Bruce is back, as Gotham returned to the small screen this week with 'A Dark Knight: Pax Penguina', giving fans a look at the young Wayne's forays into heroics on the streets. Over the past four years, the show has seen Bruce (David Mazouz) grow and change - from the innocent young boy who saw his parents' murder in the first episode, to a proto-Batman, determined to try and change his city for the better.It seems that this fourth season is likely to see some actual Bat-antics, too, as it has been confirmed that Bruce will be operating as a masked vigilante, and the new season is being called 'A Dark Knight' (in the same way that earlier story arcs have been named 'Mad City', 'Rise of the Villains' etc). Many of Batman's classic villains are now fully established, and most of the big players are recognizable as their comic counterparts... which begs the question: will Gotham end after this season, or become an all-out Batman live-action series?

Batman (Finally) Begins

Over the past three seasons, fans have seen Bruce Wayne go from a scared little boy to a trained vigilante - fleshing out Batman's origins as the villains of Gotham rise. He has trained with Alfred (Sean Pertwee), who used his own Army training to help Bruce get fit and learn the basics of fighting. He went on to live on the streets with Selina (Camren Bicondova) for a time, learning the underworld and how to survive. Then, of course, he was kidnapped by Ra's Al Ghul (Alexander Siddig), where his training became a little more mystical. He's learned about the secrets of his company and the way that Gotham is controlled by shadowy figures behind the scenes, and he's finally putting it all together.

The season premiere starts with Bruce leaping off a rooftop in a black mask to stop a mugging, and it's been confirmed that there will be plenty more of this kind of vigilante justice in season 4. This episode saw Alfred questioning Bruce's decision to get to work on low-level crime, and Bruce stating his commitment to the people of the city. He also showed that he is able to play the game, showing up to schmooze at Penguin's (Robin Lord Taylor) club opening, and finding out the information he needs to start taking down Oswald's 'liscenced criminals'. There's a bat-suit, a charged moment with Selina on a rooftop, and even a line from Alfred about balancing his vigilante activities with 'being Bruce Wayne'. It seems that by the season's end, there'll be a fully-fledged Batman above Gotham City.

Where Does Gotham Go From Here?

Gotham Full Cast Season 3

While Bat-fans will be thrilled to see the show finally focusing on the Dark Knight, where does an origin story go once the origin is told? Originally pushed as a police procedural-style look at Gotham City, the show has moved further and further from its original focus on Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and the GCPD, and has been paying much more attention to Bruce and the villains that he will eventually face. Once he becomes Batman, thsi shift will be complete, and the show will have two options: become a straight-up Batman show, or call it quits.

With the direction that the show has been taking in the past two seasons, it's likely that it will continue, and keep the focus on the villains of the city. Both Bruce and Jim then become the dual heroes of the show - one attempting to work within the law, and the other ignoring it. This is a far cry from the Batman-show-without-Batman that we saw in the first season, but makes a lot of sense - it keeps the dark (and slightly campy) tone, allows for Jim's story to continue, and plays up on the best part of the series: the bad guys.

Problems Ahead

Of course, simply switching gears into a Batman series comes with its own set of problems. From the start, comic book purists have complained about the huge age gap between Bruce Wayne and most of his villains - an issue that isn't major for a show about Jim vs Villains, but which becomes more problematic if Batman takes the spotlight. The premiere saw Bruce and Penguin connecting as Bruce attempted to trick Penguin into giving away information (successfully), but there was a bit of an issue with the pairing.

Not only is Bruce legally too young to even be in a bar like the Iceberg Lounge (although his extreme wealth would potentially deal with that issue), but it's difficult to see Penguin taking an adolescent particularly seriously. Assuming that Bruce was eleven-ish when the show began, he's now only 14 or 15 - which feels just a little too young to become Batman fully.

There's also plenty of competition in the superhero arena. The CW is dominating, with an entire interconnected universe that adds its fifth show to the roster this fall, but Netflix is also building an impressive superhero universe with the Defenders, and the X-Men have slowly started to join the small-screen crew as well. Gotham has previously carved out a niche as a different kind of superhero show, all about villain origins, but a shift to a straightforward Batman series would bring it into direct competition with every other superhero show.

Gotham's Options

The showrunners have given no clues as to the fate of Gotham once Bruce Wayne becomes Batman, but it's likely that the show will stick around... with some major changes. A straightforward continuation is problematic, due to the ages of the main cast, but it's possible - as long as the villains remain the core of the series. Bruce may have started jumping off buildings in a black mask, but he's still not quite Batman yet, and it could take another couple of seasons before he truly becomes the Dark Knight.

Of course, rather than showing this, one option that Gotham has is to leap forward along the timeline by a couple of years, picking up a fifth season with Bruce at nineteen (so that at the very least, he can get into bars without a fake ID, and start building his playboy reputation). Mazouz and Bicondova are 16 and 18, respectively, and can both easily pull off playing a character a couple of years older than they are in real life, so there are no real practical issues with suddenly aging the lead by just enough to make the story a little more effective.

Or, the final option is to simply end the series when Bruce straps on his cape. While most series want to continue as long as possible, there's something to be said for ending on a high note, and once the origin story is told, it makes sense to wrap up the show. Fans will be left knowing where we go from here, thanks to decades of Batman comics and adaptations, and the series won't have to deal with any of the issues it might face as a stand-alone seires. However, four seasons is quite short, and FOX will undoubtedly want to keep capitalizing on the success of Gotham. We'll have to wait and see what season 4 brings.

Gotham returns next Thursday with A Dark Knight: The Fear Reaper' at 8pm on FOX.

Next: Gotham Season 4 Premiere: Batman (Finally) Begins