Gotham [Pre] Batman Villains

Jack Napier
Selina Kyle
Harvey Dent
Andrea Beaumont
Edward Nygma
Oswald Cobblepot
Tommy Elliot
Victor Fries
Roman Sionis
Waylon Jones
Jonathan Crane
Pamela Isley
Harleen Quinzel
Hugo Strange
The Monk
Jervis Tetch
Arnold Wesker
Kirk Langstrom
Victor Zsasz
Julian Day
Carmine Falcone
Sal Maroni
Rupert Thorne
Tony Zucco
Red Hood Gang

 

Oh yeah I could see that happening

 

Solomon Grundy could be really cool too.

 

court of owls would be perfect

 

The Batman villains who I've always wanted to see get more screen time are the Falcone Crime Family, Rupert Thorne, Mayor Hamilton Hill, Commissioner Gillian Loeb, and Professor Hugo Strange. Guys like The Joker and Two Face are the terrifying end result of Gotham being the craphole that it is, but I'd like to see the guys I just listed put at the forefront as the people who are responsible for Gotham being the way it is in the first place, the wealthy power-elite who drained the life and soul out of a once proud community in order to line their own pockets, thus creating an environment where the only sane option for some is crime and madness. They made Gotham the way it is, so they should be the Big Bads early on. The "freak" villains, in my mind, are the side effects of the mess they made, and they should come later.

I'd set it up like this: The Falcones, Thorne, Hill, and Loeb basically run the city. The Falcones are at the heart of all organized crime in the city, Thorne is the richest man in the city who's business holdings employ a third of it's citizens wether they know it or not, and Hill and Loeb run the government. These three camps exist in a long standing and mutually beneficial arrangement. The Falcones facilitate Thorne's off the books dealings and help Loeb and Hill keep crime at a manageable and "acceptable" level. Thorne helps the Falcones launder money and keeps Hill's campaign war chest well stocked. Hill and Loeb look the other way on every crime the Falcones and Thorne commit and help the folks on their respective VIP lists avoid jail time when they get caught committing a crime, as well as supporting local legislation that benefit the Faclones' or Thorne's business. They all help each other out, and sink the people of Gotham deeper and deeper into poverty and despair in the process. The glue holding this whole arrangement together is Professor Hugo Strange. Chief of Medicine at Arkham Psychiatric Hospital, holder of dual PHDs in psychology and biology, published author, and celebrity pop-psychologist to the stars, Strange is the go between in all of these dirty dealings. He greases the wheels, makes sure payments are met and drops are made, and mediates meetings. Since he's everyone's psychiatrist, he knows everyone's secrets, and through blackmail and psychological manipulation he's managed to rig the entire set up in his favor, allowing him to control events to his liking and live comfortably enough to pursue his true passion, his mad and twisted experiments with the human mind and body which he inflicts on the helpless patients under his care.

What I absolutely don't want to see is some scrawny teen psychopath presented as a proto-Joker. The Joker is a response to how ****ed up Gotham is in the same way Batman is, just going down a much more frightening and destructive path. If we're starting off pre-Batman, then we're sure as hell not there yet.

 

How much older is Harvey than Bruce? Would he be around Bruce's age or in high school?

 

I wouldn't mind an episode featuring Victor Freis and his wife Nora. It could even focus on their first meeting one another. He could be played like the animated series where he was a hard working good man or slightly reworked closer to his original comic book roots and start off as a criminal who changes his ways after meeting Nora. I'd prefer the former and hope they wouldn't even consider the New 52 version.

 

Robert Englund as Basil Karlo. Seems perfect to me. Considering how the original Golden Age Clayface is so different from the more popular one, I'd have no problem having his original storyline and mystery made into a Pre-Batman story. Maybe have Jack Earle Haley as his assistant Matt Hagen.

 

Agreed with all this!

 

To keep in line with Joker's multiple choice past, I'm thinking that they are going to have more than one "Pre-Jokers" such as:


a failed comedian
overly sadistic mob hitman
sociopathic child to contrast against Bruce (not unlike James Gordon Jr)
a mysterious criminal who goes by the moniker "The Red Hood"

If they choose to go with one character, I'd rather they go with an unmasked Red Hood with a mysterious past.

 

If the show is successful and we get multiple seasons and we get to see Bruce traveling the world as a young man, I'm for combining Talia Al Ghul with Andrea Beaumont, and having a genuine love develop between the two.

Think like this:

While searching for David Cain to complete his training, Bruce finds himself in Kasnia during their local civil war. Attaching himself to a refugee caravan to protect the civilians as they head towards a UN safe-sector, Bruce meets the idealistic and dangerous Talia. She is the daughter of the experienced militia fighter who leads the caravan and a mysterious father who was separated from the family during a bombing raid by neighboring Polkistan.

She and Bruce grow close, fall in love, and Bruce even decides to stick with her group after the refugees are granted refuge. He has a sequence where he wrestles with his earlier promise of vengeance and seemingly overcomes it to stay with her even after he discovers the location of David Cain.

Then the group is targeted by a Polkistani hit squad when they are escorting a politically sensitive VIP. Talia's mother dies, and Bruce offers the grieving Talia justice for her mother, using his skills gained from Henri Ducard to track down the squad. Despite their love, they fall out when Talia brutally murders the squad. Bruce and she leave each other heartbroken and angry, and barely cooperate through a desert to reach Quarac, where Bruce finds David Cain and convinces him to accept him as a trainee. Talia, meanwhile, goes searching for her father.

 

All of this!

 

Gimme the Joker and all the rogues. It's a different continuity. They can do whatever they want.

I'd rather have an altered Joker over no Joker at all. Why not?

 

Bold statements. I'd be interested in seeing this too to be honest. I was wishing they followed the Gotham Central route rather than Smallville-ized Gotham.

However, I'm still excited for the show and i have nothing against what they're attempting.

 

Mad Hatter defo.

Seeing Jervis Tetch before he goes Mad and also exploring his techno genius mind would be ace.

I actually thought the recent pic of Gotham's Penguin was more like Jervis from animated series. you see the similarity?

 

Because this show is already focusing on a different aspect of the Bat-mythos than usual, and is thus an opportunity to lend the spotlight to great villains who normally get relegated to C-List status instead of going through the motions with the greatest hits. We've seen The Joker a million times. We get it, he's great. Why not give Hugo Strange the chance to shine?

 

John Hannah yep he could be fine choice.t:

 

David Cain...


Played by Christian Kane.