Peter Sarsgaard's Role In The Batman Revealed

Since there aren't a whole lot of characters named "Gil" in the annals of Batman's history, we're going to go ahead and speculate that Saarsgard's character might be based on Gil Mason, a total slimeball who appeared in a couple episodes of the classic Batman: The Animated Series. Mason was a deputy police commissioner of Gotham, reporting directly to Commissioner Gordon — but secretly, he was actually reporting directly to Two-Face, in what amounted to a reverse deep-cover operation.

Mason had spent years earning Gordon's trust, and was even romantically involved with his daughter, Barbara (AKA Batgirl). But when it came time to make his move, it was a dastardly one: he planted phony evidence suggesting that Commissioner Gordon was involved with Gotham's underworld, then succeeded him as police commissioner.

Despite continued machinations by Mason and Two-Face, Gordon was eventually able to clear his name with the help of Batgirl and Batman, and a brutal fight with the former aboard a speeding boat (during which Mason unmasked his lady love, to his shock) left the scumbag in a coma. Although he was never seen again throughout the run of Batman: The Animated Series, we posit that it was a coma he never woke up from, since he never got around to outing Barbara as Batgirl.

Obviously, if Colson is based on Mason, the character would be undergoing a few tweaks on his way to the big screen. But given that The Batman will feature the Caped Crusader in hardcore detective mode, it's not unreasonable to think that the film may very well employ a subplot involving an evil mole or two within the ranks of Gotham's legal system.