If you watched this week's episode of Gotham, you were in for a treat: We saw the first appearance of the classic Batman villain Red Hood...sort of.
Actually, what the episode showed us was the Red Hood Gang, and teased what DC comic book fans already know: that the Red Hood hasn't always been the same man.
Of course, comic book fans also know that the Red Hood is also an early version of the Joker at one point. This is particularly interesting, considering Gotham has been teasing the Joker nearly all season, and the show even gave us what could be its origin story for the character in last week's episode, "The Blind Fortune Teller."
In that episode, we meet Jeremy, who seems like an innocent kid until he breaks out into laughter (eerily similar to Mark Hamill's voice portrayal of the Joker) and admits that he killed his mother.
But we've also been promised that if Jerome is in fact the Joker (Cameron Monaghan), then the true reveal is still far away.
"This is not a red herring," says Gotham's creator, Bruno Heller. "It's the beginning of the story of how the Joker came to be, how the Joker was created, where he came from, who he is. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that Cameron Monaghan is the Joker. He might be. But like I say, this is a story that begins about seven or eight years before the actual Joker arrives on the scene in his fully-fledged persona."
Detective Comics
Now back to the Red Hood. In the original Detective Comics from the '40s, the man who eventually became the Joker started out as the Red Hood. In his first appearance, he wore a red helmet and cape. However, when he robbed a chemical plant, he dove into a vat of chemicals to escape Batman, which disfigured him. He then took on the moniker of the Joker.
Batman: The Killing Joke
This character was slightly re-written in Batman: The Killing Joke. The Joker started out as a comedian approached by the Red Hood gang, which wants to sneak through a chemical plant to rob a factory next door to it. They give him a Red Hood costume, but this costume isn't exclusive: many men have worn it. Like the original story, the Joker falls into a vat of chemicals and becomes disfigured.
What's most interesting is that the latter story is similar to this week's Gotham episode. In that episode, the Red Hood starts out as one guy, but jealousy has the first Red Hood getting killed by other gang members, with each eventually taking on the Red Hood as more members die. However, the Red Hood itself becomes a sort of symbol among criminals throughout the city.
Batman: Under The Red Hood
In the comics, the Red Hood isn't just exclusive to criminals. In the mid-to-late-2000s, Jason Todd, the former Robin, became a deadly vigilante known as The Red Hood. The kicker? Todd was originally thought killed by--you guessed it--the Joker.
The New 52
In addition to the Jason Todd Red Hood, in The New 52 comics, we have another version of the Red Hood Gang. In the prequel story, Batman: Zero Year, Bruce Wayne has just started his career of crime fighting, but he's not the Dark Knight yet. His first mission takes him undercover with the gang, but they soon discover his plot.
Things get more interesting after that, because it's likely Gotham might somewhat follow this particular storyline, especially considering that it concerns the death of Bruce's parents. Five months before becoming Batman, Bruce finds out that the gang has business with his uncle, who sells them weapons. Bruce faces the leader of the Red Hood Gang, who thanks Bruce for the death of his parents, which allowed gangs to run rampant through Gotham (and allowed his uncle to become corrupt).
In the TV series, we're already seeing that the board of Wayne Enterprises is shady, and it's likely that the show's writers could take this particular storyline and work it into the series, with the company selling weapons to the gangs of Gotham (it's also probable that this has already happened). Perhaps the man who picked up the Red Hood at the end of this week's episode is the contact with Wayne Enterprises, and at some point, we'll see young Bruce discover the plot.
Of course, this has nothing to do with the Joker yet, but as the series hopes to slowly create that storyline, this could be the first of many men wearing the Red Hood before it passes down to the Joker. The Red Hood and those who wear it are an important thread throughout Gotham's history, so it's likely the series won't let us forget that.
[Photo Credit: FOX]
