[Major SPOILERS ahead for the Gotham season 3 finale.]
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Despite the young age of Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) on FOX's Gotham, the series hasn't hesitated from establishing many of Batman's iconic rogues gallery of villains, including Penguin, Riddler, Poison Ivy, (possibly) the Joker, and now the season 3 finale is promising Solomon Grundy. While Batman's villains being so much older than him certainly doesn't jive that well with previous continuity, Gotham clearly exists in its own take on the DC universe, and many fans have come to accept and appreciate that fact.
Leading up to tonight's two-episode season 3 finale of Gotham, Mazouz had hinted publicly that the show's rendition of Harley Quinn -- who many figured would be Barbara Kean (Erin Richards) -- would finally make an appearance. While that doesn't seem to have happened -- at least not in an obvious fashion -- the finale did reveal that one major Batman villain has been hiding under viewers' noses for the entire run of the series so far.
Beginning Gotham's run as loyal muscle to crime boss Fish Mooney (Jada Pinkett Smith), Butch Gilzean (Drew Powell) has seen his character's screentime steadily increase as the series has progressed. For awhile, Butch was brainwashed into serving as Oswald Cobblepot's unquestioning servant, even chopping off his own hand in the process. He later turned on Penguin, striking up a dysfunctional yet oddly endearing romantic relationship with Tabitha Galavan along the way. However, tonight's finale casually revealed Butch's birth name: Cyrus Gold. That's right, Butch is the man who would be Solomon Grundy.
Introduced to comics way back in 1944, Solomon Grundy is an imposing brute of a villain that is usually depicted as a literal zombie, although his origin has changed a few times over the many years he's existed. Butch certainly fits the bill of a Grundy type, mostly working as some type of hired muscle on Gotham. Even when he was in charge, he still regularly used his size and strength to intimidate both enemies and underlings. Of all the existing characters on Gotham, he definitely seems like the best fit to become Grundy.
With Butch now dead at Barbara's hands -- see, that spoiler alert was there for a reason! -- he seems ripe to somehow turn into the bruising zombie Grundy that Batman fans know and love. It remains to be seen how he'll get resurrected, but as Gotham has repeatedly shown, the writers can always find a way to undo a death if they really feel it necessary. Thankfully, Gotham has already been renewed for season 4, so fans can rest assured that they'll get to see Grundy wreak havoc at some point.
Gotham returns for season 4 this fall on FOX.
Next: Gotham Season 3 Finale Review & Discussion
Source: FOX