Gotham today is still a very underrated show. It has its ups and downs throughout but the one thing it did very well, is the characters. When you’re doing a show that’s set before Batman, you have to find a way to make it interesting, make the characters ready for Batman – and the show did great.
It spanned over 5 seasons and ended up with the Dark Knight being born. Despite the last episode being very poor, it did set the entire story up well.
Today, I want to look at all of the characters that I feel were done better than their other counterparts in other live-action shows or movies. Some of these may be controversial, but this is my own opinion and I welcome to hear what you guys think.
1. Jim Gordon – Ben McKenzie
I think this one is a given. The show was centered primarily around Jim Gordon before he became the Commissioner. The character was played by Ben McKenzie who brought the young Jim Gordon to life onscreen. It’s something we’ve never seen before as typically in most cases, we’re well into Bruce Wayne being Batman.
I do believe the age obviously plays a factor here and that Jim was able to be on the frontline and handle his own help here. There’s been some very good Jim Gordon’s in live-action but for me, Ben’s version is the best we’ve seen.
2. Alfred Pennyworth – Sean Pertwee
Like Gordon, Pennyworth is helped by the fact he’s much younger than we’re used to seeing. In the Gotham show, Alfred pretty much runs alongside Bruce a lot and also at times, the GCPD. He holds his own and isn’t scared of a fight, whether it’s with a gun, a knife, or anything else.
I love the sarcasm from Alfred in the Gotham show. When you watch the Pennyworth show by Epix, you see that Alfred is MUCH more than just a butler and has a personality to go alongside it too. I really do think Andy Serkis is a close second but Pertwee has it nailed down.
3. Victor Fries (Mr. Freeze) – Nathan Darrow
Unfortunately for Mr. Freeze, he’s never been given true justice in live-action. Let’s be honest, the George Clooney Batman movies were awful. I tried to watch them recently and I couldn’t help but cringe my way through it. I don’t think Mr. Freeze was done perfectly in the Gotham show but it’s the best we’ve had so far.
Darrow did nail the attitude for Fries in a good way. I do think if Mr. Freeze had been given a better ark during the show, he may have taken the gold with such ease. It’s a shame they just made him pop in there and then when he should’ve been given an entire ark to go with it. The suit was amazing as well, I do have to give the show that.
4. Oswald Cobblepot (Penguin) – Robin Lord Taylor
The Penguin is easily one of the best things about Gotham. We see the Penguin go from being Fish Mooney’s lackey to becoming one of Gotham’s most feared criminals. That’s how it should be. We see the glow up. Taylor did fantastic in ensuring that the character remained true to the comic counterpart and I think it also helps that he was given a large amount of screentime during the show.
It’ll be difficult for Penguin to be topped moving forward due to this reason. We see him rise, fall, rise, and fall again and this is what Penguin is all about. He’s cunning, clever, tactful, and knows what to do to get back on top.
5. Carmine Falcone – John Doman
Falcone was one of the characters I actually really enjoyed throughout the show. We see Falcone be at the top of his game and be the feared crime boss he is. We see him go to war with the Maroni family. We also see the better side of Falcone who doesn’t want to see Gotham perish.
We learn a lot about Carmine and what his values are when it comes to it all. Falcone isn’t a character that’s had a large amount of time shown on him in previous iterations in live-action but the Gotham writers did a very good job with the character.
6. Victor Zsasz – Anthony Carrigan
Victor Zsasz was portrayed perfectly throughout this series. This character is no stranger to our screens, he has been featured in various forms of media. A few examples are Danny Jacobs who voiced Zsasz in the Batman:Arkham video game franchise, Alex Morf in the Arrowverse series batwoman, Tim Booth in the film Batman Begins and Chris Messina in Birds of Prey.
While I have respect for each and every one of these actors as Victor Zsasz must be a tricky character to portray perfectly, Anthony Carrigan absolutely nailed it, both the writing and acting were sublime. He truly brought this character to life, If I were to put a face to Victor Zsasz, it would be his face. His terrifying demeanour and one liners truly kept us invested in him. He’s a guy you should hate and yet you just can’t. Well played to Anthony Carrigan.
7. Jervis Tetch (The Mad Hatter) – Benedict Samuel
Tetch is a very unique villain. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen a lot of The Mad Hatter in live-action, he was done horribly in The CW Batwoman show. Honestly, I don’t believe that Samuel could be topped as the hypnotist. My mind was made up during the scene where Lee, Jim, and Vale are at the table and he shoots Vale. His acting here was phenomenal when he loses his temper.
There may be a future Mad Hatter in the future but I can’t see Samuel being beaten in this regard. He took that role and he absolutely owned it. The Mad Hatter character is a difficult role to pull off when you look at his characteristics of him, but Samuel deserves a lot of praise for bringing that alive.
8. Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow) – Charlie Tahan
This is another controversial one as people will say Cillian Murphy takes the crown. Don’t get me wrong, it is a very close call between the two. For me, the reason why Charlie takes it is due to the fact we see him come to terms with his fear, become the Scarecrow, and become more ruthless as time goes on.
My concern with Murphy’s role is they used Scarecrow as a cop-out in The Dark Knight Rises. Scarecrow is a villain that holds his own, as he does in Gotham – in the movieverse, he doesn’t. That’s mainly why I believe Gotham did the character just SLIGHTLY better than the movies.
9. Lucius Fox – Chris Chalk
This character was a controversial opinion, some agreed and some didn’t but a vast majority of our writers believed he deserved a place on this list, and I can agree with that. Chris Chalk was a great casting for the character and did capture the image for Lucious Fox brilliantly. While I do have to agree it’s a tricky one because Morgan Freeman also did so well in this role, what we loved about Gotham version is how much more involved he is.
Originally working for Wayne Enterprises, helping Alfred and Bruce, giving Bruce his first ever suit and then working with the GCPD. Because of him working for the GCPD we seen a lot more of his character, even seeing him go toe to toe with The Riddler which was a great watch.
10. Edward Nygma – Cory Michael Smith
Edward Nygma aka The Riddler was a character who yet again was done perfectly. Of course this article is focused on characters who were done better throughout this series but we have to admit we did debate whether or not to put Cory Michael Smiths version of The Riddler in here as Paul Dano in the recent Batman movie also captured the character perfectly. But we decided both of these characters are on par with each other so he is definitely deserving of a spot on our list.
Typically when we see The Riddler we just see him as the villain, what I loved about Gotham is we see how he started. He was just a good man working for the GCPD who loves Riddles. It does give you abit of sympathy for the character, for a short while anyways. Much like Penguin, he very much wants to make his way to the top which he does achieve for a little while, he’s very unpredictable and quite clearly insane. Which is why I think him and Penguin made such a perfect duo throughout this series, as Enemies and friends, they just bounced off each other so well.
Please remember, this is our own opinion and we know some of these will be controversial. Do you agree with any of these or disagree? Let us know down in the comments below.
