With every Batman story, what set Bruce Wayne on his path to becoming Gotham City’s Dark Knight was his parents being killed at a young age. It’s the same deal over on Gotham, with the majority of Bruce’s storyline revolving around his investigation into their murder. It’s been a slow undertaking, but when the show returns next month, Bruce will finally learn the identity of this mysterious killer.
While touching on how new baddie Hugo Strange will affect Penguin’s life, executive producer Bruno Heller informed TV Guide that Bruce will soon discover who killed Thomas and Martha Wayne. Heller said:
Dr. Hugo Strange [guest star B.D. Wong] has a profound effect on Penguin. He makes a new man of him in many ways. Plus: Bruce Wayne will finally find out who killed his parents!
After over a season of dead ends, Season 2 has started to see some progress with Bruce’s investigation. The now-deceased Theo Galavan claimed to know who killed Bruce’s parents, but when Bruce refused to sell him Wayne Enterprises in exchange, Theo burned the information. However, it is possible Galavan's intel wasn't legitimate. Regardless, this prompted Bruce to take his own kind of action, and in “The Son of Gotham,” Bruce learned from Silver St. Cloud the man who killed his parents is named M. Malone. It was announced shortly after that Breaking Bad actor Michael Bowen will play Malone, who is described as a “weathered, philosophical hitman.” However, it’s worth keeping in mind that Silver may have been lying/mistaken about Malone being the murderer. Whether it’s him or someone else, Bruce isn’t going to be in the dark for much longer.
In the modern age, the man who killed the Waynes has typically been Joe Chill, a mugger who chose them randomly on the street. However, Gotham’s Bruce has been working under the assumption that his parents were specifically targeted, similar to Chill’s Silver Age background, where he was hired by a mob boss to kill them. There’s still not enough information about whether the Waynes’ murder on Gotham was a random attack or something instigated by the corrupt members of Wayne Enterprises, but answers will be forthcoming.
As for this “M. Malone,” the M almost certainly stands for Matches, which, as hardcore Batman fans know, is the identity Bruce uses when he’s undercover in the criminal underworld. If there’s information he can’t obtain by interrogating people dressed like a bat, he puts on some makeup, a mustache, and a pair of sunglasses, and snoops around as Matches. So even if M. Malone isn’t the real killer on Gotham, the man is going to make an impression on Bruce enough to want to use his name as a cover when he starts his crimefighting career.
Gotham returns with new episodes on Monday, February 29 at 8 p.m. EST on Fox. In the meantime, head over to our midseason return schedule to find out when your other favorite shows will be back.
