Gotham: The Tragic Past of Silver St. Cloud

For a good half of Gotham‘s Season 2 start, we’ve seen Silver St. Cloud enter Bruce Wayne’s life and, for the lack of a better word, turn it upside down. Playing him from the beginning, she manipulated Bruce for her Uncle Theo’s goals. It wasn’t until the mid-season finale, “Rise of the Villains: Worse Than A Crime”, that we actually saw her have a change of heart and make an attempt at delaying Bruce’s execution at the hands of Theo and the Order of St. Dumas.

Well, it seems that Silver’s characterization is a bit different in the comics. Instead of being the one doling out the lies and manipulation, her comic book counterpart is quite tragic and sad. We’re going to take a journey into the various storylines featuring her, and show you how luck has never really been on her side.

Created by Steve Englehart and Mike Gold, the character of Silver St. Cloud made her first appearance in Detective Comics #470 (June 1977). Silver became Bruce Wayne’s main love interest in the Batman: Strange Apparitions collection which reprinted Detective Comics #469 – #476, #478, and #479. When she first starts dating Bruce, Silver suspects that he’s hiding something due to his constant interest in crime reports and encounters with Batman.

Bruce is later kidnapped and replaced by Hugo Strange, who wears a disguise. Silver is the first to notice that Bruce isn’t acting like himself, and so, contacts Dick Grayson to let him know of his strange behavior. Because of Silver’s actions, Dick, as Robin, was able to rescue Bruce.

Silver later figures out that Bruce is Batman by piecing together identifiable facial features (e.g. his chin). Silver’s theory is later confirmed during a battle between Batman and Deadshot. When she calls out Bruce’s name, Batman turns, revealing the acknowledgement of his alter-ego.

Later, after witnessing Batman’s battle with the Joker, Silver breaks up with Bruce because she couldn’t stand worrying about him and his crimefighting exploits.

During the story arc “Siege” in Legends of the Dark Knight, Silver re-enters Bruce’s life. Here, she’s organizing a mercenaries convention. When she discovers a plot to assault the city, Silver is injured by the convention’s leader.

In Batman: Dark Detective, the sequel to Batman: Strange Apparitions, Silver is engaged to a senator. After meeting Bruce again, she prepares to leave her fiance for him. While attempting to look for Silver in Joker’s house, the senator’s arm and leg are cut off by booby traps. Bruce tells Silver that she needed to continue her relationship with her fiance. Angered by Bruce’s request and attempt at manipulation, she leaves his life again.

In Batman: The Widening Gyre, Bruce and Silver bring their romance to the next level and are now engaged. To celebrate their new status, Bruce invites the vigilante Baphomet into the Batcave to reveal his alter-ego and the woman he’ll be marrying. As Bruce and Silver talk, Baphomet replaces his mask with another one. It’s revealed that Baphomet was a fictional identity created by the villain Onomatopoeia for the purposes of getting close to Batman and gaining his trust. When Bruce turns, he sees Onomatopoeia cutting Silver’s throat.

Next: Gotham: Mid-Season Finale Wrap-Up

As you can see, Silver St. Cloud had some pretty sad appearances. She was also nowhere near as manipulative or conniving as her Gotham counterpart. Perhaps the writers of Gotham felt the need to add another femme fatale into the story — maybe create some friction between Bruce and Selina.

Fox’s Gotham returns with new episodes on Monday, February 29, 2016 at 8:00PM EST.

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