Gotham is ramping up to their final three episodes of season 4 with a deluge of Joker-style chaos. Jerome Valeska’s twin brother Jeremiah (Cameron Monaghan) has gone nuts himself after “one bad day,” and the last trailer hinted that Jerome’s body has gone missing (again), and the trailer also introduced a harlequin-suit wearing woman (Jeremiah’s bodyguard, Ecco, played by Francesca Root-Dodson).

All of this subterfuge is leading up to the season finale this month, based loosely on the No Man’s Land story line in which an earthquake knocked out all bridges leading to Gotham. This was also foreshadowed in the previous episode when Ra’s al Ghul (who was “dead” but not anymore because this is Gotham) told Bruce Wayne, “I saw a vision of a cataclysmic event soon to befall this city, a cleansing fire that will destroy, purify, create — create you, Bruce. Because I will use it as a mighty forge, molding you into a Dark Knight of Gotham. If it doesn’t kill you, that is.”

Rather than an earthquake, it appears (based on two clips from this Thursday’s episode) structural engineer Jeremiah will be doing the damage. What we’ve gathered from the two new clips is that Jeremiah has detonated a bomb in his own labyrinthine subterranean house while Gordon was in it, leading everyone to believe Gordon is dead. (More likely, it’ll just take him a while — maybe a whole episode — to find his way out of the maze.)

Then Jeremiah — who has recruited the followers of his dead (“dead”) brother Jerome — heads to the Gotham Police Department headquarters and informs them of his plan and sets himself apart from his brother. “Don’t compare me to that short-sighted psychopath. He just wanted to destroy things. Me? I’m a builder. I’m going to create a new Gotham in my image, but every artist needs a blank canvas, so all of this has to go.” He warns they have 6 hours to evacuate the city before he makes it into his blank canvas. Then he blows up a nearby Gotham landmark just to let the police know he’s serious. (Why so seri– nevermind.)

Although they aren’t going to call him “Joker,” the actor is playing two distinct but Joker-esque characters, with this new deadpan version being less reckless and impulsively violent than his brother but seemingly smarter and more conniving. Monaghan recently described this second character as “subtle” and possibly “the darkest, most frightening thing this show has ever done.”

More frightening than what Penguin did to get the guy in this second clip to talk?

Gotham season 4 episode 20 “That Old Corpse” airs on FOX at 8pm EST this Thursday.

(Via Bleeding Cool and Gotham)

“All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That’s how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day.” That familiar quote spoken by the Joker in Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke is being referenced heavily in this Thursday’s episode of Gotham, titled “One Bad Day.” Even though the show isn’t calling Jerome Valeska’s twin brother Jeremiah “Joker,” the new trailer above demonstrates why they might as well start calling him that.

The video recaps previous episodes but is also filled with new footage from the last two episodes of Season 4, including an homage to the amusingly literal signage of the Batman ’66 series: a scene in which Jeremiah seems to burns some of his followers alive by hitting a big button conveniently labelled “purge.” Gotham hasn’t officially been picked up for a fifth season, although Fox chairman Gary Newman has said, “I feel like Gotham should have a place in our schedule.”

If you missed last week’s episode, you missed seeing Jeremiah reveal his real personality in an elaborate fake-out (the videos may still be available here and here), during which he claimed his brother’s insanity gas only had cosmetic effects, like the bleached skin revealed when he wiped a victim’s blood off of his face.

FOX

Then the totally-not-crazy Jeremiah called himself the “face of sanity” and told Bruce Wayne, “You’re my very best friend.” (Don’t let Ecco hear him say that.)

We’ve already seen part of this Thursday’s episode, a scene we thought would air last week in which Jeremiah gives the Gotham police six hours to evacuate the city before he detonates all the bombs Wayne Enterprises unwittingly funded as an energy project (whoops). Jeremiah will also be attempting to drive his “best friend” Bruce Wayne insane with one really bad day. We’ve also gathered from promo photos that Jim Gordon makes it out of the maze and Jeremiah will be having a run-in with Penguin, Barbara, Tabitha, and Butch, who’ve teamed up in an attempt to stop him.

EVERYONE’S A HERO ON AN ALL-NEW “GOTHAM” THURSDAY, MAY 10, ON FOX

As Gotham falls into complete anarchy, a team of unlikely heroes step up to save it. Bullock takes the lead at the GCPD and Bruce’s psychological limits are tested as those close to him are put in danger in the all-new “A Dark Knight: One Bad Day” episode of GOTHAM airing Thursday, May 10 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

(Via We Got This Covered and Gotham)

Gotham‘s penultimate episode, “One Bad Day,” airs tonight on FOX, and we already know from a spoiler-filled Joker trailer and an explosive clip that it’s going to be leaning heavily into references to Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke, except it’s Bruce Wayne (rather than Gordon) who the Joker (“joker”) is going to try to drive mad with the titular “one bad day.” The video above shows Jeremiah setting up that “transformative experience” for Bruce, whom Jeremiah is still referring to as his “best friend.” Get better friends, the both of you.

The actor behind both Joker-esque characters (Cameron Monaghan) also gave a couple of interviews to clear up whether he’s really playing the Joker (short answer: yes-ish) and what his influences were for both distinct performances.

Regarding whether the character is actually the Joker, Monaghan says in the video below, “Yeah, I mean, look, the character doesn’t have the mantle yet, but I feel Jerome was the Joker for the show for the first four years, and now we’re transitioning into [Jeremiah]. I think with this show we’re taking a different take on the Joker in the fact that it’s a bit of an ideology. Look, 76 years ago when the Joker was created, an angry young man who feels like the world has slighted him and is killing people or destroying things had a different connotation than it does now. […] That is terrorism.” Monaghan went on, “Unfortunately, there are destructive ideologies and dangerous schools of thought that can cause these things to happen, so I think that’s what they wanted to introduce with the idea of the Joker, is that someone that destructive — and that invested in their destruction — can spurn other people to do something similar and for people to want to emulate it and, you know, top it.”

This lines up with what showrunner Danny Cannon has said about the Joker: “It’s more powerful than just one person. […] I think that is a way of life, it’s an ideology.” In other words, Gotham continues to do its own bonkers alternate universe thing with these characters, changing things as need be to surprise the audience.

Regarding Monaghan’s influences for these two jokers in particular, in the video below he lists his inspiration for Jerome as a combination of every Joker depiction over 76 years, but especially Mark Hamill (no wonder Hamill liked his performance so much). His inspiration for Jeremiah, however, comes from outside the comic book mold. In the video, he described the character as being disturbingly on “the cusp of sanity” and lists influences from music, saying that criminals in Gotham are that city’s rock stars, so he wanted to take inspiration from rock stars (particularly the “thoughtful and specific” way they behave when they aren’t on stage).

He also took inspiration from Truman Capote (well, that’s new) and other people he describes as “hyperintelligent” yet “regarded as weirdos and outliers.” He also briefly namechecks Hannibal Lecter, and he went more into that influence in an interview with Comic Book:

“There are a lot of moments that made Hannibal Lecter so terrifying. [One] in my opinion, was even though he was the one in the cage, he was the one locked up under key, for some reason, because of his intelligence he was always the one who had control. He might have been in the cage, but he was the one who had all the cards and carried all the weight. That is something that Jeremiah has. No matter how this guy is backed into a corner, he plans for contingency and he is intelligent enough that he knows how to manipulate and hurt people. He can take control.”

Here’s the other interview, with most of the Gotham-related stuff starting about four and a half minutes in and ending around nineteen minutes in:

EVERYONE’S A HERO ON AN ALL-NEW “GOTHAM” THURSDAY, MAY 10, ON FOX

As Gotham falls into complete anarchy, a team of unlikely heroes step up to save it. Bullock takes the lead at the GCPD and Bruce’s psychological limits are tested as those close to him are put in danger in the all-new “A Dark Knight: One Bad Day” episode of GOTHAM airing Thursday, May 10 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

Next Thursday’s Season 4 finale is titled “No Man’s Land,” so you can probably guess where all this is headed.

(Via BUILD, Bleeding Cool, Comic Book, and Gotham)

Fox

Gotham is finally off the bubble. Among news of the many TV show cancellations and renewals announced over the weekend, FOX came through with an eleventh hour decision to renew Gotham for a fifth and final season. It’s rumored to air in midseason and focus on Bruce Wayne’s transformation into Batman, wrapping up the arc started in Season 1. No word yet on the exact number of episodes left, but the series only needs thirteen more episodes for syndication.

As for which storylines from the comics those final episodes will incorporate, we’ve already had several hints provided by trailers for this season’s finale (tellingly titled “No Man’s Land”) and interviews with the cast and crew. Gotham showrunner Danny Cannon has said Season 5 is “completely different” and “almost a reboot” due to a “cataclysmic event” happening in this Thursday’s episode. We know from the promo video below that Ra’s al Ghul and Jeremiah Valeska are likely behind the event, and al Ghul said to Bruce Wayne earlier this season, “I saw a vision of a cataclysmic event molding you into a dark knight of Gotham.” Molding Bruce into Batman was also hinted at by a couple of promo photos for the finale:

Fox

Fox

Look who got themselves a batsignal starter kit.

The promo photos also hint at Jeremiah escaping from police custody. In one photo he’s seen handcuffed in Gotham PD headquarters (the eyes spray painted on the wall are seen at the headquarters in a previous episode), but he’s free and out of the police station in the other photos:

Fox

Fox

They’re still not calling him the Joker, in part because they’re portraying the character as an ideology instead of one person, but also — as actor Cameron Monaghan revealed on Twitter over the weekend — they weren’t allowed to use the name or dye his hair green:

They ended up settling on the black dye:

Fox

It’s a much better look than green dye and face tattoos, one could argue.

Monaghan also spoke to Comic Book about how this version of the story is playing around with the comic trope of Bruce creating the Joker. In this version, both characters push each other into becoming who they become:

“I like how the comic, depending on what [Joker] origin story we’re talking about, […] generally they somehow revolve around Bruce creating him […]. I think there is something really interesting about how Gotham has composed this symbiosis where one is creating the other and the other is also creating him, too. In a sense, the Joker is escalating the crimes in Gotham and creating a necessity for things to escalate the vigilantes. Bruce’s escalation keeps pushing Joker more towards his identity too.

Monaghan talked about how Bruce saved Jerome’s life twice, paving the way for Jerome to later draw out Jeremiah. “By saving him, he’s had a direct influence on the creation of Jeremiah. Now there’s continued symbiotic relationship between these two characters.”

Fortunately, the story of Bruce becoming Batman won’t have to end on a cliffhanger since there will be at least thirteen more episodes after this Thursday’s finale, for which you can watch a promo below:

THERE WILL BE LIGHT ON THE ALL-NEW SEASON FINALE OF “GOTHAM” THURSDAY, MAY 17, ON FOX

Jeremiah warns a skeptical Gordon of more destruction coming Gotham’s way, and Gordon is forced to make a potentially devastating decision. Meanwhile, Barbara rallies together a team to secure her position, as alliances in the underworld shift and prove no one can be trusted. Then, Bruce is forced to come to terms with the future in the all-new “A Dark Knight: No Man’s Land” season finale episode of GOTHAM airing Thursday, May 17 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

(Via Deadline, Comic Book, CBM, Cameron Monaghan, and Gotham)

Warner Bros.

There are always plenty of reasons to go back and watch The Dark Knight. In the vast gang of superhero films that we’ve been offered over the years, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy is still a triumph for its realistic attempt to create Batman’s world. The second film stands out thanks to Heath Ledger’s posthumous Oscar-winning performance as Batman’s arch-nemesis The Joker. It’s a performance that is worth reliving on its own, but now you might have another reason to jump back to Gotham.

Patton Oswalt went ahead and dropped his thoughts about The Joker’s origins on Saturday — possibly to celebrate the renewal for A.P. Bio on NBC — and it really gives an interesting take on the criminal’s past and why he always seems to be one step ahead throughout the movie. Taking off the idea that Ledger’s Joker is former military and suffering from PTSD, Oswalt jumps into the idea that Joker is a particular kind of ex-soldier:

He seems to be very good at the kind of mind-f*ckery that sustained, professional interrogation requires. His boast about how “I know the squealers” when he sees one. The way he adjusts his personality and methods depending on who he’s talking to, and knowing EXACTLY the reaction he’ll get: mocking Gamble’s manhood; invoking terror to Brian, the “false” Batman; teasing the policeman’s sense of loyalty to his fallen, fellow cops; digging into Gordon’s isolation; appealing to Harvey Dent’s hunger for “fairness.” He even conducts a “reverse interrogation” with Batman when he’s in the box at the police station — wanting to see how “far” Batman will go, trying to make him break his “one rule.” He constantly changes his backstory (and thus who he is). To Gamble and his henchmen, he’s an abused child (figuring that they were also the products of abuse and neglect). To Rachel, he’s a man mourning a tragic love — something she’s also wrestling with.

In the end, he ends up trying to mind-f*ck an entire city — and the city calls his bluff. Or is that what he wanted all along? He plummets to his seeming death, laughing like a child.

It might not be a theory that drives things to crazy levels, but it is just right to pique renewed interest in the film and make you want to rewatch. Also, there’s plenty of folks that get the itch and start to pitch him more details in the comments. The thing that comes to mind for me is a more twisted and capable version of Tommy Lee Jones’ character in Under Siege. The Dark Knight is a far better movie, but that rogue agent that is torn apart and returns to torment the world that made him would be present in both according to this theory.

The Joker doesn’t need a backstory to be a great villain in the end. But when a sufficient effort is made to give him one, it’s worth taking note. At least he wasn’t another member of the League of Shadows or something. You can read through all of Oswalt’s post below.

Getty Image

Months ago, news of Joaquin Phoenix starring in a standalone Joker origin film landed on a confusing note, given that Jared Leto most recently portrayed the character in Suicide Squad and will also continue the role in another standalone film. Yet both projects are forging forth as planned, and last week, director Todd Phillips posted the first look at Phoenix as the new Joker, yet it wasn’t a very dramatic sight. There was no makeup to be seen, and Phoenix looked almost depressed in an average-guy way.

Well, Phillips has upped the ante by Instagramming a camera test of Phoenix with full Joker makeup. The clip is mildly unsettling to behold, and the makeup job can be seen at the end with Phoenix madly grinning for effect.

People has published some new set photos of Phoenix in civilian clothing while standing in front of a carousel, looking extremely downtrodden as if the weight of the world sits atop his nihilistic shoulders. The actor also recently disclosed that he doesn’t care about everyone’s premature reactions to his take on the supervillain. Well, at least he’s keeping comic fans on their toes, and there will always be detractors for anyone taking on such an iconic character, so he’s taking the levelheaded approach by keeping things in perspective. After all, this isn’t Phoenix’s first rodeo with controversy.

The Joker origin film is currently scheduled for release in October 2019.

Warner Bros.

If you’re having a hard time keeping track of the various Joker films in production, maybe this will help: there’s Joker, with Joaquin Phoenix as the Clown Prince of Crime; the Joker and Harley Quinn movie, starring Jared Leto and Margot Robbie, where the pair kidnap Dr. Phil; a Joker solo adventure with Leto; and Suicide Squad 2 featuring… Jared Leto. (That did not help.)

But back before the world was crawling with Jokers, when the character had only been played by Heath Ledger and Mark Hamill and Jack Nicholson and Cesar Romero and… (simpler times), there was the original Suicide Squad. Director David Ayer won’t be back for the sequel, but he did recently field questions about the much-maligned 2016 film on Twitter. When asked if the Joker’s “damaged” forehead tattoo was his idea, he replied, “Yes I have to fall on that sword. It was one step too far.” Leto was too twisted for this world.

He added, “In my mind it was meant for Batman after he smashed Joker teeth for killing Jason Todd, some people found it alienating. Originality and faithfulness to the canon are often at odds. Batman and Joker are my two favorite characters ever.” At least it was good business for Hot Topic.

Ayer also discussed the differences between the theatrical cut and his vision (cue the petition). In response to a follower wondering whether the Suicide Squad, and in particular Harley Quinn, loves or hates each other, he wrote, “Two different characters. Harley’s arc was vastly simplified. It’s fun to play ‘gotcha’ but remember released film was very different from original assembly.”

As for the Leto-less Joker movie:

Suicide Squad 2 comes out… eventually, but probably after Birds of Prey.

Harley Quinn costume by clowngirlcosplays.

Halloween is coming soon — which means you’re sure to be searching for costume ideas. Where will you go for inspiration? The news (please, no)? Music (do-able)? Pop culture (so you can secretly judge anyone who doesn’t get which meme you are incarnating)?

TV shows and movies are always a nice touchstone. Harley Quinn is tracking to be a popular costume again this year, whether it’s the comic book version as above or the more recent Suicide Squad “Daddy’s Little Monster” Harley, like this one by infamous_harley_quinn. (More pictures here.)

You can also expect to see a fair number of Joaquin Phoenix Jokers this Halloween, now that we have a better idea of how he’ll look. People on Instagram are already doing makeup tests and mashup versions of Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker:

Joker makeup test by highvoltage_lulu.

Joker makeup test by twocrazyincrime.

Mashup of Harley Quinn and Joker by mizzrychcik.

Speaking of mashups, there have been some funny ones of late:

“Gand-Alf” photographed by Original Funko.

“Chik-Fi-Leia” photographed by Smoove Cosplaya.

“Doctor Stranger Things” photographed by Jason Vann.

“Hela Kitty” (Hello Kitty / Hela from Thor: Ragnarok) photographed by Arthur Luiz Tavares.

Grimace/Thanos (aka “Grimos”) cosplayed by kittiecosplay.

And this DMV worker dressed as the Sloth DMV worker from Zootopia last year:

That’s just next level, and so is this Doctor Strange utilizing fake hands and LED fans:

These Black Panther, Wonder Woman, Star Wars, and X-Men cosplayers also went to awesome places:

Shuri (Black Panther) cosplayed by CutePieSensei, photographed by Smoove Cosplaya.

Erik Killmonger (Black Panther) cosplayed by Keith Kelley.

Wonder Woman cosplayed by Alyson Tabbitha.

Via Reddit

Wonder Woman cosplayed by LuxSteez, photographed by DTJAAAAM.

Rose Tico (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) cosplayed by Jireh, photographed by Smoove Cosplaya.

Wolverine and X-23 (Logan) photographed by arcreactor_cosplay.

And these two Archer cosplayers achieved their look by cel shading with makeup and paint:

Pam Poovey and Dr. Krieger (Archer) costume by ihatepeacocks.

Others costumes tapped into our nostalgia:

Rainbow Bright and Twink costumes by lilythebluefairy.

Darkwing Duck photographed by Smoove Cosplaya.

Harry and Lloyd (Dumb and Dumber) costumes by Justin Mikita and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

Others got schwifty:

Rick Sanchez (Rick and Morty) photographed by rachiedw.

And finally, in continuing the tradition of people who apparently want to catch these hands, here’s some straight-up nightmare fuel photographed by Jason Vann and Mothra P.I.:

We’re going to have to drink those two mental images away…

Here are some of our other Halloween costume ideas:

• Make Your It Inspired Halloween Costume Count By Being The Best Pennywise You Can Be
• There Are Stranger Things You Could Wear Than These Halloween Costumes
• Rick And Morty Halloween Costumes To Wear While Getting Riggity Riggity Wrecked
• Harley Quinn Halloween Costumes Are Here To Hammer Out A Whole Gallery Of Awesome

Warner Bros. Animation

Ask five people to name their favorite Joker performance, and you might get five different answers. There’s Cesar Romero’s campy Joker in the Batman TV show; Jack Nicholson’s Prince-loving Joker in Tim Burton’s Batman movie; Mark Hamill’s wise-cracking Joker in Batman: The Animated Series; Heath Ledger’s disturbing Joker in The Dark Knight; and even though it hasn’t come out yet, someone would probably respond: Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker, because it’s Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker! (Sorry, Jared Leto. You’re too twisted for this world.) That’s a lot of very good Jokers, and there’s about to be one more.

In a recent interview with DiscussingFilm, Diedrich Bader, who’s voicing Bruce Wayne and (spoiler) Batman in DC Universe’s Harley Quinn animated series, revealed that the Clown Prince of Crime will be portrayed by none other than Alan Tudyk. Even if you don’t immediately recognize the name, you know the face and voice: he’s Wash from Firefly! Steve the Pirate in DodgeBall! Dr. Noah Werner in Suburgatory! King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph! This isn’t his first go-around with animated superhero shows, either: Tudyk already voiced The Flash in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and Green Arrow in Young Justice.

Here’s more on the show.

The adult animated action-comedy follows Harley as she breaks things off with the Joker and attempts to make it on her own as the criminal “queenpin” of Gotham City. The comedy will also feature Poison Ivy and a cast of heroes and villains — old and new — from the DC universe.

Harley Quinn, which also stars Kaley Cuoco as Harley, premieres in 2019.

(Via DiscussingFilm)

Youtube

Gotham‘s fifth and final season has already revealed some spoilers, but there’s still much we don’t know. Now we finally know the official release date, and with that announcement comes some photos referencing to a Harley Quinn-like character, a video titled “Happy Halloween From Mr. J” (just don’t call him “Joker”), and some good news for anybody wondering if Fox was really going to leave this bonkers show two episodes short of the 100 needed for syndication.

The last season premieres Thursday, January 3rd at 8 pm EST, which is thankfully the same time slot for the series, which had already been moved to a different time slot once before and survived (nobody stays dead on this show, so that’s fitting). Fox has also ordered two more episodes for the final season, bringing the total episodes to an even hundred. We hope those extra episodes are just two solid hours of Shane West hot-gluing his Bane costume together with stuff he bought at a bike shop.

Here’s the Halloween promo, which only has new material at the very end:

The only new parts are a line about “family reunions” voiced by Cameron Monaghan as one of the Joker-like Valeska twins, either Jeremiah or the probably-dead-but-it’s-Gotham-so-who-knows Jerome. He also appears briefly as Jeremiah, licking a bloody straight razor. As one does.

Youtube

So Jeremiah’s still having a normal one. He also has a girlfriend now, who was described by executive producer John Stephens as “a somewhat deranged girlfriend who dresses in a multi-colored fashion. I wouldn’t describe it as a healthy relationship, but there’s a meeting of minds. She likes rollerskates.” They won’t (can’t) call her “Harley,” just like they technically can’t call Monaghan’s character(s) “Joker,” but they’re having fun toeing that line. The girlfriend is almost certainly Jeremiah’s harlequin-suit wearing bodyguard, Ecco (Francesca Root-Dodson), as she’s the one seen in this photo shared by Monaghan with the caption, “For some people, every day is Halloween.”

A few weeks ago, Root-Dodson shared a photo of herself in white face paint:

All she needs now is those rollerskates. And maybe a giant mallet.

And finally, here’s a tongue-in-cheek set photo shared (then deleted) by Sean Pertwee, who plays Alfred:

(Via Entertainment Weekly, ONTD, and CBM)

These days, one need not rely upon paparazzi to publish confusing and/or teasing set images from highly anticipated films. Well, that still happens, but the filmmakers themselves also, and instantly if they desire, get in on that game. That includes Joker director Todd Phillips, who has had a circus of a time while Instagramming Joaquin Phoenix in various states of street attire (as his pre-Joker character, Arthur) before hitting the makeup (hard) and adding a wig to the mix. And after all that hard work, the Joker needs to settle in for a break, which is how the above image happened.

Simple, right? This is only Phoenix kicking back, feet up, with his slicked back hair and neon attire. It’s actually rather unnerving to see a clown so relaxed, especially considering that he’s undoubtedly resting during the course of carrying out mayhem or plotting more destruction. Granted, he’s not scaring the pants off people while lurking in the sewer, but wondering what the Joker thinks about during a “break” lends an additional enigmatic quality to this project.

And mystery may be exactly what lovers of comic book movies need, especially since this origin story isn’t the only Joker movie in production. Phillips previously revealed that he posts these images because “it bums me out” that the photo agencies consistently “put out their bad shots,” and he hopes that his “good” shots serve his films more productively. Speaking of which, we could use another look at what Zazie Beetz is doing with her character, so any additional offerings by Phillips would certainly be welcome.

Joker is currently scheduled to hit theaters on October 4, 2019.

Warner Bros. Pictures

The new Harley Quinn animated series for the DC Universe’s streaming service is all about the titular, baseball-bat wielding badass (voiced by Kaley Cuoco) breaking up with the Joker and leading her own flock of supervillainesses. Well, Birds Of Prey (the upcoming, Harley-centered, feature film starring Margot Robbie) follows an almost identical theme following the romantic bust-up. We also know that Robbie’s leading a revolving group of both villains and heroes, and Jared Leto’s incarnation of the Joker isn’t invited to the party. And thanks to a scrawling from Robbie herself — upon her Birds Of Prey script — fans of the DCEU were treated to what appeared to be the full title for the movie.

Lest anyone believe that Robbie is merely trolling the masses, the Hollywood Reporter‘s Aaron Couch has confirmed with Warner Bros. Pictures that Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is the actual title for the spinoff film, rather than (as some might suspect) a play on the Michael Keaton-starring Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).

Yes, the title is absurdly long, and some might say it’s a little too glittery and punchy, but hey, Harley is finally dumping an abusive partner in the Joker. And while Suicide Squad glossed over the history of the couple’s arguably disturbing dynamic, many fans of comic book movies will celebrate Harley kicking him to the “damaged” curb. Well, don’t feel bad for the Joker. He’s got his own spinoff and origin story movies in the works, and he’s basically everywhere right now. Meanwhile, Harley’s got better things to do, so let her have her long-ass title.

(Via Hollywood Reporter)

Instagram / Fox

Gotham‘s fifth and final season picks up after Gotham was cut off from the outside world when Ra’s al Ghul and the Joker-like Jeremiah Valeska destroyed every bridge leading into the city using bombs that Bruce Wayne unwittingly funded. Jeremiah still thinks he and Bruce are friends, but the Season 5 trailer teased a “vile, vicious, nightmare-fuel horror” of an ending (or a beginning?) to that one-sided friendship at the ACE Chemicals factory in episode seven.

It’s no coincidence it’s taking place at ACE Chemicals. Even though the show has been restricted to leaving the name “Joker” and certain elements of the character to be used in the movies only, the actor who plays the Joker-like character on the TV side of things now says they’ve been granted more liberties, and he spoke about his character’s coming “transformation” in a long interview with Entertainment Weekly.

Monaghan admitted he never expected to come back after his guest role in the first season, let alone continue coming back throughout the series. “Every time I came back I was told I was going to be killed off at the end of that arc,” he told EW. He went on to describe Jeremiah and hinted at a third character he’s playing by the end of the series. “[Jeremiah’s] this eccentric, flamboyant, arrogant character. But the character I most enjoyed playing is the one in the final episode that we haven’t seen yet.” No, it isn’t a third Valeska brother, he clarified, “Not triplets! No secret other twin. we’re seeing a very linear story arc with Jeremiah.”

We already know the final episode will jump ten years into the future, with Batman and his rogues gallery more fleshed out (literally fleshed out, in the soon-to-be-heavier Penguin’s case). Does this mean the ACE Chemicals standoff half-way through the season may eventually lead to The Joker by the end of the series? When asked about corporate legal issues preventing them from calling his character The Joker, Monaghan gave an update:

“I will say we’ve been given certain liberties in this final season that we haven’t been given before that’s going to make itself pretty apparent as you watch it. All I’ll say is when you have an episode that’s a full-on Batman episode running around in the future, you’re going to have characters that you’ll expect to see. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say at this point that it’s 10 years in the future — that’s been talked about openly by the producers and showrunners — I don’t want to say exactly what my role in that is, but it was kick ass. It’s one of the coolest opportunities I’ve ever had.”

He went on to talk about why he thinks it makes sense that the character hadn’t yet given himself a pseudonym earlier in the series, and he also made it clear that Jeremiah’s transformation isn’t going to be for the better: “He doesn’t see himself as bad or evil or insane so there’s no ability to redeem somebody who doesn’t want to be redeemed.”

Monaghan also teased his upcoming Gotham guest appearances on Instagram last week, sharing a photo of Jeremiah with green-tinted hair, a hair color that was supposed to be off-limits and supports the claim Warner/DC is giving them more leeway with Joker references. (To be fair, it could be an affect achieved with green set lighting, not hair dye, so perhaps they were just skirting rules that are still in place.) Monaghan captioned the photo, “Just a few more weeks until Gotham is re-introduced to this creep. Who watched the premiere episode?”

So we probably won’t see his character for a couple more weeks. The next episode focuses on Penguin clashing with Gordon, and Selina Kyle — who has recovered from the spinal injury Jeremiah gave her and now has some cat-like abilities thanks to a supernatural assist from Poison Ivy — will be trying to hunt down Jeremiah for revenge. She even fights with the apparent Harley Quinn, Jeremiah’s bodyguard-turned-girlfriend, Ecco (Francesca Root-Dodson), in a scene 23 seconds into the promo below, and you might also spot that the room has a large stained glass window of Jeremiah. (Gee, I wonder why Selina knew to look inside that building.)

And for what it’s worth, we aren’t just getting glimpses at Catwoman’s developing powers and a potential Joker and Harley Quinn in these promos. An end-credits teaser earlier this month included an apparent Batman sighting:

Gotham airs Thursdays at 8pm EST/PST (7pm CST) on FOX.

(Via Entertainment Weekly, GothamHub, Cameron Monaghan, and Gotham)

Warner Bros.

Among all the Harley Quinn and/or the Joker projects in various stages of development, the most intriguing is undoubtedly Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). The Suicide Squad spin-off, directed by Cathy Yan (Dead Pigs) and written by Christina Hodson (Bumblebee), stars Margot Robbie as the Cupid of Crime who joins forces with a “girl gang,” Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), to protect first-Batgirl Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco). But that’s not the most exciting part. This is.

“I’ll be a little busy this week. #BirdsOfPrey #HarleyQuinn & #TheJoker broke up. She has a few new interesting friends. They do NOT like me,” tweeted actor Robert Catrini, who plays Stefano Galante in Birds of Prey, according to his IMDb page. That’s the closest we’ve come to official confirmation that Harley and Joker (Jared “Damaged” Leto) aren’t together anymore after he rescued her from Belle Reve Penitentiary at the end of Suicide Squad, although it’s not a total surprise: set photos have hinted at the breakup (Harley literally crossed “Puddin” out of her life), and she’s sporting a “Bruce” collar in the first-look pic.

Also, the word “Emancipation” is right there in the title, implying that Harley Quinn is free from ever having to visit Hot Topic with the Joker ever again.

Birds of Prey, Etc. opens on February 7, 2020.

(Via Twitter)

Fox is still teasing a possible Joker transformation with a green band trailer — or a “Chemical Green” band trailer, as they’re calling it — for this Thursday’s episode of Gotham, “Ace Chemicals.”

Back in January, David Mazouz (who plays Bruce Wayne) and guest star Cameron Monaghan (who plays Jeremiah Valeska) summed up the inevitability of this showdown. Mazouz told IGN, “Jeremiah wants to be best friends with Bruce, Bruce hates Jeremiah, but in Jeremiah’s world, Bruce is playing hard to get. He does awful things that he thinks will eventually make Bruce come around to him, but neither can end this cycle since Bruce cannot kill, and Jeremiah doesn’t want to hurt Bruce.” Monaghan added that Jeremiah’s obsession with Bruce is the remaining element of his humanity and vulnerability. Well, a vat of green chemicals can wash that away.

If you’ve been watching Gotham, you already know Jeremiah has just kidnapped Alfred, and he’s also captured a man and a woman and had their appearance altered to resemble Bruce’s parents, all so he can stage a “family reunion.”

View this post on Instagram

No new #Gotham this week means you have plenty of time to catch up. Big things coming soon.

A post shared by Cameron Monaghan (@cameronmonaghan) on Feb 4, 2019 at 2:35pm PST

The new trailer above and the synopsis below give new details about Jeremiah’s desperate plan to win friends and influence people. His family reunion involves re-enacting Thomas and Martha Wayne’s murder, including a remake of The Mark of Zorro — the movie Bruce saw with his parents the night they were killed — staring Jeremiah as Zorro:

View this post on Instagram

Next week’s episode of Gotham, we get all kinds of weird. #AceChemicals

A post shared by Cameron Monaghan (@cameronmonaghan) on Feb 15, 2019 at 10:34am PST

“Next week’s episode of Gotham, we get all kinds of weird,” Monaghan captioned this photo, as though we even have a way to quantify the weirdness of this bonkers show anymore.

Here’s the synopsis for Thursday’s episode:

Gordon races to uncover the criminal element threatening to end talks of Gotham’s reunification with the mainland. A very-much-alive Jeremiah (guest star Cameron Monaghan) returns and organizes a twisted recreation of the murder of Bruce’s parents, with the help of Jervis Tetch aka Mad Hatter (guest star Benedict Samuel) in the all-new “Ace Chemicals” episode of GOTHAM airing Thursday, Feb. 21 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

Don’t expect to hear anyone calling him Joker, however. Even though Monaghan has said they’ve been given more leeway this season with characters, it doesn’t seem like they can necessarily use the name. In recent interviews, especially during Gotham‘s Television Critics Association panel earlier this month, cast and crew members weighed in on the character.

Last month, executive producer John Stephens said, “You never see a full transformation into the Joker, but you do see another transformation. Jeremiah undergoes another evolution in his character to become another amalgam of Jeremiah and Jerome that I think audiences are gonna look at and say, if it’s not the Joker then it’s definitely an antecedent or a proto-Joker that lives there.” Earlier this month, he added, “[T]here are some elements, I’d say, of the character of the Joker himself that we see down the road that have not been present so far, either in Jerome or in Jeremiah. But those elements and characters are present in the new iteration of Jeremiah that comes out.” Then he confused us all over again by saying, “If he’s not The Joker then he’s someone who does provide the origins for the person you’re going to see later.”

Meanwhile, co-star Donal Logue (who plays Harvey Bullock) said, “Cameron may not be the Joker, but he’s my favorite Joker of all-time.”

All this build-up to still not go full Joker would be such a lost opportunity. Speaking of lost opportunities, The Mark of Zorro? Could’ve gone with Space Jam…

(Via IGN, TV Guide, Comic Book, /film, IndieWire, Cameron Monaghan, and Gotham)

Orion

Orion Pictures recently unveiled Mark Hamill’s official Chucky voice in the Child’s Play reboot, and it sounded, well, a lot like Hamill’s take on The Joker. Indeed, one can hear touches of the Clown Prince of Crime in Hamill’s cackle within a new version of the horror icon, so at least on that note, the reboot should deliver. Whether or not the film’s heavy emphasis on the evils of technology (a theme that’s even been overplayed by Black Mirror at this point) can generate scares is another matter.

Hamill sounded a little nervous in that regard while recently speaking with Den of Geek. The Star Wars actor spoke about Chucky’s new origin story, which is “not [from] the soul of a serial killer” but comes from someone “deliberately altering his operating system and [taking] off the safety measures.” Hamill said that the voice work was as intimdating as taking on the Joker role:

“I felt intimidation like I hadn’t felt since I did the Joker … I didn’t feel that kind of intimidation until it sunk in that I was doing this. I love Brad. It’s a great responsibility, so I’m anxious to see how people react because it’s not the Chucky that we all know from before.”

His trepidation is understandable, given that reboots are so strongly scrutinized these days because there’s so darn many of them. In addition, there’s the unavoidable truth that horror films tend to carry high profit margins, so any box-office failure will stand out. Still, Hamill appears to have done solid voice work (from the sounds of this clip, at least), so he should sufficiently terrorize the hell out of Gabriel Bateman and Aubrey Plaza. Whether or not people will want to watch a doll control a smart home is another matter, and we’ll find out how that goes when Child’s Play cackles into theaters on June 21.

(Via Den of Geek)

Fox

Gotham finally resolved the question of whether or not Jerome Valeska (Cameron Monaghan) is the Joker in the latest episode, “A Dark Knight: That’s Entertainment.” It happened as we predicted it would after the earlier surprise reveal of Jerome’s twin brother, Jeremiah Valeska aka Xander Wilde, because Gotham is like a soap opera if soap operas showed character deaths on screen and there were multiple deaths in every episode, half of them involving dynamite. (That’s not even an exaggeration. They showed two characters’ heads explode, on screen, in the last episode. And one of them was an archbishop. It’s bonkers.)

In the last episode, Jim Gordon shot Jerome multiple times, causing him to nearly fall off of a building. Rather than allowing Gordon to pull him up, Jerome chose to let go and plummet to his death (a seeming homage to Jack Nicholson’s Joker), but before he did, he said he’ll outlive Gordon. “I’m more than a man. I’m an idea. A philosophy. And I will live on in the shadows with Gotham’s discontent. You’ll be seeing me soon.” What he meant quickly became evident, as the episode ended with Jeremiah opening a gift he thought was from his new employer Wayne Enterprises. As seen in the video above, it was a dose of Smylex from Jerome instead, along with a recorded message:

“Hello, brother. Didn’t think you could get rid of me so easily, did you? See, my days were numbered but you, oh, you can continue on for me. Be my ultimate revenge. So, calm yourself. Breathe it in. This gas was a special mixture I made, just for you. Something to finally set you free. It’s time to have some fun. Burn it down, brother. Burn it all down.”

Jeremiah grabs his head in a visual right out of The Killing Joke, and then there’s some silly CGI to exaggerate his smile. The actor who plays both characters made a joke about the CGI on Twitter over the weekend, referencing both the creepy CGI-removal of Henry Cavill’s mustache in Justice League and the “Snyder cut” of the movie:

He followed that up with a tease of upcoming episodes, saying the “subtle,” post-transformation Jeremiah may be “the darkest, most frightening thing this show has ever done.”

There are four episodes left, suggesting the next episode isn’t going to tie up any threads from this new Joker’s storyline (and thanks to set photos like these and these, we know there’s going to be more Joker this season). It’ll be interesting to see what he does with all the research funding Bruce Wayne offered him in the last episode for an energy-generating device, and it’s only fitting that Batman himself gave Joker the financial backing for his first plot.

Finally, here’s a promo for this Thursday’s likely-Jokerless episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWntiBK1WhQ

Gordon and Bullock try to figure out who the clever thief is behind the robberies of various bank branches in Gotham. Meanwhile, Barbara is put in danger, forcing Tabitha to recruit help in the all-new “A Dark Knight: To Our Deaths and Beyond” episode of GOTHAM airing Thursday, April 19 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

(Via Screen Rant, We Got This Covered, Subline, and Gotham)

Fox

If you were wondering if Gotham is still bonkers, wonder no more. After last week’s episode seemed to introduce the Joker as Jerome’s twin brother Jeremiah Valeska (Cameron Monaghan), Gotham showrunner Danny Cannon gave interviews to clarify Jeremiah’s role and to tease a “reboot” of sorts coming in the season finale, “No Man’s Land.”

Despite the Mark Hamill-approved Monaghan looking very Joker-like in set photos like these and these, Cannon told Comic Book he doesn’t think they’ll be calling him (or any one specific person) “Joker.” He went on to explain:

“I think that just spawned the conversation of the idea of it, of the Joker not being a one person, but like I said, it’s a personality. It’s a way of thinking. It’s more powerful than just one person. [… If] the opposite of good, the opposite of Bruce Wayne, is somebody who just wants to destroy, and wants to do it in a chaotic way, then that could be anyone, because you are literally just going the opposite of your main character and take it as far as you can go. I don’t think that’s just one person. I think that is a way of life, it’s an ideology.”

Gotham, I will fight you.

Something less maddening and more conclusive came from that same interview. Cannon also said, “When we first did the pilot, we were trying to create a world where someone like Batman would be necessary […]. How far it can get, how bad it can get before someone dons that black suit, becomes a vigilante that will change the city forever?”

That doesn’t resolve Joker questions, but at least it resolves something else. In most Batman storylines, the question is raised whether Batman’s presence creates the supervillains or whether Batman is just a needed response to the insanity already present in Gotham City. On Gotham, that question is resolved; the city needed a vigilante long before Batman rose up.

In a separate interview, Cannon also revealed that a “cataclysmic event” in the Season 4 finale, “A Dark Knight: No Man’s Land,” is going to “reboot” storylines for the not-yet-official Season 5.

“The cataclysmic event that happens in the last three episodes not only will change Gotham, it not only combines so many characters that you don’t think will cooperate with each other, but it changes the face of Gotham forever, so that season five, it’s almost a reboot and a different show.”

He clarified that it’s a “reboot of stories,” not a re-casting of any characters, and he went on to say, “Just when you thought you knew people, something else will happen, and just when you thought your Season 5 would be like Season 4, Season 5 is completely different.” The title of the finale is a giveaway. Batman: No Man’s Land follows Gotham City after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake turns Gotham into a “no man’s land” cut off from the rest of the country by a military blockade. The premise served as an inspiration for Bane’s takeover of the city in The Dark Knight Rises. Although Batman was stuck outside Gotham in the comic, leaving him trapped in the city for a similar premise in Gotham would seem like the kind of thing that would require a vigilante…

It’s heartening to hear Cannon talking about Season 5, since the show hasn’t been officially renewed. It would be crazy not to renew it, though. Gotham‘s one season away from going into syndication, and it’s also one of the few original shows on Fox that wouldn’t be handed over to Disney if the buyout goes through.

Cannon seemed optimistic about a season renewal. “We’re building to something much bigger. It’s the biggest cliffhanger we’ve done. I mean, there has to be Season 5. Everything points to that because it’s set up in that way.”

Or they’ll end on a huge cliffhanger and I’ll fight them with knives.

On a more positive, less knife-fightey note, Fox chairman Gary Newman seemed set on renewing Gotham when interviewed last week. “We asked a lot of it this year moving to Thursday nights and I thought it did a pretty good job of opening up that night for us. I feel like Gotham should have a place in our schedule,” Newman told Deadline. He explained that it’s “purely be a matter of scheduling. Thursday is not available in the fall, so where do we use it? Hopefully there’s more years of Gotham.”

Or I’ll fight them with knives.

The “cataclysmic event” to come was teased in this promo for tonight’s episode, “A Dark Knight: To Our Deaths and Beyond,” in which a hooded robe-wearing, talking skeleton (this is fine) says, “I saw a vision of a cataclysmic event molding you into a dark knight of Gotham.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWntiBK1WhQ

Fox also released a synopsis which sounds like a completely different episode than the one in the video, but, yeah, it’s Gotham, so why not?

Gordon and Bullock try to figure out who the clever thief is behind the robberies of various bank branches in Gotham. Meanwhile, Barbara is put in danger, forcing Tabitha to recruit help in the all-new “A Dark Knight: To Our Deaths and Beyond” episode of GOTHAM airing Thursday, April 19 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

This show is going to kill me.

(Via Deadline, Comic Book [1, 2], and Gotham)

Batman prequel show Gotham finally resolved many (but not all) questions about the Joker this month when they introduced Jerome Valeska’s twin brother Jeremiah (both played by Cameron Monaghan), then had Jerome die (again) in a seemingly permanent way (again), but not before he left a booby-trapped jack-in-the-box filled with a dose of Smylex to drive Jeremiah insane and encourage him to “burn it all down.” Now Fox has released another Joker-centric trailer (video above) for the next episodes, and it just raises another slew of questions. Along with that comes a new set photo of the not-Joker-but-whatever character and an additional video teasing a harlequin-suit wearing blond woman (hmm).

In the video above, Jerome’s last will and testament comes in the form of a VHS tape, leading to more mayhem in Gotham and rumors that Jerome is back from the dead again. You might be wondering why Jeremiah doesn’t have the pale-faced look in these upcoming scenes. It appears he might switch back and forth between his normal appearance and an alternate personality, or perhaps he uses makeup to look normal. (The writers still need him to have conversations with Bruce Wayne without raising suspicion, after all.) As for how he’ll look when he’s full-on bonkers, the actor posted a photo to his Instagram captioned “Meet J.”

Via Instagram

Yes, they’re only calling him “J.” instead of Joker. Gotham showrunner Danny Cannon explained they won’t be calling any character “Joker,” but they’re nonetheless leaning heavily into the Joker vibe with these twin brothers and a harlequin-suit wearing character who is obviously Jeremiah’s bodyguard Ecco (Francesca Root-Dodson). Here’s her putting a gun to Jim Gordon’s head while they’re in Jeremiah’s office, standing in front of what appears to be a completed version of his Wayne Enterprises-funded energy-generating invention (which will surely be used only for good ends now that Jeremiah has gone insane).

Via Fox

Don’t expect anyone to call her “Harley,” though. Executive producer John Stephens has said, “We’re never going to see Harley Quinn.” The show may not be calling anyone Joker or Harley, but they’re still doing their own spin on those storylines. That’s one way to get around any conflicts with the movies (and the less this reminds people of Jared Leto’s edgelord Joker, the better).

Here’s the promo and synopsis for this Thursday’s episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2a-xhlVe08

MAYHEM ENSUES ON AN ALL-NEW “GOTHAM” THURSDAY, MAY 3, ON FOX

Chaos erupts at the GCPD, sending Gordon on a wild goose chase for the culprit behind the mass takeover. Meanwhile, a friend of Bruce’s becomes paranoid, resulting in rash and destructive behavior in the all-new “A Dark Knight: That Old Corpse” episode of GOTHAM airing Thursday, May 3 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.

(Via Coming Soon, CBM, We Got This Covered, Cameron Monaghan, and Gotham)

Gotham is ramping up to their final three episodes of season 4 with a deluge of Joker-style chaos. Jerome Valeska’s twin brother Jeremiah (Cameron Monaghan) has gone nuts himself after “one bad day,” and the last trailer hinted that Jerome’s body has gone missing (again), and the trailer also introduced a harlequin-suit wearing woman (Jeremiah’s bodyguard, Ecco, played by Francesca Root-Dodson).

All of this subterfuge is leading up to the season finale this month, based loosely on the No Man’s Land story line in which an earthquake knocked out all bridges leading to Gotham. This was also foreshadowed in the previous episode when Ra’s al Ghul (who was “dead” but not anymore because this is Gotham) told Bruce Wayne, “I saw a vision of a cataclysmic event soon to befall this city, a cleansing fire that will destroy, purify, create — create you, Bruce. Because I will use it as a mighty forge, molding you into a Dark Knight of Gotham. If it doesn’t kill you, that is.”

Rather than an earthquake, it appears (based on two clips from this Thursday’s episode) structural engineer Jeremiah will be doing the damage. What we’ve gathered from the two new clips is that Jeremiah has detonated a bomb in his own labyrinthine subterranean house while Gordon was in it, leading everyone to believe Gordon is dead. (More likely, it’ll just take him a while — maybe a whole episode — to find his way out of the maze.)

Then Jeremiah — who has recruited the followers of his dead (“dead”) brother Jerome — heads to the Gotham Police Department headquarters and informs them of his plan and sets himself apart from his brother. “Don’t compare me to that short-sighted psychopath. He just wanted to destroy things. Me? I’m a builder. I’m going to create a new Gotham in my image, but every artist needs a blank canvas, so all of this has to go.” He warns they have 6 hours to evacuate the city before he makes it into his blank canvas. Then he blows up a nearby Gotham landmark just to let the police know he’s serious. (Why so seri– nevermind.)

Although they aren’t going to call him “Joker,” the actor is playing two distinct but Joker-esque characters, with this new deadpan version being less reckless and impulsively violent than his brother but seemingly smarter and more conniving. Monaghan recently described this second character as “subtle” and possibly “the darkest, most frightening thing this show has ever done.”

More frightening than what Penguin did to get the guy in this second clip to talk?

Gotham season 4 episode 20 “That Old Corpse” airs on FOX at 8pm EST this Thursday.

(Via Bleeding Cool and Gotham)