10 years ago the most underrated Batman premiered on TV

A young orphan watches his parents die, is traumatized, and works through his issues by embracing his fears and adopting a disguised identity to fight crime in his morally bankrupt and corrupt city, Gotham. We all know the story, and have seen it countless times on the big and small screen. But among the many Batman movies and TV shows over the years, especially those in the live-action realm, one stands out for how refreshingly insightful and surprisingly good it is.

Fox Gotham premiered 10 years ago, in September 2014, on the Fox network, and while it didn’t necessarily revolutionize Batman’s origin story, it did recontextualize it. It presents a new look at Bruce Wayne’s early years in the period between the murders of his parents and his decision to become Batman, Gotham shed light on this crucial and formative yet tragically ignored period in the future hero’s life. At first glance, it might be easy to Gotham as another origin story born during the TV superhero boom of the 2010s. Upon closer inspection, though, it’s easy to see it as a genuinely original and fairly daring take on Batman’s youth that remains criminally underrated, even if it is arguably the most inspired adaptation of the character we’ve had in the past decade.

Bruce steps into the spotlight

One of the major problems modern Batman adaptations have is a clear lack of understanding of who the character is. The idea that “Bruce is the mask and Batman is the real version” became popular immediately after Christopher Nolan’s groundbreaking Dark Knight trilogy, took over the character’s lore, with many taking it as gospel. However, that’s just a fundamental misinterpretation of who the Caped Crusader is, and while the approach was valid and fit Nolan’s hyper-realistic take, it’s not who Batman is or, more importantly, who he is should And yet, post-Nolan adaptations, from Zack Snyder’s misguided take on the DCEU to Matt Reeves’ crime noir in the 2022 film The Batmanhave actively sidelined Bruce in favor of Batman.

It is not an either-or situation, which unfortunately few adaptations understand. This basic understanding is what Gotham of other versions of the Caped Crusader. The show focuses solely on Bruce Wayne—Batman doesn’t even appear at all, save for a brief glimpse of his back during the final scene of the series finale. This approach doesn’t detract from the action or make the story any less compelling; quite the contrary. David Mazouz is one of the best versions of Bruce Wayne we’ve ever seen. Mazouz begins the show at 13, and takes Bruce on a typical coming-of-age journey, albeit one plagued by crime and a constant struggle to deal with the grief and trauma of watching his parents die before him.

Adding a coming-of-age twist to Bruce Wayne’s storyline is such a stroke of genius that it’s shocking that no one has thought of it before. Mazouz looks and acts his age, playing Bruce with a palpable mix of typical teenage angst, trauma and regret and, as the series progresses, an arrogant self-assurance that comes from the fact that he’s literally a billionaire. He’s likable and easy to root for, but also a little annoying and often frustrating, as a typical teenager is.

Bruce Wayne, usually a larger-than-life, elusive figure, portrayed in such a simple and, dare I say, approachable way, was far more refreshing than anything Nolan, Snyder or Reeves had done in their respective universes. It was a true reimagining of a familiar character, an insightful new way of looking at a figure many of us thought we knew inside and out.

Gotham‘s greatest strength is treating Bruce Wayne as a human being first and a superhero second. Just like the best Batman adaptation of all time, the masterful Mask of the Phantasm, Gotham uses the setting and narrative to explore Bruce’s rich and often conflicted psyche.

His inner turmoil takes center stage, evident in his most pivotal relationships with future Commissioner James Gordon (Ben McKenzie), his trusted butler and surrogate father, Alfred (Sean Pertwee), and his on-again, off-again love, Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova). By examining the aftermath of the defining moment in Bruce’s life, Gotham places the world’s greatest detective in a new context, adding layers to his already complex characterization and making him a richer, more compelling and fascinating character.

Embrace the color

Recently the upcoming Max show The Penguin made headlines when the title character’s name was changed from the comic book-accurate Oswald Cobblepot to the blander Oz Cobb. The change, according to producer Dylan Clark, was born out of a desire to give the character a more “grounded” tone; in their eyes, “Oz Cobb” was “more believable” and therefore better. There’s no rule that says a comic book adaptation has to be 100% accurate or treat the source material as gospel, but there’s something instantly recognizable here, a distinct embarrassment at being based on a comic book property. The word “grounded” has really become a way for Hollywood to strip away the sillier, campier aspects of a superhero in an attempt to legitimize the character as “serious” IP.

This problem is especially prevalent in Batman adaptations. Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy proved that superhero movies could be taken seriously by the industry, with Oscar nominations and even a few statuettes, including a posthumous win for best villain of all time for the late Heath Ledger. It’s a valid approach, and the creators have every right to make the adaptation they want. But there’s something so lame about trying to make a character who intentionally exists in the fantastic more realistic and boring. Nolan, Snyder, and Reeves all tried, with varying degrees of success, to the point where this more “grounded” version is Batman’s new normal.

Now, Gotham wasn’t exactly “camp” like the 1966 show. But it also wasn’t the hyper-realistic, violent version that desperately wanted to be seen as “real.” Instead, it walked a delicate line between comic book flamboyance and police procedural with a healthy dose of teenage angst. Take the show’s version of Oswald Cobblepot, played by the criminally underrated Robin Lord Taylor. In GothamPenguin is a medium-sized figure in the city’s criminal underworld, just as he is in The Batman. However, Gotham embraces the eccentricities and stylish flair that make Penguin… well, Penguin.

From a penchant for carrying umbrellas to a broken leg that never healed and left him with a limp, GothamPenguin is faithful to his comic book counterpart. Yet Taylor’s performance is so detailed, so layered and lived-in that the character never seems overdone or unreal. In fact, Taylor’s Penguin is one of Gotham‘s most suggestive characters, an ambitious and manipulative man who works his way up the city’s criminal ladder through sheer force of will.

The same can be said about Gotham‘s take on iconic Batman villains such as Edward Nigma, played by the spectacular Cory Michael Smith, and the Valeska Brothers, the series’ version of the Joker, played by the wonderful and deranged Cameron Monaghan. Gotham never shies away from the sillier aspects of its source material; instead, it embraces them and seamlessly integrates them into its world-building. The truth is, comic books and the superheroes within them are inherently silly, and that’s okay.

That’s actually one of the most important aspects of Batman’s story: he’s the outsider in a world of freaks and creeps, not because he isn’t – he’s the biggest freak of them all – but because he chooses to stand up to them in an attempt to make sense of the chaos. The world is a madhouse, but Batman isn’t the keeper – he’s the patient who recognizes his delusion and uses it to keep everyone else in line.

‘I am an idea, a philosophy’

Gotham is pretty much everything a great Batman adaptation should be. It delivered the best Bruce Wayne since Mask of the Phantasm and proved that Batman doesn’t have to be against his natural campiness in the realm of live action. Furthermore, it produced arguably the best and most detailed Gotham City we’ve ever seen. From the countless crime families and gangs vying for power to the many, many, many deranged individuals living in a constant state of evolution, Gotham presented the ultimate version of the eponymous city, a version that was both seductive and terrifying, a tantalizing cautionary tale in which the darkness came from within.

Few adaptations have such an understanding of their source material. Yet, for several reasons, Gotham was never a huge success. Sure, a big part of that was because it aired on Fox during the last days of network TV, before streaming came along. However, part of its status as an underrated gem comes from the looming shadow of Nolan’s and, now, Reeves’ Batman. But the entertainment landscape is big enough for multiple versions of Batman, especially one as inspired and clever as Gotham.

For all fans of Batman or comic books themselves, Gotham is a must-see. But even those with a passing respect for the genre will find something to enjoy here. It doesn’t necessarily have something for everyone — it’s really aimed at a specific audience that both loves and, more importantly, appreciates comics — but it does have a unique, confident, and unashamedly self-aware voice. And in a television landscape where shows have to be distinctive to the point of singularity, Gotham is truly unique.

All 5 seasons of Gotham Are available to stream on Max.