Jeremiah Valeska

"Don't compare me to that short-sighted psychopath. He just wanted to destroy things. Me... I'm a builder. I'm gonna create a new Gotham in my image, but every artist needs a blank canvas... so all of this has to go."

- Jeremiah to Harvey Bullock. "My brother once said, All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy."

- Jeremiah, quoting "The Killing Joke".

Jeremiah Valeska, also known as Xander Wilde, is one of the main antagonists during the second half of the fourth season on the TV series Gotham. He is Jerome Valeska's twin brother and is the show's version of The Joker.

He is portrayed by Cameron Monaghan, who also portrayed Jerome Valeska.

Origins
Jeremiah and Jerome were identical twins, and one day, their mom sent them both away, knowing that Jerome will be evil. Jeremiah becomes a very high skilled engineer during life, and he has a proxy working for him. However, he secretly plots revenge on Jerome, and he reads Jerome's lost diary, including every one of his plans to cause mayhem in Gotham. He also changes his identity to Xander Wilde, and wears a mask, in order to get his revenge on Jerome.

Escaping Jerome Valeska
Jeremiah later sends his proxy Ecco to capture Jerome so he can be held inside a cage. Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock ask him to hand Jerome to the GCPD, but Jeremiah refuses. Jerome however hypnotizes the proxy and sends her to kill Jim Gordon and Harvey and to bring Jeremiah to Jerome. Jeremiah is taken to his brother, who confronts him with Jervis Tetch and Jonathan Crane, and tells him that he will turn insane and then die. Jim Gordon however starts shooting Jerome, thus chasing him away, and saving Jeremiah.

Insanity Unleashed
Jerome later kidnaps Jeremiah and tries again to convince him that he is mad, claiming that it's in their blood. He gives Jeremiah a knife and dares Jeremiah to kill him. Jeremiah tries to do so, but is kicked on the head by Jerome, who then tries to kill him.

Later, Jerome dies, and Jeremiah thanks Bruce Wayne, Jim and Harvey for helping him save the city. He gets a gift from The Wayne Enterprises, which actually contains one of Jerome's traps. The trap sprays laughing gas on Jeremiah, who has his apparent hidden insanity and psychopathic tendencies unleashed by Jerome. As Jeremiah's skin becomes white and his lips become red, Jerome via audio recording tells his brother to continue his legacy and go have some "fun".

Jeremiah sends Ecco to Jerome's grave, where his brother's followers were mourning his death. Ecco plays them a fake message from Jerome, telling them to dig up his body and throw a wake at the GCPD. Jeremiah later reveals to Bruce that he was building a new generator, able to control all of Gotham's sources of electricity. He also revealed Bruce that Jerome had used the laughing gas on him, and that he now sees Jerome everywhere. Bruce offers to take Jeremiah to the graveyard, to show him that Jerome is dead.

Meanwhile, a video message is sent to the GCPD, supposedly featuring Jerome announcing his plans for his wake. The cult members storm the precinct, but the police soon take back control. Gordon travels to Jeremiah's bunker where he finds another recording, and is held at gunpoint by Ecco.

Bruce and Jeremiah arrive at the graveyard, only to find Jerome's grave dug up. Jeremiah flees, screaming that Jerome is still alive. He then questions Bruce's loyalty to him as a true friend. He then takes Bruce as a hostage, claiming to think that Bruce is actually Jerome himself. He starts fighting Bruce in the cemetry.

Gordon manages to subdue Ecco and watches the end of the video. Jerome peels of his makeup, revealing himself to be Jeremiah in disguise. He explains that the generator is also a bomb and it begins to glow red. Gordon narrowly escapes.

After a rough battle between Bruce and Jeremiah, the followers arive, and Jeremiah reveals to Bruce his true intentions; destroying Gotham in a way that opposes Jerome and is even more insane. Jeremiah reveals that he had just been wearing a mask while his white face was actually his true face, as his skin was very pale (like Jerome). He revealed that he pretended to be "sane" just so he could gain Bruce's trust. At that moment, the bunker blows up, and Jeremiah claims that he just killed Jim Gordon. He then sarcastically called Bruce "his very best friend", and ordered the followers to dump him into the grave. He and Ecco then entered The Wayne Enterprises and stole a package of generators.

Gotham Bombings
While confronting Bullock near GCPD, Jeremiah announces he has bombs hidden around Gotham City and states if Bullock were to do any harm to Jeremiah, the explosives will trigger. Jeremiah gives Bullock six hours to evacuate the city and destroys the Gotham Clock Tower to show he is telling the truth. Later, when Bruce met with Bullock, Jeremiah calls him and tells him to address Alfred, who Jeremiah had kidnapped, and warns Bruce not to tell the police as Jeremiah knows where Bruce is.

As Jeremiah enters his safehouse, he finds The Penguin, Barbara Kean, Tabitha Galavan, and Butch Gilzean waiting for him with one of Jeremiah's henchmen hostage. They demand an additional hour to evacuate the city and $50 million. Jeremiah calls the mayor and then pulls out a bazooka and kills the henchman. Jeremiah then tells them he has changed his mind and will detonate the bombs when he's a safe distance away. Jeremiah orders them to be killed and escapes. Later when he's in another bunker, Jeremiah prepares to detonate the bombs however finds out that Gordon is still alive, much to his anger and frustration. Jeremiah triggers the explosives however fails as Bullock had disabled him on time.

The followers get angry at Jeremiah and he ultimately decides to seal them inside a chamber and set them on fire. Later, Jeremiah plans to start over when he is met by Ra's al Ghul who explains its not about Gotham, but it's about Bruce. Later when Bruce and Selina are talking, Jeremiah unexpectedly shows up and shoots Selina in the stomach. Alfred comes in and takes down Jeremiah with Bruce comforting Selina.

Personality
Even before becoming the Joker, Jeremiah was quite the suspicious individual. Aside from being the brother of one of Gotham's most notorious criminals, even in his younger days he had a unique interest in designing plans for mazes and traps, and even Jerome claims that Jeremiah is actually crazy like himself, just too afraid to let it show. It is shown that Jeremiah had been dishonest about his brother's attempts to murder him, although he claimed that everyone knew Jerome certainly wanted to do it. He also displays a disturbingly calm manner when held at gunpoint by Gordon and lies about his past with his brother as well as keeps him contained without caring about the GCPD's consent.

If Jeremiah was psychopathic before being exposed to toxin, he did everything he could to hide it in comparison to his brother, who felt as though his revenge on Jeremiah should be to forcefully expose his psychosis by means of laughing gas. Jeremiah would later state that while the gas caused some cosmetic changes, it had not changed his mentality, meaning that Jerome was telling the truth and he is as insane as his brother, though he continues to deny that he is insane, stating he is completing Jerome's plans in a more 'sane' manner.

Killed Victims

 * Unnamed Jerome Follower - Shot
 * Unnamed Henchman - Blown up with Bazooka
 * At least fifteen followers - Incinerated
 * Mayor of Gotham - Blown up
 * Assassin Member - Shot
 * Two Unnamed Polticians - Blown Up

Season 4

 * A Dark Knight: Mandatory Brunch Meeting
 * A Dark Knight: That's Entertainment
 * A Dark Knight: That Old Corpse
 * A Dark Knight: One Bad Day
 * A Dark Knight: No Man's Land

Trivia

 * Jeremiah Valeska is the fifth incarnation of Joker (sixth if you count Jerome Valeska, who is heavily influenced by the character) to have an established backstory and identity, with the first one being Jack Nicholson's Joker in the 1989 Batman film, the second in The Killing Joke, the third the Martha Wayne version of the Joker from the 2011 "Flashpoint" crossover story arc, in which she was Joker in an alternative universe where Bruce Wayne was dead (having been killed by the mugger) and Thomas Wayne as Batman, and the fourth being Lovers and Madmen, a Joker comic origin story.
 * However the origin stories from The Killing Joke and Lovers and Madmen are only possible scenarios and not established history like the others.
 * Jeremiah's transformation and breaking into laughter is similar to The Joker's breakdown in The Killing Joke following his transformation.
 * He also clutches his head in a very similar way.
 * This version of Joker is the fourth version to appear on television: the first was in the campy 1960s Adam West Batman television series in which he was played by Cesar Romero; the second was in one of the six Batman OnStar commercials which ran from 2000 to 2002, in which he was played by Curtis Armstrong; and the third was a cameo appearance in the 2002-2003 series Birds of Prey, in which he was played physically by Roger Stoneburner and voiced by Mark Hamill.
 * Jeremiah's motive to drive Bruce Wayne insane, and his method of doing so, is similar to how Joker tried to drive Commisioner Gordon insane after crippling his daughter.
 * Additionally, he shoots Selina Kyle in a similar manner to how the Joker shot Barbara Gordon.
 * Jeremiah is similar to Tim Drake from Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, who was transformed into the new Clown Prince of Crime following the original Joker's demise in order to continue his legacy.
 * He is the youngest version of "The Joker", being around 21-22 years old at the time of his transformation. Also this version comes before Bruce Wayne becomes Batman.
 * Jeremiah's Joker outfit shown by the promotional pictures bears a great resemblence to the outfit of Jack Nicholson's Joker in the 1989 Batman film.
 * Due to rights issues down to Warner Brothers wanting to reserve Joker for their major DC film projects, limitations were set on the character of Jeremiah, such as him not being able to use the name "Joker" or even have bright green hair, which was stated by actor Cameron Monaghan. Instead Jeremiah has very dark green hair, although this makes him similar to the DC Animated Universe Joker who has the same shade of colour. This Decsion has not been recieved well.
 * Jeremiah's cold and calculating demeanor makes him similar to the Golden Age Joker and also the version from the Frank Miller comic The Dark Knight Returns, making him a contrast to the more impulsive and visibly insane Jerome.

Navigation
Jeremiah Valeska Jeremiah Valeska