The 25 greatest Gotham villains of all-time

GOTHAM: L-R: Robin Lord Taylor as Oswald Cobblepot / Penguin, Cory Michael Smith as Edward Nygma / The Riddler, Donal Logue as Detective Harvey Bullock, Ben McKenzie as Detective James Gordon, David Mazouz as Bruce Wayne, Chris Chalk as Lucius Fox, Camren Bicondova as Selina Kyle / the future Catwoman, Sean Pertwee as Alfred Pennyworth and Erin Richards as Barbara Kean. Season 5 of GOTHAM premieres Thursday, Jan. 3 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. ©2018 Fox Broadcasting Co. Cr: JUSTIN STEPHENS / FOX /

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22. Basil Karlo (Clayface)

Portrayed by: Brian McManamon, Ben McKenzie (as Jim Gordon) and Paul Reubens (as Elijah Van Dahl)

First appearance: “Wrath of the Villains: A Legion of Horribles”

Due to Basil Karlo’s nature as Clayface, a few actors portrayed him in Gotham as he shape-shifted into other characters. He found himself impersonating Jim Gordon and Elijah Van Dahl. The latter is the biological father of Oswald Cobblepot.

We didn’t see too much of Basil Karlo, but Clayface has quite the history when it comes to Batman stories. He first appeared in the comics in June 1940. While other people have taken on the moniker, Basil was the first one to hold it. He’s also the only one to have it in Gotham as we don’t see any other version of the character in the show.

In Gotham, Clayface is a product of Indian Hill and Hugo Strange’s experimentation. Strange created many different “monsters,” but Clayface ends up being fairly harmless as he only gets to do two impersonations when we see him. He almost gets to Bruce Wayne while he’s impersonating Jim Gordon, but Barbara Keen helps expose his little plan. Overall, he’s not the biggest threat, but he’s one of the classic villains and his appearances are enough to get him on this list.

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