After working together to fight the villains of Gotham over the past three seasons, Jim Gordon and Bruce Wayne will find themselves at odds in season four. The young millionaire destined to become the Caped Crusader has shown glimpses of his hidden potential since Gotham first aired back in 2014 but has largely been restricted to digging up intelligence while his butler Alfred Pennyworth takes care of the rough stuff.


However, thanks to some combat tutelage from both Alfred and The League of Shadows – as well as a strong dose of puberty – Gotham‘s Bruce Wayne is beginning to look a lot more like the Batman viewers know and love and the season three finale saw the youngster take to the streets to mete out some cold, hard justice to the criminals of Gotham. The season four trailer developed this tease even further, showing Bruce in full vigilante mode and clad in a dark proto-Batsuit.


Unfortunately for Bruce, this new career path will seemingly make an enemy out of his longtime pal and Gotham City detective, Jim Gordon. In an interview with DC All Access, executive producer John Stephens confirmed that Bruce’s vigilante antics would cause him to be targeted by Gordon – but only after the detective has dealt with the new head gangster in town, The Penguin. Stephens claims:


“In the first half of the season this year, Jim Gordon is going to try to loosen Penguin’s hold upon Gotham. He does that by forming an alliance with Sofia Falcone, who Crystal Reed is playing, and the two of them work together to basically try to dethrone Penguin. At the same time, Bruce Wayne is going to go out there and start operating as a vigilante wearing a mask… And then moving forward after that, Jim Gordon will realize that this vigilante is operating out there in Gotham somewhere and he goes “I’m going to hunt that guy down” and we have Jim Gordon and a masked Bruce Wayne going head to head”

Interestingly, the video also includes Butch Gilzean/Cyrus Gold/Solomon Grundy actor Drew Powell confirming that his reincarnated character will surface around the episode five mark.


For the most part, Commissioner Gordon and Batman are firm allies in the franchise’s considerable lore but there have been multiple occasions where Bruce Wayne’s outside-the-law methods have resulted in confrontations between the two vastly different crime fighters. Given that young Master Wayne has yet to fully evolve his pointy eared, gravelly voiced alter ego, it seems unlikely that Gordon will figure out the vigilante’s identity this season but the two protagonists are very closely linked on Gotham and Gordon’s reaction to discovering Bruce’s new nighttime hobby would certainly be an interesting story line.


By delving into Bruce Wayne’s tense relationship with the law enforcement of Gotham City, Gotham‘s status as a prequel is certainly up for debate and some viewers may feel that with Ben Affleck’s DCEU Batman currently featuring on the big screen, Gotham would’ve have been better served continuing to focus primarily on Jim Gordon and his early career as a cop.


Realistically speaking however, there is only so long a series set within the Batman universe can avoid featuring the iconic hero himself and it could also be argued that Gotham‘s efforts to evolve and grow its world and mythology season upon season are to be commended rather than criticized.