On Gotham, we’ve got a young Bruce Wayne who isn’t Batman yet. And it’s unclear as to whether mega-maniac Jerome Valeska will become the Joker destined to become the Dark Knight’s arch-foe. But the Fox superhero show is going to have them fight anyway, because there ain’t no rules in its weird little pocket universe.
A new teaser for next week’s episode of Gotham shows the titular city erupting into chaos as a blackout coincides with Jerome’s return to the criminal underworld. What’s more, it looks like this episode is squeezing in a ton of referential nods to big-time Joker-centric moments from comics and movies.
A viral plague that turns ordinary citizens into wannabe killer clowns has been an element in a few Joker stories, most recently the Endgame arc. We also see Jerome’s face being cut off and worn by others before being re-attached, which echoes the character’s look in the Death of the Family storyline.
Valeska talks about putting a smile on faces, too, like the Jack Nicholson Joker from the 1989 Batman movie, and the carnival/hall of mirrors scenes are probably intentional nods at The Killing Joke. If Jerome falls into a pit of Dionesium at the end of this episode, we’ll know for sure that we’ll be see him over and over…