WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for this week's episode of Gotham, "They Did What?," which aired Thursday on Fox.
Gotham has been primarily concerned with telling two origin stories: that of Bruce Wayne and his journey to becoming Batman, and that of the Caped Crusader's iconic, and colorful, rogues gallery. From Riddler and Catwoman, to the Penguin and the Joker, the Fox series has introduced most of the vigilante's foes, both well-known and obscure.
However, the drama has also planted the seeds for some of his allies, with Season 1 introducing Dick Grayson's parents and, just this season, Jim Gordan and Barbara Kean giving birth to a daughter, Barbara Gordon. Now, Gotham's penultimate episode, "They Did What?," goes a step further by dropping a familiar name: Nightwing.
Nightwing is, of course, the code name Dick Grayson adopts after walking way from the mantle of Robin. Don't worry, Gotham doesn't upend the timeline by depicting Nightwing leaping from rooftop to rooftop before a teenage Bruce Wayne even suits up as Batman. Instead, "Nightwing" is the code name for some experimental technology.
Before Bruce confront Bane and saves Gotham City, he meets with Lucius Fox, who has plenty of new gadgets to give the budding vigilante. One of them is next-generation stealth-tech that functions as a beacon to bats. Lucius dubs it, fittingly enough, the "Nightwing Project."
That isn't a direct reference to Dick Grayson's eventual alter ego, but the namedrop is enough to capture the attention of fans. Because we know Dick Grayson exists in the Gotham universe, the mention of "Nightwing" is certainly noteworthy. Perhaps, in Gotham's future, Bruce's bat-summoning tech is what Dick will uses as the inspiration for his code name.
Gotham's series finale will jump ahead 10 years, and depict Bruce Wayne established as Batman. While we don't expect to see the Bat-family running around the city's rooftops, there's already a rumor circulating that we'll meet a 10-year-old Barbara Gordon. Perhaps a young Dick could also get a cameo, even if only as an Easter egg.
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, Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth and Shane West as Bane.