If anyone was curious after hearing a series of loud and energetic howls recently, it was probably just me rewatching Gotham's first full-length Season 5 trailer. Seen below, the promo is filled to the brim with magnificent moments. Even though the season is subtitled "Legend of the Dark Knight," this trailer is less about Batman and more about developing villainous entities such as Catwoman, Bane, and Jeremiah's potential Joker turn. We're talking Ace Chemicals, people! Get to watching!
I'm not exactly sure why Gotham started getting into these massive trailers, which play catch-up with previous arcs before showing all the good stuff. However, I applaud them for it, since these trailers do a perfect job of getting fans hyped up for new episodes. Especially this one, which hits various visual and aural crescendos after the two-minute mark.
Seemingly every single Gotham character that's still alive appears at least once, and even Poison Ivy will finally return. But let's focus on the aforementioned baddies, shall we?
Camren Bicondova's Selina Kyle has ever so slowly been inching forward on her path from a rough-edged teen hooligan to a felinely, leather-clad master thief. The signs have all been there for years, and there were some real Batman Returns vibes whenever Selina took that big fall. Now, however, we have the claws, the eyes, AND the costume. Not to mention the ferocity...
I love the parallels happening between Bruce's transition into Batman and Selina's not-so-heroic turn. Villains like The Riddler or Penguin aren't the kind who like to perch on rooftops while watching over the city. Selina, like Bruce, looks to be perfectly comfortable taking to high ground to plan her next moves. Hopefully it won't be a character we love on the receiving end of Selina's vicious attack, though.
Gotham's Season 5 mega-trailer also dedicates a chunk of its screen time to Shane West's debut as Batman's iconic foe Bane. His unaltered ego Eduardo Dorrance has a military history, and it looks like he's brought into Gotham City to help reverse the tide between authorities and criminals. His background gives him a connection with Jim (who rarely handles things with anything resembling military precision), but before too long, weird science happens and voila!
It's Bane, bitches! And a promising look at him as well, since it's kept fairly limited and doesn't reveal too much about what the villain is capable of. I might be wrong, but I'd like to believe Bane talking through an intercom-mic is Gotham winking at Tom Hardy's highly affected and much-imitated voice in The Dark Knight Rises. Or maybe this Bane will also speak fuzzily. At least we got to hear Shane West's natural voice before he turned, right?
Now pull back the curtains and burn the entire stage down, for Jeremiah is back in our lives. In particular, he's all up in Alfred's life, and has him taken captive. Previous teasers and promos have hinted at this dangerous predicament going down, and it's theoretically possible that Bruce's butler could be used for Gotham's take on the "Death in the Family" comic arc. Not that I'm counting Alfred out, considering he threatened to bite Jeremiah's face off.
Obviously, some the most amazing moments in the trailer take place within the Ace Chemicals plant that is so crucial to The Joker's origin story. (Some versions of it, at least.) It would be masterfully poetic if Gotham spun it so that this confrontation directly led to both Jeremiah's chemical bath and Bruce going full-Batman.
Oh yeah, there were a ton of other things that happened in the trailer, too. A TON of them. Even having already seen the big wall gunfight moment teased previously, I got such a rush seeing more of it come together. Then there are all of these folks that everyone would love to bring home to meet their parents for dinner.
Gotham Season 5 will finally hit Fox on Thursday, January 3, at 8:00 p.m. ET. Be sure to check back for more updates, and keep up with all the other big 2019 premieres with our midseason schedule.
