Part of the fun of watching “Batman: The Animated Series” after school in the ’90s was waiting for the title card to come up, as it usually revealed the featured villain in the episode. Sometimes as an episode wrapped up and Batman delivered a bad guy to Arkham Asylum, we’d get glimpses of many members of the rogues gallery in their cells, and sometimes multiple villains would star in the same episode.
As Season 2 of “Gotham” winds down with its final two episodes, it seems to be embracing the concept of rogues on the loose. Here’s a look at my favorite villains of Season 2, and how they relate to – or diverge from – the original “Batman” comic-book lore:
1. Professor Hugo Strange (B.D. Wong)
The concept of Strange as a psychiatrist who experiments on Arkham Asylum inmates – and the idea of the criminals becoming more insane after his ministrations — is consistent in the comics and on “Gotham.” New for the TV show, though, is the fact that he brings back inmates from the dead at his Indian Hills facility beneath the asylum, as he has done so far with Firefly, Mr. Freeze and Theo Galavan.
“Gotham” Season 2 (2015-16)
Fox, 22 episodes
Creator: Bruno Heller
Stars: Ben McKenzie, Donal Logue, Cory Michael Smith
It looks like he’ll soon resurrect Fish Mooney, and the Joker could be on his to-do list also. Strange is the glue that holds the rogues gallery together, and it looks like he’ll be setting them loose in a whiz-bang conclusion to the season. Wong’s performance is so deliciously campy that I think it’s safe to say this role has surpassed Dr. Wu in “Jurassic Park” as his most famous.
2. The Riddler (Cory Michael Smith)
The primary villain of Season 2, Ed Nygma is never actually called the Riddler on the show – although one guy calls him “Riddle Man” before Ed kills him. I like the decision to portray Ed’s diverging personalities — timid and confident — as he talks to himself in the mirror. The immediate switch from horror over accidentally suffocating his beloved Miss Kringle to covering up the crime is a classic portrayal of sociopathy.
It was fun to see him frame Jim Gordon, and even more fun to see Gordon and his allies take him down, although more crimes with riddle-based clues will be welcome. Ed’s job at the GCPD was invented for “Gotham,” but the idea of his villainy stemming from abuse is consistent – in the comics, he had bad parents; on the TV show, he is made fun of by colleagues.
3. The Penguin (Robin Lord Taylor)
Season 1’s primary villain continues to entertain and be oddly sympathetic due to circumstances and Taylor’s portrayal of desperation. The recent storyline about Oswald Cobblepot’s newfound relatives treating him like garbage puts “Gotham’s” Penguin in line with traditional lore, where he is an outcast of his well-to-do family.
I love the fact that the corpse of the mother-in-law he murdered several episodes ago is still in his dining room, swarmed with flies. After all, she had it coming, although Oswald’s tactic of going all “Hannibal” and feeding poisoned meat of her deceased children to her is particularly grisly.
4. Barbara Kean (Erin Richards)
Barbara’s status as James Gordon’s most well-known love interest, and their rocky relationship, is broadly consistent in both the comic lore and on “Gotham.” The TV show has emphasized Barbara’s evil side – deliciously played by Richards — even putting her in Arkham for a while.
I thought she would revert to her good self after emerging from her coma, but instead she seems to be helping Jim in an attempt to get back on his good side; then again, she’s staying with crime kingpins Tabitha Galavan and Butch. It’s possible that Jim might meet her in the middle – becoming dark enough that he’s open to renewing their relationship.
5. Mr. Freeze (Nathan Darrow)
The origin story of Victor Fries using cryogenics to try to save his cancer-stricken wife, Nora, is consistent across the lore. The idea of Arkham having a refrigerated room where he can survive is part of the comic lore, although the concept of Strange resurrecting him is unique to “Gotham.” For some presumably comedic reason, his last name is pronounced “Frise” on “Gotham.”
The Gotham newspaper dubs him “Mr. Freeze,” though. Frankly, it’s nice to see someone other than Arnold Schwarzenegger play Mr. Freeze in a live-action role; that performance in “Batman and Robin” was entertaining in a campy way, but Darrow’s straightforwardly tragic turn is more on-point.
6. The Joker (Cameron Monaghan)
“Gotham’s” proto-Joker, Jerome Valeska, might not actually be the Joker. After he’s killed off, several citizens are seen laughing maniacally in the streets, suggesting that Jerome inspires people to behave in his maniacally sociopathic manner, and that the real Joker will emerge from this new cohort. Then again, Jerome’s corpse ends up at Indian Hills, so it’s possible he’ll be resurrected by Strange.
If Jerome does turn out to be the Joker, then “Gotham’s” origin story is not consistent with the comics, but then again, the comics never delivered an unambiguous Joker origin. (Many fans theorize that “The Killing Joke” is a fake origin story, as it is told by the Joker himself, an unreliable narrator.) Even if he ends up coming back, killing the Joker was a daring twist by the writers, and Monaghan’s spot-on performance stands as particularly gutsy considering that it is sandwiched between the late great Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight” and the buzzed-about Jared Leto in “Suicide Squad.”
7. Azrael (James Frain)
Azrael’s human identity, Theo Galavan, and the fact that Strange is responsible for his return from the dead are different from the comic lore. But the idea that a family has a connection to the ancient powers of the Sacred Order of St. Dumas and that one of their number can become Azrael does indeed come from the comics. In the most recent episode, Penguin’s former henchman, Butch, blows up Azrael with a rocket launcher much like Buffy does to The Judge. So while death tends to not be permanent on “Gotham,” in this case it might be. However, as the comics have had multiple Azraels, the TV show could too.
8. Tigress (Jessica Lucas)
The comic lore holds that Tigress runs with a gang of thieves, and this is consistent with “Gotham,” where she leads a gang along with her brother, Theo Galavan. Her identity as Tabitha Galavan, and her relationship to the Sacred Order of St. Dumas, is unique to the TV show. Interestingly, Tabitha hasn’t been called Tigress on the show, but numerous articles have cited that she is officially known as Tigress. At the moment, she’s in the hospital, having been stabbed by her brother, so maybe she’ll go full-blown Tigress when she recovers.
9. Silver St. Cloud (Natalie Alyn Lind)
Similar to “Gotham’s” youth-oriented reinterpretation of the Batman-Catwoman relationship, Bruce and Silver know each other as teenagers on the show, whereas they have a romance as adults in the comic lore. The fact that Silver is a socialite is consistent, although the fact that she’s part of the Order of St. Dumas, like her relatives the Galavans, is unique to “Gotham.” Last we saw her, she escaped the authorities with Tabitha; however, unlike the Galavan siblings, Silver has not re-emerged yet.
10. Firefly (Michelle Veintimilla)
The idea of an arsonist in a firefly-looking suit with a flamethrower is consistent across the lore. However, the comic Firefly is a man named Garfield Lynns and “Gotham’s” Firefly is a young woman named Bridgit Pike. She also has a more tragic backstory, as her abusive brothers push her into participating in their fire-starting crime family. In the TV show, she is a friend of Selina’s, and she is resurrected by Hugo Strange.
11. Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith)
No research at the Batman Wiki is needed for this character, because she’s the only “Gotham” rogue who is invented from whole cloth for the show. In Season 1, she is the crime boss that the Penguin aspires to be like, and it was fun to watch Smith chew scenery. It looks like Hugo Strange will resurrect her next week, which I think is unnecessary.
At the end of Season 1, Fish is shot and flung off a building into the water. The idea that she could recover from that is well within reason for comics-based television, without mad science coming into play. (Indeed, she recovered off-screen from a gunshot wound just a few episodes before her presumed death.)
And what about …
Catwoman (Camren Bicondova) – Known mostly by Selina at the moment, she’s never been 100 percent villainous. Despite questionable moves such as pushing a guy out a window and betraying Jim Gordon, she’s mostly good, so I can’t legitimately put her in the rogues gallery at this point. It was fun to see Bruce learn some street smarts from her.
Poison Ivy (Clare Foley) – Selina’s friend, known as Ivy Pepper, is still on the “Gotham” roster, but she’s been relegated to the bench in Season 2.
Two-Face (Nicholas D’Agosto) – Harvey Dent has been established as Gotham City’s district attorney, but he’s very much a supporting character, at least for now.
The Scarecrow (Charlie Tahan) – He hasn’t appeared since his origin story (or the first part of it, where his father injects him with a chemical that makes him scared of everything) was told in Season 1.
And who’s next …
The Mad Hatter – Strange notes that Azrael is “mad as a hatter.” This made some fans think that “Gotham’s” writers were letting us know that they have the Mad Hatter – a popular baddie on “The Animated Series” — in mind as a featured villain down the road.