For 75 years, Batman has been an iconic figure in pop culture. The new CTV series “Gotham” opens the door to the city before the Dark Knight donned the cape and gadgets, where the super villains we’re familiar with evolved from damaged lost souls, and where a young detective named Jim Gordon (Ben McKenzie) began his journey for justice.

McKenzie and his co-stars Donal Logue and Robin Lord Taylor, who play Det. Harvey Bullock and Oswald Cobblepot respectively, were at CTV Headquarters where they shared their thoughts on why Batman has lasted this long in our culture and why “Gotham” will be well-received by Batman fans.

“[Gotham] is not people putting on costumes and flying across galaxies,” McKenzie starts, “It’s grounded in real human behaviour for the better and for the worst. It’s a story about working out your traumas.”

Taylor adds, “It’s a super hero story but Batman is one of the most relatable characters because he is just a man. I think with ‘Gotham’ because it starts with his parents getting murdered, it’s going to make the characters in Batman even more relatable because we can see them from the beginning.”

Logue says the show digs deeper into the world of Batman, all the way back to the franchise’s roots. “This stuff came out of World War II, such a seminal moment in American history,” he tells me while also citing a popular and relevant quote from the film “Network” that sets up where the characters of Gordon, Bullock, and Cobblepot begin their journey: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

“What happened to this city that required a vigilante like Batman to come along?” Logue asks rhetorically, “And where did people like the Penguin develop? I loved that there was always a human component to why they became who they became.”

With the new series “Gotham,” Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on CTV, we might get to find out!

(Source – originally posted September 23, 2014)