Early information regarding Fox's new super-hero show Gotham made it seem like Commissioner Gordon would be the primary character that the show dealt with, dealing with various challenges regarding being a police officer in a crime-ridden city like DC Comic's Gotham. However, new information about the show has come up at the Television Critics Association press tour that suggests otherwise.
Fox's chairman Kevin Reilly dispelled that notion in Pasadena on Mondday saying that the network's licensing deal with Warner Bros. includes the rights to all of the Batman classic characters, including the Joker, the Riddler, Catwoman, Penguin and the capped crusader himself, Batman. However, because the show is a prequel to Batman's crime-fighting days, all of the characters will be younger versions of themselves and the show will tell the story of how each became the psychologically damager people we know from the comics, according to reports from Entertainment Weekly.
"This is all of the classic Batman characters," Reilly said during the panel. "It follows the arc of how they all became what they were. I've read the script its really good. It's going to be this operatic soap that has a slightly larger-than-life quality."
Batman will reportedly begin as a child and the final episode of the series is expected to see him don his cape and cowl for the first time.
After the panel, Reilly added some more details on the Smallville-esque concept show.
"This is the Batman franchise, just backing it up," he said. "There's a large tapestry of characters to service over many years. They brought us the entire franchise for a healthy license fee."
As for whether or not there will be familiar costumes on the show, Reilly seemed to suggest there will be over time. "We're arcing to that," he said. "We're not starting in that world where the villains are in costume. You see markers for it that are delicious you see where the evolution and eccentricity where they become those characters. We don't start off with capes and costumes."
