Detective Jim Gordon can hardly move for all the budding Batman villains he's running into on Fox's comic book TV show Gotham. Whether they're still in school, already climbing the ranks of Gotham City's criminal underground, or even working from with Gotham's police department, barely a week goes by without the introduction of another supervillain in the making.
The eagerness to include recognizable characters has led to quite a few liberties being taken with the traditional age gap between Batman and his foes. Harvey Dent, for example, is already an assistant district attorney while Bruce Wayne is still in school. This willingness to play around with the ages of characters mean that there's a real possibility that Gotham could introduce Dick Grayson AKA the original Robin.
Speaking in an interview with The Daily Beast, actor Ben McKenzie indicated that there's a strong likelihood of Dick Grayson's parents - and perhaps the character himself - appearing in the first season of Gotham. When the topic of new characters being introduced came up, McKenzie teased, "The Graysons may appear this season. I'm not 100 percent sure yet, but I think so."
Dick Grayson's origin story strongly parallels Bruce Wayne's. He comes from a family of acrobats called the Flying Graysons, and as a child he watches his parents fall to their deaths after having their trapeze wires sabotaged by local gangsters. After Bruce Wayne takes the orphan under his batwing, Grayson trains to become the first to take up the title of Robin and eventually captures the mob boss who arranged his parents' deaths. He later goes on to become independent superhero Nightwing and, at one point, takes up Batman's mantle.
Assuming that the Gotham writers don't make changes to Dick Grayson's age, he'll either be a baby or not yet born at the time of Gotham's first season. It might be for the best if the story of the Graysons' death isn't the subject of an episode, since it would essentially be a retread of the pilot (and Bruce Wayne is really far too young to go around adopting anyone just yet).
Still, an episode following Jim Gordon's investigation of a circus-related crime could make for a visually interesting standalone episode, as well as a subtle way to lay down the seeds for one of Batman's best known allies. Keep an eye out for these characters in the latter half of season one.
NEXT: Gotham Creator Talks Arkham's Role in the Series
-
Gotham returns tonight with “The Mask” @8pm on Fox.
Source: The Daily Beast