Warning: huge spoilers ahead for the Season 3 finale of Gotham.
Season 3 of Gotham has officially come to an end with a massive two-hour finale event that was filled with deaths and twists from start to finish, and it managed to sneak in a ton of references to classic Batman stories and characters. It also saw the end of poor Butch, who has had a rough ride over the past three years. He's gone from Fish's henchman to Penguin's crony to Barbara and Tabitha's one-handed helper. He and Babs haven't been on the best terms lately, however, and she finally snapped and shot him through the head in the finale. As this is Gotham, however, getting shot through the head is definitely not the end of his story.
By the end of the finale, Butch's body is in a hospital bed, hooked up to a respirator and somehow very much alive, despite the bullet to the brain. That was quite a puzzling reveal, even by Gotham standards, because he was really quite definitely shot in the head. Then, one of the doctors mentioned that "Butch Gilzean" isn't the character's real name. No, his real name is none other than Cyrus Gold, and it's a name that is very familiar to fans of DC Comics. In comic lore, Cyrus Gold is the name of the man who died and rose again as a zombie villain known as Solomon Grundy.
In comic lore, Solomon Grundy was a 19th century man living in Gotham City. He was killed and his body was dumped in a mystical swamp near the city. Over time, his body mixed with the material in the mystical swamp to reanimate him into a zombie villain. While not the brightest bad guy ever to menace Batman, his invulnerability and superhuman strength allows him to outlast many enemies. He got his name when he showed up out of nowhere at a homeless camp, only able to recall that he was "born on a Monday." One of the men in the camp called him "Solomon Grundy" after the nursery rhyme, and so the zombie villain got his name.
Obviously there will be some key differences between the DC version of Solomon Grundy and the Gotham, not the least of which is that Butch/Grundy's body doesn't seem to have been dumped in a mystical swamp. Gotham tends to put its own twists on major comic characters, even toying with the Dark Knight's origin story in some significant ways. Just because Grundy was a zombie villain in comic stories doesn't mean he'll be totally mindless when Gotham returns. If there was a mystical swamp involved at any point, it was obviously before he took the bullet to the brain.
Personally, I'm not going to rule anything out for Butch/Gold/Grundy's origin story at this point. The Lazarus Pit in the finale established that natural pools of mystical waters do exist in the Gotham universe, and anything can really happen. We'll have to wait and see.
Gotham will return to Fox for Season 4 in the fall. For a breakdown of everything that happened in the Season 3 finale, drop by our list of the deaths, twists, and Batman references that were included. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in TV news, and don't forget to check out our summer TV premiere schedule to discover all your viewing options now and in the coming weeks. Be sure to drop by our rundowns for cable/streaming and broadcast TV renewals and cancellations as well. If streaming is more your style, our Netflix premiere schedule will help you out.
