Bruce Wayne Makes A Big Change On 'Gotham'

To hear young Bruce Wayne talk about killing Matches Malone, the man who killed his parents, in the latest episode of Gotham probably didn't make sense to Batman fans — the Caped Crusader has a strong ethical opposition to killing, which is sometimes the only thing that separates him from the criminals around him. But when Bruce Wayne decided not to kill Matches in Monday's episode, even after the man admitted that he killed Bruce's parents, viewers got to see the future Batman decide that he's uncomfortable with killing for the first time. When Bruce confronted Matches with his memories of the horrible event, the assassin admitted that he murdered Thomas and Martha, but he couldn't even remember how or why he went after them.

While initially Alfred pledged to do the deed for Master Bruce, he wound up in a hospital bed again after getting into a fight with a random underworld denizen called Cupcake (who seems to be yet another Joker tease, seen performing in an underground club where everyone is dressed like the Joker). After all of this, Bruce decided to move to the streets at the end of the episode.

Despite the big move, David Mazouz promised USA Today that he will still be in upcoming episodes, so this doesn't seem to be a way of writing Bruce out of the show. In fact, Mazouz told USA Today that Bruce might actually learn a few new skills from his new living arrangement. "Bruce is so consumed with revenge and he thinks once he finally does that, he will have satisfaction. But Bruce doesn’t get that ... You’ll see the origins of these morals and this is going to be Bruce’s code." The non-killing part of that code was just cemented after he realized that even Matches wasn't a "monster," but a normal man.

But for the time being, Bruce is on the streets, beginning his transformation from sheltered rich kid to eventual superhero. Who knows who or what he'll come up against while he's out there — but he won't be using a gun anymore for self-defense, so he's going to need to learn some moves.

Images: Jessica Miglio/FOX (2)