‘Gotham’ Had an Easter Egg From Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’

Last week’s new episode of Gotham was full of nods to past Batman stories, particularly when it comes to Jeremiah’s evolution into the eventual Joker. Big moments like his fall into the vat at Ace Chemicals were pretty obvious references to other Dark Knight tales, but there were others that were a lot harder to spot, like the one that gave a shout out to Tim Burton’s classic Batman movie.

There’s a moment in the middle of the episode where Jim Gordon and Lee Thompkins sneak into Ace Chemicals to try and track down Jeremiah (at which they both succeed and fail). As they’re making their way through the plant, a very brief, and very blurry nod to Burton and Michael Keaton’s first caped crusader movie can be seen on one of the vats. Underneath the Ace Chemicals name, you’ll be able to spot four numbers, “1989.”

Of course, this is a major homage to Burton’s film, which was the first true Batman blockbuster and hit theaters in 1989.

Ace Chemicals went on to play an important role in not only the episode, but Gotham‘s final season as a whole. After a fight with Bruce, Jeremiah fell from the catwalk and into a vat of bright green chemicals, essentially marking the final step in the creation of the Joker.

While speaking to ComicBook.com earlier this season, showrunner John Stephens teased the arrival of this new iteration of Jeremiah that Cameron Monaghan will be playing before the series comes to an end.

“One of the themes of the show has always been about the evolution of identity and how fluid it is,” Stephens explained. “And how people can always change themselves from one identity to another. Those obvious examples are obviously like Bruce Wayne, Batman, that view of the world. One of the things we like to do on the show is take that theme and see how it plays out in different fashions with different characters. So, especially with Cameron Monaghan’s character, first with Jerome and then to Jeremiah, then from Jeremiah to this new character. Obviously, we were always saying that this character is not the Joker but we were always saying what are different elements of the Joker that we can actually use and bring out and develop? Weighing the way you can look at and say, hey, this character may not be the Joker but we can imagine how this character could have lead to a character like the Joker, down the road somewhere.

“So, to that I want to say, there are some elements, I’d say, of the character of the Joker himself that we see down the road that have not been present so far, either in Jerome or in Jeremiah. But those elements and characters are present in the new iteration of Jeremiah that comes out.”

What do you think is next for Jeremiah and the potential Joker mantle on Gotham? Let us know in the comments!

New episodes of Gotham air on Thursday nights at 8 pm ET on FOX.

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