Character Spotlight: Firefly (Bridgit Pike)

Gotham. What can I say about Gotham? If you've never seen the show, it's meant to be a Smallville-esque look at Bruce Wayne before he became Batman, but it plays so fast and loose with the continuity that it's essentially an alternate reality where Batman is a kid. Smallville kind of did the same thing, but it at least took a few years before familiar characters started popping up regularly. Gotham started that early and never let up. Sometimes they play it up as a proto-version of a more familiar character, but most of the time, it's just the character as we know them (although often with some strange interpretation that doesn't make them quite like we know them). And I'm not sure which of these Firefly falls under.

In the comics, Firefly is Garfield Lynns, a pyrotechnic expert who becomes a professional arsonist. He first appeared in Detective Comics #184 (April 1952). It should be noted that, Pre-Crisis, Firefly's gimmick was light-based. It didn't become fire-based until the 90s. 

In Gotham, Firefly is Bridgit Pike, a member of a poor family of criminals who was burned on a job they forced her to go on. After that, she made a fireproof suit and struck out on her own, using fire as her signature. She died in her first episode ("Scarification", October 2015), but was later revived by Hugo Strange at Indian Hill, where she teamed up with other villains to take over Gotham.

Bridgit Pike was introduced into the comics as Lady Firefly in Detective Comics #988 (September 2018)., where she is a protege of Ted Carson, the second Firefly. In this issue, she's hired to kill Batman. 

With Gotham ending soon, it'll be interesting to see if she has staying power, or if she'll quietly disappear once that show is off the air.