Gotham Trailer Reveals First Look At Bruce’s Proto-Batman Mask

Gotham season 5’s now halfway over, which means we only have a few episodes left until the Batman prequel series comes to a close. So over the next few weeks, we’ll see the characters shift into places on the board that match where they are in the typical Bat-mythos. Next Thursday’s installment, “Ace Chemicals,” is set to be a hugely important one then, as it looks like it might focus on the creation of the Joker.

In fact, this new movie-style trailer up above teases an epic confrontation between young Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) and Jeremiah Valeska (Cameron Monaghan) in the iconic environs of the Ace Chemicals factory. The hero and the villain are seen battling on a gangway above some vats of green gunge, which surely promises us that Valeska’s going to fall into one of them and come out with a permanent grim on his bleached face.

Elsewhere in the trailer, though, it also hints that the episode won’t just create the Joker but also push Bruce ever closer to becoming Batman. At the 0:25 mark, young Master Wayne holds up a black face mask, which is no doubt a proto-version of the cowl. Maybe in this scene he’s thinking: “you know, this thing could do with some pointy ears.”

While we still haven’t had it confirmed what’s going to happen to Valeska over the tail-end of the season, we know for certain that Batman’s a-coming. It was recently revealed that Mazouz even got to wear the cowl himself and give his take on the classic Christian Bale-like growl. For the action scenes, though, a stunt performer was used.

Unfortunately, no footage of Gotham‘s Batman has materialized just yet, but we’re expecting a suit that resembles the one used in The Dark Knight Rises. And as soon as Fox gives us a proper look at it, we’ll be sure to let you know.