Tonight saw the premiere of ABC’s “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” but while fanboys watch the continuation of The Avengers theatrical franchise on television, Warner Bros. and Fox were plotting their own superhero spin-off as Fox has announced it will air “Gotham“, a DC Comics project centered on the Gotham City Police Commissioner most recently played in Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight franchise by Gary Oldman.
The series will revolve around a young Gordon, years before he ever meets Batman, though the show is expected to introduce the villains that made Gotham City famous. “The Mentalist” creator, Bruno Heller while handle the story for the network, writing the script and exec producing.
Variety notes, Fox has given a series commitment to the project, which is not quite an on-air order but a hefty down payment that puts “Gotham” on the fast track to pilot production.
While all these superhero franchises are doing this — including the CW’s “Arrow” and expected “Flash” spin-off — all I can think of is the discarded The Dark Tower project Ron Howard was working on and how it was going to try to span three feature films and two television seasons. I wonder if shows such as “S.H.I.E.L.D.” and “Gotham” are successful if something more adventurous will be greenlit. After all, these network shows aren’t exactly anything more than fluff. It won’t be until HBO, Showtime, et al. get in the game that this will become something more than a passing craze for teenaged fanboys.
