Thanks to Ivan for the heads up.
This started last year with Arrow, a show where it seems like it’s practically impossible for characters to die permanently lately, and yet the show unexpectedly did away with one of its most impressive villains to date, Floyd Lawton, aka Deadshot.
Deadshot was responsible for the death of Diggle’s brother, and the two have had a longstanding feud. But over the course of a few episodes which formed Arrow’s own version of the Suicide Squad, Lawton was allowed to develop a hell of a lot of depth, and managed to be one of the most multi-dimensional villains the show has seen. And yet, late into season three, he was killed, effectively sacrificing himself for his former enemies. And it seems like he’s dead-dead, not just “Arrow” dead, implying a later resurrection.
And how about that Joker? Well, that’s where Gotham comes in, as the show did something suspiciously similar with its version of the character a few weeks ago, almost literally at the exact moment when the show proved it had a hell of an interpretation of the character on its hands.
By this point, even skeptics had to give Monaghan’s Joker credit for being a really damn good interpretation of the character, a great mix of Ledger and Nicholson, if judged by past iterations. And then, in the height of his upward turn, he’s killed. Galavan stabs him in the throat, pretending to save Bruce Wayne to earn “Gotham hero” status. Monaghan’s Joker wasn’t in on the plan, and his last words probably echo the actor’s thoughts as well, “I was gonna be a star!”
The parallel here of course is that DC really wants to hard sell Jared Leto’s new Joker, who will be a significant factor in Suicide Squad, and eventually in new standalone Batman movies, no doubt. After all, Chris Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy was practically defined by Ledger’s villain. And yet here again, DC killed off a stellar villain character on one of its shows for no discernible reason, leading me to suspect a heavy upper management hand in writing the death. Otherwise, it makes little sense to kill two of the best characters from each show in these really awkward ways.
Deadshot was responsible for the death of Diggle’s brother, and the two have had a longstanding feud. But over the course of a few episodes which formed Arrow’s own version of the Suicide Squad, Lawton was allowed to develop a hell of a lot of depth, and managed to be one of the most multi-dimensional villains the show has seen. And yet, late into season three, he was killed, effectively sacrificing himself for his former enemies. And it seems like he’s dead-dead, not just “Arrow” dead, implying a later resurrection.
And how about that Joker? Well, that’s where Gotham comes in, as the show did something suspiciously similar with its version of the character a few weeks ago, almost literally at the exact moment when the show proved it had a hell of an interpretation of the character on its hands.
By this point, even skeptics had to give Monaghan’s Joker credit for being a really damn good interpretation of the character, a great mix of Ledger and Nicholson, if judged by past iterations. And then, in the height of his upward turn, he’s killed. Galavan stabs him in the throat, pretending to save Bruce Wayne to earn “Gotham hero” status. Monaghan’s Joker wasn’t in on the plan, and his last words probably echo the actor’s thoughts as well, “I was gonna be a star!”
The parallel here of course is that DC really wants to hard sell Jared Leto’s new Joker, who will be a significant factor in Suicide Squad, and eventually in new standalone Batman movies, no doubt. After all, Chris Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy was practically defined by Ledger’s villain. And yet here again, DC killed off a stellar villain character on one of its shows for no discernible reason, leading me to suspect a heavy upper management hand in writing the death. Otherwise, it makes little sense to kill two of the best characters from each show in these really awkward ways.
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This isn't the first time the idea of DC limiting its shows for the movies has come up. Willa Holland revealed earlier this year that Harley Quinn was planned for a bigger role in Arrow before DC stepped in and put a stop to it.
