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Which 'Gotham' villain was the best version of the character?

Which Gotham villain was the best version of the character?

  • Penguin

    Votes: 49 40.2%

  • Riddler

    Votes: 27 22.1%

  • Mad Hatter

    Votes: 6 4.9%

  • Joker

    Votes: 26 21.3%

  • Poison Ivy

    Votes: 1 0.8%

  • Ra's al Ghul

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Someone else (name in post)

    Votes: 13 10.7%
  • Total voters
    122
Squarehard

Squarehard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
26,236
Which 'Gotham' villain do you feel was the best version of the character from the Batman universe?

Perhaps the role was just your favorite from the show, or you feel it did something inventive with the character, or perhaps another reason.

Who would you pick for your best version of a Batman villain from 'Gotham'?

Here are just some choices, but for the purpose of the poll just too many to pick from, so feel free to pick someone else not listed.

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Penguin

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Riddler

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Mad Hatter

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Joker

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Poison Ivy

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Ra's al Ghul
 
The Unsent

The Unsent

Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,593
Jerome for me, even though they could never call him joker. Performance was a good mix of Hamill and Ledger.
 
Parch

Parch

Member
Nov 6, 2017
7,980
I really liked Penguin and thought he should have won an Emmy, but maybe not the best version of the character.

I always thought Mad Hatter was mediocre in the comics, so I'd go with Gotham's version of Mad Hatter. Crazy bugger. Honorable mention goes to Solomon Grundy.
 
Cipher Peon

Cipher Peon

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,015
Penguin for me. That one bit with the exploding car in the hostage exchange cemented his šŸ status for me
 
Ubik

Ubik

Member
Nov 13, 2018
2,551
Canada
It's 100% Zsasz. It's like not even debatable. Any other answer is just factually incorrect.

 
BFIB

BFIB

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,983
The important thing is for those who have never watched Gotham to watch Gotham. Just the right amount of crazy.

And it's Riddler.
 
Double 0

Double 0

Member
Nov 5, 2017
7,554
Zsasz and Tigress for me. There are other great depictions of Penguin and Riddler IMO, but there aren't very good ones of those two. Not in comparison to Gotham.
 
RedMercury

RedMercury

Blue Venus
Member
Dec 24, 2017
17,824
I actually really liked the show's portrayal of Joker tbh, I thought it was a good take on the character. Also Mr. Freeze!
 
thewienke

thewienke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,245
It's probably the Penguin who made the character a hell of a lot more compelling that he has ever been previously

Overall Gotham really has a lot of cheese but the character acting is just so damn good
 
Platy

Platy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
28,078
Brazil
They were all amazing, but most of those in the poll have way too many other adaptations of the characters

Like Gotham's jokers are AMAZING and deserve more love, but everyone did a version so it is hard to call the best version.

Mad Hatter and the others are more easy to eb the best .... but my vote goes to Zsasz because he was so much fun there.

honorable mention to the Riddler.
I think the actor had potential, but too little actual riddle related stuff.

and op should be ashamed to put Ivy there. Ew
 
Digital Dinosaur

Digital Dinosaur

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,213
Rita Repulsa's Moon Palace
Voted Penguin, Riddler is #2 right after.

Gotham's version of both are inspired interpretations of the characters.

Penguin is a really clever combination a cartoonish super villain elements married to a genuinely talented mafioso. Fleshing out his parents and family actually deepened the character quite a lot. The cherry on top was making him just empathetic enough that you actually start to root for him to come out on top in Gotham's crime-ridden shithole - you could almost see how it would be better with Penguin in charge. It helped that he had a sliver of conscience and a sense of justice, as well as murderousness.

Riddler was just a fucking fascinating slow burn of a man descending into madness. For a long time it was genuinely unclear which direction he would go in: his desire to help others and compassion for other cast-off and downtrodden people made it seem as if this would be a reformed version of Nigma. It made it that much more sinister when he finally snaps and goes over the edge.
 
Parch

Parch

Member
Nov 6, 2017
7,980
Such a great show. Batman's list of villains has always been the best in comics, so a show with a focus on bad guys while keeping it a bit campy and a lot crazy was brilliant. They did a great job with Gotham.
 
Kuro

Kuro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,272
Gotham was so good until they started giving Bruce too much screen time.
 
Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
94,321
Joker....and I useually hate Joker. Dude put his whole damn foot into the role
 

B.K.

Member
Oct 31, 2017
17,215
Definitely Penguin and Riddler. I still want a spinoff focusing on them.
 
Dead Man Typing

Dead Man Typing

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,147
They were all genuinely great.

But Penguin was the best.
"My friend JIM!"

The bromance, then romance then heartbreak with Riddler. It was an amazing series of performances. His friendship with Butch. His father, his mother. Everything was a sight to behold.

If you're in this thread and didn't watch Gotham, then I encourage you to give it a try.
 

B.K.

Member
Oct 31, 2017
17,215
thewienke said:
Overall Gotham really has a lot of cheese but the character acting is just so damn good
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The cheese and camp is what made it great. They tried to be more grounded and play it straight in season one and it sucked. It didn't get good until they leaned into the cheesy comicness in season two.
 
Qasiel

Qasiel

ā–² Legend ā–²
Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,331
Tally up another mark for Zsasz. Carrigan just completely made the role his own and it got to a point where I was hoping for him to turn up more.
 
Sƶlf

Sƶlf

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,997
Germany
B.K. said:
The cheese and camp is what made it great. They tried to be more grounded and play it straight in season one and it sucked. It didn't get good until they leaned into the cheesy comicness in season two.
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I don't think the problem was that it was grounded. I still think season 1 had 2 problems:
- Only 1 offs, not arc longer than 1 episode (with the exception of the last few episodes which were ordered later).
- Everything was EXTREMELY on the nose and every character had to appear in pretty much every episode. No, Fish Mooney and Penguin don't have to appear every single episode, thank you.

That changed with season 2 and imo it was a much needed change.

As for the question, I can't really decide. Zsasz, Jerome, Penguin and Ra's al Ghul are definitly my top contenders (especially since Arrow had its own Ra's a bit earlier which sucked ass).

I also completely loved Ventriloquist and Pyg. Strange was also phenomenal.

My least favorite are definitly Poison Ivy and Bane.
 
TheGreatDirector

TheGreatDirector

Member
Oct 26, 2017
11,106
It's Penguin, but Strange and Zsasz are right behind him.

Riddler is good but I feel like his voice got a bit too gravely in s3 (weird complaint I know).

Penguin saving Butch from being Grundy only to kill him in front of Tigress is one the coldest things I've seen a live action comic villain do. And that's in s4 after tons of memorable moments with him. Fucking amazing character and performance.
 
dancingphlower

dancingphlower

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,337
None of them, I hated all of them lmao. The way the narrative kept stretching in various, implausibly ways to keep characters alive ended up just making the whole thing a frustrating watch.
 
Ruruja

Ruruja

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,758
I miss this show, it was such a comfy watch.

Also I chose RIddler, he was very good.
 
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