Maria Mercedes "Fish" Mooney is a
fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
al
character
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
created by producer and screenwriter
Bruno Heller
Bruno Heller (born 13 January 1960) is an English screenwriter, producer and director. He is known for creating the HBO television series ''Rome'' and CBS television series ''The Mentalist''. He has produced the TV series '' Gotham'', based on ...
for the television series ''
Gotham'', portrayed by actress
Jada Pinkett Smith
Jada Koren Pinkett Smith (; née Pinkett; born September 18, 1971) is an American actress and talk show host. She is co-host of the Facebook Watch talk show '' Red Table Talk'', for which she has received a Daytime Emmy Award. ''Time'' named ...
. In October 2022, Heller expressed further interest in Pinkett-Smith reprising the role in the
prequel
A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work.
The term " ...
series ''
Pennyworth''.
Development
Pinkett-Smith drew inspiration from various different individuals for taking on the role, including the
fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
al
character
Character or Characters may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk
* ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...
of
Norma Desmond
''Sunset Boulevard'' (styled in the main title on-screen as ''SUNSET BLVD.'') is a 1950 American black comedy film noir directed and co-written by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett. It was named after a major street ...
from the 1950 film ''
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in t ...
'', played by
Gloria Swanson
Gloria May Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress and producer. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most f ...
; and
Griselda Blanco
Griselda Blanco Restrepo (February 15, 1943 – September 3, 2012), known as ''the Black Widow'', was a Colombian drug lord of the Medellín Cartel, and in the Miami-based cocaine drug trade and underworld, during the 1970s through the earl ...
, a real-life drug lord of the
Medellín Cartel
The Medellín Cartel ( es, Cartel de Medellín) was a powerful and highly organized Colombian drug cartel and terrorist organization originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia that was founded and led by Pablo Escobar. It is often considered ...
. In October 2022, Fish Mooney creator
Bruno Heller
Bruno Heller (born 13 January 1960) is an English screenwriter, producer and director. He is known for creating the HBO television series ''Rome'' and CBS television series ''The Mentalist''. He has produced the TV series '' Gotham'', based on ...
and series' writer
John Stephens expressed interest in Pinkett-Smith potentially reprising her role (as a younger version of the character) in a future season of the ''Gotham'' and ''
V for Vendetta
''V for Vendetta'' is a British graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd (with additional art by Tony Weare). Initially published between 1982 and 1985 in black and white as an ongoing serial in the British antholog ...
''
prequel
A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work.
The term " ...
television series ''
Pennyworth'', while promoting its
third season.
Fictional character biography
Season 1
Fish Mooney is mob boss
Carmine Falcone
Carmine Falcone is a fictional character in DC Comics, portrayed as a powerful mob boss, an enemy of Batman, and a friend of the Wayne family. He has also been depicted in some versions as the illegitimate father of Catwoman.
In live-action, the ...
's most trusted lieutenant. Unbeknownst to Falcone, Fish is plotting to usurp his criminal empire, and employs a young woman named Liza, who resembles Falcone's late mother, to distract the lonely, aging mafia chieftain while Fish undermines his control of
Gotham City
Gotham City ( ), or simply Gotham, is a fictional city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of the superhero Batman and his allies and foes. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Bob Kane, the cit ...
. She has good relations with the
Gotham City Police Department
Gotham City ( ), or simply Gotham, is a fictional city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of the superhero Batman and his List of Batman supporting characters#Bat-Family, allies and List of Batman fa ...
, and decides to help detective
Harvey Bullock in investigating the murder of
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
and
Martha Wayne
Martha Wayne ( Kane) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. She is the mother of Bruce Wayne (Batman), and wife of Thomas Wayne, Dr. Thomas Wayne as wel ...
in return for him leaving her alone. When her underling
Oswald Cobblepot
The Penguin is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman. The character made his first appearance in ''Detective Comics'' #58 (December 1941) and was created by Bob ...
informs on her to the GCPD, she hobbles him — giving him his trademark "penguin walk" — and orders him killed along with Bullock and his new partner,
Jim Gordon. Falcone intervenes, however, and spares their lives. Cobblepot gradually works his way up the ladder of Gotham's underworld to become the right-hand man of both Falcone and his rival
Sal Maroni
Salvatore Vincent Maroni is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with Batman. The substantial character is portrayed as an infamous gangster of Italian descent in Gotham City and a ...
, and gets revenge on Fish by revealing her treachery to Falcone. Hurt and angered by Fish's betrayal, Falcone has her and Butch tortured, however Butch escapes custody and frees Fish. Wanting revenge against Penguin, she goes to her former club to find him there and proceeds to beat him. Before she can do much harm she and Butch are pursued by Zsasz and his crew. Butch helps her escape while staying behind to fend them off to buy her time. Harvey meets up with her later that night and helps her flee from Gotham City.
However, she is captured again by unknown peoples and wakes to find herself held prisoner in a large basement area with other random abductees, many of whom have been there for years. She learns that they are kept as "spare parts" by the man who owns the large estate and his security staff, with different prisoners being selected by the guards every few days, taken away, and returning (if at all) with missing body parts. Fish takes control of the basement and organizes a resistance by promising she'll be able to save "some" of them (but not all). She forces a meeting with the man in charge,
Francis Dulmacher, a
mad scientist
The mad scientist (also mad doctor or mad professor) is a stock character of a scientist who is perceived as " mad, bad and dangerous to know" or "insane" owing to a combination of unusual or unsettling personality traits and the unabashedly amb ...
who is running a blackmarket organ transplant farm and recreationally creating human monsters out of his victims' body parts. When Dulmacher tells her he is going to remove her eyes, she gouges out her own eye with a spoon so he can't use it in his experiments or sell it. Impressed by her resolve he offers a chance to prove her value as a go-between for himself and the prisoners in the basement, promising her safety as long as the supply of body parts isn't interrupted again. She uses this position to prepare an escape and, by sacrificing some of the detainees who had previously been bullying and abusing the weaker prisoners, she uses the ensuing chaos to escape with the rest and return to Gotham with a small band of devoted followers.
In the last episode of the first season, "
All Happy Families Are Alike
"All Happy Families Are Alike" is the 22nd episode and finale of the first season of the FOX series '' Gotham''. The episode was written by series developer Bruno Heller and directed by Danny Cannon. It was first broadcast on May 4, 2015 in FOX. ...
", Fish recruits the young
Selina Kyle
Catwoman is a fictional character created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Debuting as "the Cat" in ''Batman'' #1 (spring 1940), she is ...
into her gang, and makes an alliance with Maroni in order to get rid of Falcone. Fish captures Falcone, Cobblepot, Gordon and Bullock. Fish reveals Cobblepot's treachery to Maroni in exchange for an agreement to divide the city between them. When Maroni reveals that he intends to rule the city with Fish as his lieutenant and treats her with sexist condescension, Fish loses her temper and shoots him in the head. An all-out gang war ensues between Fish and Maroni's forces, during which Cobblepot fights her on a rooftop and pushes her into the river below.
Season 2
During the second season Fish's corpse is revealed to have been sent to Indian Hill, a scientific division of
Wayne Enterprises
Wayne Enterprises, Inc., also known as WayneCorp and Wayne Industries, is a wealthy fictional company appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Wayne Enterprises is a large, grow ...
run by
Hugo Strange
Hugo Strange is a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman. The character is one of Batman's first recurring villains and is also one of the first Batman villains to discover t ...
, who brings her back to life augmented with
cuttlefish
Cuttlefish or cuttles are marine molluscs of the order Sepiida. They belong to the class Cephalopoda which also includes squid, octopuses, and nautiluses. Cuttlefish have a unique internal shell, the cuttlebone, which is used for control of ...
DNA. The side-effects of the revival gives Fish the ability to take control of anyone who comes in contact with her. She escapes and runs across Cobblepot, who since her death has taken over Gotham's criminal underworld as "The Penguin". Shocked, he passes out.
Season 3
Soon after her rebirth, Fish starts going into rapid physical decline, and raids every pharmacy in Gotham for drugs to keep herself alive. She forms a new gang with her fellow Indian Hill escapees. She interrogates Strange's assistant Ethel Peabody, who tells her that her body is rejecting the cells Strange implanted in her, and that only Strange can save her. Fish has her fellow escapee Marv, who can accelerate or slow a person's metabolism, deplete the energy from Peabody's cells, literally stealing her life.
Fish frees Strange, intent on making him create more mutants to do her bidding. By then, however, Cobblepot has amassed an angry mob of Gothamites bent on killing the mutants. When Cobblepot has her at his mercy, Fish says she is proud of having transformed him into "The Penguin". Moved, Cobblepot tells her to leave Gotham and never come back. Later, when Gotham is in chaos from the effects of a homicidal mania-inducing virus, Fish joins forces with Cobblepot and Strange to create an antidote and hold the city to ransom. An infected Gordon shows up and attacks Mooney, accidentally impaling her with a sword and destroying the antidote. With her dying breath, Fish tells Cobblepot to either take Gotham for his own or burn it to the ground.
Powers and abilities
After her resurrection by
Hugo Strange
Hugo Strange is a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, commonly as an adversary of the superhero Batman. The character is one of Batman's first recurring villains and is also one of the first Batman villains to discover t ...
near the end of the second season of ''Gotham'', Mooney develops the ability to control people with just a touch of her hand.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mooney, Maria Mercedes
Gotham (TV series) characters
American female characters in television
DC Comics metahumans
DC Comics television characters
Fictional hypnotists and indoctrinators
Fictional African-American people
Fictional amputees
Television characters introduced in 2014
Fictional crime bosses
Fictional lieutenants
Batman characters
DC Comics female supervillains