Author: Graeme McMillan

Jim Lee/DC Entertainment

While it remains unclear whether or not audiences are about to meet the Joker on tonight’s episode of Gotham, there’s one piece of Batman’s comic book mythology that is definitely making its debut on “The Blind Fortune Teller” — namely, the Flying Graysons, the circus double act that is better known to comic book fans as the parents of the boy who would grow up to become Robin, the Boy Wonder.

The Flying Graysons made their comic book debut in 1940’s Detective Comics No. 38, but it was far from the highpoint of their acrobatic career. In fact, John and Mary Grayson’s sole purpose in that first appearance is to be murdered by a mobster called Tony Zucco, setting in motion a chain of events that would lead to their orphaned son Dick being taken in by Bruce Wayne, who’d eventually train him to become his sidekick in crime fighting.

Although the Flying Graysons’ comic book career was brief — with the exception of the 2009 Blackest Night: Batman series that brought them back as zombies, John and Mary’s purpose in almost every appearance is to die in flashback — their legacy is arguably more present in contemporary comic books than the equally-departed Thomas and Martha Wayne. Both sets of parents’ deaths inspired their children to fight crime, but while the Waynes left behind the money to fund Batman’s crusade, the Graysons managed to teach Dick the skills that he uses to this day to save the world.

In fact, Dick Grayson’s love of acrobatics is one of the few things about the character than hasn’t changed over the course of his 75-year career. Over that time, he has gone from a grieving child to the lighthearted Robin, before graduating from sidekick duties to become Nightwing (in 1984’s Tales of the Teen Titans No. 44), spending some time filling in as Batman (from 2009 to 2011), and can these days be found working undercover as a secret agent in the current DC Entertainment comic book series Grayson. Throughout it all, the influence of his parents had stayed consistent — and constantly referenced.

That influence isn’t merely limited to his physical prowess, however; no matter what costumed identity Dick Grayson has adopted, he’s always displayed a more understanding, more fun-loving attitude than his Dark Knight mentor — something often placed at the feet of his upbringing in a circus surrounded by those described by other as “freaks” or outcasts. Occasionally, his circus upbringing would be referenced directly in his career, as 2009’s Batman and Robin comic book series demonstrated; similarly, 2011’s Nightwing series brought the character back to the circus to show the extent to which his youth had shaped the man he had become. You can take the boy out of the circus, but apparently taking the circus out of the boy is apparently far more difficult.

While they might not have had a lot of time on the page, the Flying Graysons have been a big influence on their son — and, through him, the fictional world of Gotham City. Whether or not they demonstrate their skills on the trapeze or their easy-going nature in Gotham remains to be seen, but either way, their appearance on the show demonstrates once again how oddly important these two little-seen characters are to the Batman mythos as a whole.

Gotham airs Monday nights on Fox.

Courtesy of FOX

The tease of a new villain in Fox’s Gotham who — in the words of the network’s promo for Monday’s episode — “is no joke” has electrified a fanbase that is wondering whether or not the show is finally going to introduce Batman’s most infamous nemesis: The Joker. Bruno Heller, the creator and showrunner of the series, is enjoying the reaction to that promo, but it doesn’t mean he’ll tell fans whether or not that’s the real deal.

“He may or may not be The Joker,” he tells THR of Shameless breakout Cameron Monaghan‘s mysterious character. “All I can promise is that’s not a bait and switch. It’s a long game we’re playing here.”

While he wouldn’t be drawn into explaining exactly who Monaghan’s Jerome, the laughing character seen in the promo for “The Blind Fortune Teller,” is, Heller said that fans should be paying attention to him nonetheless.

Read more Is ‘Gotham’ Preparing for The Joker’s Arrival?

“The great fun of this show is that it’s the origin story of these famous characters, and with The Joker, the wonderful thing is that nobody knows where he came from and what his genesis was,” he says. “What I can guarantee is that you have to follow that brilliant young actor Cameron Monaghan down the line, and you will see how this leads to the character we all know and love.”

Heller is excited by what Monaghan does with the role (seen briefly in the promo, below). “One of the great things about this job is that you get to cast emerging young actors in iconic roles, as with Robin Lord Taylor as The Penguin,” he explains, adding that the challenge for the actors is “to hit the mark, so audiences ask, ‘Is that him? Could that be him?’ in a way that will resonate for those who are keen Batman fans and a larger audience.”

Monaghan, he says, does “a brilliant job” of meeting the challenge. “When the episode is aired, people will see it’s not an imitation of somebody else or an homage to anyone. It’s a performance in and of itself.”

Although Heller isn’t saying whether or not Jerome will be revealed to be The Joker as fans know him, he admits that the character has been on his mind since beginning work on Gotham. “In the pantheon of villains, he’s the dark king of this world, so it would be cheating the audience if we didn’t get into that,” he says. “On the other hand, as those who are deep into the mythology know, the actual Joker — the full-on villain himself — does not appear until after Batman appears. That’s both a narrative opportunity and a narrative problem at the same time.”

There is a solution to that problem, Heller says, but he’s not going to reveal what it is just yet. “As with all of these stories, it relies on not giving the game away too early.”

Gotham airs Mondays on Fox.

Courtesy of FOX

The joke’s on Gotham — maybe.

The promo for next week’s episode of the Fox drama based on DC Entertainment’s Batman mythos offers a fairly strong hint that the Joker might be about to make his debut, with Shameless breakout Cameron Monaghan appearing as a character with a particularly disturbing laugh after a tagline teasing that “Gotham’s next villain is no joke.”

Does this mean that Monahan will play the Clown Prince of Crime on the series? Warner Bros. Television, which produces the show, declined comment on the role. However, longtime Batman fans might have noticed that the series is certainly hinting that something is going on when it comes to the Joker — the episode scheduled for Feb. 23 is titled “Red Hood,” which was the costumed identity of the Joker before the accident that turned his skin white in comic book mythology.

The Red Hood, however, might be a red herring. In current DC Comics continuity, the Red Hood Gang is a group of identically dressed bank robbers led by a man who later became the Joker. Whether or not Jerome, Monaghan’s character, will turn out to be the Joker or merely a Red Hood member with a perverse sense of humor remains open to speculation.

Certainly, showrunner Bruno Heller has teased the possibility in the past, telling reporters ahead of Gotham‘s debut that the show would be “playing with … not just with Joker” in upcoming episodes. (There’s even a school of thought that there have been Joker teases in every episode of the show to date). If the Joker does show up, he’ll join a rogues gallery of familiar comic book villains who have appeared in the series to date, including the Penguin, the Riddler, Catwoman, Poison Ivy and the Scarecrow, along with less well-known bad guys like Victor Zsasz.

Gotham airs Mondays on Fox. What do you think? Is it too soon for Gotham to introduce the Joker? Sound off in the comments section below.