Gotham The Official Cameron Monaghan As Jerome Valeska/(Possibly) The Joker

[Kathemy]

I hope the writers would be smart enough to have that burden fall to Bruce. I've always loved that (in the comics) Bruce constantly wonders if he's responsible for the Joker by dropping him in the vat, in essence, creating his own nemesis by incident.

If they do go the chemical vat route, I wonder how long they'll wait before bringing him back.

It's really hard to say. If they do the chemotherapy routine, when will they think Gotham is ready for the "real deal", the green-hair, white-skin f¤%ker we all love and hate? Truth be told, Jerome already is the Joker in any way that counts, but... will they hesitate?

The Joker is Batman's nemesis. Or, you could argue he's Bruce Wayne's nemesis. If Bruce sinks him, they own that. Bruce will be involved and he will have to step up when he's in play.

Is there a "grand plan" they can invest the Joker in that takes up a season? If they round up initial proceedings with the Court of Owls in season three, could season four feature that plan? They've hinted at "Harlequin for season finale", can this possibly come without the Joker? Harlequin is defined by the Joker even more than Catwoman by Batman.

Cautious prediction; back by the season finale, green hair or not.

And I mean, it's possible he'll just end up locked up in Arkham, but I can't see him roaming free in episode 15. He's too disruptive a force for that.

Any thoughts welcome, of course.

 

[Wildcard]

It's really hard to say. If they do the chemotherapy routine, when will they think Gotham is ready for the "real deal", the green-hair, white-skin f¤%ker we all love and hate? Truth be told, Jerome already is the Joker in any way that counts, but... will they hesitate?

The Joker is Batman's nemesis. Or, you could argue he's Bruce Wayne's nemesis. If Bruce sinks him, they own that. Bruce will be involved and he will have to step up when he's in play.

Is there a "grand plan" they can invest the Joker in that takes up a season? If they round up initial proceedings with the Court of Owls in season three, could season four feature that plan? They've hinted at "Harlequin for season finale", can this possibly come without the Joker? Harlequin is defined by the Joker even more than Catwoman by Batman.

Cautious prediction; back by the season finale, green hair or not.

And I mean, it's possible he'll just end up locked up in Arkham, but I can't see him roaming free in episode 15. He's too disruptive a force for that.

Any thoughts welcome, of course.

There's not really anything here for me to disagree with, it's all pretty spot on. Didn't think about it until now but it would be smart to keep expectations open as to him returning for the finale if indeed they introduce Harleen.

My theory right now is even with the pummeling from the trailer, is that Alfred somehow steps in to stop Bruce & Jerome goes to Arkham.

Imo, introducing Harleen with absolutely no connection to the Joker would be a bit flimsy, and would miss one of the main purposes of her character (at least starting out, anyway).

 

[Kathemy]

The Joker literally creates Harlequin. That's like... far more essential than Bruce pushing him in some bloody vat at a plant.

I know modern television likes to PC everything but the origin of Harlequin is in a decidedly anti-PC abusive-sado-masochistic relationship. At least Gotham's showed us it's got no problem "going there" with f.ex. Babs and the Ogre as long as it doesn't get too graphic. The tone they struck with Silver, a mere 15-year-old, was very disturbing. For a network TV show, whatever you say about them they've got some balls.

I don't hope and I don't think that Alfred, Jim or anyone else will stop Bruce. I think this has to be his and Jerome's moment alone. This is the big leagues. Training wheels are off. Time to search your soul.

 

[Wildcard]

Yet again, I wholly agree. They shouldn't be introducing Harleen without the Joker. And if they do, the character needs to remain out of the criminal element until the two come into contact.

As for Alfred or Jim stopping Bruce, maybe you're right. It'd probably be best if he decides to stop all on his own accord. I could see Jerome laughing as he's pummeled while trying to goad Bruce into killing him, but he stops. And then Jerome gets shipped off to Arkham.

 

[ernesth100]

This guy would've been an amazing Joker in the DCEU.

 

[Arachnerd]

He would have been too young for the DCEU Joker, though.

 

[Wildcard]

^ Far too young, considering Affleck's Batman has a 20+ year career and he and Leto are around the same age.

Cameron is right where he needs to be.

 

[Kathemy]

¤-Headcanon of Bruce going to visit Jerome in Arkham to have frenemy chat about murderers.-¤

 

[Greenlite]

So I guess they haven't introduced any girl with psychiatrist background so she can meet the Joker in Arkham? Lee's the closest but she's off to the other show soon...

By the way I didn't finish Gotham S1, but after seeing the promo for S2E3 Jerome holding Bruce hostage that got me back to Gotham, binge watched S2 and now following S3.

Cameron's the real deal and I hope they don't kill him off again.

I think Bruno's kinda re-creating the Red John cult (the Joker followers are everywhere) and he absolutely F***ed up the final identity of RJ (randomly picking one character at the end but the behaviour of the final RJ in previous seasons absolute doesn't match up), so I hope they now give up on killing Jerome again and start "guess who's the Joker" game and ending up with underwhelming second/real Joker, they should just stick with, gold?

and funny enough although there's a lot of Nicholson and Ledger in Jerome he's more frightening and funny than Leto's Joker...I don't hate him but now thinking of the two Leto's just not that funny nor scary, maybe the editing mucked it up but it was mostly WTF when he came on but Jerome gives me more of a chill, kudos to the Gotham writers

 

[Wildcard]

Honestly, though, is it really necessary to compare Cameron's performance to Leto at every turn? Or to compare any of them at this point? It's pretty stale, imo.

As for Lee, I highly doubt they'd turn her into Harley Quinn, that'd be a horrible misusage of her character, especially considering she's always been a close ally to Bruce (something the show even touched on). Not to mention Harleen is always portrayed as quite a bit younger than Joker.

When they touch on Harley, it's going to be a new actress we haven't seen before as opposed to a character already established and far older than Jerome himself.

 

[Kathemy]

The reason people go on about various characters being Harlequin is that the writers have said that "you may already have seen Harley Quinn".

I agree that the comparisons are useless. It's the Joker. Of course there will be similarities. I'm in the apparently unique position that I actually enjoy all Jokers I've seen on screen.

 

[Greenlite]

Honestly, though, is it really necessary to compare Cameron's performance to Leto at every turn? Or to compare any of them at this point? It's pretty stale, imo

Fans compare and contrast different interpretations, ESPECIALLY when they are both on at the same time, some like both some don't, some like one of them, it's just opinions. I was ok with Leto's Joker while some were bashing him, but now I find Jerome more interesting, like if they make a Joker movie each for Leto and Cameron, I'd pay to watch Cameron, that's my sensibility, and that is all.

and I actually don't need to pay to see Jerome, lucky me

The reason people go on about various characters being Harlequin is that the writers have said that "you may already have seen Harley Quinn"

Yup, and given how they made Barbara Gordon crazy and they killed Sarah Essen, you can't rule out anything, unless you know the actress is going to another show =P

 

[Kathemy]

What I'll say is simply that making Harlequin 22 years older than Bruce Wayne, and even 14 years older than the Joker, is patently ridiculous.

 

[RetrogradeOrbit]

And we have our Joker for Gotham... Thank you very much. t:

 

[Arachnerd]

I figured it was about time to make a thread about our favorite and hilariously dark ginger clown.

 

[NotNickFury]

Might as well have. He's practically the Joker in all but name and chances are he'll return at some point. And if not, he's made his impact, so sure, a thread is warranted.

 

[Darkness Falls]

he's amazing

 

[The Shape]

He better actually be The Joker. It would be ridiculous for anyone else to come along and be or become The Joker.

 

[Steelsheen]

dudes im pretty sure without a shadow of a doubt Jerome Valeska is the Joker-- all this build up only to pull the plug in the end and go with another guy? i mean come on

also the anagram for Joker is in JEROmE ValesKa. i always found his last name curious and now i can see why.

so now Gotham gave Joker a solid backstory-- his name is Jerome, he's ginger and he was raised in a circus with an abusive ****e for a mom and a blind old man for a dad. we already know that given his level of crazy he's likely a born sociopath. so yeah absolutely perfect beginnings

 

[Wildcard]

I've never been an advocate for giving the Joker a definitive origin, but Jerome's story works, and I'm interested in seeing where he goes from here. Given the fact he was brought back, the influences from New 52, etc., this is definitely Gotham's one and only Joker. No denying it at this point.

Maybe getting ahead of myself but at this point I'm just curious as to what Cameron could do if he went full on chalk white, green hair. That's what I really, really want to see next.

 

[Mindreaper21]

It would be so cool if his face turns white since its been detached for so long.

 

[NotNickFury]

If Jerome did something to his face, I'm curious if there'd be any reason behind it or if it just happens. He's not vain and clearly doesn't care about people seeing his stapled-on face, so it couldn't be an image reason.

 

[Kathemy]

I'd say you could argue he's a bit vain. He wants stardom. I'm sure he'd prefer to be pretty, or at least looking spectacular.

 

[dark_knight08]

Cameron Monaghan aka Jerome Valeska IS Gotham's Joker. He's the perfect combo of Jack Nicholson's "clown prince" Joker and Heath Ledger's "sadistic scarred" Joker. I hope the creators of Gotham find him the perfect match for Harley Quinn.

 

[Kathemy]

Those colors made my eyes hurt.