History Characters / GothamRoguesGallery

* [[Characters/GothamRoguesGalleryCellblockA Cellblock A (Arthur Penn to Jeremiah Valeska)]][[note]]Arthur Penn/ The Ventriloquist, "Basil"/ Clayface, Bridget Pike, Butch Gilzean/ Solomon Grundy, Dr. Hugo Strange, Ecco/ Mummer, Eduardo Dorrance/ Bane, Edward Nygma, The Riddler, Ivy Pepper/ Poison Ivy, Jervis Tetch, Mad Hatter, Jeremiah Valeska/ The Joker[[/note]]
* [[Characters/GothamRoguesGalleryCellblockB Cellblock B (Jonathan Crane to Victor Zsasz)]][[note]]Jonathan Crane/ Scarecrow, Lazlo Valentin, Professor Pyg, Oswald Cobblepot/ The Penguin, Ra's Al Ghul, Selina Kyle/ Catwoman, Victor Fries/ Mister Freeze, Victor Zsazs[[/note]]

All of Batmans future enemies that he will have to fight in the future. The page got so big, we had to divide it into two cellblocks.[[labelnote:*]]As in, the Blackgate Prison Cellblocks, get it?[[/labelnote]]

[[foldercontrol]]

!Future Members of Batman's Rogues' Gallery

[[folder:Oswald Cobblepot/The Penguin]]
!![[ComicBook/ThePenguin Oswald Cobblepot]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oswald_cobblepot.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Foolish arrogance led me astray. But I learned my lessons. I'll be back, stronger and smarter than ever."'']]
->'''Played By:''' Robin Lord Taylor

-->''"A year ago, I held Fish Mooney's umbrella. Now she's dead by my hand, along with Maroni. Falcone is in hiding, and all of their businesses are mine. They all underestimated me. I suggest you not make the same mistake."''

A former flunky in Fish Mooney's employ, he betrayed her to the police and his death was ordered, to be carried out by Detective James Gordon. Gordon couldn't go through with it though, and Oswald joined the opposite side of the mob war as a lieutenant of the Maroni Family. However, his only true allegiance is to himself, manipulating and betraying anyone he can to further his position in Gotham's underworld. Often called "[[Characters/BatmanRoguesGallery Penguin]]" due to his mannerisms and appearance, he initially hates the nickname but later decides to embrace it.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Cobblepot is considerably more attractive than his older, shorter FatBastard self in the comics (except for a very beaky nose, bad teeth, and black, oily hair). His height, however, is 5'6", just like the first live-action Penguin, Burgess Meredith, and the character still has a fondness for alcohol and various snacks (tuna sandwiches in particular). There are hints throughout the series of a much rounder future [[spoiler: which eventually comes to pass in the GrandFinale.]]
* AdaptationalBadass: While the Penguin has always been one of the most formidable villains, he is usually depicted in a comedic manner. This Penguin is substantially more serious and dangerous than most past incarnations, alongside his AdaptationalVillainy.
* AdaptationalHeroism: For all the awful things he does, the amount of time the show spends with Oswald makes sure to show his decent aspects - notably his genuine attempts at friendship with Jim in season 1 and his genuine love for certain characters, like his mother and Ed. [[https://www.denofgeek.com/uk/tv/gotham/42661/gotham-season-3-robin-lord-taylor-interview His actor has suggested]] that the kind and gentle Penguin we see after Hugo Strange's "therapy" is the person Oswald could have been if he hadn't been mistreated and abused by so many people before the events of season 1.
** Shown most prominently in "They Did What?", when he realizes he can't abandon Gotham after everything he's been through with it, and makes a conscious decision to stay and help Gordon save it. He even manages to talk Ed into doing the same thing, and [[spoiler:premenantly damages an eye pushing him out the way of grenade shrapnel during Bane's attack]].
* AdaptationalJerkass: Most versions of the Penguin we see are established in the Gotham underworld already, so while they're evil to the core take care not to get their hands dirty. Here, we see him working his way up to mob kingpin, and everything he'll do to get there; consequently, most of his worst traits - his [[{{Sadist}} sadistic side]], [[HairTriggerTemper violent temper]] and [[LackOfEmpathy lack of empathy for anyone in his way]] - are taken UpToEleven. While his character does have a lot of sympathetic edges (see the AdaptationalHeroism entry), the things he does in pursuit of power place him squarely among the darkest versions of the Penguin yet seen. He's personally murdered dozens of people over the course of the series.
* AdaptationalSexuality: Most versions of the Penguin surrounds himself with scantily clad women, but this Penguin had hints of [[AmbiguouslyGay possessing feelings towards Jim Gordon]]. In season 3 it's revealed that his chumminess with Edward Nygma is no mere HoYay, but he actually is in love with Ed.
* AesopAmnesia: At the end of season 3 he concluded that LoveIsAWeakness, but come season 4 he is charmed by Sophia Falcone, who could not be more blatantly manipulating him. It is later revealed that he does suspect her, but after letting his feelings for Ed cloud his better judgement and paying for it you'd think he would have learned.
* AgeLift: While the Penguin is generally depicted as older than Batman, he is now apparently around Gordon's age, which makes the age difference somewhat larger.
* AintTooProudToBeg: When faced with danger, his reaction is to beg and cry.
* AllForNothing: Is forced to try and keep his mother safe by doing Galavan's dirty work... only for her to be killed anyway. Penguin [[DespairEventHorizon reacts]] [[ItsPersonal exactly]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge as]] [[UnstoppableRage you'd]] [[YouKilledMyFather expect]].
* AlmightyJanitor: He started off as Fish Mooney's personal serving boy, and then ends up as a kitchen hand in one of Maroni's restaurants. All the while nobody realizes he's a ManipulativeBastard who has [[TheChessmaster been responsible for almost all of the events]] in Season 1, and eventually works his way up in the criminal hierarchy until he's King of Gotham.
--> '''Fish Mooney:''' You're a servant. An umbrella boy. You're a nobody.\\
'''Penguin:''' This nobody still outfoxed you at every turn.
* AmbiguouslyBi: Although Cobblepot makes his attraction to Ed Nygma explicit, his actor has suggested that if a woman had treated him with the decency and support that Ed showed him following the deaths of Oswald's parents, he would have likely fallen for her as well. Supporting this theory, Oswald seems to develop a crush towards Sophia Falcone when she shows him the same kindness Ed once did and seems heartbroken to find out that she's sleeping with Jim Gordon behind his back even though Oswald and Sophia aren't officially together.
* AmbiguouslyJewish: In that his mother is a stereotypical [[JewishMother yenta]] who goes by a non-Anglicized name. Set Decorator Andrew Baseman stated that "We think she's a Middle Eastern descendant of great wealth that fell on hard times." Carol Kane is also Jewish and her grandparents emigrated from Russia. The fact that Gertrude mentions turning in someone to the secret police means her family most likely came from Russia or Germany. The episode "The Blade's Path" reveals that she was Hungarian, since Sofia Falcone went to great lengths to locate her goulash recipe to win him over.
* AnimalMotif: Take a wild guess. Actually, it's pretty downplayed. But he still has a creepily overprotective mother (common among birds), a distinctive waddle-limp, and the typical "formal wear".
* AntiHero: [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/gotham-robin-lord-taylor-penguin-778381 Robin Lord Taylor]] has stated "My goal is, I want him to be an anti-hero, I want people to root for him, no matter what he’s doing." [[http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/11/can-gotham-just-be-renamed-the-penguin-show/382336/ A writer for The Atlantic argued that Gotham should be renamed The Penguin Show.]] The Telegraph called him [[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/11250906/Gotham-Batman-Oswald-Cobblepot-Villain-Anti-Hero.html TV's darkest anti-hero."]]
* AppropriatedAppellation:
** Starts off absolutely hating being called "Penguin", or that he sort of looks like a penguin - to the point that this is his BerserkButton, and he will angrily insist that goons twice his size stop calling him that (and once, outright slashed the throat of a drunken preppy who said it). By the fifth episode, when Don Maroni asks what his real identity is, he explains that people call him "Penguin" but he can't stand that, and would prefer his real name, Oswald Cobblepot. Maroni paternally advises that instead, he should really claim "Penguin" as his own.
** As of "Rogue's Gallery", he's really taken to attempting to using the name in a manner akin to TheDreaded, and while it doesn't work at first, after his killing Mooney at the end of season 1 it sticks as his RedBaron in subsequent seasons. He even insists on being called [[SpellMyNameWithAThe THE]] Penguin.
* ArchEnemy: He's variously had this relationship with Fish Mooney, Salvatore Maroni, Theo Galavan, Tabitha Galavan, Edward Nygma, and Sofia Falcone ([[spoiler:though the one with Edward cools off by mid season 4]]).
* AxCrazy: Even before his BerserkButton gets pushed, he's a very violent and unpredictable guy.
* BadassInANiceSuit: Considering how impeccably dressed Oswald usually is, this comes naturally to him once he takes a few levels in badass.
* BadassGay: He's a ManipulativeBastard who [[TheChessMaster schemed]] and [[KlingonPromotion stabbed]] his way to the top of Gotham City's organized crime operations... and he's revealed to be head-over-umbrella in love with Edward Nygma.
* BadBoss: He always slips into this when stressed, with frequent helpings of YouHaveFailedMe, a course of action that usually inspires his underlings to betray him - his mistreatment of Butch and Ivy is particularly glaring in this regard, while Gabe tells him his lackeys in seasons 1-2 only followed him because they were scared of him. He's still at it in season 5 when he's happy to let his underlings starve when making his ammunition while he trades with Barbara for steak for himself - not surprisingly, they all abandon him a few episodes later.
--> '''Harvey Bullock:''' You might want to change your management style, pal.
* TheBadGuyWins: A trait of his in the season finales.
** He becomes the new kingpin of Gotham City as of the first season finale.
** In season 2 he kills Theo Galavan ''twice'' (though in both cases he's definitely ALighterShadeOfBlack to Galavan, for differing reasons each time).
** Ends season 3 finally outwitting Ed and having him frozen.
** The season 4 finale has him exact revenge for his mother's murder by killing Butch after Tabitha had fallen in love with him, just so she could know what it felt like to lose a loved one.
* BatmanGambit: He's good at these.
** He plots with Falcone to fake his death in order to give Falcone the advantage against Maroni, successfully predicting Gordon would do exactly what he did in order to return incognito and worm his way into Maroni's organisation.
** He comes clean to Maroni (despite the dangers) about how he's still alive because he's absolutely sure that the incorruptible and honest Gordon will tell the truth about why he didn't shoot him. He's right, and Maroni lets them both go when their stories match.
** Phrases his request for Fish to spare Falcone in the first season finale very specifically, prodding Maroni's ego into sexist ranting about Fish just being an underboss - prompting her to shoot him in the head, allowing Oswald to escape in the ensuing chaos.
** Knows full well that Gordon's attempt to collect his money from Ogden will end in Ogden flipping out, forcing Gordon to kill him - ridding him of a problem and giving him future leverage over Gordon at the same time.
** Plays Riddler like a fiddle at the end of season 3, allowing him to think he'd escaped his handcuffs using a found pin (actually Penguin's own), then prodding Ed's ego in order to be taken to the pier where Riddler thought he'd killed him the first time - just so he could reveal Riddler's appropriated gun (taken from Penguin) had no bullets and that he'd already called Ivy and Freeze as backup.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: All he's ever wanted was to be the king of Gotham's criminal underworld and he finally gained it at the end of season 1. Among other things that happen to him after this as a direct result; his mother is killed by Theo Galavan ForTheEvulz, he's committed to Arkham and thoroughly mentally broken by Hugo Strange, finds his father only to see him killed too, falls in love with Ed only to see him ruin his mayorship (admittedly he deserved that one), has Sofia Falcone usurp his empire and get committed to Arkham AGAIN. A lesser man would have given up, but full credit to him, Oswald just keeps bouncing back.
* BerserkButton:
** He ''really'' doesn't like being called "Penguin". Or being compared to one for that matter. However, that changes soon after Maroni encourages him to embrace it.
** A heckler at his night club learns the hard way that you should ''never'' insult the mama of a MamasBoy.
** Don't harm his best friend (and love interest) Edward Nygma. He knocked out Butch with a glass bottle when Butch was strangling Edward. When Tommy Bones called saying that he kidnapped Edward, Penguin was furious to the point that he said he will tear the city brick by brick if he have to do. He gets over it after their falling out.
** Nygma points out in "They Did What?" Gordon will always see him as nothing more than Fish Mooney's umbrella boy, pissing him off so much the two vow to take what they want from whomever they please.
* BestServedCold: Killing his step-family was a highlight, but after spending a season becoming partners with them, Oswald [[spoiler:coldly killing Butch just after he became human again and crippling Tabby]] just to gain his revenge against the both of them [[spoiler:for killing his mom]]. [[spoiler:And after letting her live for a few more months following Butch's death, Oswald finally kills Tabitha as well]]. And then there was his taking this trope at its most literal, having Freeze turn Ed into an icicle at the end of season 3.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: He's almost constantly underestimated, even after his rise to power, with his enemies seeing him as a strange, easily-manipulated little man with a limp. Anyone who's familiar with the Batman mythos, however, knows that you take Oswald Cobblepot for granted at your own peril, and by the series' end he's outlived - and in many cases personally murdered - virtually everyone who underestimated him.
* BigBad: Cobblepot effectively serves as the central antagonist of Season 1, actively causing chaos in Gotham's underworld to further his own ambitions for power. This fully reaches its scale at the end of the season when he instigates an all-out mob war, which ends with Maroni and Fish dead, Falcone fled and him as the king of Gotham.
** BigBadWannabe: Zigzagged after this. The problem for Cobblepot after his season 1 victory is that as powerful, vicious and dangerous as he is from season 2 onward, he's often forced to play second fiddle to more dangerous villains like Galavan and Jerome (both of whom he ends up helping Gordon take down). When he does consolidate his power (becoming mayor in season 3, enabling the Pax Penguina in season 4) it's only so he can take a much larger fall later (Riddler ruins his mayorship, Sofia Falcone steals his empire). While he always works his way back around to being a major threat, by season 5 he's squarely part of the show's BigBadEnsemble rather than the pre-eminent threat.
* BoisterousWeakling: Cobblepot would love to be a tough guy like his associates, but he just doesn't seem to have much to work with for most of the first episode. Even when Fish pushes his BerserkButton by calling him "Penguin", the result is not an UnstoppableRage but Cobblepot getting his ass handed to him once again. Oddly enough the [[TookALevelInBadass level in badass he takes]] after Gordon throws him in the river largely consists of his realization that he'll never be a traditional tough guy and that he's better off sticking to schemes and {{manipulat|ive bastard}}ion.
* BreakTheHaughty: Tends to happen to him during his various falls from grace, most notably when he realizes Ed's been behind all his misfortunes in season 3 and when Sofia Falcone uses Martin to oust him from power in season 4.
* BreakoutCharacter: Has proven to be one of the most popular characters in the series, and one of the most well received depictions of the character.
* BullyingADragon: Unfortunately for nearly everyone who has crossed him so far, they find out too late that this limping weirdo is actually a ruthless bloodthirsty psychopath, and a particularly hard one to kill at that. Only a few have survived so far, if only because circumstances means that Cobblepot hasn't found a way to get to them yet. Grace van Dahl and her children paid an especially high price for abusing Cobblepot, while his mother's killers didn't fare much better.
* ButtMonkey: Despite being the closest thing to an overall BigBad the series has thus far, Cobblepot spends a large quantity of his screen time getting beat up, disrespected and almost dying. In fact, after Cobblepot moves a step further into Gotham's criminal underground something disastrous usually comes along that eventually knocks him several rungs down the crime ladder. Though given his propensity of bouncing back from even the most severe humiliations, he may qualify as IronButtMonkey.
* TheCaligula: Becomes this in Season 5 after assuming control over one of Gotham's largest territories. His narcissism is shot UpToEleven and he has his followers worship him like a great leader to the point where they sing songs about him every morning. He also treats him subordinates far worse, frequently punishing them for imagined slights, starving them and forcing them to work non stop in his bullet factories.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: Upon ascending to the head of Gotham's underworld, it's implied that he assumed that he'd get the respect that gangsters like Falcone, Maroni and even Fish had by default, and seems genuinely bewildered at times when he continues to get [[NoRespectGuy verbally abused]] by just about everyone. Seen most prominently when Harvey rips him a new one for being nothing but Fish's old umbrella boy early in season 2 and he genuinely seems to have no idea how to respond, just seething quietly the whole time.
* TheChessmaster: He manipulates the conflict between Gotham's crime families in order to establish his own power base - particularly notable in the final few episodes where he turns the crime families against each other. The "Game of Cobblepot" featurette on the season 1 DVD explicitly uses the chess analogy to describe his actions.
* ChewingTheScenery: After pushing Fish into a watery grave, he shouts out loud for all of Gotham to hear, "I'M THE KING OF GOTHAM!"
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Nobody in ''Gotham'' embodies this trope quite like Oswald. His ruthless ambition is matched only by his lack of power after he gets cast out of Fish' gang, so he seizes absolutely any opportunity to remove his rivals and gain influence via well-timed betrayal and murder - a process which leaves him King of Gotham by the end of season 1. Actually has the opportunity to stab Riddler in the back in late season 5, but doesn't take it out of a sense of brotherhood - luckily for him, as Ed had the exact same thought process.
-->'''Riddler:''' [[OpportunisticBastard You are opportunistic]]. [[{{Understatement}} Your loyalty is... shaky, at best]]. [[AxCrazy And you will hurt anyone - anyone! - to get what you want]].
* CombatPragmatist: He's physically unimpressive, but he'll do anything and use anything to come out on top in a fight. Once stabbed someone to death with a garden trowel, for God's sake...
* TheConsigliere: To both Maroni and Falcone. Falcone tells Maroni in [[http://transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=16465 Season 1 Episode 15]] that Penguin is "clever enough to know that a freakish little man like him is never going to be the boss." He's dead wrong. Later, after his ascent to power, Butch, Gabe, Ed and Mr. Penn all act as this to him.
* CynicismCatalyst: He's back to his old violent self again beginning in "Into the Woods". The reason? His stepfamily killed his father.
* DeadpanSnarker: He's good at this when dealing with people he isn't trying to cozy up to, particularly Bullock.
-->'''Harvey:''' You sure about this, Penguin? You're telling me this is where Loeb keeps twenty years of dirty secrets? Doesn't feel right.\\
'''Jim:''' Well, maybe that's the point. No one would suspect it.\\
'''Penguin:''' What would you prefer, Detective Bullock? A sign saying "Super-secret blackmail hoard"?
** Bizarrely, the spectral doppelganger Ed hallucinates in season 3 after (supposedly) killing him is as well.
--->'''Ed''': I want you to know that our friendship meant something to me. I cared about you, and I miss you.\\
'''Hallucination Penguin:''' Gee. Almost makes up for being dead.
* {{Determinator}}: Hoo boy. Virtually every major character in the show has tried to arrest him, kill him or overthrow him at one stage or another. He's lost his mother, his father, his position at the top of the Gotham mobs several times, his job as mayor, got stuck in the Court of Owls' prison and been landed in Arkham. ''Twice''. And yet, through a combination of cunning, tenacity and a sheer-bloody minded refusal to stay down he always bounces back, often as a significantly more dangerous threat than before.
* {{Deuteragonist}}: Of the antagonistic variety. If it wasn't for Jim Gordon and Bruce Wayne, he could almost be the main character, as the series focuses so heavily on his character and his rise and fall from power. By the time of Rise of the Villains, he becomes even more prominent as the second most important character, where the war against Theo Galavan is fought from two points of view, from the police's and from Penguin's mob.
* DirtyCoward: At first, he's a very strong example of AintTooProudToBeg. Any time his life is in danger, he begins pleading and begging for mercy, trying anything he can to survive. Though, [[CharacterDevelopment as the story progresses]], he sheds this tendency and becomes much [[TookALevelInBadass more formidable]].
* DisabledInTheAdaptation:
** This version of Oswald walks with a limp after Fish shatters his leg with a baseball bat when his treachery is exposed.
** [[spoiler:He received permanant damage to an eye during Bane's assault on Gotham]].
* TheDogBitesBack: Has a habit of doing those when he gets the upper hand on those who genuinely mistreated and abused him before, whether it was ruining Fish's plans to overthrow Falcone and later throwing her off a bridge, offing his loathsome stepfamily for killing his father after being used as little more than a servant by them, or managing to give Jerome a well-deserved thrashing after being treated as a hapless jester by the clown and his Arkham flunkies.
* DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent: He switches sides between Falcone and Maroni several times, tells each of them secrets about the other, and then betrays them for his own gains or betrays them to the police. In the end, Cobblepot is loyal only to himself, but pretends to be loyal to whomever will believe him. He lampshades in "Penguin's Umbrella" that he has a gift for this sort of manipulation and spying.
* DudeWheresMyRespect: Aside from losing his submarine and treasure to the escaping [[spoiler:Nyssa al Ghul]], he's furious his (for once sincere) heroism in helping save Gotham will be completely overshadowed by Gordon's efforts.
* EmbarrassingNickname: He really ''[[BerserkButton hates]]'' being called ''Penguin''. However, Maroni tells him he should embrace the nickname. Sure enough he does, and by season 3 he's actually insisting on being called it.
* EqualOpportunityEvil: Has worked with Asian thieves, Chinese triads, lesbian gangsters and had Headhunter (a black man) as his principle assassin for a while. As long as you're helping him achieve his goals and not [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness pissing him off too much]] you'll be fine - until he [[AxCrazy snaps and stabs you in the throat]].
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: His brutal beating of Fish's debtee when Butch lets him have a turn with her baseball bat, laughing wildly all the while. It foreshadows not only how different he is from Butch and the other mooks - who have to tell him when to stop - but exactly what he becomes when he gets any actual power.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas:
** While fully aware of her overbearing nature, Cobblepot does seem to genuinely love and care about his mother. He even gives her the very same gift that Fish rejected earlier, much to her delight. Later, he shows one heckler that you do ''not'' mess with her. He also doesn't take it well when Maroni exposes his true colors to her, and in season 2 he becomes an emotional wreck when the Galavans kidnapped (and later murdered) his mother to make him do their dirty work.
** When he found out his father's identity, the two instantly bonded. Which is what causes him to snap again when he finds out that his step-family murdered his father for the inheritance.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: His mother, most obviously, as well as Ed and Martin, but the series shows his one great love will always be Gotham itself, with "They Did What?" showing him following his heart to help Jim save Gotham from [[spoiler:Bane and Nyssa al Ghul]], because he can't stomach the thought of abandoning it after everything he's been through.
** Developed great, genuine affection for his father in their short time together. And his vengeance against his father's killers was a terror to behold.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** He's ruthless, vicious and currently has the show's highest body count - but he kills people because they're in his way (or admittedly some in the occasional fit of temper), not for giggles like Jerome. It's definitely PragmaticVillainy - he wants to rule the city after all, not see it reduced to ashes - but there's still a sense that he has lines he won't cross, as seen by the Legion of Horribles being too much, even for him, in season 4.
** He also objects to mass victimization as a rule. He doesn't decline Galavan's offer to join his plan until he sees the model for Galavan's "Urban Renovation" program, which, while it would give Gotham several very nice skyscrapers, would replace Gotham's main residential district, leaving thousands homeless. In "That's Entertainment", he is legitimately horrified by Jerome's plan to drive all of Gotham insane using the Joker Gas, to the point of taking an active role in helping Jim stop Jerome by commandeering the zeppelin carrying the gas.
--->'''Oswald:''' Steer a blimp?! Are you out of your mind, Jim? I don't even drive my own car!\\
'''Jim:''' If you don't, thousands will die. Maybe worse.\\
'''Oswald:''' [[SincerityMode What's worse than that]]?
** He's genuinely shell-shocked by [[spoiler:the bombing of Haven and the deaths of so many refugees, and lends his support, men and ammunition to Jim to find the killer.]]
* EvilCounterpart: To Gordon. They're both newcomers that recognize a great conflict is brewing, but while Gordon is trying to fight back against it and clean up Gotham at risk to his own life and reputation, Cobblepot manipulates the conflict to benefit him and is a self-interested coward. While Gordon's stubbornness is making him enemies by the day, Penguin kisses up to authority figures until he can betray and usurp them.
* EvilCripple: He has a limp that makes him look like a penguin as he moves.
* TheEvilGenius: He tries to be this, but his attempts at being so in the pilot backfire spectacularly. As of "Penguin's Umbrella", it turns out he really has earned the trope after all.
* EvilGloating: A major character flaw; he has a tendency to gloat to his enemies when he has them helpless, which leads him into trouble if they escape.
-->'''Oswald:''' There are so few moments of pure joy in one's life, I feel compelled to savor this one.\\
'''Riddler:''' You mean gloat? \\
->'''Oswald:''' [[AtLeastIAdmitIt ...yes, I do]].
* EvilIsPetty: When he loses his temper he tends to murder anyone within arm's reach, regardless of whether they have anything to do with his reasons for being angry.
* EvilMentor:
** Nygma regarded him as such to the extent that after he'd betrayed and tried to kill Penguin the subsequent void left by Oswald's departure left the future Riddler in a severe identity crisis.
** He's also got an alarming habit of gifting children the type of advice that could turn them into future criminals - be it advising one lonely boy to shove his classmates down stairs if they don't play with him during Penguin's time as mayor, or teaching Martin the correct way to fatally stab someone.
* {{Expy}}:
** Pretty clearly one of Bernie Bernbaum from ''Film/MillersCrossing''. AmbiguouslyJewish, AmbiguouslyGay (though Bernbaum's Jewishness and gayness aren't nearly as ambiguous), looks like him, acts like him, sounds like him, begs for his life and is spared by his would-be killer after betraying his gangster boss, and is given an order to remain in exile. Like Bernie, he has no intention of keeping his word and later turns up in the apartment of the man who let him go.
** He also bears a marked physical resemblance to Steerpike, the BigBad of the ''{{Literature/Gormenghast}}'' trilogy (except for his not being an albino), and is similarly a put-upon, physically abused lackey who gradually rises to power by backstabbing and out-unsavory-ing his unscrupulous former superiors.
** He's also rather glaringly similar to Rumpelstiltskin of ''Series/OnceUponATime''. They were both crippled, limping FromNobodyToNightmare men who claw their way to power through a combination of being TheDeterminator and TheChessmaster. Snarky information dealer that will help out both sides for favors? Runs the town behind the scenes? AntiVillain and EvenEvilHasStandards? Bullied and ostracized before rising to power? Fan-favorite? Flamboyant attitude and fashion sense? TheFriendNobodyLikes but the heroes keep around because he’s the LesserOfTwoEvils? Intensely cares for a select handful of people and will do anything to keep them safe? Yeah, they’re cut from the same cloth.
* EyeScream: [[spoiler:Getting hit by grenade shrapnel during Bane's assault on the barricades results in his right eye becoming permanently dilated when it heals.]]
* FalseFriend: He will politely befriend someone who can be of use to him, be it Gordon, a criminal mob boss, or some guys that he hitchhikes with, but secretly plot their downfall once they outlive their usefulness. Gordon actually seems to be the one person he genuinely averted this trope for, but their differing philosophies mean that by season 4 they have a glaring mutual mistrust.
* FanOfUnderdog: In a very serious, often horrifying way.
** He really starts taking an interest in Ed once he finds out that Ed's heavily neglected and often bullied in the GCPD, and acts as an EvilMentor to him, informing much of his later descent into being the Riddler.
** In both [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_OEv8zlDMk his mayoral campaign]] and his interactions with Martin he starts taking an interest once he realizes the child is isolated and bullied - though his encouraging both to physically abuse and manipulate their tormentors is this trope at its most AxCrazy.
* FatalFlaw: Oswald is normally TheChessMaster, but whenever his loved ones are threatened or otherwise used against him he quickly loses all his composure and starts making rushed decisions. Best seen when Galavan kidnaps his mother, kills her and Penguin's subsequent retribution ends up killing Galavan but ruining the empire he'd built for himself in season 1. Also seen with his dealings with Ed in season 3 and Sofia Falcone in season 4.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He comes across as friendly, polite, and somewhat goofy and therefore not much of a threat at first glance. But under the surface, he is an AxCrazy {{Starscream}} with a lust for power and a fondness for knives.
* AFistfulOfRehashes: A villainous example. He's willing to use the Falcone-Maroni conflicts to bring both down and rise to the top of Gotham's underworld.
* {{Foil}}: To Bruce Wayne. Their [[AnimalMotif Animal Motifs]] are the flying mammal and the flightless bird. They are both orphans whose parents were murdered and are traumatized by it, but Bruce shows mercy while Oswald swears revenge (and gets it, in brutal fashion). Oswald was the son of a poor Hungarian immigrant, and Bruce was raised in extreme wealth, but they both understand isolation all too well, and people tend to underestimate them. Oswald puts on a servile mask to hide his proud and ambitious nature, while Bruce puts on a cocky demeanor to disguise his kind and humble nature. Both of them are somewhat lonely, but have a select few people they care about deeply. By the end of the series, they’ve both overcome the odds and risen to power.
* FormerlyFit: Oswald’s BigEater habits and limp eventually come back to bite him after an extended stay in prison after the TimeSkip. He nearly doubles in size due to his inactivity and it’s implied that he [[DrowningMySorrows ate his feelings]] while incarcerated, which is hilariously highlighted as he attempts to wear his old overcoat as he leaves prison... except it strains against his gigantic belly as he waddles out of the joint.
* ForTheEvulz: A variant. Although he doesn't constantly run around doing crimes for the hell of it, he has a sadistic streak and holds grudges, as well as an explosive temper if you press his BerserkButton. As a result, not only can he erupt in murderous outbursts at the slightest provocation, if you cross him, he's capable of truly sadistic retribution. A key example is the episode in which he helps Gordon and Bullock track down Commissioner Loeb's dirty secret, and he winds up being threatened by a couple of gun-wielding old people. At the episode's end, he offers to help them escape from retribution by Falcone, but claims he only has one ticket; although the husband refuses, the wife immediately turns on her husband and brutally murders him. He then reveals he was lying and [[RewardedAsATraitorDeserves blows her away with her own shotgun from before]]; he just didn't want to waste the money and buy another shell for it to kill them both.
* FriendlyEnemy: He seems to genuinely consider Gordon a friend and treats him as such when they talk. It's very one-sided on his part, though, and he's grown out of it by the start of season 5.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Starts off as a low-level mook working for Fish, and his main jobs consist of holding Fish's umbrella and giving her foot-rubs. By season's end he's manipulated and murdered his way to the top, becoming King of Gotham. No matter what life throws at him after that, he's well and truly '''The Penguin''' after this, becoming the city's evil mayor in season 3, Gotham's undisputed crime lord in season 4 and one of the major gang leaders in season 5.
* {{Gayngster}}: He was revealed in Season 3 to be in love with Ed.
* GodzillaThreshold: He'd previously mocked the brain-damaged Ed and vowed never to speak the name of his alter-ego again after all the Riddler had done to him the season prior - but when Sofia Falcone takes his empire out from under him and gets him committed to Arkham, he has zero options and ends up manipulating the now-shakily sane Ed to come back to Arkham, so he can release the Riddler personality to help him.
* GoodHairEvilHair: If you want a clue as to how evil Penguin is at any given time, look to the hairstyle. His [[http://gotham.wikia.com/wiki/Oswald_Cobblepot?file=Carmine_Falcone_in_the_midst_of_embracing_Oswald_Cobblepot.png season 1 hairstyle]] (described by Barbara as "disco vampire" at one point) tends to recur any time he's building himself back up as a villain or is semi-sympathetic. It tends to get more exaggeratedly gelled up and spiky whenever he's managed to get into real power, most notably in season 4 where [[https://www.tvfanatic.com/gallery/penguin-rules-the-day-gotham-s4e7/ he sports an exaggerated quiff]] that at points looks to add several inches to his height.
** Played deadly straight when he finds out his step-family killed his father, snapping him back from Hugo Strange's therapy. He specifically calls notice to his having changed his hairstyle from [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gotham-inc/images/f/f9/Van_Dahl_FMily.JPG/revision/latest?cb=20170606031502 the somewhat normal look he sported after Hugo's Strange's therapy]] back to [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gotham-inc/images/4/44/Penguin_and_Grace.PNG/revision/latest?cb=20180218210109 his normal villain look]] shortly before brutally killing his stepmother.
* HairTriggerTemper: Has a long, long history of wigging out when one of his {{Berserk Button}}s is pushed. It's often fatal for anyone who happens to be near him at the time...
--> ''To Ivy, while burying Gabe after stabbing him to death with a garden trowel in a fit of rage''\\
'''Penguin:''' [[{{Understatement}} I might have lost my temper there]], a bit. Sorry about that.
* HandicappedBadass: Surprisingly, he becomes this after Fish breaks his leg and cripples him. He displays surprising speed, when he sneaks up on, and kills an old fisherman. Later, he shows an impressive endurance and tolerance for pain that is demonstrated while he's hitchhiking on the side of the road, commenting when he's finally picked up that he was doing it for hours. He then kills one of the people who picked him up with a broken beer bottle and takes the other one hostage. How he managed to tie him up and get him into the closet of a trailer that he managed to rent from a guy for $100 a month is anybody's guess.
** The Season 1 Finale proved that Cobblepot can fight just fine with his limp; in his fight with Fish, he gets the upperhand for a moment and whacks her a few times with a lead pipe before getting placed on the ropes again and nearly thrown off the building. After Butch shoots both him and Fish, he bounces back up to knock Butch out with a wooden plank and pushes Fish off the building, finally claiming his title as King of Gotham.
* TheHeavy: Cobblepot's actions and plots are the main catalysts for the Falcone-Maroni war that serves as the main plotline of Season 1.
* HiddenDepths: One season 1 episode showed he's actually quite a good pianist.
* HeelFaceTurn: As a result of Dr. Strange's "therapy", Cobblepot is conditioned to act docile and friendly and regrets his violent past. He encourages Nygma to turn good and tries to make peace with Gilzean. Even when Tabitha brings up tormenting his mother, ordinarily his BerserkButton, he warmly laughs it off. This being Gotham however, it's doomed not to last, and thanks to his step-family offing his long-lost father and reawakening his dark side, he was back to being his usual psycho self by season's end.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: When his sincere contributions to saving Gotham are overlooked (as well as having [[spoiler:Nyssa al Ghul steal his treasure]]) he furiously vows the city will be his.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Beautifully subverted: Tabitha holds him at gunpoint in revenge for Butch's death, using a bullet he himself supplied as part of a trade for food, and shoots him in the chest - except the bullet is a dud, because Penguin's [[BadBoss failure to feed his underlings]] results in them producing shoddy ammo. [[spoiler:He immediately stabs her to death.]]
* HornedHairdo: Whenever he's in power, his hairdo is noticeably spiked to excess - which is telling as this tends to overlap with when he's at his most terrible (most notably as Gotham's criminal overlord in season 4, and as [[AGodAmI gang boss with delusions of grandeur]] in season 5).
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: He's generally excellent at reading people, but by his own admission he's an optimist that tends to see the best in people even when he really shouldn't - thus leading to a long string of people he trusted betraying him. It's telling he learns from the below examples (eventually in some cases) leading to his being ProperlyParanoid by later seasons.
** While he initially reads Gordon correctly in that he won't kill him for Fish Mooney, thereafter he seems to genuinely believe Gordon will reciprocate his attempts at being his BigBadFriend, despite Gordon being the one cop on the force with morals so unshakable it'll inevitably put them on a collision course. Even after seasons of their relationship steadily deteriorating, [[https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2470858/how-gothams-oswald-finally-became-the-true-penguin-for-the-finale-according-to-robin-lord-taylor his actor has suggested]] one of the reasons he's so furious at Jim for [[spoiler:being locked away in Blackgate for a decade]] is that he thought that he and Gordon had achieved some sort of understanding standing together for Gotham [[spoiler:against Bane]].
** He's seemingly OK with the blatantly AxCrazy Barbara being one of his underbosses in season 3, despite Butch warning him several times she can't be trusted - not to mention the fact she hangs around with his mother's murderer. Needless to say, she [[TheStarscream betrays him]] with Ed's help not long after.
** Speaking of Ed: Oswald really seems to think Ed will fall for him as soon as Isabella's out the way. Ed, being the show's resident EvilGenius, eventually pieces it all together and goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against him.
** And then there was Sofia Falcone. While he was always suspicious of her, her BitchInSheepsClothing act allays it enough he doesn't cotton on to her power play until she's ready to move against him.
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** He'll go to extreme lengths to kill anyone responsible for hurting his loved ones (witness his seasons-long revenge against everyone involved in his mother's death) but routinely fails to understand the effects hurting other people's loved ones will have on them. His killing Ed's girlfriend Isabella so he can have Ed all to himself results in Ed eventually turning on him, ruining his mayorship and nearly killing him. In season 5 he casually asks Barbara if they can move past [[spoiler:his stabbing Tabitha, her best friend and sometime lover, to death]] - needless to say, she's now out for blood.
** There's also his bemoaning how the new generation of Gotham's criminals, like Barbara and Riddler, have no sense of honour or respect compared to the old gangsters like Falcone and Maroni - seemingly oblivious to the fact it was his actions in season 1 that led to that old order falling apart.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: The season 1 DVD extras indicate that he's determined to forge his own destiny and be out from under the thumbs of Fish, Maroni, Falcone and anyone else who's mistreated him.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: He admits to Ed in season 5 that [[spoiler:he had Hugo Strange bring him back to life because he couldn't stand the thought of losing his OnlyFriend.]] Given how much the two had done to each other by that point, it's a fairly damning indictment of just how alone his quest to rule Gotham has left him.
* IOweYouMyLife: He sees Jim as his friend after the latter spared his life. He both shows up to save him from Montoya and Allen's accusations that Gordon murdered him, and is later revealed to have made sure Falcone didn't have him killed.
* IShallReturn: Cobblepot ''will'' come back to Gotham.
--> '''Cobblepot:''' It was my own fault. Foolish arrogance led me astray. But I learned my lessons. I'll be back, stronger and smarter than ever.
* ImAHumanitarian:
** After his step-family killed his father, he killed his step-siblings and ate them, along with [[IAteWhat also feeding them to his stepmother]].
** In Season 4's "Let Them Eat Pie", when Pyg threatens to kill Martin unless Penguin and the rest of Gotham's elite eat meat pies made from people, Penguin is the first to do so, staring Pyg down the entire time.
* IgnoredEpiphany: Encouraged by Fish, the end of season 3 sees him embrace his place among Gotham's freaks - then the following season sees him go right back to his usual delusions of grandeur, treating Ivy poorly and ignoring his promise to help Freeze cure his condition.
* IncompatibleOrientation: "Follow the White Rabbit" seems to imply this with Nygma.
* InLoveWithYourCarnage: Cobblepot seems to have this view of Gotham. When he first comes back, he sees a drug deal going down, a corrupt cop accepting a bribe, and a woman getting robbed. After seeing all of this, he is as happy as can be to be back in Gotham.
* {{Irony}}: The Penguin is played by an actor named {{Comicbook/Robin}}.
* ItsPersonal:
** God help anyone involved in his mother's death. He beat Galavan (the instigator) halfway to death with a baseball bat, later blew him to pieces with a rocket launcher when he came back as Azrael, and killed Butch (who betrayed her) just to show Tabitha (her actual murderer) what it was like to lose a loved one - [[spoiler:then knifed her to death at the start of season 5]].
** His rivalry with Ed towards the end of season 3 also falls into this category, though it cools off by season 5.
** His determination to [[spoiler:pin the Haven bombing on Zsasz]] seems to be motivated by this, given Zsasz [[spoiler:betrayed him for Sofia Falcone the season prior and left him to rot in Arkham]].
* JerkassHasAPoint:
** One of his stated reasons for offing Isabella is that he was trying to protect Ed from the pain of killing her when he inevitably snapped again. He may be desperately trying to save his own skin at that point, but given that Riddler ends the following season trying to kill Lee Thompkins for not reciprocating his feelings the way he wanted, it's got a grain of truth to it.
** On that note, he was dead right that Riddler was a fool for trusting Lee, given she ends the season stabbing him.
* JerkassRealization: Has happened a few times, first when he realizes how selfish he was not putting Ed's happiness with Isabella over his own desire for a relationship with him, then again when [[spoiler:Mr.Penn]] makes realise how incredibly awful he was to everyone around him. They never seem to stick though.
* JokerImmunity: As far as the show goes, you could rename the trope "Penguin Immunity". No matter in how much trouble he is, you can always count on him to somehow weasel out of it.
* KarmaHoudini: Subverted: it's implied he gets a pardon for all his crimes after helping save Gotham from Bane. However, seeing Gordon get all the adulation (as well as having [[spoiler:Nyssa]] steal his riches), [[HeelFaceDoorSlam kills any remaining trace of decency in him]] and leads him back to crime - leading Gordon to arrest him and put him in Blackgate prison for 10 years.
* KarmicDeath: After killing Isabella in order to gain Edward all to himself, Edward Nygma avenges her death and his loss of happiness by shooting Oswald dead and dumping him in the exact bay where Gordon was forced to kill and dump him in back in the pilot. Subverted, as he survives this.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Oswald loves dishing these out to show that there are worse criminals in Gotham than him.
** Killing Fish and her entire gang.
** In his gang war with Galavan, he non-lethally slashes his throat in an escape.
** In the mid-season finale of Season 2, he beats Galavan repeatedly before Gordon kills Galavan and much later, gets Butch to blow up the resurrected Galavan with a rocket launcher.
** [[spoiler:Coldly kills Butch for his involvement in his mother's death, after feigning him having "gotten over" it.]]
** And in the Season 5 premiere he [[spoiler:finally kills Tabitha, the woman who killed his innocent mother, by stabbing her directly in the heart]].
* KlingonPromotion: How he ends up King of Gotham: by season's end he gets Maroni killed by Fish after prodding his ego into mouthing off, kills Fish himself by throwing her off a bridge and directly precipitates Carmine Falcone's retirement by turning on him.
* KneeCapping: Was on the receiving end from Fish, giving him a distinct waddling limp that makes him look more like a penguin. He finally gets it somewhat fixed with a new leg brace at the start of season 5, [[spoiler:then has this happen AGAIN when Jim shoots him in the leg.]]
* KnifeNut: He's very, very fond of them, shown as early as the first episode when he slashes open a fisherman's throat with one. His preference seems to stem from [[CombatPragmatist how easy it is to conceal one on his person]], particularly when he starts to use a cane and has one hidden in the handle.
* KnowledgeBroker: After the fall of Fish, Gordon starts to go to him for information on cases where all other avenues are closed to him; Penguin proves to know a surprising amount about not only the inner workings of Falcone, Maroni and the underworld, but other useful areas like the location of Loeb's secrets. Part of it is Gordon owing him favours he can turn to his advantage, but he also seems to be genuinely trying to impress Gordon by proving his usefulness.
* LackOfEmpathy: Doesn't matter what you've done for him - employed him, given him a ride, jeopardized your life by sparing his own, he will not think twice about turning on you. Hell, he won't think once.
* LaserGuidedKarma: A tip from him caused Falcone to rumble Fish, and two episodes later, a tip from Fish caused Maroni to rumble him. Also his murder of Isabella in season 3 comes back to bite him in the ass when Ed works out what he'd done.
* LeanAndMean: This incarnation is rail thin in contrast to the FatBastard he's usually portrayed as in the comics. He actually stays this way throughout nearly the entire show, but by the GrandFinale (set ten years after No Man's Land), [[spoiler:he's gained the comics-appropriate rounder look.]]
* {{Leitmotif}}: He has a bumbling-yet-dark mandolin tune that usually plays when he's doing his penguin walk, or when he's threatening someone.
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: He is definitely a bad guy, make no mistakes. However, the show repeatedly goes out of its way to show that he has some sympathetic and even downright tragic qualities and that there are ''far'' worse people in Gotham.
* LooksLikeCesare: His pale skin, dark bag-shrouded eyes and greasy black hair are a classic example of the trope.
* LooseLips: During "What the Little Bird Told Him", after being shocked by Buchinsky, he accidentally slips up he was meeting Falcone and ''not'' his own mother. The OhCrap look afterwards is priceless when Maroni questions him about it.
* LoveIsAWeakness: After his falling out with Ed he claims to believe this, and keeps Ed frozen in a block of ice rather than kill him as a reminder to never make the same mistake again. Later, he cares for [[spoiler:orphan Martin and faking his death results in his arrest.]]
* MadeOfIron: In addition to having his leg broken in the first episode, over the course of the series he's been electrocuted, stabbed, shot multiple times, and beaten up plenty of times and he keeps bouncing back. The only injury that seems to cause him any trouble is his leg, which he's seen putting ice on to numb the pain.
* MamasBoy: He still lives with his mom, who still cleans his clothes, and insists that [[MyBelovedSmother he can't trust anyone but her]]. She even bathes him.
* ManipulativeBastard: One of his principal skills. He may not be a match for Ed as far as precision planning goes, but he gets better and better at playing people like fiddles at the series goes on and shows a remarkable talent for improvising his way out of trouble.
** Best seen at the end of season 3 - he has no idea that Gordon and Bullock will try to trade him to Riddler, or that Barbara and Butch will try to take Tetch of their own accord, but manages to spin the situation to make Riddler think he has the upper hand - even manipulating him into taking him to the same dock he almost killed Penguin at - before using Freeze to take him out of the equation for good.
* MayorPain: Announces his intent to run for mayor in "Look Into My Eyes". In "New Day Rising", he wins. That said, his intentions appear far more noble than they were [[Film/BatmanReturns at the last adaptation he ran for that office]], and especially in comparison to those of Galavan. He turns out to be quite good at the job, helped by the fact he's still running Gotham's Underground at the same time.
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: He never had much respect in Fish's gang and was nothing more than a servant boy to her, despite his obvious criminal talents. Hence why he's so keen to put himself on top.
* MurderIsTheBestSolution: He solves almost all of his problems by killing the person in his path. Whether the problem is an attempt on his life, moving through the criminal ranks, getting a job, getting a ride, finding a sandwich... he manages to murder his way to his goal.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: He arranged Isabella's death so he could have Nygma all for himself. Needless to say, Edward is not pleased upon discovering this.
* MythologyGag:
** In his first scene in the premiere, he's holding an umbrella for his boss Fish, because it's raining outside - a reference to the [[ParasolOfPain campy umbrella-gadget weapons]] of some of his other comics incarnations.
** His actions as TheRat and being a club manager/owner connect him to at least one of his comics incarnations: a gray-market club owner who is the go-to guy when Batman wants information on what's happening in the criminal world.
** His short temper, and the messy way he's seen eating a fisherman's sandwich (admittedly, after swimming a freezing cold river, you'd be hungry too) remind one of Creator/DannyDeVito's [[Film/BatmanReturns portrayal]].
*** In the third season, he even runs for mayor.
** In Season 3's "How the Riddler Got His Name", he finally dons his comic counterpart's top hat and tuxedo (at least for a brief moment during a hallucination sequence).
* NaturalizedName: The fact that his mother's last name is "Kapelput" implies this.
* NecessaryEvil: How he views himself in season 4, as he views his licencing of crime as far better than the anarchy caused by the Tetch virus previously.
* NearDeathExperience: He tends to be nearly killed ''a lot'', but he manages to always survive.
* NeverMyFault: When he [[spoiler:lends his support to Jim to find the Haven bomber, he snarks he still blames Jim for stealing his people and causing them to be caught in the blast - conveniently ignoring it was his awful treatment of them that caused them to leave him for Haven in the first place.]]
* NiceHat: He wears a DastardlyDapperDerby while carrying out an assassination for Theo in Season 2. He also wears his signature top-hat in Edward's hallucination in "How the Riddler Got his Name" and is seen with a look accurate to the comics - including the hat, monocle and umbrella - in the final episode.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Does this to Theo Galavan in "Worse Than a Crime". With a baseball bat.
* NoRespectGuy: A major BerserkButton for him - when his former lackey Gabe (compelled to tell the truth by Ivy) tells him none of his gang ever respected him, but followed him solely out of fear, he wigs out and brutally stabs him to death on the spot.
* NoSell: Though it's shown to work on both men and women, Oswald is completely unaffected by Ivy's perfume to her confusion.
* NominalHero: In the second half of Season 4, where he sides with Gordon in order to prevent Jerome [[spoiler: and later Jeremiah]] from completely destroying the city. His intentions are less than noble though as he seems to be more concerned with [[PragmaticVillainy keeping his profits from being burned up]] than saving lives.
* NonActionBigBad: Played with: normally he'll stay out of any physicality unless his life is in danger - in which case, expect the nearest sharp object to the throat. But, when the situation calls for it, he'll personally get involved to make sure his enemies are dead - like when he [[ImprobableWeaponUser slaughtered Fish's gang with a heavy machine gun]].
* NotSoHarmlessVillain:
** Though he's a malicious murderer when pushed, for the first three episodes Cobblepot didn't seem much more than a thug with an inflated sense of his own ability. Then in "Arkham", he shows the makings of a shrewd [[TheChessmaster Chessmaster]] taking shape behind the quirky exterior.
** "Penguin's Umbrella" reveals that everything after the second episode was a BatmanGambit of truly impressive levels.
* ObviouslyEvil: His page image, with its psychotic DeathGlare? That's him meeting a group of children...
* OddFriendship: With Victor Zsasz. Both of them are equally psychotic and crazy, and Zsasz is the one underling Oswald is always seen treating with respect regardless of the circumstances (at least until Sofia manipulates Zsasz into turning on him in season 4). He also has what he considers a friendship with Gordon, though that's well and truly broken by series 4.
* OnceASeason: The details vary, but the first halves of seasons 2,3 and 4 all deal with him falling from power, while the latter halves have him clawing his way back to prominence by any means necessary.
* OpportunisticBastard: As skilled as he is at manipulation, he's equally good at this. Both Fish' return/Falcone's wounding in season 1 and Hugo Strange's Indian Hill experiments escaping in season 2 are entirely out of his control, but he takes full advantage of both - in the former case becoming king of Gotham's underworld, in the latter mayor.
* OrderedApology: To Fish in "Penguin's Umbrella", because respect happens to be a key part of mob life in Gotham.
* ParentalSubstitute: Despite his efforts to remain distant, Oswald quickly gets attached to Martin. From advising the young boy in subtle ways of getting back at his tormentors, teaching him how to stab people, dressing him in similar clothing to himself, and even commenting that while Oswald's throne-like chair is too big for him now, Martin will grow into it, implying that Oswald sees the boy taking over his empire one day.
* PetTheDog: In keeping with the series giving him more sympathetic aspects, he gets quite a few of these moments - he shows genuine interest in helping children defend themselves from bullying ([[EnfantTerrible albeit in the worst way possible]]), helps Jim several times when he doesn't have to (most notably taking the rap for Galavan's murder, which gained him nothing) and spares Fish's life on hearing her finally admit she's proud of what he became.
* PlotArmor: Penguin has escaped many dangerous situations due to this - that he'll still be alive and kicking to become one of Batman's major rogues is a ForegoneConclusion.
* ThePowerOfLove: Believes this sets him above the rest of the criminals in Gotham; they only care about money, but he loves Gotham City and only wants it to prosper (if with him in the driver's seat).
** Presumably not only referring to his love of Gotham City, but also to the love he has for his mother and his desire to make her happy and proud.
* PragmaticAdaptation: His nickname "Penguin" comes from the way he walks, unlike most versions where his name comes from his appearance.
** While he does still use an umbrella, he never has the umbrella weapons that he has in other incarnations, possibly to fit the show's realism.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: In Season 2, when his new step-mother accuses him of being the Penguin, a murderer and rapist who has carried out or ordered the deaths of dozens of people, he has a genuine ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne / EvenEvilHasStandards reaction, not denying the murder part, but accurately pleading, "In all fairness, I've never raped anyone".
* RagsToRiches: Goes from lowly umbrella holder to the King of Gotham in the span of a season. Later on even becomes the city's mayor.
** Subverted in the last few episodes; [[spoiler:Nyssa al Ghul]] steals his submarine and all his riches to escape Gotham while he's [[BeingGoodSucks helping save Gotham from Bane]], leaving him back as, in his words, a common criminal. The finale reveals that not long after this Gordon arrested him and put him in Blackgate prison for 10 years.
* TheRat: Seems to be a defining trait. To the point that in "Penguin's Umbrella", he openly advertises that this is his ''best'' quality, that he's really good at being a traitorous snitch... which is ''specifically'' why he argues that Don Falcone should spare his life (tasking good cop Jim Gordon with his execution, as Gordon almost certainly won't go through with it), so he can in turn infiltrate the rival Maroni family, and act as a great snitch for Falcone.
* RealityEnsues: He genuinely sets great stock by Gordon's friendship, but the fact remains Gordon is trying his best to clean up Gotham and Penguin is trying to take over as its undisputed crime lord. Consequently, no matter how many {{Enemy Mine}}s happen or how many times they save each other's lives, their relationship by season 4 is still characterised by deep mistrust at best, betrayal at worst. Particularly notable when Cobblepot is genuinely trying to inform Gordon of the Legion of Horribles' plans and Gordon will barely hear a word of it.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gives a particularly chilling one to Carbone right before stabbing him to death in "Penguin's Umbrella", and does so again to the Riddler, pointing out his ComplexityAddiction shortly before having him frozen.
* RefugeInAudacity:
** He tries to invoke this when he comes clean to Maroni about his past with Fish. Maroni thinks he's lying, but before he kills him, he has Gordon confirm the story and lets him win.
** When he unveils the frozen Riddler as centerpiece of the Iceberg Lounge, he claims with a straight face that Ed was suffering from a terminal illness and ''asked'' to be frozen - despite the horrified and pleading pose. When Gordon arrives to call him on this bullshit, he cheerfully claims to have medical records to back it all up.
** He goes so far as to ''license crime'' in the first part of season 4 without expecting serious retaliation, and mostly succeeds.
--->'''Jim:''' We don't want to legitimize him -\\
'''Harvey:''' He's ''been'' legitimized! He was the freaking mayor!
* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: After Montoya and Allen arrest Gordon for his murder, and are about to arrest Bullock, Cobblepot reveals himself to the entire precinct to announce that no, he's not dead.
* {{Revenge}}: Doesn't matter whether he's at the height of his power or on the run from his many enemies - cross him and he '''will''' take the time and effort to inflict payback, often all out of proportion to the original slight, even if it takes him a while. Selected examples include:
** Beating Theo Galavan halfway to death with a baseball bat for killing his mother.
** Blowing Galavan up with a rocket launcher when he came back as Azrael.
** Murdering his entire step-family for killing his father (including cooking his step-siblings and feeding them to their mother).
** Turning up to kill Hugo Strange with a ''minigun'' after Strange's therapy left him a harmless wreck (though Fish Mooney put a stop to that one).
** Freezing Ed and putting him on display in the Iceberg Lounge after season 3's betrayals.
** Killing Butch solely to pay Tabitha back for her part in his mother's death. Then [[spoiler:killing her at the start of season 5]]. He sure knows how to hold a grudge.
* RunningGag: A rather morbid one, people that come to honestly care for Oswald have an unfortunate tendency to die in his arms. Both parents at different points in season 2, Fish Mooney at the end of season 3, and Mr. Penn in the third episode of season 5 [[spoiler:though he shows up alive a few episodes later, only to be killed by Nygma]].
* SadisticChoice: Made the old couple that guarded Miriam Loeb choose which one of them would be given a train ticket to flee Gotham and escape Falcone's punishment. Ultimately averted because he had one bullet left in his shotgun and wanted one to kill the other.
* SanitySlippage:
** In Season 2 after his mother is kidnapped by Galavan Penguin noticeably starts to lose his cool. When Tabitha kills her, he throws pretty much his entire empire out the window to get his revenge.
** In Season 5 he becomes TheCaligula and actively cultivates a massive cult of personality around himself so that his followers sing songs about him worshiping him as a great leader.
*** In the finale 10 years in Blackgate definitely didn't do him any good, acting more deranged and openly psychotic than before.
* SavedByCanon: Someone tries to kill him at least every other episode, yet he always manages to stay alive because he has to in order to show up as one of Batman's major villains later.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Subverted; one of his major character arcs in season 5 is his belief he's done all he can in Gotham and, after securing a nest egg to set him up in future, seeks to leave by any means necessary. [[spoiler:But he ultimately can't go through with it after realising how much Gotham means to him, and ends up going back to help Jim fight Bane]].
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Highly intelligent, he always speaks in an incredibly formal and well-spoken way that none of the other gangsters on the show (save Falcone) can match. Causes him to be underestimated (particularly when he kills Frankie Carbone). Also a source of irritation when no-one really gets his classical references until Ed comes along.
* ShootTheMessenger:
** Or, in this case, stab him. After Maroni exposes his true nature to his mother, Penguin offs a delivery man bringing her flowers (also from Maroni, to twist the knife) so she doesn't see them.
** Beats one of his henchmen almost to death when he brings him news of Barnes' raid on his weapons house right in the middle of a VillainousBreakdown provoked by Galavan kidnapping his mother.
* SinisterSchnoz: This incarnation retains his beaky nose.
* SmugSnake: As smart and vicious as he is, whenever he has actual power he lords it over those without and generally acts as unpleasantly as possible - which inevitably leads to them betraying him, or worse villains like Jerome stealing his thunder.
* SociopathicHero: [[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/gotham-robin-lord-taylor-penguin-778381 Robin Lord Taylor]] stated in an interview that "My goal is, I want him to be an anti-hero, I want people to root for him, no matter what he’s doing." He seems to be a sociopath rather than a psychopath. [[http://thequeenofgothamxo.tumblr.com/post/133898520000 He]] possibly has [[http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/paranoid-personality-disorder Paranoid Personality Disorder.]]
* SpannerInTheWorks: He's the one that tipped the MCU off that Mario Pepper's death was a cover-up, ruining Falcone's otherwise airtight cover-up. The first season has him be this to generally everyone, as his still being alive after the mob thought Gordon had killed him leads to Mooney's scheme to depose Falcone going awry, Falcone and Maroni coming to loggerheads more than once and Gordon and Bullock's partnership nearly going to pot.
* TheStarscream: In the space of season 1 alone was this to Fish, Maroni AND Falcone. In season 4 is a rare good variant of this to The Legion of Horribles.
* SupervillainLair: Has an apartment in Gotham in Season 1 where he has several images pinned against a wall mapping the connections of the powerful. Later, when Fish Mooney is forced to flee Gotham, he takes over her nightclub and names it [[http://www.tvmuse.com/media/img/2015/02/p-590x331.png Oswald's.]] In Season 2, Penguin as [[http://kneelbeforeblog.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Bullock-challenges-Penguin.png King of Gotham]] is [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/9/96/PenguinCouncil.png/revision/latest?cb=20151015184229 headquartered in the Falcone mansion.]] After Season 2 Episode 11 but before Season 2 Episode 12 in Gotham Stories, Penguin selects a [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/V60KHBZ4ha0/maxresdefault.jpg slaughterhouse as a lair.]] It does not last long as Mr. Freeze comes to kill Penguin. Later, after being released from Arkham and he [[http://media.comicbook.com/2016/03/gotham-penguin-family-portrait-174221.jpg kills his stepmother and her children]] , he lives in his father's mansion. He returns to the Falcone mansion with Butch in season 4, and once Jeremiah Valeska blows the city bridges he takes over Gotham City Hall for season 5.
* TakingTheBullet: Throws himself between Ed and a grenade with zero hesitation in season 5, [[spoiler:injuring his right eye in the process.]]
* TokenEvilTeammate: Whenever circumstances ally him with Gordon or the other good characters - he's notably the one that convinces Jim that handing Galavan over to the courts will only end in him escaping justice, leading Jim (already swayed by Theo's EvilGloating) to kill him after letting Penguin get his retribution for his mother's death.
* TokenGoodTeammate: To the Legion of Horribles, eventually helping Gordon ruin their plan to infect Gotham with Joker gas.
* TookALevelInBadass: After being utterly ''humiliated'' in the pilot, Cobblepot grows more and more dangerous in the subsequent episodes, eventually becoming King of Gotham and a recurring mob kingpin in later seasons.
* {{Troll}}:
** Ruins Barbara's attempt to buy the Kurdish dagger that can permanently kill Ra's al Ghul out of spite, cutting off the auctioneer to sell it to Bruce Wayne instead.
** In season 5 he's clearly enjoying himself spelling out for Barbara how hard she worked to keep the peace when Jim got shot, only to have to [[spoiler:watch him marry Lee Thompkins as soon as he recovered]].
* UnderestimatingBadassery: He's on the receiving end of this constantly. People see the limp and the scrawniness and dismiss him as harmless, not realizing his explosive temper, resourcefulness or sheer tenacity until the knife or glass is in their throat. Fish, Theo Galavan, Ed, [[spoiler:Sofia Falcone]] and [[spoiler:Tabitha]] have all learned this the hard way.
** Ends up doing this to Edward after he has Isabella killed, apparently forgetting that the man used to work for the GCPD as a ''forensic scientist'' which allowed him to SpotTheThread that her death wasn't an accident. While this initially has Nygma believe that Butch was behind it, when Ed realizes that Oswald was the real culprit he works to mentally torment Oswald and ruin his mayorship before attempting to kill him.
** Goes the other way in late season 4, thinking that manipulating Jeremiah Valeska into extorting the city for him and his associates will end well, largely because he clearly doesn't think Jeremiah is much compared to [[TheDreaded his late twin brother Jerome]]. He's dead wrong, and thanks to failing to anticipate Jeremiah's backup plan, nearly gets the whole city wiped out as a result.
* TheUnfettered: The Riddler convinces him that, with the death of his mother at the Galavans' hands, he is now this. Played with: he seems to prove Ed right when his behavior gets considerably worse after killing Theo [[ItMakesSenseInContext the second time]], but in season 3 falls in love with Ed, which proves a major influence on his actions thereafter.
* UngratefulBastard: Doesn't matter what you've done for him in the past, if turning on you will enhance his own power, he'll do it in a heartbeat.
--> '''Fish:''' So this is it? I spare your life, and you shoot me dead in the woods, like an animal?\\
'''Penguin:''' [[BluntYes Pretty much, yes]].
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: His decision to [[spoiler:have Hugo Strange bring back Ed after Lee stabbed him resulted in Strange putting a mind-control chip in Ed's head, leading him to commit numerous atrocities at Bane's behest.]]
* VillainBall: Tabitha points out that he should have had her killed immediately instead of making her Butch's PsychoForHire, especially because she killed his mother. This results in Tabitha helping Butch and Barbara overthrow him. [[spoiler:Unluckily for her, he seemed to take the advice, waiting until Butch was cured of his Grundy side the following season before killing him and crippling her, followed up by killing her a few months later.]]
* VillainDecay: In-universe, in the latter half of season 4: after Sofia Falcone succeeds in taking his empire out from under him he's forced into a series of risky [[VillainTeamUp alliances]] with Gotham's other criminals, none of which go well. Riddler and Lee betray him, Grundy hates him and only works with him to get cured, Jerome's Legion of Horribles is [[EvenEvilHasStandards too much, even for him]] and his alliance with the Sirens sees his attempt to [[BullyingADragon use Jeremiah Valeska to extort the city]] blow up in his face. Seemingly subverted at the end, as he reveals he was working towards killing Butch to punish Tabitha for his mother's death the whole time.
* VillainProtagonist: How he's portrayed-- Gotham's been as much about his rise to prominence as about Gordon or Bruce, and many of the show's major storylines follow him, even diving into his love life at points. As routinely appalling as he is, he always retains some trace of being sympathetic.
* VillainTeamUp: Has teamed with virtually every other major villain on the show at some point. Particularly prominent in the latter half of season 4, where he variously teams up with Grundy, Jerome, Riddler and Lee, and finally the Sirens due to the loss of his power base after the war with Sofia Falcone.
* VillainsWantMercy: He's always begging for mercy when at somebody else's gunpoint.
** Subverted with the first episode of season 5, he stares down Tabitha as she prepares to kill him... only for her gun to jam due to her loading her gun with faulty bullets [[{{Irony}} that Oswald traded to the Sirens]].
* VillainousBreakdown: Seems to live his life at the edge of one. Though given how many people are trying to arrest, betray or kill him at any given point in the series, it's pretty understandable. His one in "Pena Dura" when he learns that [[spoiler:Ed was behind the Haven bombing]] is pronounced by how out of character it is - no screaming or raving or killing nearby subordinates, just a quiet, sad meltdown.
--> '''Penguin:''' Oh, [[spoiler:Ed]], what have you done?
* VillainousFriendship: Has the show's most prominent (and weirdest) one with Ed Nygma/The Riddler. The two have been almost everything to each other - partners-in-murder, best friends, potential love interest, EvilMentor, distrustful allies, bitter enemies - since their first meeting midway through Season 2. And yet somehow the two always seem to end up circling back to each other. Solidified in season 5 where the two join forces once more, and end up fighting together with Jim to save Gotham from Bane, with Penguin even saving Riddler from a grenade ([[spoiler:seriously injuring an eye in the process]]) - ten years later the two are genuinely delighted to see each other once more when they're free. At one point they share a laugh over how bizarre it all is [[spoiler:over the corpse of Mr.Penn/Scarface]].
* VillainousRescue: Through either a pragmatic need for allies or affection for certain characters, he does this a lot.
** Does a non-action variant in season 1, revealing he was alive at just the right moment to collapse Allen and Montoya's case against Gordon for his own murder. Interestingly his dialogue to his mother makes clear he does it out of genuine gratitude to Gordon for sparing his life, despite it revealing to Fish he was still among the living.
** Saved Gordon, Bullock, and Falcone from being executed by Fish when he came in shooting the place up with a machine gun so he could kill her himself.
** Rescues Gordon from Galavan's corrupt cops so they could bring Theo down for good.
** He and Butch obliterate Azrael (the former Theo Galavan) with [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill a rocket launcher]] just in time to stop him killing Gordon, Bruce and Alfred.
** He and Firefly save Gordon from one of the Court of Owls' Talons after he exposes his own nature as TheMole.
** To the entire city in the aftermath of the Tetch virus - he and his forces returned order to the underworld the hard way, using violence and brutality against criminals on such a scale it cut the crime rate in half.
** Saves Riddler from being executed by Sofia's men in Season 4.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: In Season 3 after rallying the city against Fish Mooney's superhuman gang, public opinion of him is high enough for him to be able to run for Mayor of Gotham despite his previous criminal record. He's able to ride that wave of popularity in a mayorship challenge he wins 100% fairly. Ed and Barbara subsequently ruin that, but he manages it again in season 5 when he [[spoiler:aids Jim and guns down the Street Demons threatening Haven to the delight of the refugees there - despite, as Jim lampshades, that being a situation he helped create]].
* WeakButSkilled: Has a penchant for slashing people's throats open with whatever is handy, and with surprising speed, especially because his waddling limp and goofy demeanor disarms those who don't know him.
* WickedCultured: Can quote Shakespeare and Plutarch at the drop of a hat, and is also briefly shown to be a fine pianist as well.
* WildCard: Cobblepot is manipulating both sides of Gotham's mob, as well as the police and Gordon, to further his own power. This makes him truly unpredictable. While this recedes in later seasons when, as city gang boss, he's more part of the status quo, he returns to this whenever he loses power, be it the lengths he goes to in his crusade against Galavan in season 2 or his maneuvering with Riddler against Sofia Falcone in season 4.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: While he has done many horrible things to people, he has had many horrible things happen to him as well, ranging from having his leg permanently damaged by Fish Mooney to having to watch his mother get killed by Theo Galavan. His actor has noted that the "cured" Oswald following his first stay in Arkham is what he ''could'' have been if he hadn't been so beaten down by Gotham and its people.
* WouldHarmAChild: Played with: he appears to kill Martin with a car bomb to remove Sofia Falcone's leverage over him, but he's faking it, and has Martin sent away for his own protection. When Sofia discovers the ruse and abducts Martin, the threat to his safety is enough to get Penguin to stay in Arkham despite it being a complete hellhole. However, later, when his gangs have taken over Haven, Gordon implores him to think of the kids that will be returned to slavery - but Penguin counters he won't be the one doing it, implying that while he doesn't personally go in for this he doesn't object to others doing it.
* WouldHitAGirl: Tries to kill Fish in the pilot, but Fish turns the tables and cripples him in a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. Played straight in their fight in the finale when he beats her with a lead pipe and pushes her off the rooftop, killing her.
* XanatosSpeedChess: He's playing it against ''everyone'' (particularly Fish and Maroni) in season 1, and while he makes a fair few mistakes, in the end it's enough to emerge from it all as King of Gotham. Resurfaces at points later on, particularly his improvising the Riddler's defeat on the fly at the end of season 3, and his wild maneuvering against Sofia Falcone after she usurps his empire.
* YouHaveFailedMe: Doesn't have the best tolerance for failure, especially after Gabe's revealing his former lackeys never respected him, only feared him. Seen most notably when he stabs Headhunter almost to death for not anticipating Professor Pyg's trap.
* YouKilledMyFather: Both his parents have been murdered at different points in the series, and his revenge has been spectacularly brutal on both occasions.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Edward Nygma/The Riddler]]
!![[ComicBook/TheRiddler Edward Nygma]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1b5ca5a9600979e174dfaf325e521a.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Spread the word to all your friends. The Riddler is coming!"'']]
->'''Played By:''' Cory Michael Smith

-->''"This is who I am. It was just finally admitting the truth to myself. Well, that and murdering some people."''

A crime scene analyst who works for the Gotham City Police Department and often presents his information in riddles. After his accidental killing of his crush's abusive boyfriend, he starts a [[StartOfDarkness downward spiral]] that involves him killing his girlfriend, framing Gordon for it and eventually becoming the full-fledged Riddler in season 3.
----
* AccidentalMurder: He accidentally strangles his girlfriend Kristen while trying desperately to prevent her freaking out over the revelation he killed her abusive ex-boyfriend Tom.
* AdaptationalBadass: One of the most formidable versions of the Riddler yet seen. Without Batman around to rival him he's the EvilGenius of the show and nowhere near as bogged down with his riddling compulsion as the comics.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Red-haired in the comics but dark-haired here. Played with as [[OlderThanTheyThink he originally]] had black hair in the comics but is almost exclusively drawn as a redhead nowadays.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Downplayed, but much of his descent into darkness is spurred on by his love for certain characters and desire to help them. He kills Tom to protect Miss Kringle, in season 3 helps Oswald become mayor out of genuine friendship and after falling in love with Isabella goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Oswald for killing her. In "They Did What?" he willingly stays to help Gordon and Oswald stop Bane destroying Gotham.
* AdaptationalJerkass: After his FaceHeelTurn. In the comics, he was only an evil mastermind with a quirk for riddles. He was one of Batman's friendliest enemies and even became a rival detective of Batman's for a time. In the show, he becomes an {{Ax Crazy}} serial killer, murdering several people in an attempt to cover up his tracks. He then frames Gordon for the murder of a fellow officer, sending him to Blackgate. He is shown to have little remorse in retrospect for the murders he commits, saying that they free him.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: At the start. He has NoSocialSkills and is often smug and annoying with his riddles, but in this incarnation, he's a competent and effective police forensic scientist who often provides Gordon and Bullock with critical information. Most notable when he finds out Gordon's been fired - he informs Gordon he intends to protest to the highest authority (even if he's not sure who that is) and actually gives Gordon an awkward hug before leaving. Needless to say, after becoming the Riddler that all goes out the window.
* AdjustingYourGlasses: By the bridge as he descends into Strange's experimentation facility.
* AdmiringTheAbomination: His reaction to several people collapsing as their bones turn to dust inside them is an awestruck "Fascinating!" He later shows an interest in crimes beyond the forensics.
* {{Adorkable}}: Nerdy glasses, obsession with riddles, interest and profession in science? He definitely qualifies as this. Not so much after he goes off the deep end and starts killing people.
* AffablyEvil: Upon his initial descent into villainy, Nygma retains his {{Adorkable}} demeanor.
** FauxAffablyEvil: ...but by the middle of season 3 the Riddler (with his attendant massive ego) is in full control. He's still polite and cheerful, but God help you if you piss him off.
* AgeLift: Riddler is now apparently around Gordon's age, while usually he is around Batman's age.
* AmbiguousDisorder: He ''has'' to speak in riddles, is visibly annoyed and disappointed when not taken up on them, and he is a textbook case of NoSocialSkills, which line up on the Asperger's spectrum. He also has signs of SuperOCD, carefully picking onions out of his lunch and reorganizing the station's archives to what he finds a superior structure. This could be a case of ShownTheirWork on the part of the writers, trying to ground character behavior in real-life disorders; "If the Joker is a sociopath, and Two-Face is bipolar, what real-life mental conditions would make someone act like the Riddler of the comics?"
* AmbiguousSituation: In season 5 - [[spoiler:he's blacking out and waking up randomly all over the now-derelict city. He assumes it's the Ed personality, but isn't aware that he's been in the care of Hugo Strange - who actually put a mind-control chip in his head, rendering him BrainwashedAndCrazy whenever Eduardo needed a killer inside Gotham.]]
* ArcVillain: For the latter half of both seasons 2 and 3.
* ArchEnemy:
** He and Oswald became this to each other after Oswald murdered Ed's girlfriend and Ed destroyed Oswald's criminal empire. [[spoiler:Eventually subverted after Penguin reawakens his Riddler personality and later saves his life from Sofia's men - when Riddler later betrays him he tells him he has no ill will towards him, he's just doing it to protect Lee]].
** He can also be considered one for Gordon, seeing as he framed Jim for murder and may have indirectly caused Lee's miscarriage. Resurfaces in season 4 where he starts getting paranoid Gordon will take the now-Tetch afflicted Lee away from him.
** Also develops a fixation on Lucius Fox in season 3 after Fox proves capable of working out his riddles.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: When he realises Penguin is going to rig an election he has an excellent chance of winning fairly, he pays a little girl to feed Oswald compliments about getting rid of Strange's monsters. A delighted Penguin mouths off that people look at him differently now and genuinely appreciate him - then Ed reveals the ruse, just to show him how hollow paid adulation is.
-->'''Ed:''' And how do you feel now?
* AttentionWhore: He is the Riddler, after all. Before his FaceHeelTurn he's simply desperate for ''someone'' to appreciate his skills, all the more so as he's routinely belittled by Bullock. After becoming the Riddler it manifests in his monumental ego testing others with riddles, usually in front of others, so he can prove he's the smartest man in the room.
* AxCrazy: After suffering a serious SanitySlippage, Nygma begins killing people left and right while trying to hide his ex-girlfriend's corpse, to the point where he fully embraces the idea of killing others because [[EvilFeelsGood it provides a sense of power to him.]] He kinda sorta acts somewhere close to his old self (albeit colder and with more arrogance) during his VillainousFriendship with Penguin in season 3, but he goes off the deep end once more after finding out Isabella was murdered by Penguin. By the end of Season 3 he's the Riddler in full and any trace of the basically decent Ed is buried under the Riddler's massive ego and a pile of bodies.
* TheBadGuyWins: In "Mad Grey Dawn."
* BadassBoast:
** A particularly good one, given how well he lives up to it over season 3:
-->'''Hallucination Penguin:''' I hate to burst your bubble, but no one is going to be afraid of "The Riddler".
-->'''Ed:''' Maybe not yet. But they will be.
** Again at the end of season 5, where the people's lack of appreciation for his bravery leads to a serious case of SanitySlippage.
-->'''Riddler:''' Common criminals? Never again. I've shown this city who I truly am once before, and I will do it again! They will [[KneelBeforeZod BOW to the Riddler]], [[LargeHam and they won't get up until I permit them to!]]
* BadassInANiceSuit: He starts wearing his trademark green suit and bowler hat in Season 3.
* BatmanGambit: Pulls off a spectacular one on Gordon in "Mad Grey Dawn" to disgrace him.
* BerserkButton: He's got a few, most of which stem from him viewing himself as a NoRespectGuy - as his darker side takes over, don't insult him or physically attack him. Don't EVER harm people he loves (as Tom and Penguin find out the hard way), don't get his riddles wrong, and always call him the Riddler. Lately, telling him [[spoiler:Lee doesn't love him is another good way to get on his bad side]][[note]]As shown in "Thirteen Stitches", he seems to have gotten over his love for Lee, though given his awkward hesitation when Penguin asks if they're taking on Bane because he still has feelings for her, there's some ambiguity there.[[/note]] - and definitely [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers don't name your dog after him]].
* BigNo: After realizing that he killed Kristen.
* BondVillainStupidity: His compulsion with riddles, which ended up working to his advantage in "Mad Grey Dawn", ends up being his downfall when a riddle about death buys the GCPD enough time to close in on him.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: When [[spoiler:Hugo Strange resurrects him, he puts a mind-control chip in his head, leading him to be remote-controlled into atrocities like the Haven bombing by Eduardo.]]
* BreakTheCutie: He commits his first murder on Miss Kringle's [[BastardBoyfriend Abusive Boyfriend]], triggering his StartOfDarkness.
* BullyingADragon: It's implied his [[spoiler:bullying a not-so-catatonic Jeremiah Valeska was the reason he was set up as the fall guy for bombing Wayne Towers.]]
* ButtMonkey: During the final quarter of the second season, after he had been busted. Not only is he shipped off to Arkham, he also has a foiled escape attempt which results in his being briefly locked up with one of Arkham's most rabid inmates, and then in the season finale he gets used and betrayed by both Strange and Gordon.
* CameBackWrong: Being frozen in ice hasn't done wonders for his intelligence, in fact he's suffered a huge blow in cognitive thinking and no longer able to solve his favorite riddles. He spends much of his time post-thawing trying to get it back. [[spoiler:This is because the Ed personality is now back in control. It takes Penguin of all people to snap him back to himself.]]
* CartwrightCurse: Be it by his own hand or just plain bad luck, Nygma can never seem to have a girlfriend survive a relationship with him. Having Penguin be in love with him certainly didn't help. Poor Isabella...
* CloudCuckooLander: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]]. His unusualness is the main reason he's so ostracized.
* TheComicallySerious: Occasionally.
--> '''Riddler:''' We have a great deal to talk about. [[SkewedPriorities But first]]... Did you name [[ReplacementGoldfish your dog after me]]?!
* ComplexityAddiction: As Penguin points out just before having him frozen, he needs to compulsively see something through in as exacting a fashion as possible, meaning he'll always throw out the simple way of doing things in order to show off his own intelligence - even if it costs him in the long run.
* TheCorrupter: Believe it or not, but he manages to convince the Penguin to ''enjoy'' the fact that his mother is dead because now she can no longer hold him back. It takes a while, but Penguin is seen to get progressively worse from this point on.
* CrazyPrepared:
** As shown in "Into the Woods", he keeps a chair in his apartment secretly wired to his building's electricity, apparently just on the off chance that he'll ever need to knock out somebody who happens to be sitting there.
** His season 5 lair has pressure-sensitive [=IEDs=] at random points round it - and a heart monitor to detonate them if Riddler's heartbeat changes too much.
* CreepyCute: InUniverse and out. He's very {{Adorkable}} and not bad-looking in a nerdy way, but even before his SanitySlippage his cheerful scientific curiosity about horrific crimes and awkward expressions of affection toward Miss Kringle can go beyond normal social awkwardness and endearing quirkiness into disturbing territory.
-->'''Miss Kringle''': I think you left this on my desk.\\
'''Edward''': It's a riddle.\\
'''Miss Kringle''': It's a cupcake with a live bullet in it.\\
'''Edward''': It's a riddle.\\
'''Miss Kringle''': [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers It's weird and menacing and inedible]].
* CurseOfTheAncients: Just before he's arrested for murder and obstruction and perversion of justice: "Aw, crud." In fact, during the final quarter of the second season he shows a tendency to resort to this when things go to hell.
* DeadpanSnarker: His split personality has a tendency to snark towards him. For example, in "Damned If You Do", when he appears in a mirror and Nygma accuses him of copying him:
-->'''Split!Nygma''': Dude. It's a mirror, it's how they work.
* DastardlyDapperDerby: Once he becomes the Riddler in full he's rarely seen without his black bowler hat. In season 4 it's almost a HatOfPower, as wearing it denotes the shift from the more benign Ed personality back to the murderous Riddler - he's got it even in Ed's mirror-bound hallucinations of him.
* DelightingInRiddles: His signature style, which really annoys his colleagues. Becomes a lot less humourous from season 2 onwards, becoming harbingers of death if you get them wrong...
* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:At the end of Season 4, he and Lee stab each other seemingly to death. Thanks to the Penguin and Hugo Strange it doesn't stick.]]
* TheDogBitesBack:
** After the ME gets him suspended, Nygma does a little digging. Turns out the ME likes to steal body parts. (Or Nygma planted them to frame him.) One anonymous tip off later...
** When Nygma discovers that Kristen Kringle's boyfriend Tom is abusing her, he confronts Tom who just blows him off. Later that night, Nygma waits outside Kringle's house when Tom comes around drunk and stumbling. Nygma confronts him again. Tom gut punches Nygma. Nygma retaliates by [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill stabbing Tom AT LEAST a dozen times]]. Afterwards, he has quite the breakdown, simultaneously laughing and freaking out.
** Then there's his paying Penguin back for murdering Isabella by ruining his mayorship, driving him to near-insanity and killing him (though that part didn't stick).
* DoubleAgent: He's a murderer who's working for the GCPD's forensics division.
* DragonWithAnAgenda: The Riddler flat-out states he has no interest in running the criminal underworld, and willingly helps others like Penguin, Barbara, and [[spoiler: Lee]] take control of it to pursue his own goals.
* TheDreaded: Him entering the GCPD precinct in "Anything for You" is enough to make [[MassOhCrap everyone in the building turn silent]].
* DudeWheresMyRespect: The rest of the police often take his brilliant forensics work for granted, and in particular because they think he's annoying, they often shoo him away as soon as possible or ignore him. One of the principal reasons he ends up going down [[StartOfDarkness the path he does]].
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** When he bumps into Selina (who's looking for Firefly) during his Arkham escape attempt, he warns her the hell away from Hugo Strange. All the more notable as he barely knows her at this point.
** After he figures out [[spoiler: what he thinks is his other personality committed the Haven bombing he's utterly horrified he could have killed so many people, including children.]] In subsequent conversation with Jim, he clarifies that while he's killed a ton of people who have hurt him personally, he doesn't [[spoiler:go in for the mass murder of those he doesn't know.]]
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Wigs the hell out when Lucius Fox answers one of his riddles, quite reasonably, with the answer love (Ed's answer was loneliness). Used against him in season 4, when Lee gives him a riddle he easily works out the answer to: I love you. Except, due to this (and lingering feelings for Lee) he's incapable of actually saying it out loud.
* EvilFeelsGood: His murder of Kristen is anything but - but when he's able to fob Lee Thompkins off while disposing of her body, his split personality is then able to make him admit that while killing Kristen was terrible, killing her and outsmarting Lee to get away with it felt, in his own words, "beautiful".
* EvilGenius: Possibly the smartest character on the whole show, rivaled only by the likes of [[ChildProdigy Bruce Wayne]], [[TheSmartGuy Lucius Fox]] (whom he calls to his face "the second smartest man in Gotham"), and [[spoiler:Jeremiah Valeska]]. If it weren't for his compulsions and split personality tripping him up, he'd be unstoppable.
* EvilIsPetty: Like the comics Riddler, he tends to react to people getting his riddles right rather poorly. He also once killed an actor playing Hamlet because he found his performance underwhelming.
* EvilIsHammy: Once he goes bad, he starts acting much more theatrical than usual (in a creepy sort of way). When she hears he plans to investigate the Court of Owls in his own way, Barbara has this to say.
-->'''Barbara:''' You're going to make a big production of this, aren't you?
* EvilLaugh: Has an outstanding cackle that comes up whenever things go his way, particularly in seasons 4 and 5. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3g6__Vk1MI0 Best heard in the closing moments of this video.]]
* EvilSoundsDeep: Whenever his Riddler persona surfaces, his voice becomes much deeper and gravelly than his more high-pitched and nasally Ed side.
* {{Expy}}: His SplitPersonality seems to be a combination of both the Frank Gorshin and Jim Carrey Riddler personalities. Similarly, the struggle between said personalities is also heavily reminiscent of Harvey Dent/Two Face (especially after that character is PutOnABus after season 2).
* FaceHeelTurn: After murdering the girl who he loved, Nygma begins to fully embrace his lust for evil. By the end of season 2 he's the Riddler in all but name, and season 3 has him not only take the name but don the iconic green suit.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** The license plate on his car says "RIDL LVR". While it's short for "Riddle Lover", it's also a mere letter away from "RIDDLER".
** In "A Bitter Pill to Swallow" he tells Oswald his most crippling weakness is love. Virtually all of Ed's problems with Oswald and [[spoiler:Lee]] in seasons 3 and 4 come about due to his love for them.
* FourEyesZeroSoul: He still wears glasses after pulling his FaceHeelTurn.
* TheFriendNobodyLikes: On the GCPD initially - he's brilliant but annoys everyone with his insistence on riddles and over-enthusiasm for the weirder cases they take. Jim's the only one that likes him, but even that's strained sometimes. Gets better once he starts dating Kristen, as Jim and Lee Thompkins try and befriend him outside of work. Then he kills Kristen and it all falls apart.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: In season 1 Nygma is just the GCPD's forensic scientist. In season 3, he's a feared criminal genius that can even pose a threat to the Court of Owls.
* TheGMIsACheatingBastard: When Lucius is able to come up with quite reasonable answers to his riddles to save Harvey's life, he insists only his answers count. Then when Lucius gives the correct answer to the last one, Riddler almost kills Harvey anyway to give himself time to get away.
* HarmlessFreezing: Played with. Being frozen for several months by Mr. Freeze causes muscle atrophy which he recovers from in a few days, but it also causes some sort of brain damage, as he is unable to come up with any good riddles.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: In season 5's "They Did What?" where he goes on a long MotiveRant about how he only helped Gotham so he could take it for himself. Tellingly, he does all this while looking at himself in a mirror - but unlike in season 2 and 4, there's no other personality to talk back to him, implying the Riddler is all that's left.
* HiddenDepths: This version of the Riddler is a pretty decent pianist.
* HumanPopsicle: At the end of "Heavydirtysoul", Penguin has Mr. Freeze turn Nygma into one, which he plans to use as the centerpiece of his new club, the Iceberg Lounge. That is, until [[spoiler:his LoonyFan Myrtle Jenkins thaws him out in "They Who Hide Behind Masks".]]
* {{Hypocrite}}: While he had a point that Oswald must not have really loved him because if he had he would have valued his happiness rather than killed Isabella for being his competition, Ed isn't exactly good at valuing his loved ones more than himself, either. After killing Ms. Kringle in season one, he got lost in grief for about a day before deciding that killing the person he loved had freed him to become the person he was meant to be and [[LoveIsAWeakness made him stronger.]]
* IconicOutfit: In Season 3, he starts wearing dark green suit jackets akin to the Riddler's iconic look. In "How the Riddler Got His Name", he finally dons his classic bright green suit and bowler hat.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: All he wants is respect from his coworkers and to be seen as good guy. Which makes his [[DoomedByCanon inevitable fall from grace]] all the more harsh.
* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: Regarding Gordon figuring out about his being responsible for the frameup.
* ItsAllAboutMe: Taken UpToEleven in the second half of Season 4 [[spoiler: when Jeremiah is about to either level the entire city or to plunge it into total chaos, all he is able to think about is how much Lee loves him and how he can get her to be with him.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While Edward can be an obnoxious know-it-all who comes off as really creepy at times, he's actually very kind and friendly to those he considers friends like Jim, Sarah, Ms. Kringle, Harvey, etc. Most of his jerkass behavior is directed towards terrible people (Arnold Flass, the medical examiner) or just a side effect of his anti-social disorder. Hugely subverted later on, as the Riddler personality takes over more fully and he becomes steadily more AxCrazy.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: At the start of "How the Riddler Got His Name" he's still maintaining the pretence of being part of the (now-missing, presumed dead) Mayor Cobblepot's staff, with the GCPD suspecting nothing about his killing Penguin even though they hate him anyway. But Oswald's belief Ed would be nothing without him needles him into going on a episode-long rampage that outs him to the police and city, killing 6 people to find someone who understands him, revealing himself to Lucius Fox and almost killing Harvey. Lucius expresses utter confusion as to why he'd do something so blatantly insane - but none of it matters to him, as he's now discovered who he truly is: [[TheDreaded The Riddler]].
* KarmaHoudini: Subverted: it's implied he gets a pardon for all his crimes after helping save Gotham from Bane. However, his rage at being overlooked in favour of Gordon's heroism kills any remaining trace of decency in him and leads him back to crime. By the DistantFinale he's been marooned in Arkham for a decade and is decidedly more unhinged.
* KickTheSonOfABitch:
** Killing Miss Kringle's [[BastardBoyfriend Abusive Boyfriend]].
** Shooting the Penguin and dumping his body in the bay for killing his new girlfriend and depriving him a life of happiness.
* KnifeNut: After his descent into villainy he seems to have a hidden blade on him at all times, especially from season 4 onwards.
* TheLabRat: Starts off as one before his StartOfDarkness. Tends to annoy his coworkers by giving out information in riddle-form.
* LackOfEmpathy: Not overtly malicious, but part of his obsessive behavior, combined with his profession as a forensic investigator - which means that he sees horrific murders as exciting puzzles to solve, not really focusing on the death of another human being. Most of these are within the realm of professional detachment, but in "Viper", Nygma is practically giddy when describing what he has learned about the advanced new super-drug hitting the streets - including how it invariably kills users within a day by destroying the calcium in their bones. A hooker strung-out on the drug then horrifically dies in front of him, her brittle bones snapping under her own weight. Instead of being repulsed by her death, he simply beams "fascinating!" - like a child who just found a really interesting crossword puzzle. After his FaceHeelTurn, he fully embraces how good it is to make other suffer in order to give himself a sense of power over them.
* LaserGuidedKarma: After shooting Penguin at the docks and letting his body fall into the river, Penguin has him frozen by Mr. Freeze half a season later at the exact same pier. He's even manipulated into thinking the location was his own idea.
* LeanAndMean: After completing his FaceHeelTurn, he begins his transformation into the Riddler, who was always a NonActionBigBad on account of his lack of muscle mass.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: He killed [[AssholeVictim Tom]] to protect Miss Kringle, but it led to his StartOfDarkness. Then, it gets even worse when he accidentally kills Miss Kringle himself when she rejects him after learning the truth. Ironically, it's Penguin's love for him - killing Isabella - that finally snaps him, as he goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Penguin that ends in his (seeming) death and Ed becoming the Riddler in full.
* LoveRedeems: Played straight but ends tragically. While Ed is in a relationship with Kristen Kringle he gradually becomes more stable. As admitted by the second persona after Ed accidently kills her, he would've vanished completely before long had she lived.
* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: He tries to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this by performing an autopsy in "The Mask", and goes through the process just fine until the actual medical examiner comes in and tells him off.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone:
** After he kills Tom, he realizes that he won't be coming back to normal anytime soon.
** He accidentally strangles Miss Kringle in a fit of panic, but realizes too late that he killed her.
* MythologyGag:
** Nygma is briefly seen holding a coffee mug with the Riddler's trademark question mark on the side.
** He also might be a big walking one to the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries'' version of the Riddler, given that ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins Arkham Origins]]'' revealed that prior to becoming the Riddler or even the pre-Riddler alias of "Enigma", he was a member of the GCPD.
** The bright green suit and black bowler hat that he sports as the Riddler is very much a modernized, updated version of [[http://d1xgwawrm1fpry.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/25082737/riddler.jpg Frank Gorshin's suit]] from the [[Series/Batman1966 1960's TV series]]. In the finale he [[https://gotham.fandom.com/wiki/Edward_Nygma?file=NygmaFinal.jpg gets a new outfit]] even more closely resembling Gorshin's question mark outfit.
** The name of the game show that he hosts in the Narrows? [[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2025795.Batman The Riddle Factory]].
* NiceHat: His black bowler hat, which may have been Oswald's since he wore a similar hat during early season 2.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: His excessive paranoia over Kristen's death leads him to mistake Jim's relatively innocent queries over Kristen's disappearance as a sign that he's been rumbled, and moves to frame Gordon - a move that ends up exposing him to the rest of the GCPD. If he'd not acted, he may well have gotten away with it.
* NonActionBigBad: Played with: he's a lot more hands on than many incarnations of the character, with an impressive list of people he's personally murdered, but he still tries to stay out of fighting the show's more capable characters. Played for laughs in "Ruin" when he tries and fails to pull a paper folder from Lucius Fox's grasp. It's so pathetic Lucius just looks bored the whole time.
* NoSocialSkills: He's blissfully unaware of how weird he comes across, and is convinced everyone at the station is his buddy. He also doesn't notice basic social cues, often standing around smiling after people have stopped speaking to him, not realizing that they non-verbally want him to leave. Interestingly subverted when he becomes the Riddler - he's far more confident and able to interact normally with others (even if those others are psychopaths like Penguin and Barbara).
* NotSoDifferent:
** No matter how much he hates Tom for abusing Kristen, he himself ends up violently manhandling and accidentally killing her. When his SplitPersonality begins to emerge he even says it would be good for her to fear him a little (much as Tom had insisted women need a "firm hand"), before admonishing himself for talking like that.
** He later also compares himself to the Penguin. Informing Cobblepot that they are both evil men who should embrace their true murderous intentions now that the people most important to them can no longer hold them back.
* ObliviousToLove: He's genuinely clueless that Oswald is in love with him in season 3. It takes Barbara, of all people, to spell it out for him.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When Gordon is desperately trying to get in touch with Leslie Thompkins because he believes the Ogre is after her, he demands to know where she is. Nygma pauses for a second and simply and straightforwardly tells Gordon what he knows.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: In the grand finale, once Batman and the Joker begin their game, Nygma just gets so overshadowed by the two that he practically becomes a nuisance rather than the villainous mastermind he dreamed of being.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: He shoots Penguin and dumps his body in the bay for killing his beloved Isabella, despite the mob boss begging for forgiveness.
* PragmaticVillainy:
** He and Penguin despise each other by late season 3 - but still agree to work together because both know they can't escape the Court of Owls' prison without each other. Riddler even insists on a six-hour window where they not go after each other after getting out, and both abide by it.
** He helps Jim [[spoiler:unravel Jeremiah Valeska's plan not because he cares about Gotham being reduced to rubble, but because he's hoping to use the info to ensure a new life for him and Lee elsewhere.]]
** Invoked by its absence in season 5: he's able to convince Barbara that he was an UnwittingPawn in [[spoiler:the Haven bombing]] by pointing out that in their long history together when had he ever done anything as [[StupidEvil pointlessly stupid]] as that atrocity?
* RealityEnsues:
** His attempts at performing the duties of the medical examiner eventually get him suspended when said medical examiner goes to Captain Essen in "The Fearsome Dr. Crane" and threatens to go over her head over the issue. Fortunately, he ends up coming back when the ME's own medical improprieties are revealed.
** Deducing the only way out of Gotham is via submarine is all well and good, but actually building one from scratch taxes even his formidable abilities - especially as Penguin thinks his share of the partnership consists of getting snacks for them.
* TheRival: He considers himself as one for Jim, especially when it comes to their feelings for Lee. Jim considers him more of an UnknownRival, given at that point he has stopping Jeremiah blowing up the city on his plate.
* SanitySlippage:
** In the final episode of Season One he realizes that he unconsciously left a clue pointing at himself after killing Tom, and begins to break at the seams, having fits of paranoia and hearing voices. Come season two he's headed right into Gollum-esque arguments with his own evil urges via a mirror. Then he accidentally murders his girlfriend Kristen in a fit of blind panic. In Season 2, he deteriorates to the point where he's become an AxCrazy psychopath.
** Again in the finale: he acts far more manic than before due to [[spoiler:spending ''ten years'' in Arkham]].
* SaveTheVillain: He treats the Penguin after finding him wounded in the forest.
* SayMyName: After numerous episodes of Penguin refusing to name Ed's alter-ego out of spite, his finally calling Ed the Riddler in season 4 (because he's desperate enough to need him to get out of Arkham) causes the Riddler personality bubbling beneath Ed's surface to take over once more.
* SherlockScan: Deduces Barbara is [[spoiler:pregnant]] within seconds of seeing her in "Ace Chemicals".
* SkewedPriorities: PlayedForDrama. [[spoiler: Having Lee turn into the woman he was meant to be with as his top priority leads to him kidnapping and attempting to murder Gordon which in turn leads to him not having enough time to find and disarm all of Jeremiah's bombs.]]
* SlasherSmile: After transitioning into a villain he starts smirking evilly after embracing his inner darkness.
* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: Speaks in riddles, is a forensic scientist, and wears big browline glasses.
* SmugSnake: Rubs his freedom and position of power in the faces of Lee and Barnes.
* TheSociopath: Played with. He freely admits that the people of the Narrows can all “drown in a stew of their own filth, and I won’t lose a wink of sleep,” but he helps them anyway because he genuinely cares about Lee. By the end of the series, this attitude is given a callback when he gives a truly terrifying speech to Oswald about how he felt absolutely nothing for the Gotham citizens he had just fought beside, and he only desires to never be like them again and completely rule them. However, mere moments later, he passes up a chance to literally stab Oswald in the back and genuinely, affectionately embraces his friend with tears in his eyes.
* SpannerInTheWorks: He has Jim followed by his people when he goes to rescue Lee from the GCPD in season 4, and specifically orders they make sure he isn't harmed so Lee doesn't blame him. If it weren't for this, Jim would have been atomized by [[spoiler:Jeremiah's]] bomb and wouldn't have been around to derail [[spoiler:the future Joker's]] plan later in the episode.
* SplitPersonality: He hallucinates a dark reflection of himself urging him to perform evil by giving in to his inner hate. It's later made clear that this second personality is the Riddler persona, who acts as a separate being from Edward. Given an interesting twist in season 4 - the Riddler personality is back in the driver's seat, but starts hallucinating the Ed persona, needling him about falling for Lee Thompkins. This time out the Ed personality is considerably more calm and confident, while the Riddler is much more stressed and less in control, to the point if a viewer unfamiliar with the show were to watch the scenes they share, it'd be difficult to tell which personality was which.
* SplitPersonalityMerge: At the end of "Mommy's Little Monster." [[spoiler: Inverted at the end of "Queen Takes Knight", where the two have split again.]]
* StalkerWithACrush: He comes across this way with Kristen Kringle, since given his NoSocialSkills and love for riddles, it comes off as creepy.
* TheStarscream: After figuring out that Penguin had put a hit on Isabella. Though unlike most examples he doesn't seek to supplant Penguin, merely ruin his happiness the same way Penguin ruined his.
* StartOfDarkness: Killing Tom was this. Cemented further by his killing Kristen when she freaks out over his revealing this.
* SuppressedRage: In response to [[BerserkButton being called names (yet again)]] by Bullock, he crushes the cryogenically frozen rose he was holding in one hand. It's the slow sound of the rose cracking apart that really sells it.
* TakingTheBullet: During the police massacre in "Knock, Knock", he manages to save Kringle this way. Fortunately, it wasn't a fatal shot. He also pushes Oswald out of the way of Butch Gilzean’s murderous wrath.
* ThrowTheDogABone: Lampshaded in "Anything for You". When he, as Mayor Cobblepot's Chief of Staff, pulls rank on Captain Barnes, Barnes reminds him how lucky he is to be in his current position after everything in eight simple words.
-->'''Barnes''': Every dog has his day, Nygma. ''Enjoy yours.''
* TookALevelInBadass: He goes from the GCPD's nerdy crime scene analyst that nobody except Gordon liked to a master criminal even the Court of Owls regarded as a SpannerInTheWorks in the space of three seasons.
* TookALevelInJerkass: After he pulls his FaceHeelTurn.
* TragicVillain: This version of Nygma is the most sympathetic portrayal of the villain in live action.
* TraitorShot: He gets plenty after his FaceHeelTurn, including several in "Mad Grey Dawn", one of which takes place when Gordon's arrested.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Inverted. He's actually ''overestimating'' badassery when he assumes that Jim Gordon has caught on to his murders and seeks to eliminate him in order to cover his tracks despite Gordon literally knowing nothing about Nygma's FaceHeelTurn.
* UndyingLoyalty: To Oswald in Season 3, risking his life for him on more than one occasion and committing all his considerable brainpower and resources towards his friend's success, at one point even sincerely telling Oswald that he’d do anything for him. Obviously broken during their fall out, but by the time their friendship is repaired in Season 5, writers confirm that Ed is only defending Gotham from Bane because Oswald is there. In the TimeSkip finale, he even blindly follows the escape plan laid out for him because he thought Oswald was behind it.
* TheUnfettered: He regards himself as this after Kristen's death. He passes along this philosophy to the Penguin as well, convincing him that the Galavans' murder of his mother has removed his only weakness. Subverted though: subsequent seasons show that he's still tethered to people he cares about, like Oswald and [[spoiler:Lee]], both of whom influence his behaviour for better and worse.
* UnwittingPawn: Of [[spoiler:the future Bane, courtesy of a mind-control chip in his head]]. Unfortunately, the TimeSkip finale also sees him become this to [[spoiler:a not-so-comatose Joker.]]
* VillainDecay: After he escapes from his frozen prison, the Riddler loses his magnificent intelligence and credibility as a once feared villain of Gotham. He's eventually forced to survive on the streets acting as a pathetic mugger before he teams up with Solomon Grundy, who's essentially his meal ticket and the only reason why he's not down under even further. Comes roaring back later in the season once Penguin reawakens his Riddler personality. Then ''again'' in the grand finale, where he and Penguin get effortlessly beat up by the Batman. His final scene is both him and Oswald being ''too afraid'' of the caped crusader to consider a rematch. Needless to say, Riddler has not made himself a feared powerhouse in Gotham like he used to be.
* VillainProtagonist: Behind Gordon, Bruce and Penguin he's become perhaps the most focused-on character in the show, with significant portions of each season spent exploring his gradual descent into insanity, his revenge on Penguin, return to his Riddler persona and complex relationship with Thompkins.
* VillainRespect: Notably for someone who mocks most others as intellectual inferiors, has this for Lucius Fox, even going so far as to call him the Second-Smartest Man in the City.
* VillainousBreakdown: Is having a drawn out one after killing Penguin, as his episode-long rampage in "How the Riddler Got His Name" is essentially his trying to find himself after killing his best friend. And again at the end of season 3 when he realises how thoroughly Penguin has outsmarted him.
* VillainousBSOD: Suffers a serious meltdown upon realizing that he accidentally murdered his girlfriend Kristen. Has another one after (supposedly) killing Penguin, as Oswald's taunt Ed is nothing without him provokes him to go on an episode-long rampage to define his own identity.
* VillainousFriendship: With the Penguin, beginning midway through Season 2. Even when it looks like he betrayed the Penguin, it's soon revealed that whatever it was he did, it was to further the Penguin's cause. It's one such revelation that gets him named the Penguin's Chief of Staff upon his election as Mayor of Gotham. Not remotely surprisingly, it all goes wrong, and they spend much of season 3 trying to kill each other. [[spoiler:Season 4 sees a reconciliation of sorts after Oswald lets the Riddler personality loose again, and in season 5 the two even share a laugh about how weird their relationship is after Riddler murders Mr. Penn.]]
* VillainousRescue: Saves Martin from Sofia Falcone's thugs at Penguin's behest. Even [[PetTheDog tells him they'll get ice cream afterwards]].
* VillainousValour: Played with when [[spoiler:Bane comes for Barbara]]: Riddler claims his and Penguin taking on Bane with an [[ImprobableWeaponUser improvised oxygen tank bomb]] was solely so he could steal back [[spoiler:the part for their submarine she'd stolen]]. Except he clearly does that before the two villains have to face the armoured psycho, so there's definitely some of this in play, even if it ends in the two of them [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere abandoning the ladies to their fate]].
* WalkingSpoiler: After season 2 it's tough to hide that his time as the GCPD's forensic specialist doesn't end well...
* WeUsedToBeFriends: With Gordon. When they're waiting for the Court of Owls' representatives in season 3, Jim reminisces over their respective failed relationships and shows regret things went so badly between them.
* WickedCultured: Keen enough on Shakespeare that he offs an actor playing Hamlet because he found his performance so underwhelming.
* WifeBasherBasher: Well it's more like "Wife Basher Slasher," when he knifes [[AssholeVictim Tom]] [[KickTheSonOfABitch to death]] [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill over and over and over again.]]
* WildCard: He doesn't really care about the city's power structures or running Gotham (and admits as much to Barbara), but he'll help the other villains or hinder them depending on whether it suits his goals.
* WorthyOpponent: He's got a grudging respect for Lucius Fox, the only one at the GCPD that proves capable of both solving his riddles and working out his motives. He notably leaves him alive at the end of "How the Riddler Got His Name" and in season 5 even refers to him as "the second smartest man in Gotham".
* WouldHitAGirl: Accidentally murdered Kristen in season 2, though he genuinely didn't mean that one. He stabbed Lee in "No Man's Land" when he believes she still has feelings for Gordon (though, as he points out when they meet again in season 5, she stabbed him first). Later throws a wheelchair-bound old woman to her death in "Ruin" after [[spoiler:realizing she'd seen his other personality commit the Haven bombing]].
* WrongGenreSavvy:
** He's implied to be deliberately trying to position himself as the PluckyComicRelief of the cops with his line "Everyone needs some humor in their lives." See all the above for how well it works.
** Played with in his belief he can be TheHero of his and Kristen's story - with his plucky "stop right there Buster!" he really seems to think his warning the larger, drunk Tom (who he knows can be violent) to first leave Kirsten alone, then leave Gotham will work. Then it turns out that he had the foresight to bring a knife with him, indicating he'd at least planned for the possibility of killing Tom...
** In the finale he still seems to think he's in a VillainousFriendship with Barbara, reminiscing on how awesome she used to be and laying out his plans to her - just as he had done in seasons prior. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, her HeelFaceTurn is genuine, and she's just stalling so Selina can knock him out.]]
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating:
** For the GCPD in the first half of season 3. When mayor Oswald appoints him his liason with the GCPD - [[RealityEnsues everybody hates him]] for his prior actions. Bullock loathes him for his prior framing of Jim, Lee punches him for Kristen's murder (and dares him to do something about it given she's marrying Carmine Falcone's son) and Barnes even makes it clear that he only tolerates his presence at the station because he likes his own job more than he dislikes Nygma. Lucius is the only one that even tries to work with him out of a grudging respect for his intellect.
** Becomes this for the populace of Gotham in season 5 after it gets out he was the one responsible for the [[spoiler:Haven bombing. Averted later on, when Gordon finds out he was being controlled by a chip inserted by Strange, and controlled by Eduardo. Also one of the few times Nygma is completely ''horrified'' by "his" actions.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Selina Kyle/Catwoman]]
!![[ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} Selina "Cat" Kyle]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/204_004_gotham_strike_force_10.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Five minutes on the street, you'll be mincemeat."'']]
[[quoteright:340:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gotham_lili.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:340:Selina as an adult]]
->'''Played By:''' Camren Bicondova, Creator/LiliSimmons (adult)

-->''"Rule number one: look after number one."''

A teenage girl with a fondness for theft and cats. The future ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}. She witnessed the murder of the Waynes, and has been keeping an eye on Bruce, a relationship that gradually sees both become more and more attracted to each other [[DatingCatwoman despite their differing moral codes]].
----
* AbortedArc: Selina gaining her unstable, ferocious cat-like powers gets totally forgotten by the end of the show. Though the closest we get is a hint that she has it under control now, but they never pop up ever again.
* AdaptationalBadass: Selina seems to demonstrate superb acrobatics and combat skills ''before'' getting trained in martial arts. Also, she's already shaping up into her hardened, intelligent con-artist self during her teenage years.
* AgeLift: A minor one, but ''ComicBook/BatmanYearOne'' explicitly has Bruce aged 25, while later works featuring Selina in this timeframe establish she's 18 when the two unwittingly meet. Here, their onscreen ages are revised to relect the actor's ages (Camren Bicondova is roughly a year older than David Mazouz) so that Selina is a year older than Bruce.
* TheAloner: She frequently ends up isolated from everyone else thanks to her cynical, selfish attitude and trust issues due to living on the mean streets of the city all her life. It's habit that has both [[GenreSavvy benefited her]] and [[RealityEnsues screwed her over.]]
* AnimalMotif: She may not have taken the mantle of Catwoman up yet, but young Selina is seen moving like a cat as she prowls through Gotham. And feeding a cat. In one scene, she's seen playing with her locket as a cat would. And she's nicknamed "Cat" for obvious reasons.
* TheApprentice: Tabitha takes her under her wing in the season 3 finale. Once Barbara returns, the three become the Sirens.
* ArchEnemy: Silver is this for her in season 2 after she twigs her motives towards Bruce aren't good. After [[spoiler:he almost cripples her in season 4 she regards Jeremiah Valeska as this]].
* BadassAdorable: She's an extremely smart and savvy survivor of Gotham's mean streets, but she's still just a kid. Especially pronounced in the first season where, as Fish's [[TheDragon chief henchman]], she looks almost comical recapturing Gordon and Falcone with a pack of much larger mooks in tow.
-->'''Selina:''' [while holding Lee at gunpoint] You're cute, for a doctor.
-->'''Lee:''' Thanks. You're cute, for a gangster.
* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: Kills Reggie to keep Bruce's hands clean. Later tries to [[spoiler:kill Jerome to keep Bruce safe.]]
* BattleCouple: With Bruce: they compliment each other's fighting style amazingly well, especially in seasons 4 and 5.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor:
** She often expresses the belief that she's better off on her own. When Bruce cuts ties with her at the end of season 3 she's left without anyone and really doesn't like it. She ends up going to Barbara and Tabitha of all people (though she doesn't know Barbara is dead) because she's terrified of being alone again.
** Expresses the plaintive hope that her mother will return to Bruce in season 1. In season 3 her mother does return - and shortly proves to be using her to con money out of Bruce. It's particularly crushing as unlike the Silver situation this time it's Bruce who instantly spots the deception while Selina naively hopes for the best.
* BerserkButton: She hates being compared to her mom.
* BigSisterInstinct: For all her protestations of not caring about people, this is how her relationship with Bruce forms, as she's unable to stop checking on him after the death of his parents. Throughout the series also does this with Ivy and Bridgit.
* BrattyTeenageDaughter: Alfred finds her a handful, and at first wants her gone. The two eventually develop into FireForgedFriends, at first because they both recognize the other usually has Bruce's best interests at heart, and later because they start to genuinely like each other.
* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: She tells Bruce she never saw his parents' killer, and it was just a lie to save herself from juvie. While it visibly hurts Bruce, she knows any association with Bruce will ultimately endanger them both. She's later on the receiving end when Bruce elects to stop living with her in the city in order not to put her in danger.
* BrutalHonesty:
** Isn't afraid to speak her mind, as Bruce figures out, notably when she bluntly tells him there was nothing he could have done to save his parents.
** In "Pena Dura", not only did she confess to Bruce that she was there the night his parents were killed, she admits that she didn't do anything to help not because she was scared but because [[ItsAllAboutMe she didn't care and was only looking out for herself]].
* ButNowIMustGo: Selina leaves Wayne Manor on her own accord once she realizes that the danger she's in is too much for Bruce, a rich kid who doesn't know much about the city, to handle at his age. She comes back though, and begins to form a friendship with Bruce through the seasons.
* ByronicHero: Much like her original counterpart.
* CameBackWrong: [[spoiler:She's healed from her crippling spinal injury at Jeremiah's hands by Ivy's potion - but she has actual cat's eyes, and acts distinctly more vicious and out-of-control]].
* CassandraTruth: Selina figures out [[HoneyTrap Silver]] is manipulating Bruce, but he doesn't believe her... at least until he finally sees that she was right all along after they trick Silver into revealing her true colors.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: With Bruce Wayne, and the both have a WillTheyOrWontThey relationship. [[DatingCatwoman Naturally]]. After nearly five seasons of false starts and rocky patches [[spoiler:they look to begin a relationship at Jim and Leslie's wedding - but then events with Jeremiah and Bane convince Bruce of the need for anonymity in his crime fighting, in order to protect his loved ones, leading him to abandon Gotham and Selina to seek further training. By the time Bruce comes back as Batman, Selina is Catwoman in all but name, leaving them free to take up their famously complex relationship from the comics.]]
* CivvieSpandex: Selina doesn't wear a costume yet, but does sport a black jacket and a pair of goggles. The TimeSkip finale shows her adopting something very close to her comics look, minus the ears.
* ClassyCatBurglar: In the distant finale, Selina has finally grown into the mischievous master thief we all know her as. She even cleans up rather nicely while attending a swag party, to the point where everyone barely recognizes her as the street urchin she used to be, with Barbara noting she's turned into quite the socialite around town.
* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames: She's never actually referred to as Catwoman in the finale, despite her having the look, thieving skills and on-off relationship with Bruce by this point. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3f9KDnR_00 One of the promo videos refers to her as such in the title though]].
* CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority: She knows full well that the cops are corrupt, and she won't take any of their bullcrap.
* CombatPragmatist: Knows to go for the eyes first in a fighting situation. In her battle with the mutant leader, she disables her much larger foe by kicking out his ankle, then pummeling him while he's down.
* CompositeCharacter: She replaces ComicBook/HarleyQuinn as Poison Ivy's best friend.
* DatingCatwoman: She's not Catwoman yet, and neither are they dating, but their numerous flirtations have a lot of shades of this given their extremely different experiences and morals.
-->'''Bruce:''' There's something between us. You have to see that.\\
'''Selina:''' Rule one: Don't ever tell me what I have to do.\\
''[she kisses him]''\\
'''Bruce:''' So you ''do'' have feelings for me? I'm confused.\\
'''Selina:''' Good. [leaves]
* {{Delinquents}}: She's been in and out of juvie quite a lot, and she does ''not'' want to go back. She'd rather stay on the streets.
* DidNotGetTheGirl: By the end of the series, Selina and Bruce are at odds again once more, questioning whether or not they can ever go back to their fun, loving days. Thus starting the classic WillTheyOrWontThey relationship their adult counterparts are known for.
* TheDragon: Becomes one for Fish Mooney in the season 1 finale, as she sees her return to Gotham and thinks she's cool. She also gets coerced into becoming one for Firefly later on.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Tries to kill herself when the despair of using the use of her legs thanks to Jeremiah becomes too much. Fortunately the doctors are there to stop her.]]
* DueToTheDead: She removes her hood during Thomas and Martha's funeral.
* EscapeArtist: She's able to pick a pair of police cuffs with a ''pen''. After that Gordon realizes the chances of getting her to stay in police custody are next to nil.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The first few minutes of the pilot show how skilled and bold a pickpocket she is, and her connection with cats.
* EveryoneHasStandards: She kills Reggie when she realizes Bruce can't do it (and he'll likely expose them to Wayne Enterprises and get them both killed), but she's shown to be highly uncomfortable with killing those who can't fight back. When Ivy murders a hypnotized Wayne scientist and later when Penguin guns down a critically injured Magpie she's horrified both times.
* EyeScream: Her initial method of combat involves clawing out an opponent's eyes.
* FauxPaw: Bats around a locket with her hand curled up like a cat.
* FirstGirlWins: More complicated than most examples of this trope due to her and Bruce's [[DatingCatwoman infamously complicated relationship]], but Selina's the first girl Bruce meets in the series that's his own age and by the time of the DistantFinale 15 years after they still have a WillTheyOrWontThey relationship.
* FiveFingerDiscount: Pickpockets people with frequency and aplomb. Whenever Bruce or Gordon need something stolen she's their go-to girl.
* GoForTheEye: Her preferred way of attacking people in early episodes. She can do some major damage.
* GogglesDoNothing: Selina is usually seen with a pair of goggles on top of her hood, as a nod to more modern versions of Catwoman who wear goggles as part of their costume.
* GoodIsNotNice: She's technically one of the good guys, and she's clearly way more moral than someone like Penguin - but she's still a kid who grew up on the mean streets of Gotham, and as such has a distinctly more pragmatic outlook than someone like Bruce - best shown where she realizes Bruce doesn't have what it takes to deal with Reggie in season 1 and shoves him out a window herself. Bruce actually tells her she's a good person but not a nice one at one point early on, much to her discomfiture.
* HeKnowsTooMuch: She saw the Waynes' assassin before he covered up his head. Because of that, whoever hired the hitman wants her dead.
* HeelFaceTurn: She's firmly on the side of good in season 5 after [[spoiler:she helps Bruce save Gordon and Lee from Jeremiah. She even makes friends with Alfred.]]
* HellBentForLeather: She's always had an affinity for leather jackets, but from season 4 on she's almost never seen without a leather catsuit, much like her mentor Tabitha. She even wears it to [[spoiler:Gordon and Leslie's wedding in season 5]].
* HellholePrison: The juvenile hall upstate she was sent to upstate is this, apparently. She does ''not'' want to go back.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: How she justifies killing Reggie. "It's called surviving."
* InstantExpert: She's shown to be incredibly good with Tabitha's whip on first try.
* ImprobableHairstyle: Her hairdo seems a little high maintenance for someone living on the street. Towards the end of season 2, she somehow manages to not only straighten it, but also dye it.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: In Bruce's words, she's a good person but she's "not nice". She doesn't appreciate the observation.
* KarmaHoudini: Hugely. While she has her share of awful things happen to her over the series, she's stolen many, many things, worked for Fish as her [[TheDragon dragon]] (twice) and straight-up killed someone in season one - yet she rarely suffers any long-term consequences. Even [[spoiler:getting crippled by Jeremiah was his way of getting at Bruce rather than for anything she did.]] Played straight by the end of the series, where after directly watching her in the act of stealing a diamond, Bruce simply gives her a lecture and a weak apology for not being able to help her instead of arresting her for a museum theft. Even after he departs she doesn't even consider returning the diamond she stole.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: She shows great [[TheChessmaster "Chessmaster"]] tendencies when tricking what is believed to be the name of the Wayne killer out of Silver by means of cold-blooded torture at the hands of someone who appears to be an associate of hers. Bruce, who was also subjected to it, played along with Selina's plan, and his role in her torture gambit is only revealed after the name is.
* KindheartedCatLover: Part of her EstablishingCharacterMoment is her stealing some milk in the first scene of the Pilot - only to drop into an alley to give it to a stray cat (it's actually what leads her to be there to see the Wayne murders). Season 3 shows she has a whole host of pet cats at her squat at any given time.
* LaserGuidedKarma: When she refuses to help Alfred look for Bruce in the season 3 finale, which earns her a massive WhatTheHellHero from the butler. Bruce ends up stabbing Alfred as a result of the Court of Owl's manipulations, leading Bruce to furiously sever ties with Selina as a result.
* LeParkour: Gotham is one big jungle gym to her. Ties into her actress' abilities as well.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: The light to Silver's dark, ironically, considering whose side Silver is on.
* LittleMissBadass: Selina may be a child, but she manages to survive in the very hard streets of Gotham and has escaped from criminals and the police several times.
* LittleMissSnarker: Selina does her future counterpart proud with how much sass she exudes. Considering her status as a street kid, she likely uses it to cope with her harsh life, as well as [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold to conceal her feelings and vulnerabilities]]. She snarks at everyone, but [[ServileSnarker Alfred]] in particular seems to [[SnarkToSnarkCombat bring it out of her]] (of course, this could be because [[WouldHitAGirl he punched her in the face]] - she's not happy with him about that).
--> '''Bruce:''' What do you have against the front door?
--> '''Selina:''' Nothing. It's the ape who opens it I could live without.
* LoveableRogue: Her EstablishingCharacterMoment shows her as this: She takes out a switchblade, but only uses it to slash open a grocery bag and steal a jug of milk, which it turns out was not for her, but for a stray cat. The only other thing she steals is a little cash from a passerby. Throughout the scene, she avoids inflicting a single physical injury on anyone.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Starts playing as one to Bruce, once she moves to Wayne Manor. She questions his odd behavior and decisions, and manages to do in a couple of days what Alfred has been trying to do for weeks without success: get Bruce to act like a kid and have some fun.
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: The tough street fighter Masculine Girl to Bruce's sensitive, domestic Feminine Boy while they're living together.
* MeaningfulName: Her name on the streets is Cat, which is what she prefers to be called.
* MissingMom: The police think her mom is dead. Selina insists that she's alive somewhere. She turns out to be right in season 3, [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor much to her massive disappointment]].
* MythologyGag:
** Bicondova looks very much like a young Creator/MichellePfeiffer, who was Catwoman in ''Film/BatmanReturns'', right down to a similar hairstyle.
** Selina doesn't go by Catwoman yet, but she calls herself Cat. In her very first comic book appearance, Catwoman was just called the Cat.
** Selina shares the same fate as her namesake from ''Film/BatmanReturns'' when she is [[spoiler: pushed out of a window and killed, only to be resurrected by alley cats]].
** She's shown to be an ace with Tabitha's whip, like every other version of the character.
* NeverHurtAnInnocent: For all her talk about being ruthless and mean, Selina seems to have a strict policy about not harming anyone who hasn't tried to harm her first. Even when stealing from people (as in her EstablishingCharacterMoment), she avoids hurting them.
* NotSoSimilar: She tries this on Bruce after [[spoiler:she thinks she's killed Jeremiah]], claiming that she was there in the alley the night his parents were killed and did nothing not because she was a scared kid like him but because she didn't care. Played with though: while Bruce believes her enough he needs a pep talk from Harvey Bullock, the haunted look on her face as she says all this indicates she [[MyGreatestFailure doesn't actually believe it]], and is just trying to make Bruce go away.
* OddFriendship: With Bruce, and later Fish.
* PetTheDog: Steals a jug of milk to feed a stray cat.
* PintSizedPowerhouse: Despite being only 13 and half the height of most adults, she can easily take down larger opponents in physical combat.
* PuppyLove: She may act mainly as TheTease towards Bruce, but over the course of "Harvey Dent" and "Lovecraft" it's clear she has genuine feelings for him. By the end of "The Ball of Mud and Meanness", he's moved in with her, and by the end of season 4 things start to get serious between them.
* RealWomenDontWearDresses: She hates dressing girly, but does so for an undercover mission with Bruce. She's seen doing so several more times so she can pickpocket fancy galas, and it becomes a more frequent occurrence after she joins up with Barbara and Tabitha as she deals with idiots in their club - including a drunken Bruce.
* RealityEnsues: She's sarcastic, spiky, incredibly difficult to get to know and will frequently sell out anyone at the drop of a hat. Consequently, she's been left completely isolated and cut off several times - most notably at the end of season 3, where her refusal to help look for Bruce gets Alfred stabbed and leads Bruce to cut ties with her. By episode's end she's begging Tabitha for help because she doesn't want to be on her own any more.
* RefugeInAudacity: Averted. She once attempted to rob a fancy department store in broad daylight, and got caught by the cops for her troubles.
* RevengeBeforeReason: In season 5, she's obsessed with making [[spoiler:Jeremiah pay for crippling her by shooting her in the spine]] despite Bruce trying to convince her not to do it, even ditching Bruce to do so. In "Ruin" she [[spoiler:gets her wish, stabbing him repeatedly in the stomach.]]
* RunningGag: Her ability to get in and out of Wayne Manor with ease despite the security. Bruce and Alfred barely look surprised when she wanders in for Bruce's birthday.
--> '''Selina:''' Y'know, for a billionaire your security system is lame.
* SarcasticDevotee: She points out that Bruce's behavior is either crazy or suicidal, and yet she still helps him in spite of herself.
* SatisfiedStreetRat: Selina uses Gordon to stay out of juvie, but has no interest in him finding her a better life, and seems quite happy in her career as a pickpocket.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: Whenever she gets arrested, she immediately asks to see Gordon, hoping to evoke this - though not always successfully. In later seasons, she starts going to Bruce when she needs help with something outside the law.
* SecretKeeper: Unlike the comic version of the character (who only found out Bruce was Batman well into their respective careers), it's made clear that here Selina knows Bruce is Batman from the moment he comes back.
* SheCleansUpNicely: For the Wayne Enterprises Charity Ball in "Under the Knife".
* ShesAllGrownUp: In the grand finale, Selina has now aged from a tomboyish hoodlum into an attractive, hot-blooded woman. Alfred and Barbara even compliment how they didn't even recognize her.
* SlapSlapKiss: The PuppyLove edition. Bruce and Selina alternate between trying to shove one another way and running to help when the other is in danger.
* SpannerInTheWorks: Jeremiah's plan would have gone off without a hitch in "Ace Chemicals" if she hadn't shown up at just the right moment.
* StalkerWithACrush: After she sees the Wayne murders, she seems to be taken by Bruce, possibly because he's an orphan, and begins stalking him at a distance throughout the pilot. A later episode shows her breaking into Wayne Manor and watching him sleep. The crush part is emphasized at the end of "Lovecraft": after two episodes of challenging him to kiss her, ''she'' steals a kiss from ''him''.
* StealthHiBye: She pulls one on Bruce in "Lovecraft": He's balancing on a banister in the mansion, clearly by himself, and then Selina just appears there with him. It's quite a feat, considering [[Franchise/{{Batman}} who she pulled it on.]] Does it again when she appears out of nowhere on Bruce's birthday.
* StealthMentor: Perhaps not willingly, but it's clear Bruce has learned a lot about the nature of Gotham and how its underworld works from her.
* StoutStrength: A more [[DownplayedTrope downplayed example]], but she notably averts the WaifFu archetype by being solidly built for a girl her size, with a physique more akin to a gymnast than a dancer. As mentioned above in PintSizedPowerhouse, this Selina is ''very'' capable for someone her age.
* StreetUrchin: This version of Selina Kyle is already a roof-hopping KindHeartedCatLover stealing milk for a stray.
* TheTease: Downplayed since she's a teenager, but acts this way to Bruce, enticing him to try and earn a kiss from her. Hilariously, Bruce seems to have her pegged as an (age appropriate) FemmeFatale already, and is suspicious of her offer of letting him kiss her! Gets a lot more serious in later seasons.
* TokenEvilTeammate: Evil's a stretch, but whenever she teams up with Bruce she's fully aware that, even as he gets more skilled, his moral compass means that sometimes she needs to be there to do the things he can't - she flatly tries to [[spoiler:murder Jerome in season 4, with Bruce being the one to stop her.]]
** Also sometimes with Gordon - when he's trying to entrap Nygma and needs someone to convincingly sell him out to Barnes Selina is the one he goes to.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Tomboy to Ivy's girly girl. In "Under the Knife," she goes on about how she hates wearing dresses and heels.
* TookALevelInBadass: Under Tabitha's tutelage, she goes from a girl who mainly wins fights via [[CombatPragmatist pragmatism]] to someone who can take on all five members of a street gang and easily thrash them.
* TookALevelInKindness: From season 2 onward - we see the depths of her loyalty towards Bruce and later the Sirens, and her genuinely caring about characters like Bridgit and Ivy.
* TookALevelInJerkass:
** Goes from morally ambiguous street urchin, to willing flunky of Fish and later Penguin who was willing to sell out Gordon to be murdered by the former without so much as a shred of regret.
** Again in season 5 when [[spoiler:she's healed by Ivy, at the cost of her inner darkness taking control of her. She becomes obsessed with revenge on Jeremiah, even ditching Bruce to go kill him. This ultimately results into her final transformation into the villainous Catwoman]].
* TricksterMentor: To Bruce. She teaches him about keeping his balance and roof jumping, as well as fighting dirty - Gotham's thugs usually don't wear boxing gloves.
* TwoFirstNames: Per the Creator/DCComics norm.
* UndyingLoyalty: {{Zigzagged|Trope}}. While she does have her selfish moments, she develops this for Bruce as the series progresses. In "One Bad Day", Bruce is trying to apologize for enlisting her assistance in [[spoiler: stopping Jeremiah's plans.]] Selina's response?
--> '''Selina:''' ''(smiles)'' Bruce, I'm gonna be here whenever you need me.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: With Bruce.
* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: While their relationship is... [[DatingCatwoman complicated]] and still [[ToyShip relatively innocent,]] Selina does show this towards Bruce. As both Reggie and Bruce found out when she shoved the former out of a window after the latter hesitated. Later she submits Silver to fake ColdBloodedTorture in order to get Bruce to see her dark side and help him gain information out of her, and in season 4 [[spoiler:takes on Jerome to save Bruce]].
* TheVoiceless: She doesn't speak at all in the pilot. However, she does speak in the subsequent episodes.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: Suffers this with both Firefly and Ivy at various points.
* WhatTheHellHero:
** Receives this from Gordon and Bruce all the time. The chewing out she gets from Alfred for refusing to look for Bruce in the season 3 finale is particularly noteworthy.
** Many times, she winds up giving this to Bruce as well, particularly in Season 4 [[spoiler: during Bruce's bratty phase]]. However, by season 5 she seems to have grown distant from him even further after he left her without warning to seek his TrainingFromHell. She calls him out on this as well.
* WhipItGood: She finally gets her hands on a whip (Catwoman's weapon of choice) by the end of Season 3, courtesy of Tabitha.
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Selina regularly subverts this. Clearly fed up with everyone else's complexity addictions, she often goes for the direct solution, most notably [[spoiler: attempting to shoot Jerome just seconds after meeting him (albeit unsuccessfully)]] and [[spoiler: simply walking up to Jeremiah in disguise and successfully stabbing him in the chest]].
* WorthyOpponent: She calls [[HoneyTrap Silver]] this after being impressed by how good she is at her innocent act.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ivy Pepper/Poison Ivy]]
!![[ComicBook/PoisonIvy Ivy Pepper]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gotham_s45_trailer_adult_ivy_batman_tease.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"First I was a seed. Then a sprout. Now I've bloomed."'']]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Ivy as portrayed by Maggie Geha.]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maggie_geha_poison_ivy_gotham_600x350.jpg]][[/labelnote]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Ivy as portrayed by Clare Foley.]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clare_foley_gotham_ivy.jpg]][[/labelnote]]
->'''Played By:''' Clare Foley (Seasons 1-3), Maggie Geha (Seasons 3-4), Peyton List (Seasons 4-5)

--> ''"Plants make better friends than most people, and some of them help save your life."''

The daughter of Mario Pepper, a small-time crook who was framed by the mob as the Waynes' killer. She's prematurely aged by one of Fish Mooney's gang, and becomes a follower of Penguin in season 3, before undergoing another transformation in season 4 that turns her into Comicbook/PoisonIvy in all but name.
----
* AbusiveParents: Her father was physically abusive to her mother and possibly her, too, though she still hates the cops for gunning him down.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Poison Ivy is typically a redhead. While Clare Foley's Ivy is sort of red, Maggie Geha and Peyton List are brunette.
* AdaptationNameChange: From Pamela Isley in the comics to Ivy Pepper on the show. However, a [[http://gothamchronicle.com/post/106575104731/teen-runaway-spotted-at-the-flea-ivy-pepper Gotham Chronicle article]] states her adoptive family calls her Pamela.
* [[AdaptationalNiceGuy Adaptational Nice Girl]]: Played with. Due to her essentially still having the mind and maturity of a child, she's actually pretty nice after her first AgeLift. She notably doesn't kill Nick despite his throwing a plant in the trash, helps the recuperating Penguin out of genuine kindness, saves Selina's life after Bruce's clone nearly kills her and views the RagtagBandOfMisfits Oswald throws together at the end of season 3 as like a family (even helping convince Firefly to join). But after her [[spoiler:second transformation her characterization falls in line with the person-hating eco-terrorist of the comics.]]
* AdaptationOriginConnection: In the comics, Poison Ivy wasn't connected to the Wayne murders at all. In the show, her father is accused of the crime, both her parents end up dead as a result of the fallout and she finds herself living in the streets.
* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Most versions of Ivy are an eco-terrorist who wants to do all she can to [[WellIntentionedExtremist save the Earth's plant life]] and sometimes displayed an almost [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds sympathetic side]] at times. This version is a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} who's mainly looking out for herself by seeking financial gain while her love for plants is downplayed. [[spoiler: Halfway through Season 4, after Ivy's second rebirth, her characterization becomes more in line with her comic version.]]
* AdaptationalDumbass: This incarnation of Ivy is a lot dumber than most versions of the character, who've had scientific backgrounds and a mastery of botany. The show's version of Ivy makes foolish decisions all the time according to Selina. [[spoiler: This changes in Season 4.]]
* AdvertisedExtra: For all her appearances in promo material, she remains little more than a recurring minor character, unlike Nygma. [[spoiler:Her role is greatly expanded in Seasons 3 and 4 after the character is recast.]]
* TheAgeless: What is implied after her transformations - when she feels the need to grow stronger or adapt to a new situation, this Ivy can cook up a brew (or steal it from someone) that will allow her to [[TheNthDoctor shed that form and take a new one]]. [[AdaptiveAbility That she grows smarter]] and [[MisanthropeSupreme colder to humanity]] with each transformation, well, that's just Ivy...
* AffablyEvil: After her first age-up. She's a genuinely nice (if self-centered and rather dim) person who seeks the friendship of others. That [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter those others are super-villains like Penguin, Freeze and Firefly is unfortunate]]...
* AgeLift: Thanks to her PlotRelevantAgeUp in Season 3, she's now about 10 years older than Bruce and Selina. [[spoiler:In Season 4, she goes through another AgeLift and is now a full-on adult.]]
* AllThereInTheManual: Her adoptive name being Pamela comes from an online article and is never mentioned in series. Furthermore, her alias Poison Ivy is currently only shown in promotional material.
* ArcVillain: She is the main antagonist of Season 4 from the mid-season premiere until she is PutOnABus.
* BerserkButton:
** When Bruce mentions who he is to her in "Lovecraft", her tone gets harsher and she starts asking him if he killed her father or made her mother cut her wrists.
** As demonstrated in "Burn the Witch", ''never'' mistreat or throw away plant life in front of her, or she ''will'' concuss you. [[spoiler:Becomes a whole lot more violent about this in season 4]].
** Being treated as stupid (she sort of brought it upon herself for saying stupid things at the wrong moment).
* BigBadEnsemble: In Season 4, she's one of the many villains vying for the role.
* BigEater: In "The Executioner", she wolfs down literally all the food in Selina's home. And judging by Selina's reaction to it, it's not the first time it happened.
* BrainlessBeauty: After she ages up to an adult she becomes beautiful, but still has the mindset of a naive child. [[spoiler:After her second age-up, she becomes a lot smarter.]]
--> '''Penguin:''' [monologuing to the frozen Riddler] Remember how you accused me of being a slave to my emotions? No more. I’ve banished those feelings. And look how I have risen. But at what cost? I wonder which of us is frozen...
--> '''Ivy:''' Him. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint He’s like, totally frozen]].
--> '''Penguin:''' [[SurroundedByIdiots ...Ivy, go somewhere else]].
* BreakTheCutie: Ivy goes through a ''lot'' over the course of the series, all leading her to become the cold, calculating FemmeFatale of the comics.
** She's ends up a street kid in the first season (supported by Selina and then Bruce), her father a small-time crook that was unfairly blamed for the murder of Bruce's parents.
** She is forcibly [[PlotRelevantAgeUp aged up]] by one of Fish Mooney's goons (Marv/Subject 514A) and tries to make the best of her situation, reveling in her newly gorgeous exterior and making "friends" like The Penguin and Mr. Freeze. Her overtures of friendship are shattered by the villains as she inadvertently [[JustForPun plants the seeds]] for the Legion of Horribles Jerome will later hijack.
** Tired of [[GoldfishPoopGang not being taken seriously by Oswald]], Ivy seeks a method of increasing her power and raids the same apothecary that produces her pheromone perfume. Drinking ''every potion in the shop'' against the warnings of the proprietor results in her [[FromNobodyToNightmare taking a new form]] that is older, more seductive, and a PoisonousPerson.
* TheBusCameBack: Appears in "Mad Grey Dawn" after not showing up for most of Season 2; she's working for a gang that sells magic mushrooms.
* CameBackWrong: The first time she ages up she retains the same ditzy, childlike personality, just in an older body - but [[spoiler:the second time she has the poisonous biology and plant abilities of her comics counterpart]].
* CloudCuckoolander: A really creepy version of one.
* CreepyChild: Hardly ever blinks and speaks in a monotone whisper. Selina, Ivy's friend, even admits she's creepy behind her back.
* CuteAndPsycho: After her first transformation. She's far nicer than most versions of the character at this point, but still definitely not someone to piss off.
-->'''Ivy:''' You'll do anything I ask?
--> Mooks nods, entranced by Ivy's perfume
-->'''Ivy:''' [perkily, with a happy grin] Super! [[MoodWhiplash Kill them all]].
* TheDragon: Becomes the new one for the Penguin after saving his life and helping him build an army of supervillains.
* DumbassNoMore: After her PlotRelevantAgeUp she somehow becomes considerably smarter and gains a great deal of botanical knowledge, enough to create a mind control perfume. [[spoiler:In Season 4, she goes through a second transformation and grows quite a few more brain cells, including the ability to control plants.]]
* EarlyBirdCameo: While heavily advertised along with the main cast, and appearing in the premiere, she is not seen or mentioned again until the mid-season finale, ten episodes later. She then gets a scene with Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. The writers have said that she actually is meant to be an important recurring character, it's just that the first story arc needed time to set up the primary cast in the Gotham police department first.
* EvilRedhead: Even discounting her future super-villain status, Selina is already scared of her. And this is [[LittleMissBadass Selina]] [[CombatPragmatist Kyle]] we are talking about.
* FatalFlaw: Ivy's Number 1 shortcoming is her impulsiveness, not only when it comes to thievery, but in how she underestimates other people and sticks to these judgments.
* FemmeFatale: After her transformations.
* FilleFatale: [[spoiler: Technically, she's still a child, but has the body of an adult temptress while seducing unsuspecting adult men. Averted with her second age-up, where she's got the ruthlessness to match her looks.]]
* GeniusDitz: She has an incredible knowledge of botany and chemistry (enough to create a mind control perfume) but is otherwise pretty air-headed. [[spoiler: This trait disappears halfway through Season 4.]]
* GoldDigger: [[spoiler: After aging into an adult woman, she instantly begins using her charms to seduce men into buying her things.]]
* GreenThumb: A strong affinity for plants, which should surprise no one, given who she's meant to become. Sure enough, by season 4 she's Poison Ivy in all but name, murdering people who experiment on plants and attempting to wipe out Wayne Enterprises for authorizing it.
* InsaneTrollLogic: Becomes an eco-terrorist after her second age-up, convinced she's fighting for those who have no voice - plants.
* JailBait: [[spoiler: Played with. While she aged up to an adult woman thanks to Marv trying to kill her with RapidAging, she still has the mindset of a naive child and uses her looks to manipulate men into giving her things.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: After her second transformation, her only real redeeming quality is that she seems to still consider Selina her friend, letting her go even after she ruins her plans, and helping Bruce cure her broken spine. Even this sole positive trait is snuffed out when she orders the brainwashed Mutant Leader to kill her without any sign of remorse. In-universe, this is a result of the plant side of her consuming the human side.
* KarmaHoudini: Gets away with all her criminal actions by the end of the series.
* KindnessButton: Calling her pretty or offering her money is a good way to get on her nice side.
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Despite being a villain, she seems to be much less evil than the Penguin's enemies [[spoiler:until Season 4, when she becomes more misanthropic and psychotic.]]
* TheNotLoveInterest: Some of her interactions with the Penguin seem classic of a DarkMistress or an IgnoredEnamoredUnderling, but they are only friends.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Despite her genki and childish personality, she really managed to create a mind-control perfume [[spoiler:and has the power to control plants and use them as deadly weapons as of Season 4.]]
* TheNthDoctor: Ivy's on her third actress by the time Season 4 rolls around.
* ParentalAbandonment: Her dad is killed in the pilot, and later we learn that her mother slit her wrists.
* PerkyFemaleMinion: Becomes a super cheerful child after befriending the Penguin and becoming his new confidant. She loses much of her perkiness, however, after enduring a heap of emotional abuse from Penguin and being rejected by Tabitha and the Sirens, [[spoiler:and it's completely gone after her second transformation in the second half of Season 4.]]
* PetTheDog: Ivy providing the medicine to heal Selina's back simply because she used to be her friend. Though considering their falling out, Ivy also takes clear delight in the idea that this healing will come at a dark price for Selina as well.
* PhraseCatcher: "You're so beautiful", or words to that effect, becomes this trope for her third incarnation as an indication that her mind-control pheromones have taken control of someone.
* PsychopathicWomanchild: Despite aging up to a grown woman, she still has her childish mindset. [[spoiler:This pretty much vanishes after her second transformation.]]
* PlotRelevantAgeUp: When Ivy encounters Fish's gang of super-powered freaks from Indian Hill, one of the goons, Marv (who harnesses the power to [[RapidAging rapidly age]] people just by touching them) grabs her in an attempt to age her to death, but she manages to escape his grasp just in time. However, he held onto her just long enough to age her from a young teenager to an older woman (played by Maggie Geha for the rest of Season 3). [[spoiler:In Season 4, Ivy goes through yet another transformation after drinking a cocktail of mystical potions and is now played by Peyton List]].[[note]]According to WordOfGod, the decision to age Ivy up was made in order to allow the character to use her seductive charms like in the comics. For obvious reasons, this could not be done with the young Clare Foley, so an older actress was introduced.[[/note]]
* PrecisionFStrike: In the pilot, she has a rather choice word for the police who killed her father.
-->'''Ivy''': Bastards...
* PsychicAssistedSuicide: She's not actually psychic, but uses her perfume to hypnotize Harvey into trying to do this after he's killed Jim in season 4.
* RapidAging: She gets aged from a child into a young woman by Marv, then uses potions to age herself into the bio-terrorist FemmeFatale of the comics in season 4.
* RedheadInGreen: Always dresses in shades of green.
* {{Revenge}}: Targets Jim and Harvey in season 4 for their roles in the death of her father.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Ivy's main goal [[spoiler:after her second rebirth in Season 4]] is to kill everyone who's ever hurt her before moving on to everyone else in the city in retaliation for their mistreatment of plants.
* SignificantGreenEyedRedhead: Well, she's a future super-villain...
* SlippingAMickey: Slips magic mushrooms into Sonny Gilzean's gang's lunches, knocking them all out.
* TheStarscream: She's grown into this by Season 4 after having had enough of Penguin abusing their friendship. She goes behind his back to try to join the Gotham Sirens and also attempts to help the Merton gang succeed at their assassination attempt on her boss.
* StartOfDarkness: Once she grows up in "Burn the Witch", she realizes that something dark is developing inside her, but eventually, she decides to embrace it head on. This is further solidified when she knocks out and robs a man (who was actually ''helping'' her) for throwing away a plant - and by the end of the season she's happily helping Penguin and killing people for him.
* StupidEvil: She stole a valuable jewel from a wealthy man she tried seducing, thinking that nobody would ever come back to attack her for it.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Girly girl to Selina's tomboy.
* TooDumbToLive: After getting caught spying on Selina and Fish' gang, she stupidly tells them to let her go or she'll rat them out. This almost gets her aged to death by Marv.
* TookALevelInBadass: After her [[spoiler:second rebirth, Ivy is no longer the quirky "adult child" or innocent but now determined to use her power to ravage Gotham.]]
* TookALevelInCheerfulness: She becomes much more happy after growing into an adult with plant powers.
* TookALevelInJerkass: [[spoiler:After her second aging-up, she becomes downright evil and psychotic and plots to kill everyone in Gotham for abusing plants.]]
* TookALevelInKindness: After her first AgeLift. She saves Penguin's life despite having nothing to really gain from it, helps him recruit Firefly by appealing to a genuine sense of family, and saves Selina's life out of genuine friendship. [[spoiler:After her second age-up it doesn't last]].
* {{Troll}}: The very first time she is seen actually having fun is when she's messing with Barbara's head for no good reason (except maybe to get back at Gordon). This trait returns in Season 3, when her first encounter with Selina, after Ivy was aged by Marv, sees her not telling her friend who she is, and instead treating her with notable scorn.
* TwoFirstNames: Per the Creator/DCComics norm, notably something that doesn't occur in the comics.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: She happens to be squatting in Gordon's apartment when a badly spiraling Barbara calls, and, for kicks, pretends to be a woman Gordon is cheating on her with. This contributes to Barbara's later StartOfDarkness and attempts to murder Leslie.
* VillainousFriendship: With the Penguin. It doesn't last long, though, due to his inability to stop being a BadBoss.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: She's not mentioned again after her latest attempt to purge Gotham of humans goes awry in "The Trial of Jim Gordon", despite the TimeSkip finale providing updates on several other prominent villains.
* YouKilledMyFather: Tries to kill both Harvey and Jim in season 4 for their killing her father waaayyy back in the Pilot.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Butch Gilzean/Solomon Grundy]]
!!Butch Gilzean[=/=]Cyrus Gold[=/=]Solomon Grundy
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/butch_2.png]][[caption-width-right:350:''"I know Gotham like the back of my hand."'']][[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/solomon_grundy_season_4.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:''"Solomon Grundy... born on a Monday."'']]
->'''Played By:''' Drew Powell

An experienced member of the Gotham City underworld crime system, Butch was a former underling of Fish Mooney and later, he came to be second-in-command under Oswald Cobblepot before splitting off from him and trying to become the King of Gotham with the help from his girlfriend, Tabitha Galavan, and Barbara Kean, Tabby's ex-lover and former business partner. Thanks to the dueling affections of both for Tabitha (and their plotting against her) Barbara ends up killing him - but thanks to Indian Hill he ends up coming back as the zombie-like Solomon Grundy.
----
* AdaptationExpansion: The human side of Solomon Grundy is scarcely explored in the comics. In ''Gotham'' he actually spent a great deal of the show in his human identity before his transformation into Grundy.
* AdaptationNameChange: Played with. While his true name is still Cyrus Gold like in the comics, he goes under the name "Butch Gilzean" for the majority of the show.
* AffablyEvil: Unlike either of his former bosses, he's genuinely pretty likable, even when he's giving you the choice whether to get beaten up or shot in the leg. His few nasty moments seem to be a case of PunchClockVillain.
* AgeLift: Inverted. Solomon Grundy is [[Really700YearsOld hundreds of years old in the comics]] (he was born during the 19th century), but in this show, he's about 30-40 years old by the time he becomes a zombie. Additionally, because of DC deciding to keep Batman as a member of the Justice League and ignore Bruce's history with the Golden Age means Cryus's resurrection into Grundy and first forays as a super villain happened years before Bruce was even born. Here, his death and resurrection happen while Bruce is a teenager.
* AnArmAndALeg: Penguin hacks off his hand when he asks Butch to perform a special infiltration mission against Galavan. He then gains a prosthetic replacement. Later, once he becomes Solomon Grundy, his HealingFactor kicks in and he regains his hand for good.
* AscendedExtra: He's just Fish's head mook in Season 1, and while the show spends a good deal of time exploring his character, he's overshadowed by the likes of Penguin and Fish. By "Wrath of the Villains", he survives through the reigns of both Fish and the Penguin to become "King of Gotham", standing on top of the underworld, hooking up with Tabitha in the process. And then in season 4 he becomes someone with a lot more importance to the Batman mythos - Solomon Grundy.
* BackFromTheDead: After a pair of lazy paramedics dump his body in Slaughter Swamp, some discarded chemicals from Indian Hill bring him back to life.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: It was revealed that Zsasz did this to him as punishment for his betrayal, so that he would follow Penguin's commands without question. This becomes problematic during Penguin and Fish's fight where his loyalty to both plays havoc on his mind and he ends up shooting them both. However, Tabitha helps break him of his brainwashing in exchange for his help.
* CameBackStrong: After coming back to life as Solomon Grundy, he's gained SuperStrength. But...
* CameBackWrong: After his resurrection, he has virtually no memory of his past life as a human. However, he eventually gets his memories back when Tabitha literally ''beats'' them back into his head.
* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Despite his loyalty to Fish and saving her from execution, Falcone has Zsasz torture and brainwash him into servitude instead of killing him for this reason. Butch knows the Gotham club scene like the back of his hand, and as Penguin's tanking Fish's old business, Butch is an ideal and loyal number two for Cobblepot.
* CanonCharacterAllAlong: He initially appeared to be a CanonForeigner along with Fish, but the Season 3 finale reveals that his real name is Cyrus Gold, the true identity of Solomon Grundy in the comics.
* TheChainsOfCommanding: He becomes the King of Gotham after Penguin is brought to Arkham. He is effective at first, killing people loyal to Penguin - but after Tabitha appears he softens considerably, laying around in his robes and losing interest in the details of his new empire. Penguin says in Season 2 Episode 20 that he has become "soft" and "sentimental".
* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler:In the season 4 finale, after his condition is cured, he is shot in the heart in front of Tabitha by Penguin as part of his plan to get revenge on both of them for their roles in his mother's death. It is unknown what happens to his body after that.]]
* ConflictingLoyalty: He couldn't decide if he was loyal to Fish or Penguin so he [[KneeCapping kneecapped]] both. However, Penguin still wins.
* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:In the Season 4 finale, Hugo Strange manages to reverse Butch's condition and make him normal again. Unfortunately, this also makes him ''mortal'' again, leaving him vulnerable enough for Penguin to shoot him dead. Without Grundy's ability to resurrect, Butch ends up expiring again, this time for good]].
* TheDogBitesBack: Helps Theo Galavan against Penguin after being freed from his mind control.
* TheDragon: For Fish. And eventually for Penguin, too.
* DumbMuscle: As Grundy serves as this for Riddler in early season 4.
* EasilyForgiven: Penguin seems remarkably OK with his betrayal contributing to his mother's death, his taking over from him and having all his loyalists killed in season 2, as Butch stays with him as his right-hand man in the early part of season 3, and is only cast out when he tries to kill Ed.
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** Fish orders that the captive Gordon and Bullock be tortured to death and literally carved to pieces in a meat-packing warehouse, to send a warning to the police. Gilzean earnestly apologizes to Gordon and Bullock that if it were up to him, he'd simply shoot them each in the head execution-style and be done with it - but it's not up to him.
** Overrules Tabitha when she wants to kill the now-harmless Penguin, noting they've both lost a lot and are now "square".
** In "Better to Reign in Hell...", he tells Selina that she's too young to be hanging around in a nightclub.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: From a common mob thug to the mutated super-villain Solomon Grundy.
* GreenEyedMonster: Part of his antipathy towards Ed and Barbara is driven by the former supplanting him as Penguin's right-hand man, and the latter becoming his rival for Tabitha's affections.
* HasAType: May have a romantic preference for forceful, morally shady Black women, if Tabitha and Fish are any indication.
* HijackedByGanon: Alongside Fish, he was the most prominent original character in the series for years - then the end of season 3 revealed he'd been the human identity of Solomon Grundy the whole time.
* HonorAmongThieves: He makes sure to confess to his old friend Saviano about how when they were teens who had stolen 40 pounds of meat, he had screwed him out of the better cuts, and asks for forgiveness. Saviano does this, and then Butch shoots him.
* InformedDeformity: Once he regains his memories in Season 4 he gets very down on his new appearance, claiming to be too grotesque for Tabitha to love, despite all evidence showing she still does. The thing is, once he's out of the Grundy rags, he just looks like an albino version of his old self.
* IronButtMonkey: He has suffered a great deal as a result of being TheDragon to a number of sadistic criminals. [[ColdBloodedTorture Tortured]], [[MindRape brainwashed]], [[AnArmAndALeg lost a hand]], tortured some more... Even Leslie beats the shit out of him in season 3, then Barbara just murders him.
* KilledMidSentence: Barbara shoots him in the head as he's telling her how she never deserved Tabitha.
* KilledOffForReal: After a false start getting shot in the head by Barbara the season prior, [[spoiler:he's killed by Penguin after getting cured of his Grundy side, in order to pay Tabitha back for his mother's murder.]]
* LargeHam:
** Although nowhere near the levels of his boss, anyone who uses a dozen kidnapped nuns to hijack a truck definitively qualifies.
** Has a phone rigged to detonate a bomb to kill some loose ends. With "Final Countdown" as the ringtone.
* LonelyAtTheTop: After temporarily becoming TheDon of Gotham, he immediately gets bored with his high position and places great value in his new relationship with Tabitha.
* MeaningfulName: Called "Butch" and appears to work as a butcher.
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: In "Anything For You", he's fed up with the way Penguin treated him, even before Nygma came along.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Said almost word for word when, under Penguin's brainwashing, he shoots his former mentor Fish, enabling Oswald to kill her.
* MythologyGag:
** He acts like a brainless brute when he first becomes Grundy, but is back to his intelligent old self when Tabitha knocks the memories back into his head. In the comics, Grundy is known to grow more intelligent and less mindless with every resurrection.
** He was given the same SuperEmpowering event that Comic!Grundy had. Being dumped in "Slaughter Swamp" with chemicals that brought him BackFromTheDead with SuperStrength.
* {{Nepotism}}: His nephew Sonny runs a magic mushroom operation for him in season 2, despite being a complete incompetent.
* OddCouple: Hapless former mob enforcer paired with ruthless former assassin would be a match normally made in hell - but it's shown he and Tabitha genuinely love each other.
* OnlySaneMan: Pronounced in season 3, as he repeatedly advocates to Tabitha that they kill both Ed and the hugely unstable Barbara. She doesn't listen, with fatal results for him at the hands of the latter.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: He's less a zombie and more a mutant with a strong HealingFactor that brought him back from the brink of death.
* PervertedSniffing: To Barbara Kean when he tries to scare her in season 1.
* ThePeterPrinciple: An excellent consigliere and enforcer. Less effective as numero uno.
* PragmaticAdaptation: In the comics, Solomon Grundy is explicitly stated to be a zombie reanimated through supernatural/mystical means. The ''Gotham'' version got mutated through the exposure of discarded chemicals from Indian Hill.
* PunchClockVillain: For the most part. Butch seems to take pleasure in doing his job well - his job just happens to be as a mob enforcer. He can have an almost perfunctory tone about doing routine mob work, though. Yes he tied up some nuns to use as a roadblock but he didn't expect them to be actually killed (the point was to make the truck stop). He then goes through the polite, almost boring routine of explaining to the drivers that he needs to send a message to Maroni, so they can choose between a thorough beating or a quick bullet to the leg. His tone is that of a mechanic calmly discussing payment options with a customer. The drivers, also matter-of-factly, ask why he even needs to send a "message" by hurting them, they could just ''tell'' Maroni that he was willing to beat them up. Butch gets mildly annoyed that this would subvert the entire "message", so he casually whips out his gun and shoots them both in the legs. Even his threats against Barbara Kean are more perfunctory, calculated intimidation than they are ForTheEvulz.
* RedRightHand: Had a metal prosthetic hand during seasons 2 and 3, after Penguin cut it off. His transformation into Solomon Grundy additionally grew the hand back.
* TheReveal: "Heavydirtysoul" reveals, after Barbara kills him, that his original name was "Cyrus Gold", as in ''Solomon Grundy''.
* ReverseMole: Penguin employs him in an infiltration mission against Galavan, but when Galavan offers him a chance to break free of his brainwashing, Butch immediately switches sides and betrays Penguin.
* {{Scapegoat}}: After he betrays Penguin with the whole Red Hood affair, he becomes the easiest person to blame for any underworld dealings with Penguin's involvement, not necessarily at Penguin's initial suggestion, among them Isabella's car accident.
* SwissArmyAppendage: Deconstructed when Galavan attempts to set him up with some, but most prove AwesomeButImpractical. Later reconstructed when he's able to pick his own, slightly more practical, attachments, like a mallet attachment for "negotiations".
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: He loathes and mistrusts Penguin in season 4, but teams up with him regardless after Cobblepot promises he can cure him of his Grundy affliction
* TruerToTheText: Much more faithful to the comics than ''Series/{{Arrow}}'''s version of the character, being a super zombie rather than just a really tough guy empowered by a SuperSerum.
* UndyingLoyalty:
** To Fish, big time. When a childhood friend of his (a boss with seniority to Fish, and better claim to the empire should Falcone be removed) offers him a chance for a much better position within the mob in exchange for killing Fish (namely her territory as his equal partner), he instead kills said childhood friend without a second thought in his usual AffablyEvil manner. Exactly ''why'' he has such loyalty to Fish above all else is never revealed. He personally rescues her from being tortured in "Welcome Back, Jim Gordon", and sacrifices himself to help her escape.
** He proves just as loyal to Penguin, even sincerely renouncing Fish, albeit under brainwashing. This comes to a head when he has to choose between them. However, Galavan breaks him out of his brainwashing and he betrays Penguin.
* UnholyMatrimony: Briefly with Tabitha in the second half of Season 2, but they break up when she regains interest in Barbara. They get back together again in season 3, and are an item on-an-off [[spoiler:until Penguin kills him]].
* VillainDecay: Goes from the cunning FauxAffablyEvil NobleDemon he was at the start of the series into the resident StupidEvil IronButtMonkey routinely abused by everyone.
* VillainousCrush: He has one on the more villainous Tabitha Galavan.
* VillainousValor: Sneaky, smart, brave, and strong enough to escape the van in which he was being transported to an incineration facility, kill his captors, track down and free Mooney, and then help her escape when Zsasz shows up, even willingly staying behind to cover her escape. He even managed to kill one of Zsasz's henchgirls, which surprises them.
* VillainsDoTheDirtyWork: Technically speaking. Gordon was more than willing to murder Galavan again, but wasn't having much success. Then Penguin and Butch showed up and Butch shot him with a rocket launcher.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Until Season 1 Episode 16, it was unknown what happened to him after he stayed behind to let Fish escape Zsasz's gang. It turned out he was 'conditioned' to be a personal assistant for Cobblepot.
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Subverted when he comes back as Solomon Grundy - he’s more of a dimwitted monster defending himself.
* WorkingForABodyUpgrade: [[spoiler: After regaining his memory, post-Grundy Butch ''very'' reluctantly agrees to work with Penguin again, but solely to track down Hugo Strange in the hope that Strange can undo the transformation inflicted upon him by Indian Hill's discarded chemicals.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Victor Zsasz]]
!!Victor Zsasz

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/victor_zsasz.png]]
->'''Played By:''' Anthony Carrigan

An enforcer and killer working for Don Falcone, and later the Penguin.
----
* AdaptationalBadass: In the comics and most adaptations (such as the VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries) he's just a serial killer who relies mainly on ambush tactics and fear, but who's not very tough in a straight fight. Here he's the most feared mob hitman around and can make the entire Gotham police department [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere turn and run]] at his request.
* AdaptationalJobChange: From a SerialKiller to a mob hitman for hire.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: A very borderline example. This incarnation of Zsasz is more of an AffablyEvil mercenary who's only crazy and sadistic when working on the clock. Otherwise, he doesn't display as much deep insanity and extreme bloodlust as most of his counterparts, who're usually so AxCrazy that he can't do anything but think about killing.
* AffablyEvil: In a really, really weird way. He's a brutal AxCrazy hitman, but he really doesn't treat a lot of the situations he's in seriously; his weird FriendlyEnemy relationship with Gordon, his puppeteering a dead man's decapitated head when threatening Loeb, squeeing over election pins while murdering a mayoral candidate and his staff, or his casual "hey, what's up?" when being greeted by a small army of cops and Penguin's men [[spoiler:looking for the Haven bomber]].
* AgeLift: He's roughly around Batman's age in the comics.
* AmazonBrigade: The assassins he runs around with in the early seasons are primarily female.
* AmbiguouslyJewish: During his absence in season 4, it is mentioned he is on vacation visiting his [[https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=bubbie bubbie.]]
* ArsonMurderAndAdmiration: When warning Gordon that Falcone has it in for him for what he did to Mario, he compliments Gordon on his actions, commenting that he was never a fan of Mario.
-->'''Zsasz''': Nice shot on Mario, I never liked him.
* AxCrazy:
** Takes the order of "bring Jim Gordon in alive" very loosely. For example, he notes a man without hands is still alive. He also expresses displeasure at being denied the opportunity to kill Gordon when Falcone lets him go.
** He's also overly eager to retaliate against Fish for her attempt to exile Falcone.
** In "Ghosts", he congratulates Gordon for double-tapping Mario, mentioning that he never liked the guy in the first place.
* BadassBoast: As one of the show's deadliest characters, when he makes these, people ''listen''.
-->'''Zsasz:''' I'm here for Gilzean. Anyone who leaves now, leaves alive. Anyone who stays, dies. You have 60 seconds to do the math.
* BadassInANiceSuit: Sports a classy, black suit in nearly all of his appearances, even in No Man's Land.
* BaldOfAwesome: He lacks any hair on his head and displays the athletic skills that he has in the comics.
* BaldOfEvil: Not a single hair on this psycho's head. [[NoBrows Not even eyebrows]] or even eyelashes (Anthony Carrigan has Alopecia Areata Totalis).
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: [[spoiler:Ivy uses her powers to make him go after Gordon in "The Trial of Jim Gordon"]]
* CavalryBetrayal: Zsasz betrays Penguin in "Queen Takes Knight" by [[spoiler: claiming Penguin ''did'' kill Martin, rather than faking it and having Zsasz escort the boy out of the city.]]
* CoDragons: With Butch for the new King of Gotham, Cobblepot, come Season 2. Whereas Gabe seems to serve as a bodyguard and assistant, Zsasz is the one that goes out with the boss to take care of business.
* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Due to his never taking situations as seriously as Penguin, this happens a lot.
--> '''Penguin:''' How is Jim Gordon beating us?!
--> '''Zsasz:''' Well, every cop in Gotham is behind him. [[CaptainObvious I'm guessing he has great leadership skills]].
--> '''Penguin:''' ...Victor, when this is said and done, you and I need to have a frank discussion about chain of command.
* CommutingOnABus: Disappears for large parts of seasons 3 and 4 due to the actor's other commitments, but always comes back.
* CopKiller: Kills a female officer in the GCPD building while hunting for Gordon - after she was ''already'' shot and immobilized on the ground, and ''begging for mercy''. When Gordon interrogates him as to why he was shooting at the GCPD squad sent to apprehend him [[spoiler:when they think he's responsible for the Haven bombing]], he responds "because they're cops" in a bewildered tone.
* CoveredWithScars: Not to the extent of his comic book counterpart, but he already has ''28'' self-inflicted marks on his body to count all the people he has killed.
* TheDragon: To Falcone, and later Penguin - [[spoiler:up until Sofia manipulates him into betraying the latter]].
* TheDreaded: It only takes a simple request with an added "please" from him to have the entire GCPD precinct abandon Gordon on the spot rather than face him.
* EnemyEatsYourLunch:
** When warning Gordon about an expected hit on him, he's seen helping himself to Gordon's milk.
-->'''Zsasz''': Hope you don't mind, I helped myself.
** The following season he's distracted from threatening Tabitha and Selina into attending Penguin's opening by their pepperoni pizza, and seems legitimately annoyed they don't want to share it.
* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Victor is absent from one episode, much to the Penguin's frustration, because he is "visiting his bubbe."
* EvenEvilHasStandards:
** Upon warning Gordon that his days may be numbered after what he did to Mario, he remarks that he never really liked Mario and is glad to see him gone.
** When Gordon and Penguin accuse him of [[spoiler:the Haven bombing and the deaths of so many refugees]], he immediately retorts that he'd never take credit for someone else's work-- if he'd done it, he'd happily own up to it.
* EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor: When he and Penguin are threatening Loeb, he shows the Commissioner what happened to his security by revealing the man's decapitated head and manipulating his mouth like a puppet. He also routinely fails to take situations as seriously as either Falcone or Penguin.
* EvilVersusEvil: Interrupts Mooney's attempted revenge on Penguin and sends her and Butch running.
* FauxAffablyEvil:
** He's polite to everyone in the GCPD, asking nicely where Gordon is. But then, of course, he notes that the order to bring Gordon in alive doesn't mean he has to have his hands. He taunts Gordon when he's chasing him down and needlessly kills a police officer after he disabled her.
** Later, he interrupts Mooney's revenge on Penguin by announcing himself and making an amusing remark before attacking. The scene ends with him contemplating ''playing'' with Butch back home...
** In "Pax Penguina", he's playfully-snarky when he interrupts the Merton gang's attempt to rob a wedding without a license, and seems friendly enough when addressing the wedding guests, bride and groom ... at least, until another gang of crooks who ''do'' have a license arrive.
* GoodScarsEvilScars: Like his comics counterpart, he keeps score of everyone he kills with tally marks.
* GunsAkimbo: His usual shooting style.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: He has an amazing capability to kill anyone ''except'' those who have a contract out on them, in which case this trope comes into full force: if Falcone puts a hit on you, Zsasz can't hit the broad side of a barn if you're leaning against it. Gordon's PlotArmor certainly helps in his case.
* ImplacableMan[=/=]TheUnfettered: During the firefight in the police station, his mooks and Gordon are all behind desks for cover while trying to get shots off. Zsasz is ''on top of'' said desks, strolling toward Gordon while firing, like he couldn't care less about return fire.
* KarmaHoudini: Despite all he's done over the seasons, Gordon [[spoiler:saves him from Penguin and frees him when he's sure he isn't responsible for the Haven bombings.]] Zsasz even tells him he'll regret it in the end.
* LargeHam: Very theatrical and loud, and has "Funkytown" as his phone's ringtone. Also, with his assassination attempt of one of the mayoral candidates.
* LaughablyEvil: Whenever he appears on screen, Zsasz will most likely have you laughing by the end of the scene. He’s a notorious and cold blooded Hitman, and yet he barely drops his chipper attitude or AffablyEvil nature while on or off the job.
* MythologyGag: [[Film/BatmanBegins This isn't the first time he's been a hitman for Falcone]].
* NothingPersonal: He more or less says this to Jim when hunting him down after Falcone ordered the hit on him. He isn't even upset in the slightest after Falcone called it off.
* OddFriendship: With Falcone most of the time, but especially with Oswald. Both of them are equally psychotic and crazy, though Oswald can be disturbed by Victor-- which is saying a lot.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
** When he appears in "Ghosts", he's more subdued than he normally is, and for good reason: his boss is ''furious'' with Gordon for icing Mario. He also doesn't take much pleasure in the knowledge that he'll eventually have to put one in Gordon's head, and his AxCrazy side only shows itself (also in a subdued fashion) towards the end of the meeting, when he congratulates Gordon for doing to Mario what it's implied he had himself thought of doing more than once.
** Later seen in "Queen Takes Knight", after [[spoiler:Don Falcone's death. He spends nearly the entire episode silent, deep in mourning for Falcone.]]
** His appearance in "The Trial of James Gordon" has him rambling about stopping to smell the roses, being in love, and having become a vegan. [[spoiler:This is because he's under the control of Ivy Pepper.]]
* ProfessionalKiller: He kills people and gets paid for it instead of just doing it for the sake of killing.
* PsychoForHire: Clearly very unstable and dangerous, but he works for and is actually quite loyal to Falcone. In the comics, he's a serial killer instead.
* PunchClockVillain: He's a surprisingly affable guy when he's not working a job to assassinate targets. For example, when Falcone drops the hit against Gordon despite Zsasz having him in his sights, Victor cheerily agrees and goes off minding his own business with a smile on his face.
* TortureTechnician: It only took him a couple of weeks to turn Butch into a loyal puppet for Oswald.
* UndyingLoyalty: Interestingly, given his otherwise PsychoForHire character type. When Fish makes her play and comes very close to forcing Falcone into leaving town, Zsasz is aware of it and watches Falcone [[VillainousBSOD nearly give up and bow out.]] Instead of treating his boss like he was going soft or getting on the betrayal wagon as Falcone loses his nerve, Zsasz begs Falcone not to leave, insists he fight back and, when Falcone doesn't, begrudgingly stands with him every step of the way despite his reservations, even though he could've easily found work with any other boss. He is also noticeably ''very'' happy to see Fish's plans foiled. He later turns on Penguin, whom he was otherwise very loyal to, when [[spoiler: Sofia frames Penguin for Carmine's death]].
* VillainRespect:
** Has deep, immense respect for Jim Gordon, to the point that in "Ghosts", when Don Falcone and Lee Tompkins put a hit out on Gordon, Zsasz approaches Gordon hours before the hunt starts to warn him. In a deleted scene from the same episode, Zsasz describes the high-caliber sniper bullet he plans to use to kill Gordon, stating that he doesn't want Gordon to suffer and that he deserves "Nothing but the best."
** When he and Alfred have a brief team-up to deal with Scarecrow's thugs at the start of season 4, the two briefly share admiring looks at the other's professionalism.
* VillainsOutShopping: If Riddler is to be believed in season 4, he's apparently a big fan of the disco.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Is nowhere to be seen when Falcone was put into the hospital during the season 1 finale. You'd think Zsasz would be at Falcone's bedside considering how their relationship was in previous appearances. However he would have been a StoryBreakerPower for Falcone. Subverted in season 5-- he returns in person, and the first episode shows he controls a substantial territory on his own.
* WorthyOpponent:
** Zsasz seems to have formed a respect for Jim Gordon, despite being on opposite sides of the morality coin. When it looks like he'll be sent after Jim when he kills Falcone's son Mario, he actually visits him beforehand to assure him his death will be painless and that he regards Jim as a "good egg".
** Trades wry smiles of professional regard with Alfred in "Pax Penguina", when he and Bruce's butler-cum-bodyguard simultaneously draw on each other at the Iceberg Lounge in the middle of trouncing Scarecrow's followers.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow]]
!![[ComicBook/TheScarecrow Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/29414764_2032782966969080_1364026362750304256_n.jpg]] [[caption-width-right:350:''"[[ThatManIsDead Jonathan Crane isn't here anymore]]... it's just the '''Scarecrow'''."'']][[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see Jonathan Crane.]][[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jonathan_crane.png]]]]
[[/labelnote]]
->'''Played By:''' Charlie Tahan (Seasons 1-4), David W. Thompson (Seasons 4-5)

Forced to go along with his father's fear experiments as a teen, he later submits to and adopts the identity of his personal bogeyman: a NightmareFuel scarecrow-demon conjured up by his own fear toxin-addled imagination - the Scarecrow.
----
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Comic!Jonathan is usually depicted as a lanky [[Literature/TheLegendOfSleepyHollow Ichabod Crane]] lookalike (he was even ''named'' after the guy). Here, he's a handsome young man.
* AdaptationOriginConnection: In the comics the origins of the major Bat-rogues are normally unconnected. Here, not only did he help Jerome invent the infamous [[spoiler:Joker Gas]], he's the one who created the special mixture that [[spoiler:infected Jeremiah, ultimately making him responsible for the birth of the Joker.]]
* AdaptationalBadass: Most incarnations of Crane had him be portrayed a scrawny nerd who was bullied all throughout his childhood, but here he's not only already preparing his fear toxins but he also becomes the Scarecrow while still in his teenage years.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Most depictions of Scarecrow are usually inherently sadistic and AxCrazy. This depiction is forced into helping his father infect people with fear toxin and is later psychologically tortured into becoming the Scarecrow.
* AdvertisedExtra: Was a major element in marketing leading up to Season 4, with WordOfGod stating Scarecrow would be "out in full force." Come the actual season, Crane is a major character in the first two episodes, before vanishing for half a season, being recast, and [[DemotedToDragon relegated to muscle]] for Jerome and Jeremiah.
* AgeLift: Jonathan Crane looks to be about five years older than Bruce Wayne.
* AloneWithThePsycho: He ends up locked inside a closet with a scarecrow who he believes is his boogeyman. This results in him going mad and believing that the scarecrow demon he's hallucinated is possessing him.
* AndIMustScream: Screaming incoherently is all he can do after his father overdoses him on adrenaline and everywhere he looks he sees a monstrous scarecrow. By his return, it appears his incarceration in a mental hospital has taken a toll on him, and being locked up overnight with an actual scarecrow by a bunch of brutal crooks pushes him over the edge completely.
* AscendedExtra: Was just a very minor character who played second fiddle to his father in his debut, but by Season 4 he's grown into a major ArcVillain.
* AvengingTheVillain: He attempts to kill Gordon at Arkham Asylum to avenge the death of his serial killer father.
* BadassLongcoat: His Scarecrow costume has a large coat holding his weapons.
* BullyingADragon: Some out-of-town thugs retrieve Jonathan from Arkham via bribery, then terrorize him into producing his father's fear gas for use in their own crimes. You just ''know'' it's not going to go well when they leave him locked up alone with an actual scarecrow that Jonathan perceives as a nightmarish "bogeyman": a product of his damaged mind which more or less ''possesses'' young Crane, subduing and invading his original persona, then turns the gas on his captor.
* TheBusCameBack: He was last seen in a coma in the first season, but returns as the Scarecrow in Season 4.
* CoDragons: Becomes one to Jerome alongside Mad Hatter in season 4.
* CoolMask: The famed Scarecrow mask. In seasons 4 and 5 it's used to cover the original actor's recasting.
* CostumeEvolution: The first Scarecrow costume is [[http://media.comicbook.com/2017/09/gotham-scarecrow-clip-1025398-1280x0.png a very thick burlap suit with a gas mask]]. In later episodes, he wears a sleeker [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight Arkham Knight-esque]] suit with a hood, and in the Season 4 finale, he ditches the hood for the iconic Scarecrow hat.
* DarkIsEvil: In contrast with Bruce’s DarkIsNotEvil.
* DemonicPossession: Played with. Jonathan ''thinks'' that the Scarecrow demon from his hallucinations is possessing him, driving him to become one of Gotham's greatest villains.
* DrivenToVillainy: He might have stayed a harmless inmate of Arkham were it not for Merton and his gang taking him from Arkham and locking him in a room with the subject of his terror - an actual scarecrow.
* EvilCounterpart: To Bruce. Both kids have witnessed their parents killed horribly and were mentally scarred for life as a result, but they vowed to avenge the deaths of their family members by punishing their killer and growing into a force to be feared in Gotham. However, Bruce desires to grow into the hero Gotham deserves and bring peace, but Jonathan craves power and wants to be feared by those lower than him. Both also tend to use stealth-based attacks and theatrics in their fighting, but Bruce has been trained by the seasoned Alfred while Jonathan uses his scythe in a comparatively amateur way, able to be disarmed by Gordon.
* EvilSoundsDeep: His mask in season 4 has some sort of effect that deepens his voice considerably.
* FaceYourFears: Inverted; having surrendered to his "bogeyman" himself, Crane uses fear-toxin and persuasion to convince Arkham's warden to likewise embrace and ''become'' his personal phobia. When Gordon successfully plays this trope straight, fighting off the fear-gas's effect by overcoming fear, Scarecrow outright claims it's impossible.
* ForcedIntoEvil: For a short time in Season 4, as Jonathan is forced to re-create his father's fear serum by a bunch of bank robbers who terrorize the hallucination-hounded young man with an actual scarecrow.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Goes from a total pushover being forced to serve other criminals into Gotham's great master of fear.
* GenerationXerox: Turns out to be one for his father, a fear-obsessed doctor determined to invoke that fear in others (though their end goals differ considerably).
* GoneHorriblyWrong: His father believes his serum will stop Jonathan feeling fear. It ends up having the opposite effect, driving him mad and fuelling his eventual change into the Scarecrow.
* InsaneEqualsViolent: He's gone off the deep end, which in Gotham City also means that he's a violent psychopath.
* KarmaHoudini: Gets away with all his criminal actions by the end of the series.
* KickTheSonOfABitch:
** Upon becoming the Scarecrow, the first victim he uses his fear gas on is one of the {{mooks}} who tormented him and locked him up inside a closet with his "boogeyman."
** He also poisons the corrupt warden at Arkham as revenge for being sold off to abusive gangsters.
* LikeFatherUnlikeSon: His father was trying to find a cure for fear. As the Scarecrow, Jonathan will someday be trying to cause as much fear as possible.
* MissingMom: His mother's death in a house fire is what drove Jonathan's dad to research fear, because Gerald couldn't work up the courage to dash through the flames to save her.
* MythologyGag: In Season 4B, he dons a new hooded Scarecrow mask that heavily resembles the one he wore in the ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries''.
* OutOfFocus: His father is the main antagonist of his debut episode, while Jonathan really plays no important part in it himself. [[TheBusCameBack That is until Season 4]] where Crane returns and becomes the Scarecrow.
* OverlordJr: Jonathan acts as a willing accomplice to all his father's crimes, although intimidation does seem to play a part.
* PunchClockVillain: When he first debuts in ''Gotham,'' Jonathan isn't a kid who's malicious at heart. For all the horrible things Jonathan helps his dad do, fear is his father's obsession, not his own. He goes along with what Gerald does out of familial loyalty and a desire to be rid of the fear he believes makes his father ashamed of him.
** Once he becomes the Scarecrow, he embraces that his father was a genius trying to rid the world of fear; he's just "improving" the process by not only having people embrace their fears, but ''become'' them just like he did.
* PungeonMaster: After becoming a super-villain, he ''really'' likes peppering variations of the word "fear" into his dialogue.
--> '''Scarecrow''': You look a fright, Mr. Tetch.
* ScaryScarecrows: His new costume has the raggedy, demonic scarecrow look to intimidate his targets.
* SinisterScythe: He starts wielding a scythe as a weapon in case of physical confrontations.
* StartOfDarkness: Unless ''Gotham'' is your very first exposure to the Batman franchise, you've probably already guessed that this isn't the last we'll be seeing of Jonathan.
* ThatManIsDead: ''"Jonathan Crane isn't here anymore..."''
* ThisCannotBe: He's utterly shocked that Gordon was able to overcome his fear toxin.
* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Injected with his father's own formulas, Jonathan's hallucinations of his scarecrow-like personal "bogeyman" are ''terrifying''.
* TookALevelInBadass: Was first introduced as a young accomplice serving his father, but by Season 4 he's evolved into the Scarecrow, one of Gotham's most dangerous villains.
* UsedToBeASweetKid: Unlike many other takes on the character, this Crane started off as a well-meaning young man trying to aid his father.
* WeakSauceWeakness: In [[Recap/GothamS4E2TheFearReaper The Fear Reaper]], Gordon figures out that people under the influence of Jonathan's toxin can be cured with a splash of cold water in the face. Justified, as the fear toxin dispenser this time around seems to be the equivalent of a high-tech spritzer, leaving traces of the toxin in their faces.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: After his debut episode in Season One, he's never seen or mentioned for the next two seasons, even after Arkham Asylum re-opened. We don't learn what became of him until Season 4, when he becomes the first ArcVillain of the season, the Scarecrow, popping up sporadically thereafter to aid Jerome and [[spoiler:Jeremiah]]. Subject tot his again in season 5 - he's defeated by Gordon in the series opener and is only mentioned once thereafter.
* WhosLaughingNow: His assault against the Arkham warden that sold him off as a slave carries shades of this as he's dragging his scythe close to his former handler. He begins recalling the events of his abuse at the hospital before infecting the corrupt jerk with his toxins, then literally turns the warden into a [[MonsterClown clown]] to demean him.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Was forced to be a PunchClockVillain for his father, ended up losing both said father and his own sanity, and then kept enduring KickThemWhileTheyAreDown from a system that was supposed to treat him instead. After all that, you really can't blame him for finally going on a warpath.
* YouKilledMyFather: He has this attitude towards Gordon thanks to his father getting gunned down by the police. This causes him to try and kill the officer to avenge his lost father.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Bridgit Pike/Firefly]]
!!Bridgit Pike/Firefly
->'''Played By:''' Michelle Veintimilla (Season 2 and 4) / Camila Perez (Season 3-4)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michelle_veintimilla_mug_2.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:''"You should feel honored. You are a sacrifice to the goddess of '''fire'''."'']]
The youngest member of a family of arsonists, who is forced into it by her stepbrothers. A horrendous accident that sears her suit to her skin and the psychological manipulations of Hugo Strange transform her into the pyromaniac Firefly.
----
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Firefly's previous action incarnation on ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' wasn't as horribly burnt like how Firefly is in the comics (who supposedly has his ''entire'' body covered in burns). This incarnation follows suit as Bridgit isn't as horribly burnt. Granted, she is still covered up in a protected suit that covers her body but not her face. Her face, like Arrow's (which had a two-faced appearance), is not as bad as the comics or the [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries the Arkham games]].
* AdaptationalBadass: Compared to Firefly's last live action incarnation on ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', who was a [[SanitySlippage mentally crippled]] TragicVillain who utilized a lighter and a tank of gasoline, this Firefly can go head-to-head with Mr. Freeze and takes down one of the nigh-invulnerable Talons of the Court of Owls with surprising ease.
* AdaptationNameChange: Is named Bridgit Pike instead of Garfield Lynns or Ted Carson.
* AdaptationPersonalityChange: Combined with AdaptationalHeroism. In the comics, Firefly developed a taste for setting fires by himself, while this version is bullied into committing crimes for her brothers before growing into a super-villain. Firefly is also simply a pyromaniac. Bridgit, after becoming Firefly, leans toward PayEvilUntoEvil. Even her attacks on the cops are both more due to blind panic than anything else. However, there are also strong hints that she has developed a liking to the act of burning people alive and choosing [[AssholeVictim asshole victims]] solely because she can.
* AmbiguouslyGay: She seems to harbor a strong relationship with Selina Kyle. However, it's unknown whether it's a crush or if they're just close friends.
* AndIMustScream: After she suffers serious burns, the police assume she's dead and she is taken to Indian Hill for experimentation. The worst part is that she's ''still alive'' and in serious pain already from her burns.
* AnimalMotif: Of a firefly. She's given several insect like features, with her goggles resembling an insect's compound eyes, while her overall bodysuit is also very insect like.
* AntiVillain: Is forced into crime by her abusive brothers, and her only victims are either accidental or of the [[AssholeVictim Asshole]] variety (such as the aforementioned brothers). Changes later on as she willingly gets mixed up with Penguin and later Jerome.
* ArmorIsUseless: Played with; she builds herself an outfit from "flame-proof" cloth to prevent getting burned after her first night leaves her with fire on her leg. But during her final fight with the cops, her fuel line soaks her suit, catching her on fire... only for it to turn out that the cloth didn't burn, ''[[BodyHorror but fused to her body.]]''
* AxCrazy: After her brainwashing, she just wants to watch the world burn.
* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: Her brothers and Hugo Strange relentlessly abused her to the point of insanity.
* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:After her fuel line soaks her flame-proof cloth suit and she is set aflame, the suit fuses to her body, cementing her as Firefly for good.]]
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Thanks to Hugo Strange's treatment on her. It goes away.
* BreakTheCutie: The abuse from her brothers and corruption from Selina's influence turn her from a shy, timid young girl into one of Gotham's deadliest arsonists.
* TheBusCameBack: She returns some episodes after her seeming death, now donning her identity as Firefly.
* ButtMonkey: She's abused by her family, seriously burned, has no friends, and suffers a FateWorseThanDeath after she's mistaken for dead.
* CoDragons: With Freeze for Penguin in late season 3 and early season 4.
* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames: In "By Fire", Barnes and Bullock both call her a firefly, but that's just a MythologyGag. She never actually calls herself Firefly, nor does anyone use the word in the context of a name. Averted after her return in "Unleashed", where she insists that Firefly is her name, refusing to answer to Bridgit.
* CopKiller: Accidentally, after her flamethrower malfunctions.
* CostumeEvolution: Her first suit is a crudely-crafted hoodie and mask made out of fireproof fabric, along with a pair of black goggles that resemble an insect's eyes. After she's taken into Indian Hill for experimentation, she sports a [[http://utbgeek.com/home/bradu25/public_html/utbgeek/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/G3-1.jpg darker, sleeker suit]] with a flamethrower that appears to represent her "Firefly wings", as well as a new pair of goggles that look strikingly similar to her ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins Arkham]]'' counterpart's.
* DarkIsEvil: She dons a gray fire-resistant suit upon becoming Firefly.
* DarthVaderClone: After she becomes Firefly, she now has serious burns, metallic armor that keeps her alive, and speaks in a distorted voice.
* TheDogBitesBack: In "By Fire", she kills the Pike brothers by, well... by fire.
* DragonAscendant: After seasons spent killing people for Strange, Penguin and Jerome, she's got her own gang of pyromaniacs by the end of season 4.
* DrivenToVillainy: Her brothers and Hugo Strange push her to the point of insanity with their relentless torture; resulting in her becoming the arsonist Firefly.
* DysfunctionalFamily: The Pike brothers force her into becoming an arsonist, calling it "family business", and threaten to expel her if they decide that she is not family.
* EvilFeelsGood: After her first night, she realizes that she enjoyed setting fires.
* EvilIsHammy: After accepting her villainous side, she goes way over the top with her desire to torch everything.
* EvilMakesYouUgly: She was a pretty, innocent girl before suffering from serious burns during her arson crimes.
* FireBreathingWeapon: Progresses to using a flamethrower at the end of "Scarification".
* FireIceDuo: With Mr. Freeze. The two of them are a pair of [[PsychoForHire Psychos for Hire]]. One episode has them turning their weapons on each other.
* {{Foil}}: Appropriately enough, to Mr. Freeze. Both are villains themed after elements, both wear bodily-concealing suits and goggles, and both use guns that fire ammunition deriving from said elements. However, while Freeze is trying to rescue the one he loves and ''not'' cause massive collateral damage, Bridgit sets her abusive family ablaze (though it wasn't [[ButtMonkey without reason]]) and goes on a subsequent rampage. They both end up at Indian Hill and don't see each other until Hugo Strange attempts to activate a bomb to level Arkham. While Freeze stays loyal to the professor, Bridgit (now truly Firefly) immediately rejects Strange's imploring to kill Selina. The two end up in ElementalRockPaperScissors and are evenly matched, only stopping when Strange gets in the crossfire.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: She was just an abused, shy girl before becoming one of the city's most dangerous arsonists.
* GenderFlip: Firefly is traditionally portrayed as male.
* AGodAmI: Due to Strange creating a new persona for her to adapt to, Firefly now believes she is a "Goddess of Fire." By the time Oswald and Ivy find her again in Season 3, the "Goddess of Fire" alter ego went away.
* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: She's not portrayed as stable after her evolution into Firefly, but generally she's ok being Penguin's enforcer. Season 4, however, has her throw in with Jerome's mad plan to destroy the city.
* KarmaHoudini: Gets away with all her criminal actions by the end of the series.
* LossOfIdentity: After her time in Indian Hill.
* NotQuiteDead: Bridgit ends up burnt alive by her malfunctioning flamethrower and is thought to be dead. However, her body is taken to Indian Hill for experimentation, while she's ''still alive'' and [[AndIMustScream completely aware]] of what's going on.
* NotSoDifferent: After becoming evil, she's now no longer different from her equally {{jerkass}}, abusive {{pyromaniac}} brothers and their desire to torch others for fun.
* PayEvilUntoEvil: Barbecues her brothers, who have abused her since childhood, and a pimp auctioning sex slaves.
* PsychoForHire: Much like her original counterpart, she becomes a villain for hire recruited as the Penguin's new muscle.
* PutOnABusToHell: After receiving serious burns that the police assumed she died from, she's sent to Indian Hill where Hugo Strange commits horrific experiments on her.
* {{Pyromaniac}}: Well, she is a villain who bases her gadgets off of flame-inducing technology.
* {{Retcon}}: A somewhat downplayed example. Her fiery accident permanently damaged her entire body, and thus, her whole face ended up getting completely scarred. In Season 4 however, only ''half'' of her face is scarred (this is never explained).
* ShrinkingViolet: Before her StartOfDarkness, Bridgit was a timid girl who was afraid of interacting with people due to her constant abuse.
* SmallNameBigEgo: After Strange convinces her to act as a fire goddess, she becomes quite full of herself and only spares Selina's life in order to make her a servant.
* ReligionOfEvil: Her Fire Goddess persona desires the burning of the entire world.
* ReligiousBruiser: She truly believes that fire is a religion for her to spread.
* RomanticTwoGirlFriendship: She and Selina were very close and knew each other on a personal level. However, their friendship has officially severed upon Bridgit's transformation into Firefly.
* SanitySlippage: After Strange works on her in Indian Hill, she comes to believe she is an actual goddess of fire. She's gotten over it by her season 3 reappearances.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: She really hates working with Freeze in season 3, even though they're a devastatingly effective combination.
* ThatManIsDead: When she sees Selena again after Selena sneaks into Indian Hill she maintains that Bridgit is dead and that her name is Firefly.
* TookALevelInJerkass: After she becomes a fully evil villain, she embraces her AxCrazy side.
* TruerToTheText: Compared to Firefly's last live action portrayal on ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', this Firefly is a lot more closer to the comics by being a high-tech arsonist using an advanced flamethrower rather than a rogue firefighter who used a lighter and a tank of gasoline.
* VillainDecay: She was once a rogue pyromaniac that went around killing people for fun, but later in the show she gets recruited as the DumbMuscle for more competent villains. To rub salt in the wounds, she once gets taken out by ''Leslie Thompkins'' of all characters with a single bullet igniting her flamethrower.
* VillainousRescue: Kills a Talon threatening Jim Gordon at Penguin's behest.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: She and Selina used to be good friends before she became Firefly, trying to kill Selina at the end of season 2.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In season 4 she first works for Penguin, then [[spoiler:becomes part of the Legion of Horribles]], but drops out of sight after their defeat. She's mentioned in season 5 as being in a turf war against Freeze, but her final fate is unresolved in both the season proper and the TimeSkip finale.
[[/folder]]


[[folder: Victor Fries/Mister Freeze]]
!!Victor Fries/Mister Freeze
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gotham_mr_freeze_refridgeration_suit.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:''"They think walls and guns can stop me? They have no idea... they'll learn."'']]
->'''Played By:''' Nathan Darrow

A young cryogenics engineer-turned-criminal who first appears at the end of the Season 2 mid--season finale. Armed with a powerful gun that can freeze people solid, he goes through tremendous lengths to save and protect his ill wife, Nora - but all for naught. The combination of the emotional trauma of his wife's death, a botched suicide attempt with his own freezing chemicals and Hugo Strange providing his famous suit have rendered him Mr. Freeze by series' end.
----
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the comics, Mr. Freeze has a physiology that prevents him from living without his suit and looks freakishly inhuman, with no hair on his head and blue skin. On ''Gotham'', he is still relativity normal, with an albino appearance, white hair, and light blue eyes and veins.
** His appearance also either hearkens back or is a ShoutOut to Captain Cold from [[Series/TheFlash1990 The Flash television series]] from 1990, who was also an albino PsychoForHire.
* AdaptationalJerkass: After Nora dies, he becomes a full-fledged AxCrazy PsychoForHire working under Hugo Strange and taking ''joy'' in killing people for him as opposed to the emotionally scarred TragicVillain who wants no hand in evil whatsoever.
* AffablyEvil: Enough, apparently, to convince some bystanders to help him load one of his victims into his van. He's also considerate enough to shoo them away when the police are about to show up. This, of course, all goes out the window after he becomes Mr. Freeze.
* AntiVillain: Like in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' and the comics before the 2011 relaunch, he's trying to help his wife, no matter who else gets hurt in the process. At least until she dies - after this he's a PsychoForHire to the bigger villains in Gotham.
* AcquiredPoisonImmunity: The reason for his below-mentioned BungledSuicide; he'd soaked up enough trace elements of his formula that it turned him into the classic Mr. Freeze, only able to survive in sub-zero temperatures, rather than killing him.
* BaldOfEvil: Pointedly averted; where nearly every other version of Freeze in other media is traditionally bald due to his altered physiology, here he has a full head of snow-white hair post-transformation.
* BungledSuicide: Tries to use a faulty batch of cryo-formula to kill himself just like Nora did, so he can join her in the afterlife. But really, were you expecting Victor Fries to die from an accident with his serum at this point?
* CoDragons: Both him and Firefly are this to Oswald Cobblepot in Season 3. Neither of them are happy about it but they make the best of it by killing anyone who tries to kill their boss with precision.
* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames: Averted. He is called Mr. Freeze by the newspapers (despite that his last name actually isn't pronounced that way this time).
* CostumeEvolution: The Mr. Freeze suit starts off as [[https://nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/gotham-mr-freeze-exclusive.jpg a thick hooded jacket with simple, makeshift armor plating]]. In "A Dead Man Feels No Cold", he ditches this getup for [[http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/y6tb18/picture63153892/ALTERNATES/FREE_640/Gotham-ep213_scn26_5307_f_hires2 a more spaceman-like suit]], and eventually, it evolves into the iconic armored suit (and red goggles) from the comics.
* ColdHam: {{Pun}} aside, this is appropriately how Fries acts throughout his episodes in his attempts to save his wife, even holding TranquilFury as part of his repertoire.
* DeathFakedForYou: Ostensibly, his dead body was burned after a stay at the city morgue. In fact, he'd been transformed into a human Popsicle by his BungledSuicide and became one of Hugo Strange's enforcers.
* DrivenToSuicide: After failing to save Nora. Needless to say, he fails to kill himself, and of course, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger...
* FireIceDuo: With Firefly. The two of them are a pair of [[PsychoForHire Psychos for Hire]]. One episode even has them turning their weapons on each other, though both survive.
* ForegoneConclusion: Victor's plan to reverse his condition and become normal is unlikely to ever happen due to Mr. Freeze being around during Batman's crime fighting career.
* FiveSecondForeshadowing: While the appearance of Victor Fries was already announced for Season 2, viewers were still surprised to see the logo for the show freeze over, and were immediately greeted by this character's appearance.
* {{Foil}}: To Firefly, appropriately. Both are villains themed after elements, both wear bodily-concealing suits and goggles, and both use guns that fire ammunition deriving from said elements. While Freeze goes out of his way to save his wife and ''not'' cause too much collateral damage until his ultimate transformation and FaceHeelTurn, Firefly had already murdered her brothers who were abusive to her. Both wind up at Indian Hill not soon after their supervillain debuts, and while Firefly is temporarily locked up in the basement, Freeze is out and about as Hugo Strange's errand boy. The two counterparts meet soon enough, and participate in ElementalRockPaperScissors with their guns until Strange is hurt.
* HiredGun: What Fries does as a side job. He's really good in what he does.
* HumanPopsicle: What he becomes by the end of his second episode.
* AnIcePerson: On the giving and receiving ends: his freeze gun lets him freeze people solid. Later, his suicide attempt alters his physiology so that he can only survive in cold temperatures.
* InTheHood: His suit has some resemblance to Firefly's (goggles, gunmetal grey suit, power supply attached to WeaponOfChoice), and features this in place of the familiar dome.
* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: This series decided to go with a different pun on his last name. Instead of making it sound identical to "freeze", it's instead pronounced like "ice".
* KarmaHoudini: Gets away with all his criminal actions by the end of the series.
* LightIsNotGood: Started off with white armor, but becomes a villain later.
* LockedIntoStrangeness: His hair turns completely white after his resurrection.
* MythologyGag:
** In "A Dead Man Feels No Cold", while holding a man hostage, Fries creates what appear to be ice grenades with the ability to shoot out icicles similar to a nail bomb, for use in saving his wife from Arkham. These are clearly the Freeze Grenades that debuted in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', except much deadlier and for murderous intent instead of simple stunning.
** His alliance with Hugo Strange is also taken from the game, though the alliance is mutually beneficial and seems to be more friendly, with Hugo assisting Fries and distracting the police in exchange for a sample of Victor's cryonic formula. However, thanks to Victor's BungledSuicide, he receives his own specialized cell in Arkham acts as a mercenary.
** The astronaut-like suit that he wears "A Dead Man Feels No Cold" looks almost exactly like [[http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RngpqpM59QU/VP97-KTRS1I/AAAAAAAAFdg/qRK0IlLREYQ/s1600/batman%2B7.jpg one of the suits that he wore in the]] [[Series/Batman1966 Adam West series]].
* PoweredArmor: As mentioned in CostumeEvolution, he ditches his chain-mail jacket for a spaceman-like suit. Of course, his first usage of it combined with his ice gun makes him an example of ClothesMakeTheSuperman, but once he becomes AnIcePerson after his BungledSuicide, Hugo Strange has some modifications made to his suit to fit his HumanPopsicle biology.
* PsychoForHire: After his debut arc becomes this to first Penguin, and later Jerome's Legion of Horribles. Justified in that it's mentioned that he needs money in order to fund reversing his condition.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot: His actor was also appearing regularly on Series/HouseOfCardsUS during the time period he was portraying Freeze, leading to his [[CommutingOnABus sporadic appearances]] after his debut arc.
* SlasherSmile: He looks like he's enjoying freezing Karen Jennings to death a little too much.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: He despises working with Firefly in season 3, even though they're a devastatingly effective combination.
* VillainDecay: He started out as a complex tragic villain who was trying to save his dying wife, but after her death and his transformation, Freeze became the muscle for other arc villains with more power than him. It actually got to the point where he barely even speaks in his appearances despite his intimidating presence.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In season 4 he first works for Penguin, then [[spoiler:becomes part of the Legion of Horribles]], but drops out of sight after their defeat. He's mentioned in season 5 as being in a turf war against Firefly, but his final fate is unresolved in both the season proper and the TimeSkip finale.
* WhiteHairBlackHeart: Ends up with white hair after being frozen and later unfrozen - and after this change is an AxCrazy psycho for hire.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dr. Hugo Strange]]
!!Dr. Hugo Strange
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hugo_strange_6.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Death is not an ending. Death is a new beginning."'']]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/BDWong

The Chief of Psychiatry at Arkham Asylum. He forces his patients to undergo brutally-intense treatments and tests, with Penguin being one of his most recent guinea pigs. Behind the scenes, he's secretly running mysterious experiments at Indian Hill, which end up leading to reborn villains such as Azrael (Theo Galavan), Fish Mooney and Jerome Valeska...
----
* AdaptationOriginConnection: His heinous experiments at Indian Hill have resulted in the birth of ''several'' Batman villains, including Mr. Freeze, Firefly, Solomon Grundy, and [[spoiler:Bane]]. He also was the one who hired Matches to kill Thomas Wayne, making him responsible for turning Bruce into Batman.
* AdaptationalWimp: While certainly a credible threat, this Hugo Strange doesn't act DefiantToTheEnd like his original counterpart. Whenever Strange was losing his battles, he [[XanatosGambit always had a backup plan]] and bravely stared down his enemies even when the odds weren't in his favor. The show's version breaks down ''crying'' and loses all hope the minute he's betrayed by the GreaterScopeVillain due to losing to Gordon and Bruce (who's still a child).
* AncientConspiracy: Is an agent for the Court of Owls.
* BadBoss: Allows his men to be brutally killed by Azrael in order to see what he is capable of.
* BaldOfEvil: As usual.
* BeardOfEvil: Strange's signature chinstrap beard only serves to enhance how ObviouslyEvil he is.
* BigBad: For the second half of Season 2. Professor Strange runs a secretive research facility called Indian Hill where he uses Arkham inmates as test subjects for meta-human or scientific purposes, unleashes a transformed Victor Fries as Mr. Freeze, and brings back and resurrects Theo Galavan as Azrael. And that is not counting his GreaterScopeVillain role as the man behind the killing of Thomas & Martha Wayne.
* BlatantLies: Any claim of his that a dead body brought to his facilities had been burnt. He was first known to have told this lie about Victor Fries in "Azrael", and in "Unleashed" Bullock notes that he told the same lie about Theo Galavan, too.
* BreakTheHaughty: When Gordon and Bruce eventually get the better of him and the Court of Owls activates a nuke under his facility, Strange breaks down ''crying'' and loses all his cool suave characteristics almost immediately. Happens again in season 3 when he goes from smugly daring Penguin to do anything to breaking down in panic when he realises Oswald has the same torture headset Strange himself once used.
* ButtMonkey: After Season 2, him getting kidnapped, tortured and then coerced into being someone else's slave becomes something of a RunningGag.
* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: How he's avoided being killed so far. His skills at mental and physical alteration mean he's too valuable to lose, even for someone who despises him like Penguin.
* ColdHam: He rarely raises his voice, but expect him to make himself known in every scene he's in regardless.
* CompositeCharacter: By the show going with the Waynes' deaths being an assassination and him being behind it to stop Thomas Wayne, he takes the role of Lew Moxon from the stories where their deaths were an assassination.
* CreepyMonotone: It never turns off.
* DirtyCoward: When things don't go his way in the season 2 finale, he breaks down crying and runs away like a coward.
* DragonInChief: In "Wrath of the Villains", it is revealed he directly works for the Court of Owls, but doesn't agree with their methods.
* EtTuBrute: Hugo was a former friend to Thomas Wayne before betraying him.
* EvilSoundsDeep: Just listen to that eerie, baritone voice of his.
-->'''Hugo Strange''': This is an official certificate from the Gotham Board of Health and Hygiene. It states that Oswald Cobblepot has passed all mandated tests, and by the laws of Gotham City, is hereby declared... '''''saaaaaane'''''.
* FalseFriend: He used to be friends with Thomas Wayne but eventually betrayed him.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Comes off as a polite and compassionate psychiatrist who wants what's best for his patients in his therapy sessions. It's all an affectation of course, and he keeps it even while torturing his victims.
-->'''Strange (with a warm smile)''': "Remember, see no evil, do no evil."[[note]]He says this to a patient as he is sending him to have his eyes gouged out.[[/note]]
* ForScience: He doesn't seem to have any reason for torturing Cobblepot using Gerald Crane's fear formula other than to see what will happen. Also his reasoning for releasing Oswald and Barbara from Arkham, literally just to see what would happen.
* FourEyesZeroSoul: He has creepy red-tinted LennonSpecs, used for maximum effect in the closeups of his face, and he experiments on the "patients" at Indian Hill.
* GreaterScopeVillain:
** In "Pinewood", it's ultimately revealed that he was the one who hired Matches Malone to kill Bruce's parents -- in order to prevent his father from stopping Strange's nightmarish experiments on his patients. This means that he's indirectly the one who ends up creating Batman.
** He's the one that gave [[spoiler:Eduardo Durrance the ability to mind-control Riddler in season 5, leading to the bombing of Haven. And when Eduardo is critically injured by Gordon, Strange is the one that saves him and turns him into Bane.]]
* HannibalLecture: Delivers one to Gordon at the start of "Azrael". Gordon is able to see through it and points out that he never believed him for one second when Strange lies that the last remains of Victor Fries had been destroyed after Gordon hands him a court order ostensibly signed by Harvey Dent calling for his exhumation.
* TheHeavy: He's acting as the BigBad of the second half of Season 2 while secretly working under the Court of Owls.
* HijackedByGanon: In the comics he usually has his own plans and motives (usually figuring out Batman's identity). Here he's working for the Court of Owls all along.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** He decides to release Barbara from Arkham Asylum, basically just to see what will happen. What does happen is that Barbara helps Gordon find a major clue to the person behind the Wayne murders -- namely, Strange himself.
** By unleashing 'Azrael' on the city to kill Jim to keep him silent, he ends up blowing his secret: not only do the police finally have a strong reason to investigate him, but the Court of Owls order him to move his operations to an upstate facility, which results in all of Strange's experiment patients escaping into Gotham.
** In the Season 2 finale, he gets hit by simultaneous blasts from Mr. Freeze and Firefly's weapons, two of his "creations".
** In season 3 Penguin tortures him with the same "therapy" headset Strange once used on him.
* InscrutableOriental: Comes off as this due to the RaceLift.
* KarmaHoudini: Gets away with all his criminal actions by the end of the series.
* LightIsNotGood: Wears a white lab coat most of the time, but is very evil.
* MadScientist: His experiments make the Dollmaker look outright sane, and he's particularly fixated on reversing death. He eventually succeeds in bringing Theo Galavan, Fish Mooney, and others back to life.
* MadeOfIron: He gets frozen and burnt at the same time, but he completely shrugs this off.
* ManipulativeBastard: In spades. In under two episodes, his "treatment" of Penguin has left Gotham's King a confused duck-duck-goose-playing BrokenBird. If Nigel's any indicator, he can and has reduced inmates to self-harming incoherent messes. Plus he just added Mr. Freeze to his collection of underground freaks... Freaks who are presumed dead (and at least a couple of them just as presumed having been incinerated), each with special attributes, that Strange no doubt intends to use. Turned completely on its head just as quickly: Penguin breaks his conditioning and comes gunning for him, while one of his "freaks" turns out to be Fish Mooney, who quickly makes him her captive.
* MythologyGag: Takes a while to play out, but he eventually turns out to have been working for Ra's al Ghul through the Court of Owls. Minus the latter, [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity that sounds familiar]]...
* NeverMyFault: He tells Bruce it was Thomas's own fault for forcing Strange to have him killed.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain:
** By questioning Gordon and Bruce if they knew of a mysterious council that secretly controlled Gotham, he inadvertently put them on the trail of the Court of Owls, though he wasn't really expecting them to survive after the interrogations.
** He also overhears Penguin admitting Jim really killed Galavan, leading him to resurrect Theo in his experiments and, as Azrael, send him after Gordon. At this point, Barnes is investigating Gordon for Theo's murder, and all this does is make Barnes think Theo had never been dead, derailing the one investigation that could have legitimately put Jim away.
* NonActionBigBad: He's not really a physical threat.
* ObviouslyEvil: Per the norm for Gotham City, the guy could not be more obviously shady, [[DevilInPlainSight but no one sees him as anything worse than eccentric.]]
* OhCrap: When he realizes his test subjects have escaped and he's trapped in the asylum with a nuke ready to go off.
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: B.D. Wong tends to slip between an American accent and a Chinese one every so often.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: He's both a psychiatrist and a master of biological manipulation.
* PetTheDog: [[spoiler:He seems perfectly willing to fix up Lee Thompkins and the Riddler for Penguin at no charge. Subverted later, as it turned out he was putting mind control chips in them for Nyssa al Ghul to use.]]
* PlotArmor: Taken to ludicrous extremes in the second season finale. While Mr. Freeze and Firefly are fighting to the death, Strange [[TooDumbToLive runs right between their crossfire]] getting simultaneously frozen and burnt. Miraculously, this doesn't even faze him in the least.
* PsychoForHire: In later seasons his ability to physically alter someone sees him used by both Penguin and [[spoiler:Nyssa al Ghul]].
* PsychoPsychologist: As per usual, he's experimenting on patients. Specifically the ones at Indian Hill.
* RaceLift: Typically a German, here he's played by an Asian actor.
* ScaryShinyGlasses: Red-tinted ones!
* SmugSnake: He releases both Penguin and Barbara, [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter without regard to what it will do to his professional reputation]]. The latter puts Gordon squarely on his trail within a few episodes, while the former comes for him ''[[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill with a minigun]]'' at the end of the season.
* SoftSpokenSadist: He never uses anything but a mild indoor voice, to the point that his speech is strangely hypnotic at times. And yet he enjoys screwing with people's minds in the same way a cruel child might enjoy burning ants with a magnifying glass.
* TooDumbToLive: While Firefly and Mr. Freeze are fighting each other, the doctor ''runs right into their crossfire''. Somehow, [[MadeOfIron this doesn't kill him]].
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: One of the corpses he collected? Jerome Valeska. If he'd left well enough alone there, Gotham might have been spared his brother Jeremiah's transformation into the Joker...
* VillainousBreakdown: Has one in "Transference", when he tearfully waits to die in a nuclear explosion, rather than disarm the bomb and let his experiments escape into the world.
* VillainDecay: Is reduced from being the BigBad of Season 2 and one of the most prominent [[GreaterScopeVillain Greater Scope Villains]] of the series to being the lackey of whoever has him on a leash at the moment in season 3.
* WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou: Strange admits to feeling this way about Thomas Wayne, when speaking to Bruce. And before that, he tried to get Thomas to understand the purpose of his experiments.
* XanatosGambit: Helps Gordon and Bullock locate the Court's weaponized Tetch virus in season 3 after helping the Court create it. His reasoning is that if they succeed he can work a deal with them, and if they fail he still appears loyal to the Court of Owls.
* YouMonster: Quoth Bullock in "Unleashed":
-->'''Bullock''': You stink, Strange--this whole place stinks.
[[/folder]]


[[folder:"Basil"/Clayface]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clayfaces3.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:'''Hugo Strange:''' "''Basil is a gifted performer. A chameleon of sorts."'']]
An actor who died of unknown means, Basil is an Indian Hill patient that is capable of changing his features & voice to impersonate others.
----
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: While still a relatively creepy looking fellow, he at least fares better than the giant blob monster that he is in the comics.
* AdaptationalSuperpowerChange: Rather than the radioactive mud pool that gave the Matt Hagen Clayface powers (and later become the source for other versions of the character receiving powers), this version receives his shapeshifting powers from octopus DNA implanted by Hugo Strange at Indian Hill.
* AdaptationalWimp: [[JustifiedTrope Naturally.]] [[StoryBreakerPower Clayface]] at full power would make short work of anything else in this series.
* BaldOfEvil: He can't shapeshift hair, so he does this to make wigs easier.
* BadBadActing: He was an actor in his previous life and had terrible performance skills. His impersonation of Gordon has to be seen to be believed. Subverted later, as his impersonation of Elijah Van Dahl was so spot on it further broke Oswald Cobblepot's mind.
* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames: He's only referred to as Basil by Hugo Strange, never Clayface.
* IdentityAmnesia: As part of Strange's experiments. By his second appearance, the good doctor's ministrations have erased any unease over this.
* InvoluntaryShapeshifting: Unlike his comic counterpart, he can't just morph his features and has to manually resculpt his features until they look how he wants. As a result, hitting him does to his disguise what it would do to a clump of soft clay.
* NoNameGiven: It is unclear if Basil was or is his real name, since this was the name given to him by Strange during his experiments at Indian Hill.
* PragmaticAdaptation: He's not a giant clay monster in this continuity. Instead, he's a (somewhat) regular-looking guy with stretchy, clay-like skin.
* RubberMan: His power works because his flesh is extremely malleable, allowing him to sculpt it at will.
* VoicesAreMental: Justified. His power only lets him change his appearance, not his internal structures. He has to rely on old fashioned listen-and-repeat just to get in the ballpark of the voice he should be using.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Basil hasn't been seen or heard since season 3, something especially notable in a show like ''Gotham'' where the freaks were running amok in the later seasons.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Jervis Tetch/Mad Hatter]]
!!Jervis Tetch
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/600px_gothams03e07_01_1.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''"Look into my eyes..."'']]
->'''Played By:''' Benedict Samuel

A talented hypnotist who comes to Gotham looking for his younger sister, Alice. Her death sends him into a campaign of {{Revenge}} against Jim Gordon, eventually leading him to team up with villains like Scarecrow and Jerome Valeska.
----
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: The youngest, most attractive portrayal of the character, as played by Benedict Samuel.
* AdaptationalBadass: Usually Tetch's mind control is managed via high-tech hats he places on his victims. Here he only needs for his victims to listen to his voice.
* ArchEnemy: To Jim Gordon. Jervis blames Gordon for Alice's death and in turn turns both of his [[LoveInterest Love Interests]] against him.
* AxCrazy: Has no compunctions about harming innocent people.
* BadassBoast: He lets off a bone-chilling self-description in his debut episode:
-->'''Mad Hatter:''' Who am I? I haunt your dreams like a ghost, for I know what scares you most. So, you run! Run as fast as you can! There's no escape... ''from the magic man!''
* BeardOfEvil: A natty goatee. However, he's clean-shaven in season 5.
* BerserkButton: His sister Alice. Or rather, the possibility of losing control over her. Telling him his sister left him out of fear and hatred of him for ''loving'' her is also surefire way to get Jervis ready to murder you.
* BlackEyesOfCrazy: Whenever he uses his hypnosis, Jervis's irises turn an eerie black, and what makes it scarier is that they're not even reflective once they become that way.
* BigBad: Served as this for the first part of Mad City.
* BrotherSisterIncest: Alice claims that Tetch tried to implant thoughts "a brother should never have" into her head in the past.
* CatchPhrase: "Look into my eyes."
* CoDragons: Becomes one to Jerome alongside Scarecrow in season 4.
* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames: In spite of the ''Alice in Wonderland'' motifs that accompany him, he isn't called the Mad Hatter in-show for quite some time. This is finally averted in Season 4 when Oswald refers to him as "Hatter".
* CompellingVoice: How he enthralls his victims.
* DarkerAndEdgier: Most modern depictions of Jervis in the comics imply him to be a sexual predator who kidnaps girls and tries to transform them into "Alice". ''Gotham'' takes this one step further and adds BrotherSisterIncest to this by making the original Alice of his obsessions his own sister. He did however kidnap an unknown girl and dress her up, only to slit her throat afterwards.
* DiscOneFinalBoss: The GCPD and Jim were able to stop Jervis and his plan to unleash the virus, but there are still three episodes left of Mad City allowing the vacant spot of BigBad to be filled by Jerome Valeska.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Horrifically, disturbingly deconstructed. His ''love'' for his sister is very sick and twisted; he [[BrotherSisterIncest abuses]] and terrifies her and calls it love.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Whilst he is willingly and eagerly helping out Jerome Valeska, he is noticeably disturbed and shocked at the Joker Toxin's affects on the test subject.
* EvilIsHammy: He starts off as a cold and calculating foe, but becomes louder and more over-the-top as he sinks deeper into insanity. His [[RhymesOnADime rhyming habit]] only furthers his hamminess.
-->'''Jervis''': Soon the bells will toll, Jim. How many more will grow cold, Jim? Like your ''soul'', Jim. How many would-be fliers will be ''die-rs?!'' Splattered like my poor, spitted Alice when the Gotham bells tolled their full '''''ROOOOOOOLL!'''''
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Jim gets him to reveal who he has infected with Alice's blood by turning his RhymesOnADime tendency back on him.
* TheImmune: He is impervious to Alice's virus, and his blood is the key to its cure.
* IncestantAdmirer: His one-sided fixation on his sister Alice is strongly implied to be of the incestuous sort.
* {{Irony}}: Jervis loves watching people fall into madness from Alice's blood as a twisted way of being close to her, but ''his'' blood is the key ingredient of the antidote.
* KarmaHoudini: Gets away with all his criminal actions by the end of the series.
* MindManipulation: He's a hypnotist.
* NeverMyFault: After Alice's death, Jervis blames Jim Gordon for turning her against him, even though she hated Jervis because of his [[BrotherSisterIncest own]] [[{{Yandere}} actions]].
* NiceHat: Though not given much focus, he just wouldn't be ''the'' Mad Hatter without a snazzy topper. Even after he winds up in Arkham, he makes a cartoonish one out of newspaper.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Normally speaks in a polite, soft-spoken manner, so when he raises his voice, it's a sign that he's ''very'' angry.
** He usually wears a smug smile on his face and speaks with glee when committing crimes and killing people. If he ever drops this, someone's going to die even ''more'' horribly.
* PsychicAssistedSuicide: He's not actually psychic, but he uses his hypnosis to make his victims off themselves on his behalf.
-->'''Mad Hatter:''' Oh, and I'm gonna need you to kill yourself, too. Chop-chop!
* PsychopathicManchild: He displays an almost childlike innocence, which just serves to make him creepier.
* PsychoForHire: He returns in season 5, [[spoiler:working for Jeremiah Valeska to create a new killer virus]]. When queried as to why, he claims he's just doing it to have fun.
* {{Revenge}}: Blames Gordon for Alice's death, and tries to ruin his life as a result. Subverted in season 4, where his latest attack on Jim turns out to be a distraction in order to give Jerome and Scarecrow time to achieve their goals.
* RhymesOnADime: Tends to speak in this when he's hypnotizing people. It slips into his regular speech the further off the deep end he goes. This is an [[ShownTheirWork actual symptom of schizophrenia]] called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clanging Clanging]].
* SadisticChoice: He's very fond of these, often offering Gordon situations in which he has to choose between saving one person or the other - most prominently when he gets Jim to tell him to kill Vale or Lee.
* SanitySlippage: He's clearly got some screws loose in his introductory episode, but finding out that Alice wants nothing to do with him, and later witnessing her death doesn't help. Later, it's a testament to how off his rocker he is when, after escaping Arkham, most of his dialogue is ''screamed'', as opposed to the quiet, polite tone he usually uses.
* SoftSpokenSadist: He has a very calm, low voice, even while he's commanding people to kill themselves.
* SuddenlyShouting: When dealing with Gordon in "One of My Three Soups", every other sentence out his mouth is this, a sign of how much he's cracked.
* TakeAThirdOption: How Jim frequently gets the better of him.
** When Barbara and Tabitha are hunting for them, he gleefully tells Jim his only options are to give into the Tetch virus or get killed. Jim slits his throat to get enough blood for the cure instead, patching him up with duct tape.
** When he's got masses of people on rooftops ready to jump through hypnosis, he rigs the situation to they die either way - if the clock gets to midnight, they jump, and if someone tries to save them, they jump. So Jim instead commands them to save each other, which works.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Like many other less prominent villains, he goes curiously unmentioned in the grand finale.
* {{Yandere}}: Tetch is hunting Alice down even though he terrifies her and she wants nothing to do with him.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ra's al Ghul]]
The mysterious leader of the League of Assassins, Ra's is an immortal seeking an end to his long life - and in season 3 takes a distinct interest in Bruce. For tropes regarding him, see [[Characters/GothamCriminalGroups Other Criminal Groups]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Arthur Penn/The Ventriloquist]]
!!Arthur Penn
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/penn_1.png]]
->'''Played By:''' Andrew Sellon

A nervous mob accountant working for Penguin starting in season 4.
----
* AdaptationNameChange: [[spoiler:The original Ventriloquist in the comics is named Arnold Wesker. This is [[MythologyGag alluded to]] when Penguin [[AccidentalMisnaming calls him "Arnold" by accident]].]]
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: He's not quite as abusive as his comics counterpart is towards [[spoiler:Wesker]], with part of his motivation being getting back at Penguin for his awful treatment of Penn - this makes sense in a way, as [[spoiler:Scarface]] appears to represent Penn's suppressed anger for Penguin's actions.
* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:How he's eventually killed, courtesy of the Riddler]].
* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler:In episode 3 of season 5, he is shot by the Street Demons leader after they turn against Penguin and appears to die. He turns up again in episode 8, having survived and patched himself up only to be killed by Riddler with a bullet to the head after he attacks Oswald.]]
* CanonCharacterAllAlong: [[spoiler:Introduced as Penguin's long-suffering accountant, everyone thought we'd seen the last of him when he was killed by the Street Demonz. Then he came back in "Nothing's Shocking", where it turned out he was actually the show's take on the Ventriloquist/Scarface.]]
* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:To a degree. Whist this version of the Ventriloquist dies about a decade prior to Bruce Wayne becoming Batman, the Ventriloquist is actually a legacy character in the comics, with many others taking on the identity. So it's entirely possible another criminal could end up taking on the Ventriloquist/Scarface identity in Gotham's off-screen future.]]
* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler:Dies in Penguin's arms after he is shot and has a surprisingly heartfelt moment with him when Penguin angrily mourns his death and Penn apologizes for abandoning him, though it's subverted in that he somehow survives this and returns in episode 8 - only to be killed again.]]
%%* DirtyCoward:
* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler:Happens twice in season 5 towards Penguin. The first is when he leads most, if not all, of Penguin's remaining workers into defecting and fleeing to Jim Gordon's Haven. The second is via the Scarface personality, which is his repressed anger towards Penguin, which attempts to kill his former employer.]]
* DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent: [[spoiler:Is eventually revealed to have been on Penguin's, Sofia's, and Falcone's payrolls, keeping tabs on all three of them for each other.]]
* HijackedByGanon: [[spoiler:Turns out this minor character was the ''Gotham'' version of the Ventriloquist and Scarface all along]].
* ManChild: Penguin mentions a "specialized clinic" that Penn spends most of his weekends off at. When Jim and Harvey storm the clinic, it turns out to actually be a fetish hotel for adult babies. This leads to Penn being interrogated while wearing an adult-sized onesie.
* MythologyGag: When trying to remember Penn's first name, Penguin accidentally calls him Arnold rather than Arthur. Arnold is the first name of [[spoiler:the original Ventriloquist in the comics]].
* NervousWreck: Constantly extremely anxious. Not surprising considering [[AxCrazy who he works for]].
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gives a fairly damning one to Oswald in "Nothing's Shocking" shortly before [[spoiler:Riddler kills him.]]
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: He's very intelligent and has a sophisticated way of speaking. This works fine with Penguin, but not so well with some of Gotham's other denizens.
--> '''Penn:''' Ed Nygma, who owes his life to Mr. Cobblepot's mercy, is repaying that generosity by aping his benefactor in a crude commedia dell'arte!
--> '''[[StreetSmart Selina]]:''' ...[[FlatWhat what]]?
* ShootTheShaggyDog: [[spoiler:Penguin helps him break free of the Scarface personality, blowing the doll's head off and prompting a delighted Penn to seemingly snap back to normal - then Riddler kills him via headshot anyway]].
* SplitPersonality: [[spoiler:His repressed loathing of Penguin manifests itself in the Scarface personality.]]
* {{Turncoat}}: [[spoiler:Defects to Jim Gordon's side after witnessing Penguin's continued callous and dismissive nature towards his employees and having his own life threatened. It doesn't last.]]
* UltimateJobSecurity: Comes with the territory of being a mob accountant, hence why [[spoiler:Sofia keeps him around despite knowing of his status as a mole for multiple families.]]
* VerbalTic: [[spoiler:As Mr. Scarface, transplants B's, P's, and M's with G's, T's, and N's. [[ShownTheirWork This is a real-life trick used by amateur ventriloquists to avoid moving their lips]].]]
* WalkingSpoiler: It should be obvious from the number of whited-out entries that all is not as it initially appears with him...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lazlo Valentin/Professor Pyg]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gotham_409a_scn3_jn0230_f_hire.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see him unmasked.]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lazlo_valentin.png]][[/labelnote]]
->'''Played by:''' Michael Cerveris

A deranged serial killer who sports a pig mask. His primary targets are the corrupt cops of Gotham, although he seems to have taken a liking to Jim Gordon...
----
* AbledInTheAdaptation: Unlike the comics Pyg, who's one of the few Batman villains to actually meet the qualifications to be declared insane, this version is clear-headed.
* AdaptationalBadass: Most versions of Pyg, excepting ''WesternAnimation/BewareTheBatman'', are schizophrenics and murderous psychopaths and have very little planning skills. This version is perfectly capable of executing an almost [[Film/TheDarkKnight Joker-like]] scheme such as when he [[spoiler: massacres the GCPD in the abandoned court house.]]
* AdaptationalDeviation: This version of Pyg doesn't appear to have any involvement with the Circus of Strange.
* AdaptationalIntelligence: While he lacks the comic variant's surgical skills needed to create his Dollotrons, he's a master strategist and actor, skills the comics Pyg doesn't have.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. This version of the character is a vigilante who murders corrupt cops, which is considerably less depraved than his M.O. in the comics. However, it's clear that this Pyg is still a severely disturbed psychopath, and that his mission against Gotham's corruption is more or less an excuse he uses to indulge his sick desires.
* AdaptedOut: His signature {{Mooks}}, the Dollotrons, never make an appearance in the show.
* ArcVillain: He was the primary villain for about 5 episodes in Season 4. [[spoiler:It later turns out that Sofia is the one who hired him.]]
* AristocratsAreEvil: [[spoiler: He changes his targets from corrupt cops to Gotham's elite because of their callousness and disregard towards the poor.]]
* AnimalMotifs: He models himself after pigs, and places a pig mask on every cop that he kills. Not only that but he leaves figurines of pigs on his crime scenes, sent pig heads to the police HQ as a calling card and left live pigs with two of his victims' corpses, one of which was eaten by said pigs.
* AttentionWhore: He loves being the center of attention, so much so that he actually yearns to be hailed as Gotham's most notorious criminal. When Gordon tells him that the city's already forgotten about him after his arrest, he does ''not'' take it lightly.
* BaddieFlattery: He apparently sees Gordon as a celebrity of sorts, and is somewhat starstruck when the two meet face-to-face.
* BaldOfEvil: This version of Pyg is bald behind the mask.
* BerserkButton:
** The only thing so far that breaks Pyg's hammy disposition is Gordon saying that his killing spree is just a madman's game and not some crusade for the greater good.
** He breaks his Pyg persona when Gordon makes it sound like he's yesterday's news and nothing but an amateur compared to Jerome Valeska, Fish Mooney and Penguin.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: He's a flamboyant, effete eccentric with a bizarre dress sense, a lilting voice, and a fondness for nursery rhymes, but he is ''extremely'' dangerous nonetheless.
* BigBadEnsemble: With [[ManipulativeBitch Sofia Falcone]] for Season 4. Both have different goals, and ultimately oppose each other in one episode, yet both are the main threats in Gordon and Penguin's life, respectively. [[spoiler:Ultimately subverted on the "oppose" part, since they were working together all along.]]
* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:Courtesy of Sofia Falcone]].
* CopKiller: The DirtyCops on Penguin's payroll are his main targets.
* DeadpanSnarker: After Penguin [[spoiler:kills a callous aristocrat for disregarding the fate of an "urchin" and "orphan" child]], Pyg only responds by saying "what a waste of a good pie" and complimenting Penguin's response.
* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:Sofia shot him in the head and killed him, years before Bruce Wayne becomes Batman.]]
* TheDragon: [[spoiler:To Sofia Falcone]]
* DramaticUnmask: We finally see his true face ([[spoiler:or is it?]]) when he [[spoiler:removes his Fisoli disguise at the end of "A Day in the Narrows"]].
* TheDreaded: Pyg becomes one of the most feared cop killers in Gotham and forces Bullock to team up with Penguin and his goons in an attempt to capture him.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: At Sofia's fundraiser for orphans, Pyg assures her said orphans are locked up and not hurt, saying he's not an animal. Even his threat against Martin seems aimed more at intimidating Penguin than an actual desire to harm him.
* EvilIsHammy: No pun intended; he's ''very'' theatrical for a psychopathic killer. Fittingly enough, he's played by Broadway veteran Michael Cerveris.
* FauxAffablyEvil: He acts very polite and friendly towards Jim, [[spoiler: though this is simply a facade to hide his southern roots.]]
* IronicNurseryRhyme: At the end of "Hog Day Afternoon", he recites "Two Mother Pigs" to a pen of piglets before slaughtering them to make pig masks.
-->'''Professor Pyg:''' ''Two mother pigs lived in a pen.\\
They each had four piglets, and that made ten.\\
All the piglets loved to play,\\
and they rolled and they rolled in the mud all day.\\
At night, when their mothers curled up in a heap,\\
they squealed and they squealed until they went to sleep.\\
And sleep well, for tomorrow, the axe shall fall...''
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Gordon tells him that he's nothing more than a C-list criminal who's doomed to fall into obscurity, and has virtually no match against the staying power of bigger villains like the Penguin or Jerome. Pyg is considered by many to be one of Batman's more obscure rogues due to his relatively recent introduction compared to the classic Rogues' Gallery.
* MasterOfDisguise: He's a ''dangerously'' good actor, as demonstrated when he disguises himself as [[spoiler:one of his victims in an effort to trick Gordon and the GCPD]]. We eventually find out that [[spoiler:even his Pyg persona as a whole]] is just a big act.
* MeaningfulName: tells Gordon that spelling it with a Y rather than an I is deliberate as it's short for ''Theatre/{{Pygmalion}}''.
* MythologyGag:
** At one point, he sings along to opera while carving out another pig mask. This should seem ''very'' familiar for fans of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight''. He even throws a butcher knife at Jim in "Let Them Eat Pie", just like in his boss battle.
** In the comics, Pyg is a surgeon who uses his skills to turn his victims into Dollotrons. In the show, this is visually alluded to during a scene where he surgically [[spoiler:removes a dead man's organs]].
* NotSoDifferent: He expresses interest in Jim because he believes that they share a common goal: to wipe out the corruption within the GCPD.
-->'''Professor Pyg:''' You and I know that Gotham cannot survive unless the cancer is cut out. We both share the same mission, only I do it with a little bit more ''flair''.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: The man's a living testament to why you should BewareTheSillyOnes, but he's no fool. When Jim pretends not to know Pyg's location, Pyg's response is, "Don't act dumb. Only ''I'' get to do that."
* OneManArmy: [[spoiler: He single-handedly massacred a large portion of police officers, some on his own and by using a machine gun trap.]]
* OohMeAccentsSlipping: InUniverse example. As Gordon leaves him behind in his Arkham cell, Pyg angrily snarls, ''"Don't you walk out on me!"'' in a [[spoiler:Southern accent]], thus revealing giving Gordon a major clue where to start finding out his ''true'' identity.
* PigMan: Through wearing his signature pig mask.
* PragmaticAdaptation: His pig mask in the comics is usually depicted as a cheap plastic mask and reminiscent of [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Porky Pig]]. Here, it appears to be an ''actual pig's face'' that's been sliced into a mask.
* ShoutOut: Pyg's plot to [[spoiler:bake his murder victims into [[ImAHumanitarian human meat pies]]]] is directly inspired by ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''. This was a deliberate reference, since Michael Cerveris actually played Sweeney Todd on Broadway.
* SouthernFriedGenius: [[spoiler: He’s revealed to be from the south and briefly slips into a Southern accent during “Things That Go Boom”]], Yet this doesn’t negate the fact that he’s still a genuinely intelligent and dangerous criminal who managed to [[spoiler: escape from both Arkham and the prison from his original town with seemingly minimal effort]].
* VillainSong: He has a very short one in the form of "Meat Pie Tango", a parody of "Cell Block Tango" from ''Theatre/{{Chicago}}''.
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:He's offed by Sofia once he's no longer useful to her plan]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Jeremiah Valeska/The Joker]]
!![[ComicBook/TheJoker Jeremiah Valeska/The Joker]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screenshot_2019_01_12_21_26_01.png]][[caption-width-right:350:''"My brother once said, [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy]]."'']]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see Jeremiah pre-transformation]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a08cc965_1e7b_4493_b5da_72e253.jpg]] [[/labelnote]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see Jeremiah after falling into the bath of chemicals]] https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/joker_1554154048990_1280w.jpg]][[/labelnote]]
->'''Played By:''' Creator/CameronMonaghan

-->''"Why don't you understand? You need me! I'm the answer to your life's question! Without me, you're just a joke... without a punchline!"''

The reclusive genius identical twin brother of Jerome Valeska. He seems to be a stable, serious young man until he opens a jack-in-the-box left posthumously by his maniacal sibling. From then on he serves as the show's take on ComicBook/TheJoker, albeit without use of the name (WordOfGod indicates that Warner Brothers reserves the name for film incarnations of the Clown Prince of Crime), with a growing obsession with Bruce.
----
* ActuallyPrettyFunny: A warped variant: he can't stop giggling in "Pena Dura" when Alfred threatens to bite his face off if he hurts Bruce, having to visibly compose himself into seriousness before he resumes explaining his plans to the butler.
* AdaptationalDyeJob: Initially: he retains his natural red hair even after getting the pale skin and reddish lips from Jerome's gas. It's gone the traditional green (albeit so dark it appears black in most lighting) by the end of season 4.
* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: He's noticeably more calm and reserved than other versions of the Joker. [[CharacterisationMarchesOn At first anyway.]] He's [[SanitySlippage considerably more unhinged]] in season 5.
* AdaptationalUgliness: His [[spoiler:final Joker form]] may very well be one of the scariest, most grotesque looking versions of the Clown Prince in any live action adaptation. [[spoiler:His face is riddled with permanent chemical burns, and his hair's been reduced to long, stringy patches on his head]]. This is a [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] take on the Joker's typical origin; falling into a vat of chemicals ''will'' take a heavy toll on your skin and physical appearance.
* AdaptationExpansion: His full transformation into the Joker has essentially been split into ''two separate events'' in this continuity.
** First, he gets his bleached skin and SanitySlippage from a special laughing gas given to him by Jerome, turning him into the series' pre-eminent threat in the last few episodes of season 4.
** A season later, he [[spoiler:falls into the Ace Chemicals vat just like in the comics, and not only emerges physically deformed and closer to the traditional Joker look (specifically with the large pointed chin that's commonly associated with the character)]], but with [[spoiler:what's left of his Jeremiah identity permanently shattered, ready to become something entirely new]].
* AmbiguouslyEvil: A retroactive example: it's left up to anyone's guess whether [[spoiler:his exposure to the Joker Gas turned him evil, or if, as he claims, he was always this way and the gas just changed his appearance.]]
* ArchEnemy: He's this by default to Bruce after [[spoiler:crippling Selina and blowing up half the city]], but Jeremiah actively seeks this relationship with Bruce in season 5. He's realised he and Bruce will never be the "best friends" he wants them to be, so he settles for getting Bruce's attention another way - bonding them as this via [[spoiler:recreating the deaths of Bruce's parents with Jim and Leslie]].
* ArcVillain:
** [[spoiler:After Jerome dies but ensures that Jeremiah will unleash his inner craziness, Jeremiah becomes the final villain of season 4, trying to destroy the city both solo and as part of a BigBadDuumvirate with Ra's al Ghul.]]
** [[spoiler:He's this again for Bruce's arc in season 5, launching a concerted attempt to recreate the Wayne murders in hopes of bonding Bruce to him as an eternal enemy.]]
* AttentionWhore: Unlike his brother, he's this to Bruce and Bruce only. His entire reasoning behind recreating the Wayne murders - with him as the killer this time - is that he can't stand the thought of some random gunman having a bigger impact on Bruce's life than him.
--> '''Jeremiah''': I wanna be the star of the show!
* AxCrazy: Beneath his cool demeanor, he's just as insane as his brother was.
* BackupTwin: A particularly dark variation of this. Jerome ends up dead and never actually becomes the Joker, but fortunately for him, he has an identical twin brother who could do the job for him whether he wants to or not!
* BadBoss: Not surprisingly given who he's based on - turn on him (his brother's cult), question him (his series 5 tunnelling foreman) or just stop being useful ([[spoiler:Ecco]]) and he'll kill you without a second thought.
* TheBadGuyWins: One way of looking at "Ace Chemicals": his main goal is to bond Bruce to him forever as a blood rival if he can't be his brother - and the finale indicates he succeeded [[spoiler:when Bruce thwarts his plans as Batman]].
* BadassInANiceSuit: Unlike his brother, he's always seen in a variety of sharp suits, both pre- and post-transformation.
* BerserkButton: Implying that he is in any way inferior to Jerome. Questioning his sanity is also a bad move.
* BigBad: [[spoiler:For Season 4's final few episodes following his brother's demise.]]
* BigBadDuumvirate: Forms one with [[spoiler: Ra's al Ghul]] in the Season Four finale.
* BigBadFriend: He views himself as being this to Bruce - all evidence to the contrary. He forgoes several chances to just kill him and instead tries to first get him to unleash his inner darkness, then attempts to bond them forever as blood enemies by [[spoiler:killing his {{Parental Substitute}}s Jim and Leslie]].
* BigShutUp: Yells one at his followers when they turn on him, [[spoiler:shortly before incinerating them]].
* BullyingADragon:
** Oswald, Barbara, Tabitha and Butch - not viewing him as much compared to his [[TheDreaded late brother]] - attempt to hijack his plan to destroy the city by extorting it for $50 million by holding one of the crucial henchmen/parts of Jeremiah's plan for ransom. All this does is have him move up his timetable by activating the bombs early, almost getting them and millions of others killed as a result.
** Is subject to this again in season 5 by Ed Nygma and other Arkham inmates, who physically abuse him while he is [[spoiler: pretending to be]] catatonic, which makes it not so surprising that Jeremiah later targets the Riddler by [[spoiler: breaking him out of Arkham, and tricking him into committing a high-profile crime as [[TheChessmaster a distraction for Jeremiah's own plans.]]]]
* CainAndAbel: He certainly seems to be the Abel to Jerome's Cain, with his recounting his mother's favouring him and Jerome's subsequent threats and physical abuse. Then again, we learn later he was making at least some of it up, and that the hatred Jerome endured from the rest of his family played a part in his StartOfDarkness, so whether any of it was true is up for interpretation.
* CharacterisationMarchesOn: As noted below, Jeremiah started off ''distinctly'' different to his more manic brother, carrying himself with an almost bored sense of apathy. As of season 5, as his obsession with Bruce grows however, he's started to display more manic elements to his personality that seem to be taking him down a path into becoming more like the traditional Joker most are familiar with. And unintentionally on his part, making him more similar to his brother.
* TheChessmaster: In the finale: Bullock, Penguin, Riddler, Gordon - they're all dancing to his tune, and the only reason his plans don't work is [[spoiler:ironically the return of the item of his obsession - Bruce, now Batman.]]
* ColdHam: Compared to his [[EvilIsHammy brother]], his way of speaking is much more subdued, though no less dramatic. Getting averted in season 5, where he's beginning to edge into his brother's LargeHam territory.
* ColorMotif: Likes purple, the classic Joker color. Notable because his brother, who was a much more obvious candidate for the role of Joker, never really incorporated a lot of purple into ''his'' wardrobe.
* CombatPragmatist: A strong believer in this: he skulks behind Bruce (offering him as a target) when Barbara arrives to confront [[spoiler:Ra's]] at the end of season 4, gets the upper hand on Tabitha by using her own knife in the ensuing fight, and in "Ruin" uses [[spoiler:body armor]] to make [[spoiler:Selina]] think he'd been killed.
* ComicBookFantasyCasting: His voice in the finale is heavily reminiscent of [[Creator/MarkHamill Mark Hamill's]] famed vocal work on the Joker, with some of the softer vocal elements of [[Creator/HeathLedger Heath Ledger's]] version.
* ComicBookMoviesDontUseCodenames: He's never referred to as the Joker on the show, not even in the TimeSkip finale. WordOfGod indicates that Creator/WarnerBros wanted to save the character for the [[Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse live action films]], and thus, the show isn't allowed to use the Joker name.
* CompositeCharacter:
** Jeremiah may be the show's Joker as per the finale, but his character also has elements of [[ComicBook/DarkNightsMetal The Batman Who Laughs]] who considered himself "an improvement" over the mindlessly chaotic "original" Joker. Jeremiah likewise combined his intellect and methodological mind with Jerome's moral compass and became much more destructive than his brother ever was.
** His [[TheDandy loud, dandyish fashion sense]], spit curl, and FoeYay levels of obsession with Bruce in Season 5 bring him in line with [[Creator/FrankMiller Frank Miller's]] [[ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns interpretation of the character.]]
** The two-part SeriesFinale reveals a new look for Jeremiah... [[spoiler: a freakish, scarred visage riddled with chemical burns and wisps of stringy, bright green hair that resemble the sickly Joker of [[Videogame/BatmanArkhamSeries the Arkham series]] wearing a long purple overcoat that blends elements of the [[Film/Batman1989 1989 film]] and [[Film/TheDarkKnight Heath Ledger's take]] on Mister J.]]
** He bears several similarities to one of the more obscure versions of the Joker: John Doe from [[VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries Telltale's Batman games]]. They were both friends with Bruce before transforming into the Joker (and are thus two of the only versions to explicitly know that Bruce is Batman), are motivated largely by a desire to be noticed and appreciated by Bruce, and instigate a raid on Wayne Enterprises. They also share the same giggly, breathy laugh that gradually becomes more manic, and receive a batarang through the hand in the Ace Chemicals plant where they were reborn. Notably, one of the new names Jeremiah considers upon his awakening is John.
* ContrastingSequelAntagonist: Jerome was manic and unhinged, a pure force of chaos that was random and capricious even when following his plans. Jeremiah is cold and reserved, methodical and precise - a NoNonsenseNemesis with a destructive vision way beyond his brother's. Even their attires as villains are polar opposites: Jerome's season 4 outfit is a bright white suit, while Jeremiah's evil look is a dark purple ensemble in the mold of [[ComicBook/TheJoker his notorious inspiration]].
--> Don't compare me to that short-sighted psychopath. He just wanted to destroy things. Me? I'm a builder.
* CrazyPrepared: More showcased in his earlier appearances than in the later ones, when he becomes increasingly unhinged. A notable example includes adding an extra part to his bombs that looks exactly like the one that will disarm them, except for this one will make them detonate. This is despite the fact that he destroyed all his notes, so he didn't think anyone could possibly find his explosives in order to disarm them.
* CreepyMonotone: Post-transformation, he speaks in an icy, calculating voice that contrasts his brother's crazier, wilder growl.
* CurseThatCures: A very mild example given the extent of his transformation into a psychopathic monster - but after his exposure to Jerome's toxin he's never seen using his glasses, implying it somehow fixed his eyesight.
* DeadpanSnarker: After his transformation, he develops a rather dry sense of humor.
--> I hope you didn't catch a cold in my brother's grave. I know those things aren't exactly designed for the living.
* DeadPersonImpersonation: He might despise everything to do with his brother, but he's capable of pulling off a stunningly accurate impersonation of Jerome after [[spoiler:Jerome dies and he gets a face full of Joker gas]] in order to both manipulate his brother's old followers into doing his dirty work and lure Gordon into position to get killed.
* DecompositeCharacter: As the show isn't allowed to use the Joker name, this is how the show handled the Clown Prince.
** Jerome is the one who first establishes the EvilLaugh, the [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor sick sense of humor]], the [[LargeHam theatricality]] and need for an audience, [[JokerImmunity cheating death]], the [[GlasgowGrin permanent smile]], and the laughing gas.
** When Jeremiah gets his brother's Joker gas in the face he brings in the rest of the major traits: the bleached skin and green hair (thought the latter is very downplayed), purple suit, the EvilGenius tendencies, [[TheChessmaster master planner abilities]], obsession with Bruce as his opposite and [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys the relationship with Ecco doubling for Harley]].
* DecoyAntagonist: In season 5. [[spoiler:The show's advertising had him incredibly prominent in the trailers for season 5, with the end of the movie-style trailer even teasing his transformation into the Joker. In the season itself he's in it for only a few episodes, with the real BigBadDuumvirate being Bane and Nyssa al Ghul.]]
* DissonantSerenity: One of the creepiest things about the character. Unlike his brother, many times he's incredibly calm while killing people.
* TheDreaded: Everybody's terrified of him in the finale, despite his [[spoiler:pretending to be catatonic for the past ten years.]] The Riddler even calls him "a legend," and the GCPD won't even say his name.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: He sounded genuinely upset when he mentioned that Jerome killed their mother and he really, really cares about Bruce - albeit in a very warped way - variously referring to him as his best friend and the brother he never had. In the finale he directly compares Bruce leaving Gotham to losing the only thing he ever loved.
-->'''Jeremiah:''' This is all for you, Bruce.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Subverted. Any trace of humanity he shows is usually a prelude to something worse.
** In season 4 he gives the GCPD time to evacuate Gotham before he plans to demolish it, stating that the people living in Gotham don't have to die for his plan to work, but he clearly knows that six hours isn't nearly enough time to evacuate a major city. Also, after Penguin interrupts his plan he decides to go back on the already too scarce six hours and detonate the bombs as soon as he gets to a safe place.
** In season 5, he cheerfully tells Bruce to get his butler as he [[spoiler:sets Wayne Manor to blow]], which seems an unusual act of mercy for him - except he'd already had Alfred [[spoiler:hypnotised by Jervis Tetch]], leaving him totally incapable of recognizing the danger he was in. If Bruce hadn't been able to appeal to Alfred's most basic PapaWolf instinct, he might have died anyway.
* EvilCostumeSwitch: After revealing his true nature, he ditches his red coat for a black and purple one.
* EvilAllAlong: Ambiguously. He claims to have been like this all along, although whether that's just what the toxin makes him believe or if he's correct is unknown.
* EvilerThanThou: He resents being compared to Jerome, considering his dead brother an unstable and shortsighted lunatic with none of his intellect or vision.
* EvilGenius: He retains his genius intellect after his transformation.
* EvilRedhead: Like his brother. Even after being exposed to Jerome's Joker gas, he still retains his natural red hair (most notably in the scene where he and Ecco raid Wayne Enterprises) - but by season's end has either started dyeing it green or the toxin is altering it more.
* EvilVersusEvil: At the end of season 4, Oswald, Barbara, Tabitha and Butch try to threaten him into extorting money from the city using his bombs, and, [[BullyingADragon when that doesn't work]], risk their lives trying to prevent him from carrying out his plan to [[spoiler: kill thousands of people and cut Gotham off from the outside world.]] Especially notable, since these other villains are the only ones, besides Bruce and Alfred, who get there on time to fight him.
* FacialHorror: Played with. One dose of the laughing gas toxin, and Jeremiah's mouth stretches into a bloody rictus as his skin bleaches and he laughs uncontrollably. But thereafter, aside from the skin pigmentation changes he actually looks more normal than Jerome's scarred visage. Neither Gordon or Bruce realize anything is wrong until he wipes the makeup off during TheReveal. [[spoiler:This gets worse after he falls into a vat of chemicals, gaining chemical burns all over his face and coting him much of his hair.]]
* FakingTheDead: He's perfectly happy to let everyone think [[spoiler:Selina stabbed him to death]] so he can advance his plans without interference.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Talks to Bruce like a close friend, all the while torturing and trying to kill his loved ones. When he gets Bruce together with a hypnotized Alfred and the people he has imitating Thomas and Martha Wayne he acts like a genial best friend attending his first dinner with his friend's family, even gently needling Bruce over his childhood favorite food in a voice that sounds almost normal for once.
* FeelNoPain: [[spoiler:While faking catatonia he can take Riddler stabbing him in the leg with a sharpened paintbrush without any visible reaction. Later dialogue from Ed and other prisoners implies this sort of thing happens a lot.]]
* FinalBoss:
** Fittingly enough given who he's based on, Jeremiah is the last and most dangerous enemy that Bruce and the GCPD have to face in Season 4, surpassing even his brother's acts of destruction and insanity by a wide margin.
** [[spoiler: Jeremiah serves this role once again in the final episode of ''Gotham'' having come out of his faked coma once Bruce returns to Gotham and manipulating the entire cast in order to see his "old friend" once more.]]
* FourEyesZeroSoul: After being sprayed by Jerome, he keeps his glasses while pretending to still be sane.
* FriendlyEnemy: A one-sided example. Even after his transformation, he still considers Bruce Wayne his best friend. Given that he almost kills Selina and comes close to destroying the city at the end of season 4, Bruce disagrees rather violently.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: While this is true of Penguin and most of the villains on this page, nobody embodies this trope harder than Jeremiah Valeska. Nobody even knew of his existence at the start of season 4 (including the fans) - by its end he's far surpassed his brother in almost destroying the city and plunging it into total anarchy, becomes Bruce's ArchEnemy after gunning down Selina and becomes the Gotham version of the Joker, THE Batman villain. Not bad for someone who only appeared in 5 episodes of season 4...
* GigglingVillain: In Season 5, he's prone to bouts of giggles.
* AGodAmI: Has organized a ReligionOfEvil centered around himself in Season 5 where "pilgrims" play Russian roulette with each other if they wish to join. In practice it's not quite as egomaniacal as it sounds, with "Ruin" showing it's to acquire willing(ish) workers to tunnel under the Gotham River to [[spoiler:Wayne Manor]].
* GoneHorriblyRight: He manipulates virtually everyone, [[spoiler:almost blows up Wayne Tower and holds Barbara Lee hostage]] in an effort to attract Bruce's attention when he returns, and he gets it - but as [[spoiler:Batman, who swiftly defeats him]].
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: He's obsessed with Bruce being his best friend, and makes a point of not killing him when revealing what's happened to him at Jerome's graveside because of it. Takes an even darker turn in season 5, when he rationalises that if they can't be best friends, they'll just have to be bonded for life as enemies instead.
* IWasQuiteALooker: Being Jerome's genetic twin, he's initially a very attractive young man, [[spoiler: but after he falls into a vat of chemicals, his face is horribly scarred and most of his hair has been burned off.]]
* IfICantHaveYou: Given a pretty unique take, in that he's not interested in killing Bruce: he really, really wants him to be his best friend and brother, but by "Ace Chemicals" he's come to the conclusion that if he can't have Bruce as this (and he says the trope word for word when they talk in the alley) they'll just have to be forever bonded as enemies instead.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: He kills the foreman of the workers trying to tunnel out of Gotham for complaining it's hopelessly unrealistic of him to expect it done in such a short time. Said foreman had been established in a prior episode as an unrepentant child slaver.
* KnifeNut: Much like his brother. He's shown to be particularly adept with razor blades.
* LargeHam: Graduates to this from his former ColdHam self in season 5, taking Jerome's theatricality and parading around as [[spoiler:Zorro]] when giving Bruce a MotiveRant - in an actual theater no less.
* LegacyCharacter: To Jerome as the show's ''Joker'' figure. Particularly significant in that Jerome ''chose'' him to be his successor, declaring to Jim that he couldn't be killed because he was an idea.
* MasterActor: Much like his brother, he is very good at hiding his true nature underneath a veneer of innocence. In Jeremiah's case, this means successfully hiding a truly spectacular slide into insanity from his best friend in the world, who will one day be considered [[Characters/BatmanTheCharacter the world's greatest detective.]]
* MasterOfDisguise: Apparently skilled enough at applying make-up that he is able to hide his bleached skin entirely from Bruce for weeks until {{the reveal}}. Also uses his ability to disguise himself to successfully impersonate [[spoiler: Jerome, so that he can fake posthumous messages from his brother, which he then uses to manipulate Jerome's followers and Jim Gordon.]] This talent is possibly a holdover from his time at the circus.
* MeaningfulName: Like his twin brother.
** His surname, Valeska, is a couple letters off from [[WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm Valestra]].
** "Valeska" is Slavic for "Glorious Ruler". [[DarkMessiah Fitting]], isn't it?
* MightAsWellNotBeInPrisonAtAll: He's able to arrange and pull off his entire plan in the finale without any problems despite [[spoiler:faking catatonia in Arkham the entire time]].
* MythologyGag:
** The final shot of Jeremiah's transformation is a recreation of the [[https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/batman-the-killing-joke.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1 famous panel]] from ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke''.
** Post-transformation, he also takes to wearing a fedora hat, similar to the one Joker most famously wore when in ''ComicBook/TheKillingJoke'', as well as both [[Film/Batman1989 Nicholson's Joker]] and the Animated Joker in WesternAnimation/BatmanMaskOfThePhantasm.
** Much like [[Film/TheDarkKnight another incarnation of the Joker]], calling him insane (or implying he is) is a ''very'' bad move...
** His having to wear skin-toned makeup to hide his now-bleached pale face is reminiscent of Jack Nicholson's Joker doing the same in ''Film/Batman1989''.
** Several shots from the final confrontation of season 4, with [[http://gotham.wikia.com/wiki/Jeremiah_Valeska?file=No_Man%27s_Land_-_Jeremiah_Valeska_smiling.png Jeremiah in his black suit]], bear a striking resemblance to artist Alex Ross' [[http://paintings-art-picture.com/paintings/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/29/Alex-Ross-Art-53.jpg take on the Joker]]. [[https://heroichollywood.com/gotham-cameron-monaghan-joker-image/ Fan takes]] show there is [[https://www.jokeruniverse.com/index.php/nggallery/image/alex-ross-joker-2?page_id=2244 quite the likeness]].
** Gets probably the definitive one in "Ace Chemicals", where he [[spoiler:takes a tumble into a vat of chemicals in the titular chemical plant, just as with the Joker's classic comics origin.]]
** [[spoiler:Following his accident, Jeremiah spends a decade faking being in a motionless, catatonic stupor until the return of Bruce brings him back, a likely reference to how the return of Batman brings him out of genuine catatonia in ''ComicBook/TheDarkKnightReturns''.]]
** [[spoiler:Jeremiah's final appearance -- hunched-over and elderly-looking, with just a few strands of hair remaining -- seems to be heavily inspired by [[https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Joker_(Earth-2) the "degenerate old man" version of the Earth-2 Joker]].]]
** When trying to come up with a new name for himself, he first considers "Jack", which was the Joker's true name in ''Film/Batman1989''.
* NamedByTheAdaptation: Usually it's a mystery (or occasionally Jack Napier) but here his birth name is Jeremiah Valeska.
* NoNonsenseNemesis: Contrasting Jerome, Jeremiah is very pragmatic with his approach. Jerome had set up a CruelAndUnusualDeath for Bruce, while Jeremiah states that if he wished for Bruce to die then he would simply shoot him in the head.
* NotSoSimilar: He tells Bruce that the reason he considers him his best friend is because he's at war with his true nature, just like he was before getting gassed by Jerome. Bruce counters this, saying that while they both have a darkness inside them, the key difference is that Bruce knows how to control his. By "Ace Chemicals" even he's beginning to realise this, stating that without him Bruce is little more than a joke without a punchline.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Has shades of this. Despite being introduced as a structural engineer, he seems to be an expert in multiple types of engineering, physics (considering his generators), and chemistry (if he made the chemical weapons he used in season five without Scarecrow's help). May be at least partially justified, because he graduated college by the age of fifteen at the latest, since he was that age when he finished building his underground bunker. Someone who finished college that early in that field is probably a math prodigy, which would make it easier to get degrees in other math-heavy fields, even if it was never mentioned on the show whether he had other degrees.
* PainfulTransformation: As in all depictions of the Joker’s creation, his transformation wasn’t pleasant, and he was painfully aware all the while as the gas warped his body and mind.
* PracticallyJoker: Averted, all the more uniquely given the circumstances surrounding his creation; at first, the series treated him as another possible Joker figure without confirming anything concrete, and WordOfGod remained ambiguous as to whether he would become the Joker, or be another RedHerring serving as inspiration for the future Clown Prince. Then the GrandFinale rolled around, and while he's never actually called The Joker, the outfit and remarkably Creator/MarkHamill-esque performance from Monaghan made it clear that this was unquestionably the show's final take on Batman's ArchEnemy.
* PolarOppositeTwins: Jeremiah is straight-laced, academic, serious, and reserved, while Jerome is a psychopathic LargeHam. Even more noticeable as villains - see the ContrastingSequelAntagonist entry.
* RedOniBlueOni: The Blue Oni to Jerome's Red.
* RuleOfSymbolism: There's a bit of significance in the scene where the fake Jerome removes his makeup to reveal that he's Jeremiah. It's as if the role of the Joker is physically ''transitioning'' from Jerome to his brother.
* SanitySlippage: A huge amount over the course of the series. After his initial transformation, he insists he's the face of true sanity, and is very much cold and pragmatic even when carrying out acts of destruction far eclipsing Jerome. Then season 5 rolls around and he's far more LaughingMad than previously, while also showing signs of a SplitPersonality. By the finale ([[spoiler:after a dunk in a tank full of acidic chemicals]]) he flatly admits to Barbara he's gone mad.
* SecondaryColorNemesis: After he leaves [[spoiler:Bruce in Jerome's grave]] he's already wearing the telltale Joker colors, sporting a purple shirt with a bright green tie. Goes into this in full in season 5, sporting a purple longcoat and gloves in addition to a dark red shirt, making him resemble the Joker more than ever before. The finale has him adopt the classic Joker outfit in full.
* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Occasionally. Tells Ecco "verisimilitude trumps precaution" when referring to how he [[spoiler:let Selina stab him once while taking the other shots on body armor (to convince her she'd killed him)]], and looks quite annoyed when Ecco doesn't seem to get it.
* TheScottishTrope: In the finale, hearing Jim say Jeremiah's name [[spoiler: immediately lets Ecco know through a wired accomplice that their cover is blown. They then move onto the next part of Jeremiah's plan, which is escaping Arkham and kidnapping Barbara Lee (presumably to get Bruce's attention). Throughout the entire first part of the episode, Harvey is so afraid of saying Jeremiah's name that he is willing to confess to a murder Jeremiah set him up to take the fall for, presumably because Jeremiah threatened to kill Barbara if he didn't.]]
* TheSociopath: It's left ambiguous as to whether or not he was one before being sprayed with Jerome's insanity toxin, but after his transformation, he starts displaying a grandiose sense of self-worth, believing himself to be utterly superior to his brother and willing to do anything to prove it. He is also unable to form emotional attachments, which is best shown when [[spoiler: his long-time partner in crime Ecco is mortally wounded in the finale, and he simply guns her down and casually remarks how there are more fish in the sea.]]
* SoleSurvivor: Of his family, as by the end of season 4 Jerome had killed their mother, father and uncle.
* SonOfAWhore: Is this, if Jerome's tales of their mother's promiscuity are to be believed.
* SoftSpokenSadist: Tends to keep a very calm and icy demeanor even when he's brutally murdering people. This is a noticeable contrast from his brother, a maniacal LargeHam.
* SplitPersonality: In both "One Bad Day" and "Ruin" this is hinted at, as he's seen talking to himself in Jerome's [[GutturalGrowler harsh, gravelly tones]] and answering in his own CreepyMonotone.
* StalkerWithoutACrush: In contrast to Jerome, Jeremiah establishes the love-hate relationship he has with Bruce Wayne, much like Batman and Joker in the comics. He doesn't want to kill Bruce as he feels Bruce completes him. In the finale he seems to be edging closer to the Miller/Snyder StalkerWithACrush version of the Joker, telling Gordon that Bruce leaving Gotham felt like having the only thing he loved ripped away from him.
* StartOfDarkness: In "That's Entertainment" - in the space of a day, Jeremiah has to face his brother Jerome or many people will die. He's psychologically tormented then beaten down when he tries to fight back. Jerome is [[spoiler:then killed]], and his expression when surveying his [[spoiler:brother's body makes clear it's still a bitter blow. Then, as he drowns his sorrows, he gets one last gift from Jerome - a box full of LaughingMad gas, which abruptly transforms Jeremiah into a monster that almost destroys the city]].
* SuperiorSuccessor:
** He believes he's this to Jerome - with his genius-level intelligence, skill at manipulation and warped vision of rendering Gotham his artists' canvas he manages to [[spoiler:render the city a No Man's Land by the end of season 4]], something Jerome never achieved.
** Interestingly, he also appears to view Bruce as this in regards to Jerome, pointedly declaring him the brother Jerome could never be. This forms a large part of his obsession with Bruce.
* TechnicianVsPerformer: An engineer, compared to his brother who spent his whole life in the circus. This reflects in their approach to their crimes.
* ThatManIsDead: When Jim calls him by name in the finale, he feigns confusion and tells him there's no Jeremiah any more, and that he's still trying to figure out what to call the thing emerging from the ashes of what he used to be.
* TookALevelInBadass: Several, over the course of the series. He is first introduced as a seemingly harmless intellectual, and when Jerome hands him a knife and gives him an opportunity to attack him, he is [[CurbStompBattle disarmed almost immediately by his brother.]] By the time he reveals to Bruce that he's been sprayed with Jerome's insanity gas, he's good enough with a gun to shoot very close to Bruce's feet without hitting him, and in the season 4 finale, is skilled enough in combat that he able to hold his own against [[DarkActionGirl Tabitha]]. By season five, he is a match for Bruce in hand-to-hand combat, despite the fact that Bruce was already a better fighter than Jerome by season three, and [[spoiler: in the series finale, he easily defeats Barbara when they fight, even though she was trained personally by Ra's al Ghul.]]
* TookALevelInCheerfulness: Compared to his stoic demeanor in Season 4, he's noticeably a lot livelier and more upbeat in Season 5. Unlike most examples of this trope, this isn't played as a good thing. At all.
* TragicVillain: Ambiguously. He seems a good man despite Jerome's belief in his being as insane as him, and forms a friendship with Bruce that sees Jerome's plan to gas the city thwarted. Then he opens a box rigged with laughing gas toxin and unwillingly undergoes his transformation into a Joker-esque nightmare. However Jeremiah himself claims that the toxin changed his appearance and nothing else, so whether the toxin just made him believe that or if he was genuinely EvilAllAlong remains a mystery.
* TranquilFury: When one of his followers [[BerserkButton declares Jerome victorious]], he coldly shoots him in the throat and asks the rest of his followers if they're being serious.
* UngratefulBastard: [[spoiler:He kills Ecco the moment she ceases being useful, after over a decade of UndyingLoyalty, and casually remarks there are always more fish in the sea.]]
* UnreliableNarrator: When he meets Jim and Harvey he spins a sob story of Jerome repeatedly physically tormenting him when they were kids (and his expression shows he may even have come to believe it). Unfortunately, when he meets up with his psychotic twin, Jerome's able to get him to admit at least some of it was a fabrication.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Extreme paranoia as a child led him to [[spoiler:invent stories about his brother Jerome trying to kill him, which led to Jeremiah being sent to a private school, and Jerome being ostracized by his friends and family, which eventually led to Jerome's criminal career, the invention of the Joker Gas, and Jeremiah's transformation into the man most responsible for No Man's Land.]]
* VillainousBreakdown:
** Has one in front of his followers when Gordon humiliates him on TV by revealing himself to be alive and calling him an inferior shadow of Jerome and further when his bombs fail to go off. Noticeably, during his breakdown he starts acting in a more Joker-esque manner when so far he's been a ColdHam.
** After spending a whole episode trying to get him and Bruce connected through hatred, he completely snaps when he tells him that he means nothing to him.
* VillainousLegacy: A rare positive one: after demonstrating his power cores could be turned into bombs, [[spoiler:Bruce and Lucius use one to stop the army reaching the heart of Gotham, destroying Wayne Enterprises in the process and eventually leading to Bane's defeat.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: If you're reading his tropes section, there's no getting around the fact he's Jerome's secret twin brother AND the true identity of the show's take on the Joker.
* WhamShot:
** His introduction. At first he's only shown in shadow, but once Jim and Harvey meet him face-to-face, he emerges from the darkness to reveal that he looks ''exactly'' like Jerome.
** His transformation as well. After getting a faceful of gas, he struggles uncontrollably before finally falling to his knees; when he gets back up, he has a ''sickly white face with dark red lips''.
** And [[RuleOfThree finally]] - the double reveal of his transformation to Jim and Bruce, with "Jerome's" VideoWill finishing with his tearing off Jerome's scars to reveal his bleached white skin to Jim, while Bruce sees it in person at Jerome's grave.
* WhenHeSmiles: {{Inverted}}. In contrast to Jerome, he doesn't smile much in season 4 - but his genuine smiles ([[http://gotham.wikia.com/wiki/Jeremiah_Valeska?file=No_Man%27s_Land_-_Jeremiah_Valeska_smiling.png such as when he sees Gotham's bridges blow]]) are nightmare inducing.
* WildCard: In season 5: [[spoiler:where the rest of the villains are obsessed with power and survival in No Man's Land Gotham (and thus inevitably come into conflict with Gordon), Jeremiah's obsession with Bruce means his plans revolve around him almost exclusively, and as such are a lot less predictable.]]
* WouldHitAGirl: At the end of "One Bad Day", [[spoiler: he shoots Selina in the stomach, only failing in crippling her for life thanks to Ivy's potion the following season. Also briefly throttles Ecco when she brings him too few people for his building project.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: He comes very close to dropping [[spoiler:a ten year old Barbara Gordon in the same acid that created him. The combined efforts of Gordon and Batman are ultimately what save the girl's life]].
* {{Yandere}}: He definitely has shades of being one towards Bruce. The entire finale is essentially his acting out his fury at Bruce's abruptly leaving Gotham and simultaneously trying to capture his attention once more, coming off as a spurned lover more than anything.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ecco/Mummer]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/9255fe88e54923c831ab5b853525ee4f9c6ab789.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see her as Mummer]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ecco_mummer.png]] [[/labelnote]]
->'''Played By:''' Francesca Root-Dodson

Jeremiah Valeska's devoted assistant and bodyguard. Even after Valeska goes insane and becomes a [[ComicBook/TheJoker a maniacal terrorist]] bent on the destruction of Gotham, she retains her loyalty and acts as his [[TheDragon partner in crime]]. Serves as "Gotham"'s equivalent of ComicBook/HarleyQuinn, due to the real HQ being a part of the Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse.
-----
* ActionGirl: Initially: she effortlessly knocks out Jerome and proves more than a match for Gordon (the series [[TheAce Ace]] in close combat) and Bullock even when outnumbered. Graduates to DarkActionGirl once Jeremiah goes through his transformation.
* AllThereInTheManual: Her alter-ego's name, "Mummer", is only listed in the credits.
* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: She was a willing accomplice to Jeremiah, and killed off in the finale.]]
* AxCrazy: In Season 5, she's considerably more unhinged than she was in the fourth season, due to shooting herself in the skull and surviving.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: In "Mandatory Brunch Meeting", the Mad Hatter hypnotizes her into bringing Jeremiah to his twin brother Jerome.
* CanonForeigner: She's the show's take on the Joker/Harley Quinn dynamic but she isn't Harleen Quinzel and she's shown up way before the real Harley Quinn would have an opportunity to do so. The ''ComicBook/DeathOfTheFamily'' story had Joker ''claim'' that Harley was just the latest in a long-line of disposable henchwomen, but the story strongly implies [[ILied he was lying]].
* CharacterDeath: [[spoiler: She gets shot dead by the Joker since he considers healing her wounds a burden. Interestingly enough, she's also the final character to die in the series overall.]]
* CompositeCharacter: She has elements of both the classic and modern versions of Harley Quinn. Her Mummer costume is a darker, creepier take on Harley's jester suit, and her Season 5 leather jacket is evocative of her post-ComicBook/New52 design.
* DarkActionGirl: ''Especially'' when she's in her dark harlequin getup. She's able to stalemate Selina when the two engage in combat.
* DarkerAndEdgier: To date, this is the ''darkest'' live action incarnation of the Harley Quinn character. If you were to take away Harley's childish attitude and sympathetic qualities, and ''amplify'' her insane and violent tendencies, you'd basically get Ecco.
* TheDragon: Like ComicBook/HarleyQuinn to the Joker, she's this to Jeremiah.
* {{Expy}}: She's essentially Gotham's take on Harley Quinn, given that she's a young blonde woman who dresses up like a harlequin jester (with red and black diamonds to boot) and serves as the loyal [[TheDragon dragon]] to the Joker. Even her nickname, [[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mummer Mummer]], is another word for Harlequin.
* FaceHeelTurn: After her boss turns into a homicidal supervillain, she also becomes a criminal and aids him in his plot to bomb the city. It's initially unknown whether she's acting out of pure devotion or if Jeremiah broke her mind as well, but in season 5 her mind has been shattered by a lost round of Russian roulette, leaving her more devoted to Jeremiah than ever.
* GoOutWithASmile: When she's [[spoiler:shot dead by Jeremiah, she gives him one more bloody grin before finally collapsing to the floor]].
* LegacyCharacter: ''Very'' subtly implied. When [[spoiler:Jeremiah guns Ecco down, he comments that there's "plenty of fish in the sea", hinting that he'll find another assistant (possibly Harleen Quinzel) to take over her role as the Harley Quinn character]].
* MysteriousPast: While we know at least some details about Jeremiah's past, many of the details of hers - like how she came to have such UndyingLoyalty to Jeremiah and where she got her formidable combat skills - are a mystery.
* MythologyGag:
** Her mask looks like the one worn by Jack Napier's girlfriend Alicia in Film/Batman1989.
** Her accent also slips into a New York brogue at points, a reference to her portrayal in WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries.
* [[PsychopathicManChild Psychopathic Womanchild]]: "Ace Chemicals" has her attacking Gordon on a pair of roller skates.
* SanitySlippage: In Season 5, caused by surviving a lost round of Russian Roulette. She claims to still have the bullet lodged in her skull.
* SlasherSmile: Sports a truly unnerving one, complete with [[spoiler:BloodFromTheMouth when Jeremiah kills her]].
* TheStoic: She's initially very stone-faced and emotionless, even when she's dressed like a clown. This changes as of Season 5.
* VillainousHarlequin: Just like the character she's based on, she wears a dark harlequin suit with a red and black diamond pattern, along with a creepy white face mask that conceals her identity.
* WalkingSpoiler: Most of the tropes here contain some information about Jeremiah's transformation and her own.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Eduardo Dorrance/Bane]]
!![[ComicBook/{{Bane}} Eduardo Dorrance/Bane]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bane_gotham_shane_west_1552295652_3.jpg]][[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote:Click here to see him unmasked]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gotham_season_5_bane.jpg]][[/labelnote]]
->'''Played By:''' Shane West

--> ''"The world is full of monsters. The only way to defeat them is become one yourself."''

A government task force member who once fought alongside Jim Gordon in the army. In Season 5, he's sent to Gotham to aid Gordon in the ongoing fight for the city, but quickly reveals he's actually making things worse so his employer Theresa Walker - actually Nyssa al Ghul - has an excuse to call in the Army to destroy it. Critically injured by Gordon, Hugo Strange saves and upgrades him with an anesthetic mask that constantly feeds him Venom, a chemical born from the Viper drug that grants him superhuman strength and durability.
----
* AdaptationalNameChange: Similar to his [[Film/BatmanAndRobin first live action incarnation]], "Bane" is an alias rather than his birth name. His true name here is Eduardo Dorrance (notably, Dorrance is the surname of his comic book father Edmund/King Snake).
* AdaptationalOriginConnection: He's an old army buddy of Jim Gordon here, and the two apparently saved each other's lives in combat several times. In the comics, Bane had absolutely no connection to Gordon prior to becoming a supervillain. It also takes from the ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' interpretation of Bane, where [[spoiler:he has ties to an Al Ghul, in this case Nyssa instead of Talia]].
* AdaptationalPersonalityChange: While the comic book Bane is usually an outlaw who mostly cares about power and proving his strength as a warrior, this Bane is a particularly vicious KnightTemplar who wishes to brutally purge Gotham of who he deems to be criminals, not caring if innocents get in the way. If anything, he bears more resemblance to the Bane from The Dark Knight trilogy.
* AffablyEvil: Has shades of this, both as Bane and Eduardo. He often got into banter with Gordon and his own evil allies. However, he drops the "Affable" part when things do not go his way later on in the series.
* AgeLift: He's older than Bruce by at least 20 years, probably even more than that, where in the comics, Bane and Bruce are closer to their age ranges.
* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: The army men are all too willing to follow him when he {{Neck Snap}}s an officer unwilling to follow his orders. Subverted when [[spoiler:his ordering them to fire on innocent civilians provokes them to turn on him]].
* BadassBeard: The first live action Bane to sport a beard. Also counts as a BeardOfEvil.
* BadassBoast: Infinitely helped by the BadassBaritone his mask gives him:
-->'''Bane:''' You simply cannot run from your sins. And you cannot run from me.
* BadBoss: He's actually implied to be a pretty good boss for his own men (given how badly he reacts to Gordon taunting him that he left their squadmates to die), but he [[NeckSnap murders]] an army officer who dared to question their orders to attack Gotham.
* BerserkButton: Implying he's reckless enough to get his men killed.
* BigBadDuumvirate: With [[spoiler:Nyssa al Ghul]] in season 5 - he's technically her [[TheDragon chief henchman]], but where she desires vengeance on [[spoiler:Bruce and Barbara for Ra's al Ghul's death]] he's got a bitterly personal hatred of Gordon, and clearly views [[spoiler:attacking Barbara as getting at Jim a different way]]. In addition he's the main physical threat to the heroes, where [[spoiler:Nyssa prefers to stay in the shadows.]]
* CardCarryingVillain: He's very aware of his evil nature when he turns into Bane, and really doesn't think of the [=GCPD=] as anything but fodder to shoot down.
* CharacterTics: Bane occasionally grips the sides of both his armored vest and his Venom gear straps with both his hands (The former as Eduardo, as some nice Foreshadowing to what he becomes, the latter as Bane). This is similar to a quirk Tom Hardy's Bane had in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', in which Hardy explained in interviews that he did this to get air into his lungs while he wore the mask and kit, which he lugged around constantly. It's quite possible Shane is doing a similar thing here, which happens to reference Hardy's portrayal of Bane.
* CoolMask: He wears a translucent anesthetic mask here, which appropriately covers his entire mouth to emulate his comic book appearance.
* CurbStompBattle: Virtually no-one can touch him in close combat due to the massive power boost Venom gives him. [[spoiler:He almost kills Alfred and Selina with ease when they meet.]] Bruce and Selina's fight with him goes just as badly until [[spoiler:Bruce uses Lucius' techno-wizardry to summon a horde of bats to distract him.]]
* DarthVaderClone: [[spoiler:He's the hero's former friend who turned to the dark side, only to be grievously injured by said former friend and then revived by malevolent forces. He is then turned into a powerful {{cyborg}} with dark armor and a life-support mask that deepens his voice.]]
* DisabledInTheAdaptation: Unlike his comics counterpart - but very much like his counterpart in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' - he needs the mask and attendant life-support system to keep him alive after [[spoiler:Jim impales him through the chest in their fight]].
* TheDragon: For Theresa Walker - [[spoiler:aka Nyssa al Ghul]].
* EmpoweredBadassNormal: When we meet him he's already a formidable Army special ops commando, if not quite on Jim's level. But after his injury Hugo Strange's ministrations power him all the way up on Venom, to the point he now has SuperStrength and is NighInvulnerable.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: He almost mocks the idea of this:
** [[spoiler:He orders Lee to be killed once he has Gordon at his mercy and says with a smirk that he will have her killed out of his sight as a favor to him after all that they had been through. Of course, there's no need for him to kill Lee in the first place since he already has Gordon, so the whole thing is just to twist the knife further before he kills him.]]
** Later, Jim tries to sway him from [[spoiler:going after Barbara by revealing she's pregnant. He appears to consider mercy - then notes it's one future against many, and mocks Jim for his "petty" concerns.]]
* EvilAllAlong: Though this shouldn't be much of a surprise to fans. He acts as Gordon's trusted ally before his true intentions are unveiled.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: It doesn't seem to have occurred to him that while his army troops are terrified of him, ordering them to knowingly fire on civilians might be a step too far.
* EvilSoundsDeep: The Bane mask, unsurprisingly, gives him quite the BadassBaritone.
* FalseFlagOperation: [[spoiler:He's the one that's been having Riddler (unwittingly) make everything in Gotham progressively worse, so he and his benefactors have an excuse to enter Gotham.]]
* FauxAffablyEvil: He may have genuine feelings of comradeship towards Gordon to begin with, but it doesn't take long for the arrogant killer underneath to be revealed.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: He's first introduced wearing full tactical gear, which includes a black face mask that covers his mouth. This is a nod to the Venom mask that he eventually sports as Bane.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:Gordon leaves him impaled on a metal rod sticking out of debris at the end of their fight. Unlike most examples of this trope, however, it doesn't kill him.]]
* TheJuggernaut: He will not let ''anything'' keep him from [[spoiler:going after Barbara]]. [[spoiler:Riddler and Penguin]] blow up a stack of high-oxygen tanks practically in his face and it doesn't even faze him.
* JustFollowingOrders: Claims this as his excuse for [[spoiler:going along with Theresa Walker's plan to mind-control Riddler into ruining any hope in No Man's Land Gotham.]] Gordon doesn't buy it.
* KnightTemplar: Has a murderous hatred for criminals which only gets worse after his upgrade. It's worth noting that he thinks almost everyone in Gotham deserves to die and he scoffs at innocents being killed in his twisted pursuit of justice.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm:[[spoiler: Weakened by his fight with Bruce and Selina and confronted not only by Jim's ragtag militia, but his military sect coming to their senses and defying his attempt at a KlingonPromotion, Bane has no choice but to surrender with hundreds of rifle muzzles pointed in his direction.]]
* MidSeasonUpgrade: He's near-fatally-wounded by Gordon in the middle of season 5, but [[spoiler:Walker saves his life with the Bane mask, and has Hugo Strange transform him]]. He returns 3 episodes later as Bane in full, with the massive power upgrade that implies. For bonus points, the red band trailer for the final episodes even refers to it as an upgrade.
* MythologyGag:
** His mask system is similar to Tom Hardy's portrayal of Bane from ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'', although the Gotham version uses Venom to both keep him alive, and also to make him powerful enough to be TheJuggernaut in pretty much any fight. His leather jacket may also be an allusion to his depiction in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins''.
** He occasionally grips the sides of his armored vests with both his hands, which is similar to a quirk Hardy's Bane had. Hardy did this to get air into his lungs while he wore the mask and kit, which were strapped to him and were quite heavy, and it's quite possible Shane is doing a similar thing here, which happens to reference Hardy's portrayal of Bane.
** This wouldn't be the first time Bane has turned out to be [[spoiler:[[Film/TheDarkKnightRises the loyal protector of an Al Ghul]].]]
** Shane West himself had [[https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thewrap.com/gotham-shane-west-bane-suit-costume-eduardo-dorrance-tom-hardy-dark-knight-voice-video/amp/ stated]] that he took inspiration from both Tom Hardy and ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'' when creating the voice for the character.
* NecessaryEvil: How he views his transformation into Bane - see the quote at the top of this entry for his thoughts.
* NighInvulnerable: Shrugs off [[spoiler:Riddler and Penguin]] detonating a stack of oxygen canisters in his face - he just walks through the ensuing massive explosion, totally unfazed. [[spoiler:Alfred and Selina later running him over with a car keeps him down for all of ten seconds.]]
* OutsideContextProblem:
** Gordon and the GCPD have had to deal with all manner of gangsters and crazies over the seasons, but a ruthless paramilitary leader seeking to deliberately undermine Gotham's fragile stability is something else entirely.
** Post-transformation too: while other villains in Gotham have had superpowers they've either been one-offs or had the non-physical kind (Fish, Clayface). A permanent villain with actual SuperStrength and durability is almost totally beyond the pre-Batman main cast at this point.
* PainfulTransformation: Hugo Strange warns him the process to save his life will be both extremely painful and lengthy, and we're treated to a shot of him screaming in agony as the first of the Venom is pumped in.
* ShouldersOfDoom: He sports pointed shoulder pads on his suit.
* StealthHiBye: Somehow manages to sneak up on Bruce and Selina despite his VaderBreath and suit's loud servos.
* SuperStrength: What Venom gives him in spades. He's able to NeckSnap a nurse with one hand at one point.
* ThatManIsDead: Said almost word for word.
-->'''Bane:''' But Eduardo's dead, Jim. There is only Bane now.
* VaderBreath: Thanks to his life support mask.
* WeUsedToBeFriends: With Gordon. The two served together in the army, with Gordon even saving his life at one point.
* WhamShot: Walker's [[spoiler:saving his life]] at the end of "13 Stitches" by giving him the Bane mask.
[[/folder]]

** Shown most prominently in "They Did What?", when he realizes he can't abandon Gotham after everything he's been through with it, and makes a conscious decision to stay and help Gordon save it. He even manages to talk Ed into doing the same thing, and [[spoiler:loses an eye pushing him out the way of grenade shrapnel during Bane's attack]].

** [[spoiler:He loses an eye to Bane's assault on Gotham]]. While he nearly always has a monocle in other media, even the VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity version of the character - who had been bottled so severely the glass surrounded his eye - wasn't [[spoiler:blinded by said attack]].

* EyeScream: [[spoiler:Loses an eye to grenade shrapnel during Bane's assault on the barricades.]]

-->'''Oswald:''' There are so few moments of pure joy in one's life, I feel compelled to savor this one.
-->'''Riddler:''' You mean gloat?
-->'''Oswald:''' [[AtLeastIAdmitIt ...yes, I do]].

* TakingTheBullet: Throws himself between Ed and a grenade with zero hesitation in season 5, [[spoiler:losing his right eye in the process.]]

* VillainousFriendship: Has the show's most prominent (and weirdest) one with Ed Nygma/The Riddler. The two have been almost everything to each other - partners-in-murder, best friends, potential love interest, EvilMentor, distrustful allies, bitter enemies - since their first meeting midway through Season 2. And yet somehow the two always seem to end up circling back to each other. Solidified in season 5 where the two join forces once more, and end up fighting together with Jim to save Gotham from Bane, with Penguin even saving Riddler from a grenade ([[spoiler:losing an eye in the process]]) - ten years later the two are genuinely delighted to see each other once more when they're free. At one point they share a laugh over how bizarre it all is [[spoiler:over the corpse of Mr.Penn/Scarface]].

A former flunky in Fish Mooney's employ, he betrayed her to the police and his death was ordered, to be carried out by Detective James Gordon. Gordon. Gordon couldn't go through with it though, and Oswald joined the opposite side of the mob war as a lieutenant of the Maroni Family. However, his only true allegiance is to himself, manipulating and betraying anyone he can to further his position in Gotham's underworld. Often called "[[Characters/BatmanRoguesGallery Penguin]]" due to his mannerisms and appearance, he initially hates the nickname but later decides to embrace it.

* BiTheWay: Oswald is in love with Edward, but his actor says that he's probably sure that attraction would be present if it was a woman in his place.

* UnholyMatrimony: Briefly with Tabitha in the second half of Season 2, but they break up when she regains interest in [[BiTheWay Barbara.]] They get back together again in season 3, and are an item on-an-off [[spoiler:until Penguin kills him]].

* BerserkButton: He's got a few, most of which stem from him viewing himself as a NoRespectGuy - as his darker side takes over, don't insult him or physically attack him. Don't EVER harm people he loves (as Tom and Penguin find out the hard way), don't get his riddles wrong, and always call him the Riddler. Lately, telling him [[spoiler:Lee doesn't love him is another good way to get on his bad side]][[note]]Though as shown in "Thirteen Stitches", he seems to have gotten over his love for Lee, though given his awkward hesitation when Penguin asks if they're taking on Bane because he still has feelings for her, there's some ambiguity there.[[/note]] - and definitely [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers don't name your dog after him]].

* AdaptationalBadass: Compared to Firefly's last live action incarnation on ''Series/{{Arrow}}'', who was a [[SanitySlippage mentally crippled]] TragicVillain who utilized a lighter and a tank of gasoline.

* JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope: She's not portrayed as stable after her evolution into Firefly, but generally she's ok working with Penguin. Season 4, however, has her throw in with Jerome's mad plan to destroy the city.

* PutOnABusToHell: After receiving serious burns that the police assumed she dies from, she's sent to Indian Hill where Hugo Strange commits horrific experiments on her.

* ReligiousBruiser:She truly believes that fire is a religion for her to spread.

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: She really hates working with Freeze in season 3.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: She and Selina used to be good friends before she became Firefly and tried to kill her former friend.

* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:To a degree. Whist this version of the Ventriloquist dies about a decade prior to Bruce Wayne becoming Batman, the Ventriloquist is actually a legacy character in the comics, with many others taking on the identity. So it is unclear at this point if another criminal will end up taking on the Ventriloquist and Scarface identity in Gotham's off-screen future.]]
* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler:Dies in Penguin's arms after he is shot and has a surprisingly heartfelt moment with him when Penguin angrily mourns his death and Penn apologizes for abandoning him, though it's subverted in that he somehow survives this and returns in episode 8 only to be killed again.]]

--> '''Penn:''' Ed Nygma, who owes his life to Mr.Cobblepot's mercy, is repaying that generosity by aping his benefactor in a crude commedia dell'arte!
--> '''[[StreetSmart Selina]]:''' ...what?

[[folder: Ra's al Ghul]]

* AdaptationNameChange: [[spoiler:The original Ventriloquist in the comics is named Arnold Wesker. This is [[MythologyGag alluded to]] when Penguin [[Accidental Misnaming calls him "Arnold" by accident]].]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: Most depictions of Jervis in the comics imply him to be a sexual predator who kidnaps girls and tries to transform them into "Alice". ''Gotham'' takes this one step further and adds BrotherSisterIncest to this by making the original Alice of his obsessions his own sister. He did however kidnap an unknown girl and dress her up, only to slit her throat afterwards.

* AdaptationNameChange: [[spoiler:The original Ventriloquist in the comics is named Arnold Wesker.]]

** Played deadly straight when he finds out his step-family killed his father, snapping him back from Hugo Strange's therapy. He specifically calls notice to his having changed his hairstyle back to [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gotham-inc/images/4/44/Penguin_and_Grace.PNG/revision/latest?cb=20180218210109 his normal villain look]] shortly before brutally killing his stepmother.