Gotham's Multiple Jokers Might Reflect DC's Comic Books

Stop us if you've heard this one before: A man walks into a Gotham City police station, with a big grin on his face. His goals are nefarious, and he plans to unleash chaos. For all intents and purposes, he appears to be the Joker... but then he dies, just as it's revealed that he has a twin brother. Who also turns into a maniacal criminal.

Such is the twist that befell Fox's Gotham these past few weeks. Cameron Monaghan's Jerome Valeska, who appeared throughout all four seasons of the series, was wildly believed to be the Batman series' take on Joker. And, in many ways, he truly was. He had all the right trademarks, and he even went through similar plot developments from the comics. But then the other shoe dropped when Jerome's twin brother Jeremiah arrived on the scene. In the end, Jerome died, but not before he ensured that his relatively sane brother would follow in his insane footsteps.

With this twisted turn of events, it appears as if Jeremiah is now destined to become the purple-clad embodiment of chaos on Gotham. But since Jerome can easily be seen as the series' "first" Joker, Jeremiah would then be its second -- which lines up with what Gotham's showrunner recently explained. The Joker, it was confirmed, is being treated more as an idea, a concept haunting the streets of Gotham City. And while it might seem an odd approach to the character, it's a notion that just may happen to come from DC's recent comic books.

Gotham's Joker story is one that has been constantly shifting and evolving, ever since its very first episode. Back when the series began, fans were told that many potential Jokers would popup throughout its run, giving viewers a number of possible answers as to who the future Joker could be. It started out with a failed comedian, it continued with the almost-mythic nature of the Red Hood Gang, and it sort of cemented around Jerome, who would spawn a cult of Joker-like followers. For all intents and purposes, Jerome was Gotham's Joker. I mean, the man who stapled his severed face back on, and who had the scars of a permanent smile.

This "multiple choice" approach to the character seemed to have been inspired by the Joker's famous speech from The Killing Joke. Now, however, it appears the jump from Jerome to Jeremiah draw from from another piece of comic book canon.

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Keeping with the notion that Joker is more of an idea than a single individual, Gotham's take on the supervillain could be more than one person. Therefore, it's possible that Gotham, for its latest twist, looked to the recent "Three Jokers" mystery from the comic books. As DC readers might recall, a few years ago, in Justice League: Darkseid War, Batman learned that there was not one Joker out there, but three. That this storyline hasn't been explored since its introduction (although it soon will be) actually makes it perfect for Gotham right now.

The fact that there are three Jokers currently in the comics means that there probably isn't one that is the real one: They all likely are. Whether they are separate entities or not, this mystery offers Gotham a comic-based inspiration to rewrite the origin of the Joker as it sees fit, without straying too far from the character's comic book roots. Using the multiple Joker angle, Gotham could re-imagine the character as an entity rather than an individual, further cementing the show as a series that gives its own spin on the Batman mythos while managing to stay faithful to the source material.

Simply put, if Jerome was the first Joker, and Jeremiah the second, then there could be a third one yet to arrive. Perhaps someone who will wear a Red Hood before falling into a vat of chemicals...

Then again, perhaps Gotham has looked to another comic in developing its ongoing Joker saga. In Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman: Endgame, readers were presented with a theory, one that they would ultimately have to decide for themselves if true or not. Endgame toyed with the idea that Joker was as old as Gotham itself, or perhaps even older. In this story, questions were brought up about the clown, questions that painted him more as an everlasting presence in the streets of Gotham, an undying boogeyman stalking and haunting the city. Whichever era he found himself in, he brought pain and terror, becoming an urban legend in the process.

Of course, none of that was ever really confirmed in the comic book, but it was enough to make readers wonder. It's possible, then, that Gotham is employing a similar approach, but perhaps in less of a literal way. By making the essence of the Joker a presence that hops from one character to the next, the series is conveying the idea that Joker is immortal. For all we know, Gotham City has always been plagued with such a presence. It might not have started with Jerome... and it might not stop with Jeremiah.

This might even bring us back to Gotham's Red Hood, which almost appeared to be a curse, delivered from one person to the next. Since Joker and Red Hood are so closely connected, the two could walk hand-in-hand, in one form or the other.

Finally, we might also consider that Jeremiah's plunge into insanity took inspiration from another of Scott Snyder's creation, The Batman Who Laughs, who made his comic book debut only last year in the Dark Nights: Metal event. The Batman Who Laughs is Bruce Wayne from a dark alternate reality. On his world, Batman killed the Joker, but this act released a special concoction of the Joker toxin which transformed Bruce into a grinning, cackling criminal genius. On Gotham, when Jeremiah opened the gift left to him by his brother, he was infected by a special mix of the Laughing Gas, designed just for him.

It's possible a Joker-creating toxin exists in the Gotham universe, just like readers saw in Metal. Whether this was planned or simply a happy coincidence, it could open up a world of possibilities for the series because, if they wish to have more Jokers, they can just have Jeremiah find this toxin and use it on whoever he chooses next. Perhaps even Bruce himself...

Airing Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Fox, Gotham stars Ben McKenzie as James Gordon, Donal Logue as Harvey Bullock, David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne, Robin Lord Taylor as Penguin, Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle, Erin Richards as Barbara Kean and Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth.