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Butch Gilzean, born Cyrus Gold, was the loyal right-hand man of Fish Mooney and later (after some brainwashing) Oswald Cobblepot.

After Fish's death, Butch continued to serve Oswald, until his brainwashing was removed by Theo and Tabitha Galavan. Butch betrayed Oswald and set up his own gang and took over the Gotham criminal underworld. Tabitha formed a partnership with Butch after the death of her brother.

After Tabitha was stabbed and hospitalized by her resurrected brother (who was operating under the moniker of Azrael), Butch formed an alliance with Oswald and they both killed Galavan. Butch rejoined the Cobblepot crime family willingly and helped out Oswald in his campaign to chase Hugo Strange's monsters out of Gotham and win public approval. During Oswald's mayoral campaign, Butch helped out although he grew jealous of Oswald's close friendship with Edward Nygma, which further escalated when Oswald appointed Edward his chief of staff after winning the election, and accusing Butch of not believing that he would have won following Butch's attempts to bribe the voting polls.

In order to gain some respect from Oswald, Butch founded a new incarnation of the Red Hood Gang and got them to make threats to Oswald. Butch later slaughtered the gang to make himself look like a hero in Oswald's eyes, however Edward was suspicious and found out that Butch was responsible for helping the gang. During a party held for Oswald at the Sirens Nightclub, Butch is approached by Edward who says that he wants to wipe out Oswald in order to gain control of the Underworld, and in order to make Butch comply reveals that Victor Zsasz has Tabitha hostage in the kitchen of the club. Butch dons the signature red hood and using a gun provided by Edward attempts to assassinate Oswald, however the gun is revealed to be full of blanks, revealing the whole thing was a setup by Edward to get Butch out of the picture. After being incapacitated by Zsasz, Butch is brought into custody for trying to kill the mayor. However on route to the hospital, Butch is saved by Tabitha and put into hiding.

Butch and Tabitha are kidnapped by Edward, who believes that Butch murdered his girlfriend Isabella in revenge. During a torture session, he threatens to cut off Butch's hand and ends up cutting off Tabitha's, but Edward comes to realisation that Butch is telling the truth and wasn't responsible. After Edward finds out Oswald was the one who had Isabella killed (as he was actually in love with Edward himself), Edward approaches Butch, Tabitha and Barbara Kean at the hospital and urges them to form an alliance with him to kill Oswald and take the underworld for themselves. Butch and Tabitha reluctantly go along with it. Once Oswald is seemingly dispatched of by Edward, Barbara takes over the Underworld but doesn't allow Butch and Tabitha to kill Edward as he is still of use to Barbara.

As time goes on, Butch becomes sick of him and Tabitha being mistreated and talked down to by Barbara, and tries to convince Tabitha that they should bring Barbara down. The pair of them go along with Barbara's plans to hold the city hostage after the Court of Owls release a virus that sends the city crazy, in which Jervis Tetch's blood holds the cure. They kidnap Jervis in order for the city to meet his demands, however Edward takes Jervis away in order to exchange him with James Gordon for an alive Oswald.

During the chaos, Butch plans to finally end Barbara, however she gains the upper hand and shoots him in the head. He survives, however is put in a coma and the hospital discover his real name is Cyrus Gold.[2]

After spending six months in a coma, the hospital needed to free up room and planned to have Butch sent to another hospital upstate. However two orderlies decided to drive Butch's body to Slaughter Swamp, where they slid his body into the waters. Chemicals originating from Indian Hill revived Butch from the dead and modified his looks to a zombie like appearance, such as pale skin and white hair, and also giving him super strength. Having lost his memories, a confused Butch stumbles upon a bunch of campers and ends up getting into a brawl with them, forcing them to flee. When hearing the tune of the rhyme Solomon Grundy, he begins to identify by that name and makes his way back to Gotham.

By coincidence, he stumbles across Edward, who is living rough having lost his intellect following an imprisonment in a block of ice at Oswald's club, the Iceberg Lounge, for months. Edward panics at seeing Grundy, however Grundy doesn't recognise Edward or remember their past conflicts. The campers that Butch got into a brawl with track him down and also threaten Edward, but Grundy manages to fight them off. Edward befriends Grundy as he sees him as some use, and takes him to a fight club in the Narrows known as Cherry's, in which he plans to have him take part in the fighting to earn money to make Edward smart.[3] Grundy is patched up by Leslie Thompkins and participates in the fight club, in which he becomes a success and gains popularity in the crowds.[4][5]

Tabitha attempts to jog Butch's memory by hitting him over the head repeatedly, but apparently has to effect. However after she leaves, Butch gains back his memories of his old life, and is horrified by his appearance.[6]

He gets revenge on Edward by kidnapping him and handing him over to Barbara and Tabitha, in order to be given over to Gotham's new crime lord Sofia Falcone.[7]

Oswald later approaches Butch to once again form an alliance, and reveals that he will help Butch return to his normal self. Butch agrees to work with Penguin, but makes it clear that they will never be friends. Oswald later introduces Butch to Jerome Valeska, who has formed a team of rogues under the name of the Legion of Horribles. Oswald and Butch are shocked when Jerome and Scarecrow test out a new toxin Scarecrow created on an unwilling test subject, who bursts into laughter and his face forming into a grotesque smile.[8]

Later, after being tested on, Butch demands that Oswald turn him back to normal. Oswald explains that the only person who could possibly change him back would be Hugo Strange. After locating him, Butch forces him to go with the procedure, leaving a worried Tabitha. Later, after Tabitha returns to the room where he was being operated on, he isn't on the stretcher he was previously on. Tabitha demands to know what Strange has done with him, before Butch reveals himself from another room, and has been changed back to normal. Oswald also appears, and Butch thanks him for turning him back to normal. Oswald then apologizes, and shoots and kills Butch as revenge on Tabitha for killing Oswald's mother.[9]

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