AceShowbiz -

The Joker could be the next Batman's villain who will be coming to "Gotham". A preview for the next episode of the FOX freshman drama hints at the arrival of the Clown Prince of Crime with a tagline which reads, "Gotham's next villain is no joke." The character will likely be played by "Shameless" star Cameron Monaghan, who is seen laughing towards the end of the video.

Adding fuel to the speculation, a February 23 episode of the Batman prequel series is titled "Red Hood", which was the original alias of the Joker before the accident that drove him insane in the comic books. Prior to his transformation, he had been committing robberies in this disguise.

Back in July 2014, series creator Bruno Heller said of the possible appearance of the Joker, "We will be playing with... Not just with Joker. Certainly the Joker is a good example. In the pilot, you see there's a comedian there. People immediately leap.... Yeah, we'll play with that down the line. Not over the course of one season, no, because people will still get tired of that. 'Is that the Joker? Is that the Joker?' No. In a subtle way, we'll be doing that and hopefully we'll fool them in the end."

The new episode of "Gotham" airs Monday, February 16 at 8/7c on FOX.