When Gotham first premiered, fans expected crime, corruption, and the slow rise of Gotham City’s most famous villains. What many did not expect was one of television’s most electric performances to come from a Joker-inspired character who would completely steal the show every time he appeared. Because of rights restrictions, the series could not fully call him “The Joker” for much of its run. Instead, audiences met Jerome Valeska, and later Jeremiah Valeska, two twisted reflections of the Clown Prince of Crime mythos. Yet for many viewers, that only made the character more fascinating. He was unpredictable, theatrical, and absolutely terrifying. Unlike many TV villains who lose their edge over time, Gotham’s Joker figure only became more dangerous. He was not evil because of power or revenge alone. He represented chaos itself. He wanted fear, madness, and spectacle. Every entrance felt like the beginning of a disaster. What made him special was not just violence. It was the way he made every scene feel unstable. You never knew if he would laugh, cry, tell a joke, or set the city on fire. That tension made him unforgettable. For many fans, he became the defining villain of the entire series and one of the strongest Joker performances outside the films. These are the top 10 reasons why Gotham’s Joker was the best TV villain.
#10: He Stole Every Scene Instantly
Some villains are dangerous. Others are magnetic.
The moment Jerome Valeska entered a scene, it became impossible to look anywhere else. Whether he was sitting quietly in an interrogation room or standing in the middle of total chaos, he controlled the energy of the moment.
His facial expressions, sudden laughter, and wild emotional shifts made every conversation feel like a ticking time bomb. Even when he was standing still, he felt dangerous.
That is one of the hardest things for an actor to achieve with a villain. Fear is easy with violence. Real menace comes from unpredictability.
Jerome made audiences lean forward because they genuinely did not know what would happen next. That kind of screen presence cannot be taught. It has to be felt.
He did not just appear in scenes. He took ownership of them.
#9: Cameron Monaghan’s Performance Was Fearless
A great villain needs great writing, but sometimes performance is everything.
Cameron Monaghan delivered one of the boldest performances in comic book television. He did not simply imitate previous Jokers. He created something that felt inspired by them while still being completely his own.
His Jerome was theatrical, explosive, and almost playful in his cruelty. His Jeremiah was colder, more controlled, and somehow even more unsettling. Playing both versions gave the show two different shades of madness, and Monaghan handled both brilliantly.
He was never afraid to go big. His laughter felt dangerous instead of forced. His silences were just as threatening as his outbursts.
Many actors play villains as if they are trying to look evil. Monaghan played his characters as if they were having the time of their lives.
That confidence made the performance unforgettable.
#8: He Felt Like a True Joker Without Being One
One of the strangest strengths of Gotham was that it could not officially use the Joker identity the way fans expected.
Instead of hurting the character, it made him more mysterious.
Jerome and Jeremiah were both clearly tied to the Joker myth, but neither was presented in a completely straightforward way. This created endless debate among fans about who the “real” Joker was supposed to be.
That uncertainty added power to the character. He felt like an idea rather than just a person. He was less a single man and more a symbol of the madness that would define Gotham forever.
This actually fits the Joker better than a traditional origin story.
The Joker works best when he feels like something impossible to fully explain. Gotham turned that limitation into a strength.
Instead of giving a simple answer, it gave viewers a legend.
#7: His Relationship with Bruce Wayne Was Disturbingly Perfect
The future battle between Batman and Joker is one of the most iconic rivalries in fiction, and Gotham found a clever way to build that tension early.
Jerome and later Jeremiah both developed eerie, obsessive connections with young Bruce Wayne. They recognized something in him long before he became Batman.
There was fascination, mockery, and even a strange sense of emotional intimacy. Jerome especially seemed delighted by Bruce’s potential, as if he could already see the future war between them.
That made every interaction feel important.
It was not just villain versus hero. It felt like destiny forming in real time.
The Joker does not simply fight Batman. He needs Batman. Gotham captured that strange emotional truth beautifully.
Even before the cape and cowl, the obsession had already begun.
#6: He Made Chaos Feel Personal
Many villains want money, revenge, or political power.
Gotham’s Joker wanted something far more dangerous—he wanted people to break.
He did not just want to hurt Gotham physically. He wanted to infect it emotionally. He wanted people to laugh at terrible things, to lose control, to question morality itself.
That made his chaos feel personal.
He targeted trust, hope, and identity. He did not need to destroy a building if he could destroy someone’s sense of self.
This made him terrifying because the damage lasted longer than explosions.
A city can rebuild walls. Rebuilding minds is harder.
That psychological warfare is what separates a fun villain from a truly great one.
Jerome and Jeremiah both understood that fear works best when it feels intimate.
#5: His Deaths Somehow Made Him Stronger
Most villains lose power when they die.
Jerome somehow became more iconic because of it.
His shocking death did not end his influence. It made him larger than life. Followers treated him like a prophet of madness, and his legend spread across Gotham in ways even he could not have controlled.
That gave the character mythological weight.
Even absent, he was present. People copied him, feared him, and carried his philosophy forward.
Then came Jeremiah, creating the eerie feeling that Joker was not just one person but an infection.
This made Gotham’s villain feel almost supernatural.
You could kill the man, but you could not kill what he represented.
That is exactly how the best Joker stories work.
#4: He Was Funny and Terrifying at the Same Time
Comedy and horror are surprisingly close together, and Gotham used that perfectly.
Jerome could make audiences laugh and feel uncomfortable in the same scene. His jokes were charming right up until they became horrifying.
That balance is essential to the Joker.
If he is only scary, he becomes predictable. If he is only funny, he loses menace. The magic happens when the audience is laughing and then suddenly realizes they should not be.
That emotional whiplash is powerful.
His humor was not there to make him likable. It was there to make him unsettling.
The laughter became a weapon.
Very few villains can weaponize charisma the way Gotham’s Joker did.
That balance made him feel dangerously alive.
#3: He Never Needed Superpowers
In a city full of strange science, monsters, and larger-than-life villains, Gotham’s Joker remained terrifyingly human.
He had no super strength, no magical powers, and no impossible technology that made him unbeatable.
What made him dangerous was intelligence, manipulation, and fearlessness.
That often makes a villain scarier.
You cannot simply punch your way past someone who understands how people think. He could turn allies against each other, manipulate entire crowds, and create destruction with little more than a speech and a smile.
That kind of villain feels real.
He proved that sometimes the most dangerous person in the room is not the strongest one.
It is the one who understands exactly how fragile everyone else is.
#2: He Changed the Entire Tone of the Show
Before Jerome’s arrival, Gotham was dark and stylish, but still felt like a crime drama with comic book elements.
After he appeared, everything changed.
The show became wilder, more theatrical, and far more unpredictable. His presence pushed Gotham closer to the chaotic comic book world fans wanted.
He raised the stakes simply by existing.
Suddenly, normal crime was not enough. Everything had to feel bigger, stranger, and more dangerous because he had changed the rules.
That influence is the mark of a truly great villain.
He was not just part of the story. He reshaped the entire world around him.
Few TV villains can claim they changed the DNA of their own show.
Jerome absolutely did.
#1: He Made You Believe Gotham Needed a Joker
The greatest reason Gotham’s Joker became the best TV villain is simple: by the end, it felt impossible to imagine the city without him.
He was not just another criminal. He was the missing piece of Gotham’s identity.
Without him, Bruce Wayne’s future as Batman felt incomplete. Without him, the city felt dangerous but not mythic.
The Joker is chaos, reflection, and contradiction. He is the villain who turns Gotham from a crime story into a legend.
Jerome and Jeremiah made viewers feel that truth before Batman had even fully arrived.
That is remarkable storytelling.
By the time the series ended, fans were no longer asking whether he was really Joker.
They already knew.
He was the madness Gotham had been waiting for.
And once he arrived, nothing could ever be normal again.
Final Laugh
Great villains do more than challenge heroes. They define them.
Gotham’s Joker-inspired villain did exactly that. Through chaos, manipulation, terror, and unforgettable charisma, he became the heartbeat of the show’s darkest moments.
Whether fans preferred Jerome’s explosive madness or Jeremiah’s cold precision, both versions captured something essential about why Joker remains one of fiction’s greatest villains.
He was funny, horrifying, tragic, and strangely hypnotic all at once.
That balance is rare.
It is why audiences still talk about those performances years later, and why many believe Gotham gave television one of the best Joker portrayals ever created.
Some villains are remembered.
The best ones become impossible to forget.
