After Titans season 3 dropped a sly nod to Jerome Valeska, could the Gotham character potentially exist in the HBO Max TV series? Over the course of 5 chaotic seasons, Gotham introduced many familiar faces from Batman's Rogues Gallery. Cory Michael Smith's Riddler and Robin Lord Taylor's Penguin were both criminally under-looked in their respective roles, while Camren Bicondova earned plaudits for her portrayal of a pre-Catwoman Selina Kyle. Even so, many fans would likely rank Cameron Monaghan's Jerome Valeska as Gotham's most memorable menace. Introduced in Gotham season 1, Jerome was somewhat of a proto-Joker, gradually adopting as many Joker-isms as Warner Bros. would allow.
Speaking of DC shows that aren't allowed to show The Joker in full, Titans season 3 recently premiered on HBO Max, kicking off the long-awaited Red Hood arc. The opening installment sees Curran Walters' Jason Todd killed by The Joker, only to resurface the very next episode as Red Hood. The villain introduces himself by secretly calling a meeting between Gotham's various crime bosses, forcing them to hand over 40% of their revenue in an ambitious protection racket - and it's during this sequence that Titans and Gotham unexpectedly cross over.
As the assembled criminals try working out which one of them called the meeting (not yet knowing they were summoned by Red Hood), one is heard saying, "you hear anything, Valeska?" Since the name "Valeska" isn't especially common and no has other ties to DC lore, this Titans mobster (played by Wendy Crewson) must surely be a reference to Gotham's Jerome Valeska. It's a fleeting, understated line that's easy to overlook, but one that provides a crucial link between two very different DC TV shows.
The context in which Titans' Valeska appears also correlates nicely with Jerome's Gotham. The Titans mobster is now working for Red Hood, who was created by Joker killing Jason Todd, and Jerome was Gotham's very own version of the Clown Prince. Also, Jerome's chilling first appearance in Gotham season 1 was followed the very next episode by the emergence of the Red Hood Gang who, like Valeska, would periodically resurface throughout later seasons. Although Jerome was never directly tied to Gotham's Red Hood criminals, his early-Joker criminal activities weren't too far removed from Jason Todd's twisted schemes in Titans.
The more interesting question is whether season 3's mob meeting hints toward Jerome Valeska potentially existing within Titans continuity. In Gotham, Jerome's troubles stemmed from his abusive mother, who was a circus performer that met her demise when her son decided to take violent revenge for a painful childhood. The Valeska mob boss in Titans could be a new interpretation of Jerome's mother. She may not be a snake charmer at the circus, but as a toughened Gotham City crime boss, she could still be treating her young child harshly, setting up a brand new Jerome. Alternatively, Titans could adopt Gotham's time scale, meaning Jerome would actually be older than Bruce Wayne. In this case, the woman at the mob meeting could be Jerome's lover, handling his criminal enterprises either because her husband died, or because he's too busy cooking up madcap schemes. If Jerome does exist in Titans, however, it's clear he and The Joker are two separate villains.
Taking the Titans-Gotham connection to its logical conclusion, could the current series actually be a Gotham sequel, with Iain Glen playing an older David Mazouz? Both adhere to broadly the same Batman continuity, and the original series showed younger versions of Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, and Jonathan Crane (who should perhaps be older if Titans were a direct sequel to Gotham). The suggestion that Jerome started a Valeska crime family that still exists decades into the future is intriguing, and Titans season 3 leaves that curious door wide open for future exploration.
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