‘Gotham’ To Be Taunted And Terrorized By The Court Of Owls [Video]

Gotham has already started off with a bang, so to speak, making good on the promise that season 2 would be the Rise of the Villains, giving fans the beginnings of a storyline that may be ambitious enough to rival the Suicide Squad feature film. One cannot deny that Barbara Kean (Erin Richards) is already reminding Gotham fans of a Harley Quinn sexy and psycho enough to even make Margot Robbie’s caged spider dance pale in comparison.

An Insane Trailer For Gotham

Now, /Film reports that a newly released red band trailer -Yes, a red band trailer for network television- gives a glimpse of a crime spree that already puts Gotham‘s first season to shame and may even prompt complaints from the parents of the show’s teen viewers. This isn’t just any crime spree either. The criminally insane, newly escaped from Arkham and brought together by Dobkin (Will Brill), have formed a group called the “Maniax” and they are truly terrorizing the streets of Gotham in ways never before seen.

The trailer also gives Cameron Monaghan an opportunity to shine as The Joker. Just listen to that laugh. It remains to be seen how he will perform throughout the rest of Gotham‘s season 2, but it already seems as though Cameron has the ambition to compete with the likes of Jack Nicholson and even Heath Ledger.

It seems likely that the Maniax could be the precursor to the promised Court of Owls, especially considering the Gotham showrunner’s suggestion that the Court of Owls may not appear on the show for some time.

“Yeah, absolutely, [I’m interested]. I won’t say that it’s part of — I don’t even want to say that, because I don’t want to spoil part of the story,” Bruno Heller said of bringing the Court of Owls to Gotham. “The Court of Owls is deep, deep, deep Gotham mythology. The comic book fans know about it, but I would suspect the larger audience is not so familiar.”

Heller continued to explain that the series would take its time in getting to the point at which the Court of Owls could logically be brought into the picture.

“We are absolutely going to explore that world down the line. Looking at the longevity of the show, we have to hold some cards back, we can’t just throw all of the elements, all of the story at once.”

Bruno continued to explain that, at its core, Gotham is still primarily about Bruce Wayne and his growth, his discovery of what the city of Gotham is really about from the good to the bad.

The man behind the concept of the Court of Owls, Scott Snyder, told IGN that he and his team were very proud to learn that Gotham would be using the Court of Owls subplot. The Court of Owls is an organized crime group and, having existed since colonial times, they are known for kidnapping children from circuses and training them to become cold-blooded assassins known as Talons. Could Tabitha Galavan (Jessica Lucas) be a Talon?

Even at this early stage, it seems as though Heller is setting up Gotham to build into the Court of Owls storyline with his group of Maniax and the reign of terror they are unleashing on the people of the city Bruce Wayne will soon be sworn to protect.

Speaking of the future Batman, Bruce seems all too eager to step into his superhero persona, as suggested by his observation of the crime wave in the red band trailer. It seems as though young master Wayne may be about to do something hasty…

The next episode of Gotham airs Monday, September 28 on Fox.

[Featured image courtesy of Fox/Gotham]