Premiering on Fox in September 2014 and running until April 2019, Gotham was a five-season, 100-episode superhero crime drama. The series put a unique spin on the classic Batman mythos. Instead of following an adult Bruce Wayne and his vigilante activities, the main character of Gotham was Detective James Gordon. It began as he investigated the murder of the Waynes and formed a friendship with a young Bruce. The series also focused on the fall of organized crime and the rise to power of iconic members of Batman’s rogues’ gallery, such as The Penguin and Jervis Tetch, all before Bruce ever dons the cape and cowl. The series has been consistently praised for its casting, and there are five actors in the series who would be perfect to reprise their Gotham roles in the DCU.
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5.) David Zayas – Sal Maroni
Salvatore Maroni was the head of the Maroni crime family, and in the comics is one of Batman’s first enemies. In Gotham, he was feared, but not nearly as powerful as the Falcone crime family. Gotham’s ruling family; they were a lot older and had been in power for a lot longer. With the help of the Penguin, he began to gain power in the city. War broke out with Carmine Falcone, the head of the Falcones, but Maroni faced many losses as Penguin was secretly working with the Falcones. Following the ultimate double-cross, he left Maroni and returned to the Falcones, causing further tension between the families and worsening the war. Eventually, Maroni was able to seize power from the Falcones. This was short-lived, however, as an effort to kill Carmine Falcone and some of his associates (including Penguin) resulted in his death in the season one finale.
Sal Maroni was portrayed in Gotham by David Zayas. He was fantastic in the role and would be perfect for portraying the character if he appears in the DCU. While Batman often dismantles Gotham’s organized crime early on in his career, that is not always the case. Sometimes they lose power but still linger in the shadows, trying to regain what they once had. Batman in the DCU will have been active for a while when he makes his first big appearance in Brave and the Bold. This would put Gotham’s organized crime in its low period and at a good place in the timeline for Zayas to reprise his role and show Maroni once again trying to gain power.
4.) BD Wong – Hugo Strange
Hugo Strange is one of Batman’s most dangerous villains, not because of his strength but because of his mind. Criminally insane himself, Strange is a master of psychology, and he knows how to use it. He is also smart enough to deduce Batman’s true identity, making him the enemy of Bruce Wayne as well. In the series, he was the Chief of Psychiatry and director of Arkham Asylum, which he used as a cover for his experiments on dead humans at Indian Hill. His work brought them back to life and turned them into meta-humans, and led to the creation of a few of Batman’s well-known villains, including Firefly and Mr. Freeze. Strange was also the person who hired Matches Malone to murder Thomas and Martha Wayne, needing them out of the way so that he could continue his experiments. That means his actions indirectly led to the creation of Batman.
Strange was portrayed in Gotham by BD Wong, who was also only the second person to ever play the character in live-action, after Michael Balfour in Batman (1989). He was cold and calculating, and even his voice was rarely ever not monotone and unsettling. His take on the character was very similar to the version seen in Rocksteady’s Batman:Arkham City video game and the 2004 The Batman animated series, which are two of the most iconic and comic-accurate takes on the character. Given the quality of his performance in Gotham, BD Wong would be the perfect person to portray Strange in the DCU should he appear there as one of Batman’s ultimate villains.
3.) John Doman – Carmine Falcone
Carmine Falcone was the head of the Falcone crime family and the ruler of Gotham’s criminal underworld. He ruled the city for decades, and after the war between him and the Maronis, he retired from the life. He realized he just couldn’t do it anymore. He would return later to see his son get married to Lee Thompkins. After Mario was killed by Jim Gordon, he put out a hit on him, but he would later call it off at Lee’s request and return to retirement. Learning he was dying, he moved to Miami, where the air was better, and he would have more time. However, he would later be forced to return again after a gang war began between his daughter Sofia and the Penguin’s forces. This return would prove fatal, though, as Sofia had him murdered for not supporting her efforts to reclaim the Falcone power in Gotham.
Carmine Falcone was portrayed by John Doman in Gotham, and he delivered one of the best performances of the series. He portrayed a perfect crime boss. He could be relatively warm (at least for a mob boss) towards his people, Gordon, and his family. But he could also be ruthless when he had to be, and he played it all perfectly. If the DCU does see the mob trying to claw back its power from the costumed criminals of Gotham (which would be a really interesting story for DC Studios to follow), it would be great to see Doman return to the role, and a perfect reunion with David Zayas as Sal Maroni.
2.) Corey Michael Smith – The Riddler
Edward Nygma, better known as The Riddler, is one of Batman’s most well-known villains. He started the series as a forensics technician at the GCPD. After murdering someone to keep them away from a coworker he was in love with, and then accidentally killing her too, he began a psychological downward spiral that saw him drift deeper and deeper into criminal insanity and worsened his obsession with riddles. The series gave him two separate personalities, Ed and the Riddler. The weight of what he had done forced this split personality to the surface, and then it caused him to allow his Riddler personality to take over completely.
Corey Michael Smith played Nygma in Gotham. His take was a combination of the classic comic book Riddler and the version seen in Rocksteady’s Arkham games. The addition of the split personality was unique to this series and made one of the already standout characters even more compelling, resulting in what is arguably the best live-action portrayal to date. It would be shocking if the Riddler did not appear in the DCU. The DCU leans on comic accuracy while also elevating characters in new and compelling ways (like they did for Matt Hagen in the newly released horror film Clayface, which is set in the DCU), making Smith’s portrayal of the character the perfect take for the fledgling universe.
1.) Cameron Monaghan – The Joker
The Joker is Batman’s most iconic villain, and one of the greatest to appear in Gotham. There were two versions of the character. They were the Valeska brother, Jerome and Jeremiah. Jerome was the first. He ended up in Gotham when Haly’s Circus (yes, the one the Graysons were in) performed. Jerome killed his mother, revealing himself to be insane. He was imprisoned at Arkham Asylum. Eventually breaking out, he became a mass murderer and a major villain for both Jim Gordon and young Bruce Wayne. Jerome’s Joker was very similar to Heath Ledger’s portrayal in The Dark Knight. The other Joker, Jeremiah, was more akin to Jack Nicholson’s Batman (1989) Joker and the traditional comic version. Instead of chaotic and nihilistic, he was cold, narcissistic, and obsessive. The twin of Jerome, he was not originally criminally insane, though he was crazy. After Jerome died, he gassed Jeremiah, which triggered his transformation. He became the true Joker of the series, becoming the first villain Bruce Wayne fought as Batman following the series finale’s ten-year time jump.
Jerome and Jeremiah’s Jokers were portrayed in Gotham by Cameron Monaghan. Though he was never actually called the Joker. Due to restrictions imposed by Warner Bros., the creators of the series were never able to license the Joker name. But both were the character in every other way. They were played masterfully by Monaghan, ironically the second jedi to play the character (the first being Mark Hamill). He was perfect at showing the many sides of the Clown Prince of Crime, and had the ever-important laugh to go with it. When the Joker does appear in the DCU, DC Studios would be wise to ask Monaghan to reprise the role and play it to its fullest potential.
Do you agree with these picks, or have another actor you think should reprise their past Gotham role? Discuss it in the comments.
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