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Gotham – Who Is Bunderslaw?

By Steve Lam

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This week, Gotham finally put a face to the name “Bunderslaw.”  In the twentieth episode, Under the Knife, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle (along with the audience) saw and met with the supposed evil corporate executive of Wayne Enterprises.  Looking unassuming, Sid Bunderslaw was the one who hired Reggie to spy on Bruce’s progress in his investigation, and to also stab Alfred, leaving the good butler critically injured.

But who is Sid Bunderslaw?  Is he based on a comic book character?  Is he an amalgam of various characters?  And does the conspiracy end with him?

The character of Sid Bunderslaw was solely created for Gotham.  Although he’s not based on or inspired by any one Batman character, Bunderslaw does have the ambitions of several past executives seen in the mythos.

In Batman Begins (2005), Wayne Enterprises board member William Earle, played by Rutger Hauer, became head of the company after the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne.  Though not inherently evil, Earle was still greedy and wanted to amass as much power as possible.  When Bruce Wayne goes missing during the years of his training, Earle had him legally declared dead.  By doing this, Earle was able to transform Wayne Enterprises into a publicly traded company.  However, at the end of the film, Bruce was able to buy back the company with funds from various shell companies, and instill Lucius Fox as the new CEO.

In The Dark Knight Rises (2012), John Daggett, an outside business mogul, with the hired help of Bane and Miranda Tate, tries to financially ruin Wayne Enterprises so he could purchase the company.  Dagget is soon killed when he tries to control and intimidate the unpredictable Bane.

In past episodes of Gotham, Bruce’s investigation resulted in showing Wayne Enterprises to be connected with underworld activity.  Bruce feared that his father and mother were well-aware or, worse yet, active participants in these illicit activities.  It seems that Thomas Wayne was prepared to expose Bunderslaw, and that led to the deaths of him and Martha.

On Gotham‘s twenty-first episode, The Anvil or the Hammer, we’ll see what Bruce finds in Bunderslaw’s safe.  Or could Bunderslaw be much smarter than that and hide his secrets in not so obvious clichéd places.  If Bruce does find evidence, the biggest question should still be the motive.  Is there a bigger reason other than money?  And if Bunderslaw feared Bruce’s exposing of him, why not kill the young billionaire?  Was leaving Bruce scared, but alive part of the plan?  I guess we’ll just have to see.

Fox’s Gotham airs on Mondays at 8:00PM EST.

Next: Catch up on Gotham with a review of Under the Knife

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