On Gotham Season 4 Episode 5 ‘The Blade’s Path,’ one of Batman’s most popular villains made his debut. Last season, Butch Gilzean was shot in the head by Barbara Kean, and most presumed he was dead and gone.
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However, in ‘The Blade’s Path’ episode, Butch Gilzean’s body gets dumped into Slaughter Swamp by a pair of physician’s assistants trying to make more room in the hospital.
Of course, Butch’s birth name is Cyrus Gold, which is the real name of Solomon Grundy in DC Comics. It turns out Slaugher Swamp is contaminated with chemicals from Indian Hill, so Butch doesn’t stay at the bottom of the swamp for long. Butch rises out of the swamp, sporting white hair and pale white skin.
In the video above, Butch wanders up on a group of men, who are camping out near the swamp and playing an old time cylinder phonograph. The men are singing along to the Solomon Grundy nursery rhyme. The men are intrigued by Butch’s appearance, calling out his white skin and lack of clothes.
Butch is startled by the torches the men are carrying, and he attacks. Butch kills two of the men, while the third man runs away. As one of the men lays dying, he asks Butch who he is. Listening to the Solomon Grundy song playing, Butch takes the name Solomon Grundy.
In an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com, Drew Powell, who plays Butch, recounted how he first found out that his character was becoming Solomon Grundy.
“I got a call from John Stephens, who’s running the show now, and he said, “Okay, I got three things,’” Powell said. “[He said] ‘First, we love you and we want you to come back,’ which was a great place to start. ‘Two, you’re gonna get shot in the head at the end of Season 3. And, three, you’re gonna come back as Solomon Grundy.”
Gotham airs on Thursday nights at 8 PM ET on Fox.
