Gotham Season 3: Every Riddler, Joker, and Batman Easter Egg

Every week, we've been breaking down the Gothameaster eggs that you might have missed, whether it was a Batman reference or something dealing with the wider DC Universe (and we'll do it again when the show returns). This is our episode by episode guide to every DC Comics and Batman reference on Gothamseason 3. 

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Let's get started...but beware of spoilers! Click the episode titles to go to full reviews.

Gotham Season 3 Episode 18: Light the Wick

- This portion of the season may be called “Heroes Rise,” but it has certainly been a villain-centric drama. Can you think of another Batman story that has juggled the Court of Owls, the Talons, Riddler, Penguin, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Firefly, Hugo Strange, Mister Freeze, Executioner, Mad Hatter, and maybe Ra’s Al Ghul? It’s like a Paul Dini fever dream as Gotham indulges bad guy ADD and jumps from one Bat rogue to the next like a hyper kid digging through a box of action figures.

- Gotham is certainly going out of its way to make Barnes remind one of Bane, huh? From the wheeled gurney to the Dark Knight Rises-esque face mask, any second I feel like Barnes is going to ask someone if “The fire still burns.”

- In the comics, the Court of Owls’ Talons’ weakness is extreme cold. Things went in the opposite direction this week as Firefly takes down a Talon using extreme heat.  Kind of odd that the Talon got taken down by a flamethrower when Mister Freeze is readily available and involved in the arc.

- So why would the staff of Arkham Asylum allow Jervis Tetch to wear a prison grey Mad Hatter chapeau?

Gotham Season 3 Episode 17: The Primal Riddle

- Gotham went full Tim Burton in this episode as clone Bruce Wayne shoves Selena Kyle out of a high rise window. Of course, this scene is an homage to Batman Returns where Max Schreck (played by Christopher Walken) tosses Selina (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) out of an office building. When she hits the ground, the future Catwoman is on the receiving end of some weird ass and inexplicable cat CPR that transforms her into Catwoman.

Of course in Batman Returns, Selina is a mousy secretary not a street smart teen thief but hey, Selina plummeting to her demise was almost a blow by blow of Burton’s Catwoman origin. And really, who the heck thought we’d ever see the cat CPR business again? I mean, it was strange and possibly ill-advised back in the '90s and now Gotham, a show that hasn’t really delved into the supernatural, plays that beat. It was strange in 1992 and it’s strange today.

- Speaking of the original Bat films, Cory Michael Smith really has the bowler hat twist Jim Carrey thing down, huh?

- DC Comics has had many supervillain teams. From the Secret Society of Super Villains to the Legion of Doom to the Secret Six and even the Suicide Squad, DC history is laden with teams of rogues, but there is no comic book precedent for a team consisting of Penguin, Poison Ivy, Firefly, and Mister Freeze. But you know what? I kind of like it and I would totally read a comic starring this rag tag band of freaks.

Gotham Season 3 Episode 16: These Delicate and Dark Obsessions

- Now, this episode of Gotham didn’t specifically state that Bruce Wayne was in Nanda Parbat, but I think we can safely assume that Bruce Wayne was in Nanda Parbat. How nutty is it that the home of Ra’s Al Ghul has played a major role in two on going DC TV narratives? Of course, Oliver Queen visited Nanda Parbat on Arrowand now we get to see Bruce Wayne’s first visit to the mystic home of Ra’s Al Ghul on Gotham.

Oddly enough, the city of Nanda Parbat first appeared in Strange Adventures #205 (1967) in a Deadman story. Nanda Parbat was created by Arnold Drake and Carmine Infantino and yes, Drake also created the original Guardians of the Galaxy. Lots of Arnold Drake getting multi-media love this week. Of course, a Nanda Parbat like city also played a huge role in Batman Begins and now it has become vital to the development of Bruce Wayne into Batman over on Gotham. If that was Nanda Parbat, of course.

- But the question is, does Raymond J. Barry play Ra’s Al Ghul? Barry was called the Shaman, but the training of Bruce Wayne certainly harkens back to Ra’s’ training of Bruce in Batman Begins. Could the Shaman be a seriously in need of a dip in the Lazarus Pit Ra’s? So is Barry an old Al Ghul, is he one of the Demon Head’s decoys, is he Henri Ducard, or is he some kind of opposing force to Ra’s Al Ghul? Time will tell, but this direction is intriguing. Perhaps we will see a young Talia soon as well?

- I don’t think we’ve ever had a real Penguin/Poison Ivy connection in the comics, but man, those two nutbags have an odd chemistry together, huh? I would totally watch a sitcom starring Ivy and Oswald.

- I believe the idea of James Gordon’s father being killed by a drunk driver is a new idea presented in Gotham. Certainly, the idea of the senior Gordon being killed by the Court of Owls is new. But it’s an interesting wrinkle to think that Gordon and Bruce Wayne both lost their fathers at relatively the same ages due to some kind of shadow conspiracy. That certainly makes the bond between the future vigilante and future commissioner much more synergistic.

- Man, how many overweight gunsels are going to betray Penguin? You would have through that good old Oswald would have learned his lesson with Butch.

Hit the next pages for the previous episodes!