Fox announced a new television series about Batman, sort of. Gotham, a series about Gotham City before Batman will air sometime this year. Soon. I've seen the first trailer. This post is about what I'm hoping to see in this new show.
When I heard the plan was to do a show not about Batman, but about the city of Gotham and James Gordon, I dismissed it as boring. There were already comics written about this concept, and while Gotham Central, Gotham Nights, and Batman: GCPD may have been interesting, they didn't sell well because fans want to read about the Batman, not the police department.
However, after seeing the trailer, I changed my mind. This series could be interesting. This could be successful like Arrow. But it also could turn into Lois and Clark, or the Muppet Babies if realistic continuity is thrown out the window. This could be done well, though, and here is how...
In the comics, there is already a history of Gotham crime. This is pretty much laid out in Batman: Year One by Frank Miller, and The Long Halloween and Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb. The first thing I want to see is the rise of the Falcone and Maroni crime families. Jeph Loeb covers the fall of organized crime in Gotham, and when Batman arrives, they are already well established.
In the trailer, we get to see a few villains before they become villains. Poison Ivy, Scarecrow and Catwoman make appearances, and so does the Penguin. The second thing I hope we get to see are some of Gotham's 1% families. The Penguin is Oswald Cobblepot, and the Cobblepots, according to the comics, are an old rich Gotham family, like the Waynes. Other families include the Elliots (Thomas Elliot aka Hush), the Kane's (Kate Kane aka Batmwoman), and the Sionis's (Roman Sionis aka the Black Mask). I hope to see all of these families at least mentioned.
The fact that certain characters are mentioned outright in the trailer, suggests that origin stories will be told throughout the series. But there are Batman villains who are far older. Therefore, the second thing I hope to see are the older villains. Jason Woodrue becomes the Floronic Man, but before that, he mentors Pamela Isley and is responsible for turning her into Poison Ivy. Ra's Al Ghul is ancient. Dr. Hugo Strange is an older man when he first encounters Batman. Amadeus Arkham founded Arkham Asylum, and went mad and died far before Batman arrived. All of these characters would be great to see, if only in cameos.
In conclusion, I just hope this show doesn't suck. And if it turns out to be awesome, I hope Fox doesn't decide to cancel it prematurely, like it has done to a bunch of potentially great shows.
