Entertainment

Jim's Uncle Has Some Powerful Friends On 'Gotham'

by Kayla Hawkins
Jessica Miglio/FOX

Gotham is returning from a lengthy hiatus on April 24. And the audience will hopefully get some answers about the Court Of Owls mystery that's been building since the show started dropping hints about the mysterious group controlling Gotham City at the end of its first season. Season 3 has revealed that Jim Gordon's Uncle Frank is a part of the Court and has designs on revealing that information to his nephew for the first time. Is Frank Gordon from DC comics, or is he an original character?

In the first half of Season 3, Frank was a mysterious figure cloaked in complete shadow, but for the rest of the season, he's going to be played by James Remar as a more complex villain. And not only is Frank going to be more complex, he's also totally original. Out of the hundreds of original characters who've appeared in the Batman comics over the years, none have been named Frank Gordon.

Jeff Neumann/FOX

And this original character isn't just in the Court, he's their leader (or co-leader, alongside Kathryn), controlling a whole secret society working within Gotham. In the comics, the leader of the Court of Owls isn't really important — they work as a unit, and the point is that their members are masked, rendering them anonymous. So, unfortunately, there are very few clues about Gotham's ongoing Court of Owls storyline that you can get from the comics the show is based on.

Throughout the many years of Batman stories, Jim Gordon's family history has never been heavily featured. Here's what the comics have established about Jim Gordon: he's a lifelong cop, and according to origin story Batman: Year One, he transferred to Gotham City with his wife and daughter to help reform the corrupt police department. He works his way up to become the Gotham City Commissioner, and then he deals with decades of evil deeds done by the city's eccentric villains.

The version of the character from DC comics certainly was not involved in an organization of the richest and most influential families in the city. And Frank doesn't seem like the blue collar type, the way Jim does. So far, he's always outfitted in a suit and is able to plot effortlessly with the city's billionaires.

As for the rest of the season, it seems that Frank will be involved in the Court's plot to steal Bruce Wayne's identity and replace him with a clone, but he also has his own plans to usurp power by somehow using his nephew. It still remains to be seen how Jim can help a group that claims to control everything in the city, but Gotham is going in an uncharted direction with the original character of his ambitious uncle.