✓ | ||
This Villain was proposed and approved by Villains Wiki's Pure Evil Proposals Thread. Any act of removing this villain from the category without a Removal Proposal shall be considered vandalism (or a futile "heroic" attempt of redemption) and the user will have high chances of being |
“ | I imagine you're wondering: "Why is Jeremiah doing this?" My brother once said all it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. Jerome gave me what I thought was the worst day of my life. But only by losing everything was I able to face what was inside me. And I believe I've seen something very special - inside of you as well. But, to free it, you'll have to lose everything and everyone you hold dear. | „ |
~ Jeremiah reveals his intentions. |
“ | I'm the answer to your life's question! Without me, you're just a joke... without a punchline. | „ |
~ Jeremiah's most famous quote before swinging at Bruce and accidentally falling into a vat of chemicals. |
“ | I was waiting for him to come home. We're bound together, he and I. It's the one thing I knew for certain, the one thing I knew was true. And then he just... abandoned us. Do you know how it feels to have the one, the only thing you love, ripped away from you? | „ |
~ The Joker about his connection with Bruce Wayne |
Jeremiah Cicero Valeska, firstly presented as Xander Wilde and later being The Joker/Mr. J is a major antagonist in the 2014 TV series Gotham. He is the twin brother of Jerome Valeska and the arch-nemesis of Bruce Wayne.
The identical twin brother of Jerome Valeska, Jeremiah was a structural engineer who hid himself from the public in a effort to comfront Jerome under his own conditions. In the aftermath of Jerome's death, Jeremiah came out of hiding, but was hit with Jerome's special toxin, releasing his worst side.
Unlike Jerome, Jeremiah was a far more collected and intelligent anarchist than he was, using his brother's cult to cause mayhem and anarchy around Gotham City, whilst also seeking to kill Bruce Wayne and Jim Gordon upon failing to create a bond with the former, becoming his arch-nemesis.
He was portrayed by Cameron Monaghan, who also played Jerome Valeska in the same series and Jeffrey Charles in Criminal Minds.
Personality[]
“ | Oh, you are incorrigible. And then again, you always were. | „ |
~ Jerome Valeska to Jeremiah Valeska. |
Pre-Special Gas[]
Even before becoming The Joker, Jeremiah was quite the suspicious individual. Aside from being an identical twin of one of Gotham's most notorious criminals, even in his child 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 confirmed on-screen that Jeremiah had been dishonest about at least some of his allegations against his twin, although he claimed that they both 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. He was planning to kill his brother himself, by starving Jerome to death, he displayed a willingness to do so later in the episode after his debut.
It's putted in doubt if Jeremiah was a psychopath even before being exposed to Jerome's toxin, since this is supported by Jerome himself, and implied by the show. 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 psychopathy by means of laughing gas.
Jeremiah's body movements, even before Jerome's gas, were always unnecessarily expressive. These movements include playing with his jacket, using a whole arm just to point at a place, and crouching down absurdly.
At first Jeremiah seemed to care about Ecco as he refused to leave her behind and showed relief when he realized she was safe. Even though she had been hypnotized by Jervis Tetch, he still tried to get through to her to the point where she almost brought him straight to Jerome. Despite this, he had no problem abandoning Ecco when he got rid of her, leaving her to her fate, despite having said that he would not abandon her. This is possibly due to the fact that he was being watched by Harvey and Jim, who already suspected him, so he had to appear empathetic and normal, that is, worried about the safety of his life partner. It is also worthy to note that he could just consider Ecco useful and important without actually having any attachment to her, as her kind of loyalty is too rare to let go and she was his only bridge to the outside world.
Jeremiah's biggest and most constant characteristic that remains even before and after revealing his true nature is his incredible ego. Since his first appearance, he took on an arrogant attitude as he felt that his plan was impossible to overcome and that it could keep Jerome locked up until the end of his days. He underestimated his brother's allies, and that led to his first defeat.
Post-Special Gas[]
After being hit by Jerome's mistakenly named Laughing Gas/Insanity Gas, despite the "change" in Jeremiah, he was still egocentric, and as with his theatrics and cruelty, this intensified to the point of wanting to destroy Gotham and Bruce to rebuild them to his selfish preference. Jeremiah stated that while the gas caused some cosmetic changes, it had not changed his mentality, meaning that Jerome was possibly telling the truth and he is as insane as his brother, although, due to his newfound arrogance, it could also be a way to differentiate himself from Jerome, due to the apparent contempt he had for him, much like his "logic" that he is sane, stating he is completing Jerome's plans in a more "sane" manner. Jeremiah claimed that he was “at war” with his true self, heavily implying that he did not want to be like Jerome and tried to resist his own dark and twisted impulses.
Jeremiah has 2 significant obsessions, which arise from his strong ego. The first is his obsession with Jerome, whom he wishes to surpass in every way, whether through "being a better person" and then, upon being exposed to his own evil, he wishes to completely overcome his brother's legacy, taking over it and using it to carry out his plans. However, on other occasions, Jeremiah has openly admitted to the influence of Jerome's gas, saying that he gave him the worst day of his life, but that could likely mean that the gas just ruined Jeremiah's "normal" life that he was content on living, and doesn't necessarily say anything about the gas itself. Furthermore, he also implicitly admitted his insanity. He has said that he wanted to continue with Jerome's plans, but, he has never done anything other than follow his own agenda.
His second and most powerful obsession is with Bruce Wayne, whom Jeremiah sees as a true brother, his best friend, and kindred spirit, due to how both are similar regarding their fight against his inner darkness, however, Jeremiah deep down He only cares about using Bruce and turning him into a force of chaos for his plans, or in any case, ending him, as he is the greatest threat to what he wants to achieve. Despite his "affection" towards Bruce, he puts him in danger and tortures him in horrific ways. The best example of this is when he jokes about Selina's paralysis, calling her a bitch and casually talking about how she might never walk again. He seems to see Bruce as someone blind and disconnected from reality, who needs guidance from him in order to achieve "true freedom." That obviously means chaos, anarchy and destruction without carrying on consequences at all, just chaos.
He says that he wants a free Gotham, that progress requires sacrifice, but he doesn't seem to really care about his plans, since he just dismissed his first failure with a: Ha, I'll try again. Showing that all that he does is for nothing more than a sake for thrill and to torment Bruce as much is possible.
The fact that he admits his insanity, only when Bruce around, and dismissed his failed plan when he was alone, shows a high possibility that Jeremiah is just a hypocrite, fully aware of his own twisted mind and evil, but still can't seem to stop lying and wearing a mask around people. Overall, Jeremiah is a walking contradiction, enigmatic and chaotic.
After the gas, he is more expressive with his hands, even going so far as to extend his arms in the air, staggers at one point during his conversation with Bullock in the GCPD, uses a bazooka to kill Jongleur, puts his fist to his chest while giving his fake speech to Jerome's followers, and yelling at them when they go against him, he raises his finger, with no other intention than to be noticed.
Even with his calm and calculated demeanor, Jeremiah has no qualms about committing atrocities in order to prove his point and for his own enjoyment. Examples of this were how he made Bruce see Alfred being tortured, and being driven to madness, burning his followers alive just for attacking him. He even jokes about the pain he causes people, when he said to evacuate Gotham in 6 hours, he was aware that time was insufficient to save everyone and he told Harvey in his face that people are going to suffer anyway. Jeremiah mocks Jim Gordon's inability to protect what he loves, and at the thought of his Dark Island plan, he simply hums "Ode to Joy." While appently stoic, in general he doesn't take seriously much anything at all with some exceptions, as it's all a joke to him.
Jeremiah displays theatrics in his schemes, and enjoys drawing attention, while distracting people from his true goal, generally being a compulsive actor. This is seen in situations such as when he pretended to be Jerome, acting very similar to his brother, convincing the characters and the audience that he was Jerome, just like Jerome, he uses distractions. Prove of this is that when he blew up his maze and the clock tower so the witnesses would focus on his plan to destroy Gotham, while he would focus on destroying Bruce Wayne's mind.
After Jeremiah was exposed to Jerome's laughing toxin and his true twisted psychopathic nature was revealed, he still had a trust connection with Ecco, who served him in his "rebuilding Gotham" idea without hesitation.
No Man's Land[]
After Jeremiah causes the events of "No Man's Land", he becomes more unhinged, which according to Cameron Monaghan, is due to a newfound ego from the success of his previous plan. Jeremiah's insanity either got progressively worse or the innate unhingedness finally came out, as he is seen talking to himself in two personalities whilst overseeing his digging operation and chuckling when seeing Bruce Wayne's fake parents. His sadism seems to have been more exaggerated as well. However, as demonstrated at the beginning and end of the process of his transformation into The Joker, Jeremiah is perfectly capable of changing from a laughing and sadistic maniac to a cold, calculating and methodical mastermind. Jeremiah demonstrates a much greater arrogance regarding his life as well, forgetting any type of self-preservation, since he was willing to receive stabs from Selina without even using the special armor that Ecco had prepared for him, excusing himself by saying: " Verisimilitude trumps precaution".
His relationship with Ecco got more complicated. After she shot herself in the head to prove her loyalty to him, Jeremiah would have her manipulate the bullet inside her head of get rid of any feelings or sentimentality towards him while ensuring her undying loyalty. While he seemed to have taken a romantic interest in Ecco and trusted her to carry out his plans, he also was noticeably abusive towards her, grabbing her by the throat and face roughly on two separate occasions and getting annoyed whenever she expressed confusion about his plans.
Jeremiah is much more in acceptation to the showman side of him, making a performance as Zorro in a self-made movie. He is also shown wearing a much more extravagant and flamboyant attitude. Jeremiah taked his flamboyancy more further in No Man's Land, as it's much more open, his posture is much more fluid, his dialogue is more expressive and confident. Jeremiah shows how absorbed he is in his own greatness, the fact that he says "I wanna be the star of the show!" makes this evident.
Not only his showman behavior growed, but as well his sadism and devious mindset; commeting acts like slavery over entire families, chidren included. Force Ecco to shot herself in the head, and make her to do other people do the same; mutilating 4 people in a snuff film and then kill them with a chemical rain; psychologically torture Bruce and have fun on it, and later attempting to commit a populicide throw a chemical rain.
His attitude towards Bruce is so contemptuous that it seems as if his friendly approaches are a joke, he laughs at Bruce's trauma, such as when he makes fun of his favorite food, the way he delights in Bruce's uncertainty and discomfort in the face of recreation of the worst day of his life, he mocks him and tries to blame him for the death of his parents, suggesting that Bruce was a coward and that this caused the tragedy, and he even explicitly reveled in his "friend's" pain, as well as He said: "I want you to see them realize what I've done to them as the live drains out of their bodies. Never forget, this is all for you, Bruce." Jeremiah, seeing that Bruce does not react the way he wants, reacts violently and desperately, to the point of directly trying to kill him. In this confrontation, Jeremiah says quite desperately and between some crazy smiles he says to Bruce: "Why don't you understand!? You need me! I am the answer to your life questions! Without me, you're just a joke! Without a punchline!"
With this phrase, Jeremiah shows his true face, being extremely narcissistic as he considers himself the driving force in Bruce's life, which gives meaning to his journey. Jeremiah also shows his condescension by saying that he just wants Bruce to be his friend, and that he wants to help him, to the point that he ignores his attempts to get him to agree with his ideas, or ignores them. He raised Bruce's feelings, minimizing them.
He appears to place himself on the level of God, even forming a Church in his honor. Regarding Bruce, it is clear that his egocentrism led him to treat Bruce's life even more as if he were something that should belong to him, megalomaniacal comments like: "I offered you to be MY best friend!" they evidence his complete sense of greatness.
When Bruce tells Jeremiah that he means nothing to him, this is the biggest ego blow he receives, leading him to even try to kill Bruce by his own hands out of the sheer frustration and disappointment he feels. According to Cameron Monaghan, the next change in Jeremiah's personality is not due to the effects of the chemicals he fell into, but due to the impact of Bruce's words. Even saying that his "love" for Bruce was the last bit of humanity he had.
After confronting Bruce at Ace Chemicals, Jeremiah seems to have lost all interest in existence, including his own, remained catatonic for an entire decade without any action against Gotham, was harassed and mistreated in Arkham, and was left like an empty shell, nothing like what it was before, just pure indifference.
As "The Joker"[]
Once Jeremiah stops to pretend being brain dead, it's observable all the characteristics of Jeremiah, the real one that Jerome tried to unlock many time ago. His psychopathic side, his obsessive side, his sadism, his twisted humor, his strategic mind, his cruelty and his evil increased exponentially. He did completely accepting himself not as Jeremiah, but as something completely new. The Joker, the culmination of all Jeremiah's darkness: Vile, vicious, nightmare-fuel horror. Jeremiah is a Mastermind Showman, Narcissistic Psychopath. His relationship with Bruce is even more complicate, he enjoys playing mind games with him, torturing him and making him suffer, even putting him in mortal danger, despite claiming that he loves Bruce, in reality, he seems to hate him deeply to some extent, to the point that he becomes the center of his machinations, since he feigned brain death for a decade, and only until Batman appeared did Jeremiah return much more twisted than before.
When Ecco got stabbed by Barbara Kean, Jeremiah did seem to slightly react, but perhaps he just never expected his most loyal follower to fail. He called her his "dear sweet Ecco" and said there will never be one like her, but it is unknown if he really meant what he said to her because after he killed her, he then said that he supposes “there are other fish in the sea.” It is equally possible that due to how insane and evil he has become, he could easily just detach his emotions from Ecco after killing her.
Even after the failure of his plan to murder his enemies and perphaps Bruce, Jeremiah manteins his macabe humor and jokes about how he is about to kill both Jim and his daughter Barbara Gordon.
Once he meets Batman, possibly discovering that he is Bruce, his reaction is to laugh at him, then he try to shoot him in the head, as he had long ago promised him. This easily reflects the monstrous nihilism and real nature of The Joker, uncorned for a failed plan, during 10 years showed no care for his life, and now is willing to even end what "gives him the strength to continue." And he also demonstrates that to The Joker, Batman/Bruce, despite awakes on him a deep obsession because of their similar intellect and capacity for darknes, in the end is just the maximum source of fun, to the point of aughing with delight at his own pain and mocking the new somber attitude of his "best friend."
Physical appearance[]
Originally, Jeremiah was identical to his brother. In his first appearance, he had slightly darker hair due to him being more aged (as Jerome had been dead for a whole year before being reanimated). He wore glasses and dressed usually in a red suit and green collared shirt with a purple tie, and occasionally, a blue overcoat.
After his exposure to the insanity gas, Jeremiah's skin turned extremely pale, even paler than his brother's. In addition, his lips became bright red and his eyes piercing green, though he initially hid these changes with makeup and colored contact lenses. As Jeremiah removes both his glasses and (presumably) his contact lenses after revealing himself to Bruce (since his eyes are shown to change from brown to green in the next shot, and subsequently remain green), it appears the gas may have inadvertently improved his vision to the point that he no longer needs glasses. However, he does briefly wear dark sunglasses when he confronts Harvey Bullock outside the GCPD.
After establishing his villainous identity in season 4, he dyes his hair a very dark green and wears a blue-purple suit with a yellow tie, covered with a plaid trench coat and red leather gloves; he later trades the tie with a dark green tie, though he retains the gloves. Occasionally he is also seen wearing a wide-brimmed black hat.
In season 5, Jeremiah wears a black and white coat with a red tie and white hat, he also dyes his hair a lighter shade of turquoise. Later on, he wears a glittered indigo suit with an orange flower in his front pocket, pinstriped trousers, purple gloves, and a wine colored shirt and tie.
After his fall in the acid vat inside the Ace Chemicals during his fight with Bruce, Jeremiah was left extremely burned and scarred, wrapped in bandages, his chin has seemingly grown longer presumably from swelling. His face has changed a lot due to age and his fall into the chemicals, which left him wrinkled and scarred on both sides of his face. He now only has a few long strands of green hair. After he escapes Arkham, he puts on a purple shirt and an orange tie. He wears a green tailsuit and pants, with a purple overcoat on top. He also wears yellow clown-like leather gloves that have red lines along the knuckles.
Abilities[]
- Genius Level Intellect: He is a great engineer, who was capable of great feats such as creating a battery that obtained energy through changes in the density of the air, and microearthquakes in the environment, he was able to create an entire maze of several areas, a room for incinerate people, a nuclear relay, bombs with smiling faces, etc. He is at least very knowledgeable in chemistry, since he was able to instruct Scarecrow how he wanted the laughing gas he used on Bruce Wayne to work, and in season 5, he was able to create his own version without the help of Jonathan. He is a good programmer, being able to make the tapes of Posthumous Jerome's videos activate at the precise moment that Jim arrives at his bunker, while Bruce and him are confronting each other, he was able to install a functional security system and cameras by his entire labyrinth, just as he was able to easily manage his entire system to his benefit for his first great plan.
- Showmanship: He certainly has decent filming skills, as he was able to pretend that Jerome was killing Jerome, making it look like he was killing himself. He was also able to film his own Zorro movie, which has special effects like when Jeremiah did a turn and outfit change. He is also a phenomenal actor, being able to very skillfully fool everyone by posing as someone shy, paranoid, and kind, posing as his openly crazy, sadistic, and prankster brother, Jerome; pretending to be someone completely delusional and disconnected from reality, and pretending to be a brain dead person for 10 years. This makes him the perfect master of disguise, since in addition to being able to perfectly replicate different personalities, he is also able to dress to represent the character, this is exemplified by how he was able to replicate Jerome's appearance, including his voice, or the time he dressed up as Zorro. These moments of deception are the ones that most demonstrate Jeremiah's showman side, as well as his manipulative mind.
- Strategist: He is also a very high-level strategist, as he was able to anticipate the movements of his enemies, first by guessing how they would act in certain circumstances, such as when he put his plans into action so that everyone would do what he wanted, leading Gordon into a trap, making Bruce accompany him to the cemetery, and manipulating his brother's followers. Jeremiah was able to keep everyone focused on his plan to destroy Gotham, allowing him to carry out his plan to drive Bruce crazy, anticipated Selina's presence, and hired Scarecrow to help him.
- Planning: He was able to fool everyone by pretending to killed by Selina, in order to carry out his plan to replicate the Waynes' death, forcing Bruce to play along by taking advantage of his affection for Alfred, his sense of justice, and his desperation. He was able to trick Riddler, posing as The Penguin, to use Nygma as a pawn and blame Oswald for everything, he prepared explosives on the corpses that Gordon and Montoya investigated, as well as he was able to place his bombs under the model of the new Gotham. By guiding his followers to program the explosives, he was able to influence some Arkham guards and Harvey, in the first case, he influenced 2 guards to free Nygma and one to commit suicide, he convinced Harvey to take the blame for the death of the guard. He always had one, or perhaps more, guards wearing microphones to keep him informed of what was happening outside the Asylum. If it weren't for Batman, Jeremiah's first prevention, the exploding corpses, would have killed Gordon, eliminating the "only one" who could stop him.
- Persuasion: Jeremiah is inherently attractive. Unlike his brother, who actively communicated his twisted view of the world, Jeremiah was able to frighten and captivate the people around him with just his actions and his speech. The clearest examples of this are how he was able to get Jerome's Cult to start following him by simply explaining his plan and even insulting Jerome, to the point of making them act in a much more military than deranged manner. Another example of this is how he managed to attract people from all over Gotham to be part of his church, being willing to give their own lives for him, without even having met him. A decade after his confrontation with Bruce, he was able to maintain the loyalty of his followers despite years of inactivity, to the point of controlling from a distance a gang of criminals, some Arkham guards, and one or more police officers. He was able to convince Harvey Bullock to frame himself for murder, even though Jeremiah had no consistent way of knowing whether he would talk or not, Bullock was too frightened to reveal the Joker's plot. Possible the most impressive show of his dominance and manipulation, is the case of Ecco, we know that before the events of the series, somehow he was able to convince Ecco to represent the "echo" of his will, as it's clear that Ecco's changes of personality are similar to Jeremiah's in a way of reflect him. Jeremiah himself said that Ecco devoted her life to him, and that's prove it right as she shot herself in the head for her loyalty towards him, helped him in all his atrocities, even with his hunting against Bruce Wayne, and finally smiling with satisfaction because of a compliment of his, even in the face of death, the only thing that matter was make Jeremiah to be happy.
- Expert marksman: Jeremiah has proficiency with guns and other firearms. He was able to shoot and kill one of Jerome's followers without looking at the man behind him using his hidden sleeve gun. He also accurately killed Jongleur with an RPG and paralyzed Selina Kyle; by severing her spinal cord with a point-blank shot from his pistol.
- Expert hand-to-hand combatant: Jeremiah has some skill in hand-to-hand combat. This is seen when he managed to pin Tabitha to the ground after stabbing her with her own karambit knife, though he had also taken her by surprise at the time. He was also able to hold his own in a fight with Bruce Wayne, even hanging to briefly gain the upper hand.
- Expert knife-wielder: Jeremiah is capable of using a knife. This is seen when he attacked Bruce with a straight razor and when he used Tabitha’s knife against her and almost killed her with it. He proficiently wielded a switchblade during his confrontation with Bruce.
- High pain tolerance/Indomitable will: Jeremiah has a high tolerance for pain, as he showed no signs of pain when Alfred was punching him in the face repeatedly. He later showed only slight signs of pain when shot by Oswald Cobblepot with a machine gun. As he descended more into insanity, it would appear Jeremiah's tolerance has increased as he was able to tolerate Selina Kyle's repeated stabs on a vital part of his body and survive. 10 years after his transformation, Jeremiah has still maintained his amazingly high tolerance, able to get stabbed by Edward Nygma and act comatose whilst only laughing when Batman's ballistic implement pierced his hand.
- Stealth: Jeremiah has been known to surprise his victims by sneaking up on them from behind, such as when he got the drop on Alfred, forcing his arms to the side and injecting him with Sleep Serum, and when he snuck up on former Demon's Head Barbara Kean, who pushed her into Ecco who then held a knife to her throat.
Equipment[]
- Guns/Firearms: He uses different firearms, primarily handguns, which he appears relatively proficient with. He used a small derringer pistol that retracts from his sleeve to kill a Jerome follower. Jeremiah also used a rocket launcher to destroy Jongleur during his confrontation with Penguin and the Sirens.
- Knives: Jeremiah has used different types of knives. He used a spring-assisted knife given to him by Jerome to try to kill him and make him given to his killer instincts. He used a straight razor taken from Jerome's corpse to attack Bruce and later used another one to kill Sykes. He used Tabitha's karambit knife against her and almost killed her with it. He used a switchblade during his confrontation with Bruce Wayne. During his encounter with Jim Gordon at Ace Chemicals, he drew a combat dagger from a sheath and wounded the commissioner with it before getting disarmed by Batman's Batarang.
- Bombs/Explosives: Valeska used a wide variety of explosive devices, particularly the specialized generators he had designed and built with the help of Wayne Enterprises. He modified them to serve as bombs; just one was easily capable of leveling a skyscraper. Being a brilliant engineer, he designed highly sophisticated and efficient detonation systems for his explosives as well.
- Jack-in-the-box: Jeremiah kept the jack-in-the-box that sprayed him with Jerome's laughing gas and later used it to traumatize Bruce Wayne while trying to prove to him that one bad day is all it takes to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy.
- Lapel Flower: During No Man's Land, Jeremiah had an orange-red boutonnière tucked into the lapel of his blue suit jacket.
Quotes[]
“ | I expected you may come, captain. | „ |
~ Jeremiah to Jim Gordon and his very first dialogue in the series. |
“ | They hid me away to protect me of him. See.. We're always different, Jerome and I. For my early age, I showed a priofiency for maths and design, and Jerome mainly the mutilation of ally cats; on my 10th birthday he yield a.. cake knife to my throat, few weaks later, he lit my bed on fire, it was like.. living in a nightmare. My mother knew one day he would succeed, so, my uncle came to my room while Jerome slept.. and told me I was taking me away. I had no idea where, but.. I kiss my mother goodbye, told her I love her, and, I never saw her again. | „ |
~ Jeremiah's lies about his past. |
“ | I heard about Jerome visiting Alan Hayes. It's tragic; but, the proxy's name I gave to Alan was a fake. | „ |
~ Jeremiah pretends empathy and attempts to manipulate Gordon and Bullock in order to not reveal he captured Jerome. |
“ | And then what, captain Gordon? You couldn't hold him, Arkham couldn't, I can. And I will make sure Jerome never escapes again. | „ |
“ | No.. no, no, no, no.. How did they find me!? | „ |
~ Jeremiah's fury at Tech and Crane entering at his bunker. |
“ | The maze was built on 100 acres, there are 73 dead ends, once I invited the top maze designers in the country to try to solve it. One did, it took in three days. | „ |
~ Jeremiah show off his skills. |
“ | Jeremiah: You're insane. Jerome: Yeah. Jeremiah: And I tried to telling mom, but she didn't want listen to me; you blame for everything that's gone wrong in your life, but the truth is.. Jerome, you were born bad. |
„ |
~ Jeremiah excuse himself. |
“ | Jerome:... Born bad, uh? So that's why you made her think, that I tried to kill you, right? Jeremiah: Yeah, we both know.. Jerome: What was it again? What was it? I.. put a.. knife to your throat.. No, no, no no, no.. I.. tried to.. wash on fire! Jeremiah: We both know you want it to! Jerome: Yeah, that was a funny story, it wasn't? Jeremiah: Ok, maybe it didn't happen exactly like that, but I didn't have a choice and I was right. Jerome: Hm? Jeremiah: You killed our mother. |
„ |
~ Jeremiah admits he was lying, yet still claims he did the necessary. |
“ | I watched the news; I know why you're here Mr. Gordon, and, you must be out of your mind if you think I'm gonna be led like a.. lamb to slaughter. | „ |
~ Jeremiah Valeska to Jim Gordon. |
“ | For God's sake Gordon! You have know what he wants, to(look at Bruce) murder us both, on live television. | „ |
~ Jeremiah Valeska to Jim Gordon. |
“ | Bruce: Mr. Valeska, I'm Bruce Wayne. It's a pleassure meet you. Jeremiah: Likewise, I.. wish the circunstances were better. Bruce: May I ask what it is you've been working at? Jeremiah: Um, yeah, It's a compact electrical engine, it generates power. Bruce: Fascinating. How much power? Jeremiah: Just to collide up every building southwestard bridge. Bruce: You have a brilliant mind. We all hope we can soon be rid of your brother so that you can carry out your work free from fear; I understand if you choose not to help us today, but, I trust that Captain Gordon and Mr. Fox will see that no harm comes to me. But, even if it does, maybe, by facing Jerome, I can show the people of Gotham that standing at the terror is the only way to take it's power away. Jeremiah: .. Well said. |
„ |
~ Jeremiah Valeska meet Bruce Wayne. |
“ | Why so sad, bozos? Didn't you think they could rid of me so easy, did you? Well, so they did, I'm dead. But, let's not focus on negatives; I have one last party to throw. First thing to do in the list: Dig me up. Dig me up! | „ |
~ Jeremiah pretending to be Jerome. |
“ | Hello, Jimmy! If you're watching this, things must not have gone well for me. Oh.. shucks. I can only pray I gave as good as I got and I left a carnage in my wake.. But! I don't wanna fixate on disappointments. Jimmy, I have one last teensy request for you. I want you throw me a wake.. At the GCPD; don't worry about the guest list; I've alredy sent the invitations.[Laughter] | „ |
~ Jeremiah disguized as Jerome. |
“ | It's the ones that are closest to you that you have to keep your eye on; I know better than anyone. | „ |
~ Jeremiah to Bruce. |
“ | I want you to be my friend, Bruce. You don't know what it was like; living underground, all those years. Then you came along and offered me everything I could dream of. | „ |
~ Jeremiah calls Bruce his dream come true. |
“ | Jerome(Jeremiah): Hi, Jimbo. Jim Gordon: Jerome. Jerome(Jeremiah): Ah, don't bother talking to me, this is a recorded message and plus; I'm still dead. Just more posthumous fun! Look, I knew you'd see through all those shenanigans at the station. I've given all my fans a script for them to follow. See, I wanted to bring you here.. |
„ |
~ "Jerome" showing off his tactic skills. |
“ | How fake.. Yes; I can see quite clearly where you cut off poor Bruce's face and stiched on your own! But, I am of man of science.. so let's have some evidence, ha? Hmm? | „ |
~ "Paranoid" Jeremiah making an excuse to attack Bruce. |
“ | Oh, don't mind her.. She's just here to make sure there's not TALKING! during the movie. And trust me, you gonna want to pay attention so the twist make sense at the end..[Laughter] | „ |
~ "Jerome"(Jeremiah) to Jim Gordon. |
“ | Hold still brother, let's peel off that grotesque facade. | „ |
~ Jeremiah Valeska pretends to think Bruce is Jerome and jokes to him. |
“ | (chuckles) Ah, I tell you. Suicide really takes out a guy.(giggles while cleanning his face) Oh? What is this?(Takes out his scar out of his face and gives a psychotic smile) | „ |
~ "Jerome"(Jeremiah) prepares for the twist. |
“ | Jerome beat me? Now will the day![Laughter] | „ |
~ Jeremiah finally snaps and let out the laughter he was containing. |
“ | Jerome... "victorious"? Are you serious? He's dead! Haven't you been paying attention? [Wipes concealer off] Thank God I'm done with that. [Kicks Jerome's body into his grave] I'm the one whose victorious! | „ |
~ Jeremiah Valeska reveals his true self to Bruce Wayne and the Cult of Jerome. |
“ | Look, Bruce. Like everything Jerome set his mind to, his insanity gas failed. Other than some... mild cosmetic effects; he might as well have sprayed me with water. You all need to see Jerome for the utter dud that he was, so I donned the mask of madness, to show you how feeble that is, compare to absolute greatnest. Behold, the face of true sanity. But, looks aren't everything, I have a.. compendium of Jerome's obsessions and goals, and.. I will outdo everyone of them. Jerome wanted to turn Gotham into a madhouse. But to truly build something, you must first tear down what is already there. | „ |
~ Jeremiah Valeska to Bruce Wayne and the Cult of Jerome. |
“ | That is a self-perpetuating generator. It can store a phenomenal amount of energy. I would hate to be within a mile of it if it were to overload. | „ |
~ Jeremiah, reflecting on the destructive capabilities of his generators. |
“ | 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. |
“ | Six hours, Detective. The clock is ticking! | „ |
~ Jeremiah Valeska to Harvey Bullock. |
“ | I imagine you're wondering: "Why is Jeremiah doing this?" My brother once said all it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. Jerome gave me what I thought was the worst day of my life. But only by losing everything was I able to face what was inside me. And I believe I've seen something very special - inside of you as well. But, to free it, you'll have to lose everything and everyone you hold dear. | „ |
~ Jeremiah Valeska to Bruce Wayne. |
“ | All my life I spend by myself, hidden away. I am.. glad to be sharing this happy moment with all of you. Today marks the dawn of a new Gotham City; one where, we will all be free. Now, shall I do the honors? | „ |
~ Jeremiah Valeska's speech. |
“ | SHUT UP!![slight long creepy giggle] I want you all to know, I find your.. fickleness! Quite hurtful. And more so; very predictable. | „ |
~ Jeremiah Valeska to Jerome's followers before burning them all alive. |
“ | Jim, as an engineer, you expect systems to fail. So, you build in redundancies. And I am a very good engineer. | „ |
~ Jeremiah to Jim Gordon. |
“ | You're right, you know; I did fail. I didn't yet understand the vision I was servicing, but... I do now. My eyes are open, as will yours be. When you've realized I'm not bluffing, bring me Bruce Wayne. | „ |
~ Jeremiah Valeska to Jim Gordon. |
“ | So; how is the young lady doing? (...) Oh... You know why we're destiny to be best friends? Because, we are very much alike. You are as I used to be, at war with your true nature, You must acept it to truly be free, I'm just trying to help you. | „ |
~ Jeremiah to Bruce Wayne about their connection. |
“ | To be honest, Bruce. Prophecies, visions, not really my cup of tea. But our friend revealed something to me, that my twin obsessions, rebuilding Gotham and rebuilding you, are one and the same. You are the brother I never had, one Jerome never could be. We will create a legacy. Gotham falls, we rise. Together. | „ |
~ Jeremiah Valeska to Bruce Wayne. |
“ | Let's reach inside and dig a little deeper, shall we? Because that's the only way you're all making it out of this hole. | „ |
~ Jeremiah Valeska to his cult. |
“ | If I can't have you as a brother bonded by love, then we'll just have to be bonded by hatred. | „ |
~ Jeremiah Valeska to Bruce Wayne. |
“ | Bruce: Jeremiah, don't. Jeremiah: Shh. The Piéce de Resistance. One last thing. I had Jervis Tetch hypnotize them so that they'll wake up at the moment these ... beatiful pearls hit the ground. I want you to see them realize what I've done to them as the life drains from their bodies. Never forget, this all for you, Bruce. |
„ |
~ Jeremiah to Bruce. |
“ | Bruce: Jeremiah! This ends tonight! Jeremiah: No... no, Bruce. Now it begins! |
„ |
~ Jeremiah and Bruce before their final showdown at Ace Chemicals. |
“ | Dear Ed, my old friend. Half of Gotham thinks you're a madman, the other half has forgotten you. It's time to remind them who the Riddler is. I given you all you need. Follow the instructions. - Oswald | „ |
~ "Oswald" (The Joker)'s card to Riddler. |
“ | Surprise! Easy, is just a surprise party. For you, Barbara Kean. Queen of Gotham. Business-titan; how.. Exciting! But there was another you, I- I seem to recall, wasn't? Then again, it was.. Another me too. Oh, so hard holding on to what's real. It's... (grunts) It's enough to drive you mad. (chuckles) | „ |
~ The Joker to Barbara Kean, reflecting on his mindstate. |
“ | How cute! She has your eyes! For now.. | „ |
~ The Joker's joking menace to kill Barbara Gordon. |
“ | The Joker: Oh, dear me. My sweet Ecco is no longer my echo. There will never be one like you... Ecco: Really? The Joker: But, I suppose there are other fish in the sea. |
„ |
~ The Joker speaks to a dying Ecco before finishing her off and then implying he'll eventually replace her. |
“ | Hush! little Barbara, don't say a word. Now we're going to play a... little game. | „ |
~ The Joker to Barbara Gordon. |
“ | By now, James Gordon must be in your aparment. When he gets here, I want you to deliver a message. Okay? Okay? (giggles) Okay. | „ |
“ | Come along, Commissioner. We're waiting. The party's rising, but as well pass the princess's bedtime. | „ |
~ The Joker to James Gordon. |
“ | It's funny, being back here. I can still feel my flesh sizzle as it melted away. Burns even now. Ooh. Oh. | „ |
~ The Joker to James Gordon. |
“ | Jim Gordon to his daughter: I'm here! Everything's gonna be fine. The Joker: You think so? (The Joker talks to Barbara Gordon) Personally, I'd say things are abaout as far away from fine as they could posibly be, Barbara Lee. What do I know? I did just spend the last ten years in The Funny Farm(giggles) |
„ |
~ The Joker makes a joke on the tense situation they are in. |
“ | Jim Gordon: What do you want, Jeremiah? The Joker: There's a Jeremiah here? Jim Gordon: So, how should I call you? The Joker: I don't know. Call me... Jack. Mm, no, no, no, that's not right. J-Joseph. Jhonn. Jay. I-I don't know. I just-- I.. I feel something new, crawling from the primordial ooze that was me. Something... beautiful. |
„ |
~ The Joker reflecting on his transformation to Jim Gordon. |
“ | Jim Gordon: How long have you been pretending to be brain dead? The Joker:How long have you been pretending? That's a joke. I know you're not pretending.(Jim tries to get close)- That's far enough, James. Ta ta ta. |
„ |
~ The Joker makes humor on Jim Gordon. |
“ | Disapointing as tonight was, I will say it is fun carving up Fillet-O-Commissioner![Laughter] | „ |
~ The Joker about to kill both Jim and Barbara Gordon. |
“ | You... | „ |
~ The Joker's last words upon recognizing Bruce Wayne as Batman before being knocked unconscious. |
Killed Victims[]
Kill Count Directly: 34
- Unnamed Jerome follower - Shot.
- Jongleur - Blowed up by a bazooka.
- 18 Jerome's followers - Burned alive.
- Two unnamed politicians - Blown up.
- Mayor of Gotham - Blown up.
- 2 soldiers - Shot.
- Assassin member - Shot.
- Sykes - Throat slashed.
- 4 men after filmed Jeremiah's Mark of Zorro Movie
- Thomas and Martha Wayne impostors - Shot.
- Ecco - Shot.
Indirectly:[]
- Multiple unnamed Gotham citizens - Blown up.
- All the victims that died in the explotion of bridges.
- All the victims of No Man's Land that were in his territory.
- All victims who die by Gotham's chemical river
- All people that were killed by the mutated ones by Gotham's chemical river.
- All victims that Killer Croc will have.
- All the victims of his chrurch.
- All the victims that died and then got explosives in their corpses.
Appearances[]
Trivia[]
- Jeremiah is influenced by many Jokers in the media. Some of this are: The Joker of Killing Joke, Death of The Family, Endgame, , Joker of the Arkham Games, Timmverse Joker, Joker of White Knight, Millerverse Joker, John Doe (Telltale), Joker (Burton and Schumacherverse), and Joker (Nolanverse).
- Jeremiah is the youngest version of "The Joker", being around 23 years old at the time of his transformation. Also, this version comes before Bruce Wayne becomes Batman.
- Jeremiah Valeska is the third incarnation of Joker (fourth if you count Jerome 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 film Batman, the second being 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 last being Arthur Fleck from Joker (2019).
- Due 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.
- It has been reported that the executives of Warner Bros. knew that both Jerome and Jeremiah were intended to represent the Joker and thoroughly enjoyed Cameron Monaghan's performance, however, the name "Joker" , the green hair and purple suit were still off limits for reasons unknown.
- Jeremiah was never officially confirmed to be the Joker and whether he is or not was left up to fan interpretation. The writers did drop a couple of Easter eggs in the series finale for him becoming the Joker. After Jeremiah kills Ecco, he remarks that "there are other fish in the sea", foreshadowing Harley Quinn. When Jeremiah refuses to be acknowledged by his name, he admits he can't decide on what to be called. The fact that Jeremiah has to discard his own name foreshadows him possibly taking the name of the Joker.
- In the trailer of the episode Mandatory Brunch Meeting, at some point of it, it's redeable the phrase: "Who is The Joker?" Confirming Jeremiah to be the character.
- Jeremiah, in his form of Mr. J was confirmed to be The Joker by promotional media, by making appearance in the special "Put An Smile On That Face."
- Ironically, Jeremiah pretends to be brain dead and is comatose at the end of the series. He is the second main antagonist to be in comatose, the first is Sofia Falcone.
- In the comics of the related series Pennyworth, The Joker it's call by his name and it's probably that it's referring to Jeremiah.
- Akin to The Dark Knight Returns Joker, Jeremiah remained in a catatonic state until Batman reappeared (or, in Jeremiah's case, makes his debut, as he was merely waiting for Bruce Wayne before)
- Interestingly, Cameron Monaghan had the inverted experience of Mark Hamill: the latter was a Jedi, then a Joker, whereas the former was a Joker, then a Jedi.
- Mostly the other Jokers who transformed into becoming the clown prince of crime is when he fell into the chemical of vat that turn into Batman arch enemy, one similar to Jeremiah is The Joker from the New 52, who was a full anarchistic criminal that confronted Batman previous to his falls to the chemicals. Just like Jeremiah, this Joker shows some kind of twisted love for Batman driven by his thrill seeking and sadistic humor. The episode Ace Chemicals is basically an adaptation of Death Of The Family.
External Links[]
- Jeremiah Valeska on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Jeremiah Valeska on the Gotham Wiki
- Jeremiah Valeska on the DC Comics Database Wiki
- Jeremiah Valeska on the Wikipedia