6 Times Gotham Improved Batman's Mythology (And 4 Times It Failed)

Improved Batman's Mythology...

6. Made C-Listers Matter

Victor Zsasz Gotham
FOX

While the early buzz around Gotham made it clear that we’d be seeing the descent into madness of big-name villains like The Penguin and The Riddler, the show also managed to handle some of DC Comics’ supposed C-list rogues in an impressive way.

A prime example of this is how Gotham served Victor Zsasz.

Even on his good days, Zsasz is never anything more than a supporting C-list rogue of the Dark Knight’s. His story of carving a scar into his own body each time he kills somebody is a chilling one, yet Victor is always a throwaway bad guy who Batman disposes of with ease.

In Gotham, Anthony Carrigan’s take on Victor Zsasz saw the character positioned as a truly vicious, twisted, and clinical threat who was so good at being bad that he was the go-to hired hand of so many other nefarious sorts across all five seasons of the series.

Other similarly 'lesser thought of' villains who were fleshed out brilliantly in Gotham were no-good sorts such as Carmine Falcone, Sal Maroni, The Mad Hatter, and the show’s unique takes on Solomon Grundy and Firefly.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.