Irwin May Not Last Long On 'Gotham'

After a week off, FOX is bringing its Batman prequel back for all-new episodes, and Jim Gordon is back on the police force, at least temporarily, in order to track down his escaped Arkham prisoners. He'll have to work fast, if he wants to save new Gotham character Irwin. In the trailer for the upcoming episode "What the Little Bird Told Him," (Penguin reference, anyone?) Gordon refers to Irwin... in the past tense. So it doesn't sound too good for the guy. It seems like he might be one of the very first victims of Jack Gruber, the Electrocutioner, now that he's escaped from Arkham Asylum and is using his electrical genius to torture his enemies in Gotham City.

In the comics, Electrocutioner is a vigilante who only goes after bad guys. He clashes with Batman because he believes in killing them, while the Caped Crusader has a strict policy against murder. So there's a good chance that Irwin isn't the most innocent guy in Gotham City. According to the trailer below, Jim Gordon's theory is that Irwin and Gruber may have collaborated in the past, and in a crime gone wrong, perhaps Irwin betrayed him and left Gruber to rot away in a rusty old insane asylum.

It's possible Gotham could just use Irwin as cannon fodder, a way to prove how dangerous Gruber can be and remind the audience that Jim Gordon is a pretty good detective. But they've cast a recognizable face as Irwin, so he could end up playing a larger role than just Gruber's victim.

Actor Adrian Martinez, who plays Irwin, is a classic "that guy" character actor. He's been in dozens and dozens of different projects, and this episode of Gotham isn't even his only project this month. He's also one of the supporting characters in the Will Smith/Margot Robbie heist film Focus and last year had a small role in Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Martinez also starred in Casa de Mi Padre , the Spanish-language comedy with Will Farrell, Diego Luna, and Gael Garcia Bernal. With those comedy chops, he could bring a little levity to the part. But he's also been in enough procedural dramas to hold down the role as a no-nonsense thug, the kind of guy who'd betray his business partner for a quick buck. Gotham did just dispose of fellow veteran TV character actor Isiah Whitlock, Jr. after one short appearance last week, though, so Martinez shouldn't count on getting another episode... especially if the Electrocutioner is coming after him.