Gotham: Nathaniel Barnes Could Become One Of These Three Villains

By Steve Lam | Nov 9, 2016

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Screen Capture from Gotham Ep. 308 “Blood Rush”

Gotham’s Captain Nathaniel Barnes has been undergoing a transformation ever since he came into contact with Alice Tetch’s blood. He may ultimately become one of these three candidate villains.

Towards the end Gotham Season 2, Captain Nathaniel Barnes (played by Michael Chiklis) seemed like he was a goner—after Theo Galavan, who was christened as “Azrael” post-resurrection, critically injured him. Barnes slightly recovered, but wasn’t the same full-speed-ahead lawman from last year. At the start of Season 3, he was shown with a crutch and was obviously frustrated by his physical impairment.

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However, things would quickly change for the good captain. In “Mad City: Anything for You,” Barnes came into contact with Alice Tetch’s blood—of which we know has the properties of giving people superhuman strength and turning them into a veritable “Mr. Hyde.”

One of the first “benefits” from this infection was Barnes regaining the ability to walk without his crutch. The rage would soon exhibit itself in brief flashes when he got angry. Concerned about his own condition, Barnes subtly inquired about the research into Alice’s blood. He later learned the bad news: experiments on mice showed them to increase in strength dramatically, but all of them died from a form of madness—and there was no cure.

This week, on Gotham‘s “Mad City: Blood Rush” episode, Barnes completely embraced his dark half and is now on a path of uncompromising justice. In his own words, he is now “judge, jury, and executioner.” One thing still remains as a question though. Who in Batman’s rogues gallery is he becoming?

To answer that question, we present three candidates ranked from the least to most probable. So let’s see where Nathaniel Barnes’s will end up with his character arc …