear toxin would be loads of fun. But if they’re keeping Gotham in line with the Dark Knight Trilogy even a little, we can expect that Scarecrow will NOT be showing up in Gotham anytime soon… but fuck it. I want more Scarecrow anyway.

Those are my top twelve characters I’d like to see make an appearance or have their stories told in Gotham. Gotham will be airing on Monday’s on Fox at 7PM central time for those who care enough to watch it live. I’ll probably just catch it on Hulu when I can. See ya next time.