If you’ve been keeping up with the current season of Gotham and happen to also be a lover of Batman comics, then you’re well aware of how the producers have borrowed generously from the source material in recent memory. Already, we’ve seen The Long Halloween and Year One lend their influence, with yet another classic storyline to feature the Dark Knight waiting in the wings.
Believe it or not, season 4’s finale is actually titled “No Man’s Land,” which should make many of you recall the comic book arc of the same name. Basically, the original story saw Gotham suffer the effects of a massive earthquake, with the U.S. government evacuating the city before leaving the metropolis to itself. Standing isolated with no bridges out of town, supervillains ran amok, with Batman and his allies doing their best to restore some kind of sanity.
Obviously, that tale greatly influenced The Dark Knight Rises as well, but there’s so much more potential to be tapped on television. Knowing all the rogues the series has thus far established opens a myriad of possibilities, reminding us of why No Man’s Land had to be collected into several volumes when published as trade paperbacks. Really, it was that massive.
Cool as that sounds, you have to admit that the producers must believe that a fifth season is a given at this point. I mean, why else would they go whole hog like this? If you’ll recall, the show was just barely renewed for a fourth season, with last year’s finale obviously having been written to function as a series finale if need be. That said, they’d better hope everything works in their favor, because I’d hate to see the show end on a massive cliffhanger.
Staying optimistic, one could assume that Jerome establishing his “Legion of Horribles” could be the lead-in to this major event. Granted, there’s no way we’re going to see a literal translation of the comic book, but a ravaged city in which the supervillains are given free rein really does sound like where the series is going, wouldn’t you agree?
Gotham airs on Thursday nights on Fox.