Fox Bought All BATMAN TV Rights for New GOTHAM Series Which Will Focus on Origins For Villains and More



While Marvel Studios adds a veteran actor like Bill Paxton to help give Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. more star power, DC Entertainment is riding the wave of television popularity with Arrow. Next up for DC is their Gotham TV series on Fox.

Already said to follow the adventures of a young Jim Gordon while working his way up the ranks in the Gotham City Police Department, more information has been made available about the new series. According to Fox chairman Kevin Reilly, via IGN, Gotham will see the origins of Batman villains and the series will end with Bruce Wayne taking up the mantle of Batman for the first time.

"This is an origin story for young Bruce Wayne. Gotham on the brink. [H]ow they all became who they were, what events led up to these characters becoming Catwoman [Joker, Riddler and so on]."

But what about the Bruce Wayne/Batman character in the show? Reilly discusses how, at first, Bruce will be about 12-years-old.

"The actor will grow-up, if we do our job well he'll be a young man and ready [to be Batman] by the end. Which isn't to say we might not skip ahead."

Reilly continued to talk about how Fox has purchased the Batman franchise license for use on television, while Warner Bros. retains the movie franchise rights.

"We own all the rights.That's what we're licencing. [Warner] brought us the entire franchise for a very healthy licence fee. We're not negotiating this piece meal. We have all of the underlying Batman rights for the entire franchise for this series. 
"That's what I like about this, it's not some sort of adjunct companion series. This is the Batman franchise, just backing it up. I think that gives it a real focus as to what the show is about and what stories we're telling. 
"Warner Brothers manages the entire franchise and its one of their top global franchises of all. So there will be an awareness of both and we'll have to coordinate when we're in the market place, but the productions are not piggy-backing off one another."

But this is more of the origin story for the Batman universe, as Reilly finally explained.

"We're not starting in that world where the villains are in costume. You see markers for it that are kind of delicious. You begin to see the evolution of the eccentricities that become those characters, but you really sort of arc there. We don't start out in capes and costumes."

Gotham is still in development for Fox and has yet to announce a premiere date or any cast members.