Fox's 'Gotham' Teases The Joker's Arrival

Fox's Gotham has already introduced us a slew of future Batman villains, including the Penguin, the Riddler, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Harvey Dent, and the Scarecrow. Now they're getting ready to bring in the biggest Batman villain of all.

The new promo for next week's episode, titled "The Blind Fortune Teller," hints at the arrival of the Joker. Or at least what seems to be the arrival of the Joker — they may yet have a few more tricks up their sleeve. Take a look at the Gotham Joker tease after the jump. 

The Gotham Joker hints are not remotely subtle. The promo declares that "Gotham's next villain is no joke" before revealing Cameron Monaghan giving off a very Joker-like laugh. For what it's worth, Monaghan himself is only too happy to play along.

But the show stops short of confirming that Monaghan is actually the Joker. For now, the actor is only credited as "Jerome."

On the one hand, the Joker reveal seems so obvious that it could be a bit of misdirection. Showrunner Bruno Heller previously said the Joker reveal would be teased out over the course of the first season. "In a subtle way, we'll be doing that and hopefully we'll fool them in the end," he said in July.

Recently, however, he's sounded more eager to dive right in:

We've said you're going to be waiting a bit longer for it, but this is America — nobody wants to wait. So, we will scratch the surface of that story, yes. But just scratch it — a little tap on the door.

This Gotham promo feels less like tapping on the door and more like trying to pound it down with a battering ram. But then, subtlety and patience have never been this show's strong suit. And this promo leans on the Joker introduction so heavily that we have to assume Monaghan has something to do with the Joker. Otherwise, it's just obnoxious.

Whatever comes of the Joker tease, we can rest assured the next episode of Gotham will introduce at least a couple of key characters from the Batman mythos. See if you can figure out who:

If you look closely at the background, you'll see the words "The Flying Graysons" posted up on the trailer. Looks like we'll be getting into the "prenatal Robin" storyline promised by Heller last year. Batman's future sidekick hasn't been born yet, but we'll get to see how his parents got together.

"The Blind Fortune Teller," which may or may not introduce Monaghan as the Joker, airs February 16.