Gotham: Every Major Villain Ranked From Worst To Best
"We could all go insane with just one bad day."
Gotham ran for five seasons, during which it entertained audiences with a whole host of villains ranging from the iconic to the slightly strange.
The series - a Batman prequel - charted the rise of Detective James Gordon and Bruce Wayne in a version of Gotham set long before the latter became the Dark Knight.
However, Gotham also provided us with origin stories for many of Batman's most famous adversaries - maybe even a few you've never heard of - and they completely stole the show. There was plenty of comic book material for Gotham's writers to draw from, and the showrunners even took the liberty of adding their own villains into the mix as well.
It wouldn't be Gotham without an appearance from iconic characters like The Joker, Ra's Al Ghul or Penguin, and they're all there. Beyond that, Gotham sought to make history by including live-action debuts of characters like Barbara Kean and Hugo Strange.
So, how do they compare? From crime lords to clowns; From assassins to anarchists - Gotham had it all. They do say a hero is nothing without a villain so let's start from the bottom. Things can only get better...
17. Sal Maroni (Season 1)
Sal Maroni, portrayed by David Zayas, was an antagonist of Gotham's premiere season. The show hadn't quite found its pace or footing yet - very much operating like a police procedural before it shifted to a more warmly received season-long structure in season two.
As head of the Maroni crime family, Sal Maroni was at war with Carmine Falcone and it was the constant battle between the two that proved to be a problem for the GCPD and Jim Gordon. That being said, it was at the hand of Fish Mooney that Maroni met his death. He called the wrong woman 'Babe' - it's hardly going out in a blaze of glory, hence this low ranking.
Maroni wasn't an awful villain but he was slightly underwhelming. The angry mob boss archetype has been seen in countless incarnations and Gotham's Maroni failed to add anything new. There are plenty of great villains in the Batverse that the Gotham writers could've drawn from - which they certainly did - but Maroni just wasn't one of them. Simply put, he lacked individuality.