Gotham_City

Gotham City

Gotham City is a fictional city appearing in DC Comics, and is best known as the home of Batman. Batman's place of residence was first identified as Gotham City in Batman #4 (Winter 1940).

Creation

In Batman's earliest adventures, he lived and operated in New York City, specifically Manhattan. Writer Bill Finger is credited with the creation of Gotham City. Finger commented on the naming of the city and reasoning for changing Batman's locale from Manhattan to a fictional city: "Originally I was going to call Gotham City 'Civic City'. Then I tried Capital City, then Coast City. Then I flipped through the phone book and spotted the name 'Gotham Jewelers' and said, 'That's it', Gotham City. We didn't call it New York because we wanted anybody in any city to identify with it.

Fictional history

In Swamp Thing #53, Alan Moore wrote a fictional history for Gotham City that other writers have generally followed. According to Moore's tale, a Norwegian mercenary founded Gotham City and the British later took it over -- a story that parallels the founding of New York by the Dutch (as New Amsterdam) and later takeover by the British. During the American Revolutionary War, Gotham City was the site of a major battle (paralleling the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Long Island in the American Revolution). Rumors held it to be the site of various occult rites. hunter Shadowpact #5 by Bill Willidicck expanded upon Gotham's occult heritage by depicting a being who has slept for 40,000 years beneath the land upon which Gotham City was built. Strega, the being's servant, says that the "dark and often cursed character" of the city was influenced by the being who now uses the name "Doctor Gotham."

Many storylines have added more events to Gotham's history, at the same time greatly affecting the city and its people. Perhaps the greatest in impact was a long set of serial storylines, which started with Ra's al Ghul releasing a debilitating virus called the "Clench" during the Contagion storyline. As that arc wrapped, the city was beginning to recover, only to suffer an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter Scale in Cataclysm. This resulted in the federal government cutting Gotham off from the ret of the United States in No Man's Land. This trio of storylines allowed writers the freedom to redefine the nature and mood of the city. The result suggested a harder city with a more resilient, resourceful, and cynical populace; a more dramatic and varied architecture; and more writing possibilities by attributing new locales to the rebuilding of the city.

The name "Gotham City" is generally associated with Dick Comics, although it also appears in the first Mr. Scarlet story by France Herron and Jack Kirby from Wow Comics #1. Kirby historian Greg Theakston notes that this was published December 13, 1940, shortly before Batman #4 was published.

Atmosphere

In terms of atmosphere, Batman writer and editor Dennis O'Neil has said that, figuratively, "Batman's Gotham City is Manhattan below Fourteenth Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November.

Gotham City's atmosphere took on a lighter tone in the comics of the 1950s and part of the 1960s, similar to the tone of Batman stories of that era. However, by the early 1970s the tone of the city, as well as that of the stories, had become grittier. Today, the portrayal of Gotham is a dark and foreboding metropolis rife with crime, grime, corruption, and a deep-seated sense of urban decay.

Architecture

Different artists have depicted Gotham in different ways. They often base their interpretations on various real architectural periods and styles, with exaggerated characteristics, such as massively multi-tiered flying buttresses on Gothic cathedrals. Also, the huge Art Deco and Art Nouveau statuary was seen in Tim Burton's movie version. Cyberpunk, Japanese and Greek elements were presented in Joel Schumacher's series of films.

Within the Batman mythos, the person cited as being influential in promoting the unique architecture of Gotham City during the pre-American Civil War era was Judge Solomon Wayne, Bruce Wayne's ancestor. His campaign to reform Gotham came to a head when he met a young architect named Cyrus Pinkney. Wayne commissioned Pinkney to design and to build the first "Gotham Style" structures in what became the center of the city's financial district. The "Gotham Style" idea of the writers matches parts of the Gothic Revival in style and timing. In a 1992 storyline, a man obsessed with Pinkney's architecture blew up several Gotham buildings in order to reveal the Pinkney structures they had hidden; the editorial purpose behind this was to transform the city depicted in the comics to resemble the designs created by Anton Furst for the 1989 Batman film.

After No Man's Land, Lex Luthor took the challenge of rebuilding Gotham City after the events of Cataclysm. Gotham's old Art-deco and Gothic structures were replaced with modern glass skyscrapers and buildings.

Police and corruption

A common theme in stories set in Gotham is the rampant and recurring corruption within the city's civil authorities and infrastructure, most notably within the Gotham City Police Department. During stories set early in Batman's career (most notably Batman: Year One), Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb was depicted as having his hands in many pockets. However, Batman found evidence for conspiracy charges, forcing Loeb to resign his position. Later stories depicted subsequent commissioners as also being corruptible, or open to various forms of influence. In other stories, Batman has had to take on crooked cops, either acting in collusion with supervillains, working for the mob, or on their own. Later stories, featuring James Gordon as the new Commissioner, show the two characters often uniting to purge corruption from the force. Gordon was the commissioner for about 9 to 10 years of continuity, then retired, handing the police force over to his replacement, Commissioner Akins. Recent stories have returned Gordon to the position of Commissioner, unfortunately to find corruption taking a greater hold since his departure.

Geography

Gotham City's geography, like other fictional cities' geographies in the DC Universe, has varied over the decades, because of changing writers, editors and storylines. At various times the depiction has Gotham on the shores of "Lake Gotham". The majority of appearances, however, place Gotham on the eastern coast of the United States.

Historically, "Gotham" is a nickname for New York City, first used by Washington Irving in the early 19th century. For most of the publication history of Batman in comics, Gotham has been assumed to be a New York City analogue; Frank Miller has said that "Metropolis is New York in the daytime; Gotham City is New York at night. DC Comics president and publisher Paul Levitz says that Gotham is "New York from 14th Street down, the older buildings, more brick-and-mortar as opposed to steel-and-glass." New York Times journalist William Safire describes Gotham City as "New York below 14th Street, from SoHo to Greenwich Village, the Bowery, Little Italy, Chinatown, and the sinister areas around the base of the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges.

However, longtime Batman artist Neal Adams considers Gotham to be based on Chicago (whose nickname is "New Gotham"), pointing to its history of corruption and organized crime, and adding, "One of the things about Chicago is Chicago has alleys (which are virtually nonexistent in New York). Back alleys, that's where Batman fights all the bad guys." Film adaptations have varied: Tim Burton's Gotham was based primarily on New York, while the films directed by Christopher Nolan have shown a Gotham more closely based on Chicago.

Maps shown in various comics have depicted the city in different places. Many of the maps directly use Manhattan, Vancouver, and other real coastlines as their basis, while others are completely original. One map showing Gotham City in relation to Metropolis, the home of Superman, published in New Adventures of Superboy #22 (October 1981), placed Gotham City and Metropolis on opposite sides of a large bay. On "The Batman" Gotham is shown as being near a large coast and far enough away from Metropolis to fly a plane there. In Swamp Thing vol. 2, #53 (October 1986) the geography of Rhode Island was the basis of another map of Gotham City. The current definitive maps of Gotham City are those based on the ones produced for the No Man's Land story arc. Christopher Nolan commissioned a map of Gotham for his movie Batman Begins that also used the No Man's Land map as a basis. The airport was moved to the Northeast, Narrows Island was inserted between Midtown and Downtown, and Wayne Tower was moved to Midtown, about where the "54" marker on the map to the left is located.

The distance between Gotham City and Metropolis has varied over the years, ranging everywhere from being hundreds of miles apart to being twin cities on opposite sides of a large bay. Blüdhaven, a city that for several years was home to Nightwing, is located near Gotham City. Additionally, the Seven Soldiers of Victory series Klarion the Witch Boy, calls New York City the "Cinderella City", referring to nearby Metropolis and Gotham as its "ugly stepsisters".

One older theory was proposed by Mark Gruenwald, who later went on to be a major writer/editor at Marvel Comics, and published in the 1970s in the DC house fanzine, The Amazing World of DC Comics in an issue dedicated to the Justice League. Gruenwald suggested that Gotham City is located somewhere in the state of New Jersey while Metropolis is located in close vicinity to Washington, D.C.

Man-Bat #3 refers to Gotham City being in the Central Time zone.

According to the Planetary/Batman one-shot, a Gotham City also exists in the Wildstorm universe. It is similar to its DC Universe counterpart, but is not usually home to costumed vigilantes. In Captain Atom: Armageddon Gotham City does not exist in the Wildstorm universe.

The Atlas of the DC Universe, published in 1990 by Mayfair Games Inc. as a supplement to the DC Heroes role-playing game (under license from DC Comics), places Gotham City in southern New Jersey (and Metropolis in Delaware). This source, never officially recognized by DC Comics, has since been contradicted with regards to other locations.

In the Batgirl series, as well as in the Vertigo Comics' Sandman series, Gotham is implied to be an entire state, analogous to New York, with Gotham City as its capital. In both cases, the book refers to "Upstate Gotham".

A Gotham City driver's license shown in Batman: Shadow of the Bat annual #1, contains the line "Gotham City, NJ", placing Gotham City in New Jersey.

Detective Comics #503 (June 1983) includes several references suggesting Gotham City is in or near New Jersey. A location on the Jersey Shore is described as "twenty miles north of Gotham." Robin and Batgirl drive from a "secret New Jersey airfield" to Gotham City and then drive on the "Hudson County Highway". Hudson County is the name of an actual New Jersey county.

One viral website for the movie The Dark Knight depicts Gotham City Rail train routes in a map that shows some of the city's streets as well as Gotham International Airport, which is depicted as being in an adjacent county or city.

Notable residents

Many comic book series and characters are set in Gotham. The most notable characters are Batman and Robin. Some of the most prominent characters directly connected to Batman whose adventures are set in Gotham are Nightwing, Huntress, Barbara Gordon and most recently Batwoman.

Other DC characters have also been depicted to be living in Gotham, including Jason Blood, Ragman, The Question, Plastic Man, Zatara and Zatanna, Simon Dark, and Tommy Monaghan, the anti-hero Hitman. The superhero teams Section 8 and the Justice Society of America are also shown operating in Gotham City.

Within the DC Universe continuity, Batman is not the first hero in Gotham. Stories featuring Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern, set before and during World War II depict Scott living in Gotham, and later depictions show him running his Gotham Broadcasting Corporation. Additionally, the Justice Society of America, Doctor Fate, and the Golden Age Black Canary have been depicted as operating in Gotham. Black Canary's daughter, the Modern Age Black Canary, is based in Gotham through much of the Birds of Prey series. Arella (formerly Angela Roth), a supporting character in Teen Titans and mother of Titan member Raven, is shown in flashback to have resided in Gotham City as a teenager.

Apart from Gotham's superhero residents, the residents of the city feature in a back-up series in Detective Comics called Tales of Gotham City and in two limited series called Gotham Nights. Additionally, the Gotham City Police Department is the focus of the series Gotham Central.

Mayors in the comic books

Several mayors of Gotham have appeared in the comic book series that collectively form the "Batman Family" of titles:

Officers of the law in the comics

Notable areas, landmarks, institutions and businesses

Gotham City is a major economic center within the United States of the DC Universe; its important industries include: manufacturing; shipping; finance; fine arts, represented by its numerous museums, galleries, and jewelers; and the production of giant novelty props. In addition to its commercial seaport, it also supports a naval shipyard.

Major businesses based in Gotham City include its most noteworthy corporation: Wayne Enterprises, which specializes in various industrial aspects and advanced technological research and development. Its charitable division, The Wayne Foundation, is a major supporter to the city's major charity, arts and research endeavors.

Noteworthy newspapers in Gotham City include the Gotham Gazette and the Gotham Globe. In the Silver Age comics, the editor-in-chief of Metropolis newspaper The Daily Planet, Perry White, had once worked for the Gazette early in his career.

Gotham sports

Baseball: The city's baseball team, the Gotham Goliaths, is a pun on the actual New York Giants/San Francisco Giants. Other proposed team names include the Gotham City Eagles (cross-town rivals as seen on Batman), the Gotham Knights (in Greg Rucka's novel Batman: No Man's Land, sometimes referred to as the Black Sox in Garth Ennis's Hitman), the Gotham Giants (The Daily Planet Guide to Gotham City), the Gotham Griffins, and the Gotham Monarchs (a Metropolis franchise that moved to the city after No Man's Land) . The comic based on The Batman, The Batman Strikes, calls Gotham's baseball team the Gotham Guardians.

Basketball: The Gotham Gators are the city's professional basketball team (as seen on The Batman). In the 52 (comic book) website, Gotham's basketball team is known as the Guardsmen (article Bring on the Thunder!). There is also a women's team known as the Gotham Valkyries (The Daily Planet Guide to Gotham City) or in other publications the Gotham Amazons.

American football: The Gotham Knights are the local football team (as seen on Batman: The Animated Series Episode #024 - "Fear of Victory"). Gotham Goliaths and Gotham Wildcats have also been used as franchise names (The Daily Planet Guide to Gotham City).

Ice Hockey: The local ice hockey franchise is known as the Gotham Blades (The Daily Planet Guide to Gotham City).

Arkham Asylum

Arkham Asylum is the primary but involuntary residence of many of Batman's foes. Dennis O'Neil named Arkham Asylum as an homage to the works of H. P. Lovecraft. For years, artists have rendered it predominantly as an old and sometimes crumbling structure, but at times some artists have depicted it as a more modern facility (notably, the storyline The Last Arkham involved Jeremiah Arkham tearing down the old asylum and replacing it with a modern structure more akin to a supermax prison). Its exterior and interior appearances often change to match the moods and needs of the creative team. In some stories, the rooms have the stereotypical white padded walls of a mental hospital, in others the brick or stone cells of an old-fashioned asylum, and in still others the glass and steel private rooms of a modern hospital. The suggestion often made is that its history in the city reaches back to the early part of the 20th century, and that its manager is always a member of the Arkham family. Its current manager is Jeremiah Arkham, the nephew of founder Amadeus Arkham. Perhaps the most notable trait of Arkham is that many writers have placed a seeming revolving door on it, whereby Batman's villains either escape or are freed very shortly after being admitted, allowing writers to use them without complications. Characters often comment on this situation, either comically or seriously remarking on the need for better security and care at Arkham.

In other media

1960s

The 1960s live-action Batman television series never specified Gotham's location. The related theatrical movie, however, showed Gotham to have a harbor and a beach. One episode refers to Gotham Rock, implying a location analogous to Boston.

Although the setting for the series was Gotham City (as with virtually all Batman serials), several New York City locations are noted throughout the series. Among them are the New York Public Library Central Research Building on West 42nd Street, Central Park, and Foley Square in Lower Manhattan. Portions of the 1966 film also were shot on location in NYC.

1989 movie

In the opening lines of the Sam Hamm screenplay to the 1989 film version, Gotham is described as Hell erupted through the pavement and built a city (similar to a Pandæmonium, or the capital of Hell, from the terms of John Milton). The logic in screenplay is when elevators were utilized for taller structures, the buildings over a few stories were built around the existing structures of Gotham Town. These skyscapers cast a shadow over the city coupled with the smoke from Gotham's industry kept the city in perpetual dusk.

A map of Gotham City used in the film Batman (1989) was actually an inverted map of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In the same movie, a map of the Axis Chemical plant was actually a map of the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

Anton Furst did the production design for the first Batman film directed by Tim Burton. Anton Furst's set designs for the Batman movie were an attempt to imagine what might have happened to New York City had there been no planning commission and had it been run by pure extortion and crime. Hence, there were no height restrictions, the skyscrapers were cantilevered toward the street rather than away, there were lots of bridges over the streets. In return, the city appeared to be extremely dark and claustrophobic. Burton even stated himself that his take on Gotham was "As if Hell came sprouting out of the concrete and kept right on growing."

The individual buildings in Furst's version of Gotham were based on a whole host of influences. The cathedral was based on Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Família, the Flugelheim Museum exterior was based on the work of Shin Takamatsu, and some of the other influences were Otto Wagner, Norman Foster, and Albert Speer. In essence, Furst deliberately mixed clashing architectural styles to make Gotham City the ugliest and bleakest metropolis imaginable.

For Wayne Manor, Knebworth House, a Gothic Tudor mansion 28 miles north of London was used for the exterior. The interior however, is Hatfield House, Hertfordshire.

The flag of Gotham City closely resembles the state flag of Indiana. It can be seen briefly in Harvey Dent's office.

Batman Returns

For Tim Burton's second Batman film, Batman Returns (1992), Bo Welch took over the production design duties from Anton Furst. Welch for the most part, based his designs on Furst's concepts. Whereas Anton Furst's designs showed a considerable amount of sinister visual grandeur, Bo Welch's designs had a more whimsical approach.

At least 50% of the Warner Brothers lot was taken up with Gotham City sets. The massive Gotham City sets were all constructed to be mobile, and were often shifted between days of filming. Michelle Pfeiffer (Catwoman) routinely got lost on her way to filming each day.

Schumacher film series

When Joel Schumacher took over directing the Batman films from Tim Burton, Barbara Ling handled the production design for both of Schumacher's films (1995's Batman Forever and 1997's Batman & Robin). Ling's vision of Gotham City was a luminous and marvelously outlandish evocation of Modern expressionism and Constructivism. Its futuristic-like concepts (to a certain extent, akin to the 1982 film Blade Runner) appeared to be sort of a cross between Manhattan and the "Neo-Tokyo" of Akira.

Batman Forever was going to be shot in Cincinnati, using the old subway tunnel. The exterior of the Gotham City Hippodrome (the arena where the "Flying Graysons" performed their trapeze act) is based on the exterior of Union Terminal, a famous 1930s Art Deco train station in Cincinnati.

Exterior scenes of Wayne Manor for Batman Forever were filmed at the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture in Long Island, New York. The production team had to change the school's "W" on the entrance gate because it had an anchor behind it.

The exterior set for Two-Face's hide out in Batman Forever was the same set used in the first disappearance of Max Shreck in Batman Returns.

The Arkham Asylum that was seen in Batman Forever was designed as a tall, spiraling castle-like structure, with narrow hallways lined with brightly-lit glass bricks.

During Mr. Freeze’s attempt to freeze Gotham in the film Batman & Robin (1997), the targeting screen for his giant laser locates it somewhere on the New England shoreline, possibly as far north as Maine.

The soundtrack for Batman & Robin featured a song named after the city and sung by R. Kelly.

Nolan film series

Batman Begins (2005), directed by Christopher Nolan, leaves the location of Gotham ambiguous, however it is a seaside port. Alfred comments that the caverns beneath Wayne Manor that are to be converted into the Batcave were once used by a Wayne ancestor to hide escaping slaves in the Underground Railroad. For Wayne Manor itself, the former Rothschild estate, Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, was used to portray its exterior and interior.

The Gotham depicted in Batman Begins is a digitally-enhanced Chicago, complete with its famous elevated train tracks, skyline, and subterranean streets filmed on Lower Wacker Drive. Various Chicago skyscrapers are visible in several shots, including a part of the Sears Tower, Two Prudential Plaza, the Water Tower and the twin Marina City towers. Even the automobile license plates shown throughout the film (and in its sequel, The Dark Knight) are reminiscent of Illinois' license plate design. The Chicago Board of Trade Building was the visual inspiration for the film's Wayne Tower design. In The Dark Knight, the Richard J. Daley Center is presented as a building owned by Wayne Enterprises.

Director Christopher Nolan worked with production designer Nathan Crowley to create the look of Gotham City. Nolan designed Gotham City to be a large, modern metropolitan area that would reflect the various periods of architecture that the city had gone through. Elements were drawn somewhat from Tokyo, but especially Chicago.

In Batman Begins, the Narrows was based on the slummish nature of the now-demolished walled city of Kowloon in Hong Kong. One notable change in this version of Arkham Asylum from the comics was the location. While the location has varied in the comics, it is generally located some distance outside of Gotham City, often in a rural or forested location. However, Batman Begins has it in the middle of Gotham City, located in the Narrows. It is revealed in The Dark Knight that downtown Gotham is on an island much like New York City's Manhattan Island, suggested by the "Gotham Island Ferry". The Narrows itself was left in chaos after the events of Batman Begins and is therefore not mentioned in The Dark Knight.

Batman: Gotham Knight, the anime film said to take place between Begins and Dark Knight, featured one story telling of the entire Narrows island being converted into grounds for Arkham Asylum in the wake of the Narrows attack by the Scarecrow.

It is also mentioned during the movie "Superman Returns" as one of the many places in which Superman has been spotted saving people.

Batman: The Animated Series

In a first season episode entitled "Joker's Favor", Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995) depicted a driver's license of a Gotham area resident, listing his hometown as "Gotham Estates, NY". This implies that Gotham City borders or is within the state of New York, and has suburbs (such as Gotham Estates) within commuting distance. In one episode, when Bruce Wayne leaves for England, it shows Gotham City located on New York's Long Island, clearly in the same location of Queens County.

Another episode of the same television show, however, implies that Gotham resides in a state of the same name. A prison workshop was shown stamping license plates that read "Gotham - The Dark Deco State" (as a reference to the artistic style of the series, this plate may have been intended to simply be one of the visual gags that were common on the program). In addition, the episode entitled "Harlequinade" states that Gotham City has a population of approximately 10 million people.

During the events of the direct-to-video film, Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, a computer screen displaying Barbara Gordon's personal information shows Gotham City, NY, but also displays her area code as being 212 - a common Manhattan area code

Batman Beyond

Batman Beyond envisions a Gotham City fifty years into the future. In it, a futuristic architecture which mixes Gothic and Asian influences, reminiscent of the film Akira, with elevated streets looping around buildings, has replaced the Gothic architecture based on early 20th century American city.

The Batman

Gotham City in The Batman shares many similarities to Gotham depicted in Batman Begins, resembling a darker in architecture. Elements of art deco, albeit toned down, are prevalent as well. The sky is almost always colored red or green when depicted at night. Landmarks in the series include Lady Gotham, with an outstretched arm holding a sword and the other holding a shield. Wayne Manor is positioned in Gotham City itself, and has a taller, less stately appearance, resembling New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel in parts.

Landmarks in other media

Batman: The Animated Series

*The Statue of Justice — The statue varies from the comics in that she is shown holding a shield and a torch.

*Stonegate Prison — The city's main prison as opposed to "Blackgate" in the comics.

Batman Beyond

*Crime Alley — Bruce Wayne used his influence to keep the street preserved during the rebuilding of Gotham, making it the only part of the present-day Gotham City to remain.

Batman (1989 film)

*Axis Chemicals — The factory where Red Hood fell into a vat of chemicals and became the Joker. The name differs from Ace Chemical Processing Inc. in the comics.

Batman Begins

*The Narrows — An island in the middle of the Gotham River, situated between Uptown and Downtown Gotham. It is home to a severely dilapidated and crumbling neighborhood, as well as the infamous Arkham Asylum. The area is so dangerous cops only go there in force. It is connected to the main parts of the city by nine drawbridges, as evidenced by the map commissioned by Christopher Nolan. The novelization, however, stated the Narrows had three bridges and a tunnel connecting it to Gotham proper. The tunnel (called the Battery Tunnel) appeared in Batman Begins (video game).

The Dark Knight

*The Palisades - Mentioned by Bruce Wayne as being the site of Wayne Manor, apparently on the outskirts of the city, to the extent that Harvey Dent isn't sure if it's within Gotham City.

Alternate officers of the law

Batman (1960s TV show)

*Chief O’Hara, played by Stafford Repp.

Batman (1989 film)

*Lieutenant Max Eckhardt, played by William Hootkins. A corrupt cop echoing some of the Pre-Crisis aspects of Harvey Bullock.

Birds of Prey (TV series from 2002-2003)

*Detective Jesse Reese - Was played by Shemar Moore. The only honest cop in New Gotham who can help the Birds of Prey.

The Batman (TV series started in 2004)

*Chief Angel Rojas — Edward James Olmos and Jesse Corti provide his voice for this show.

*Detective Ellen Yin — Ming-Na provides her voice in this show.

*Detective Ethan Bennett — He is a childhood friend of Bruce Wayne's. Due to a chemical created by the Joker, he becomes the first Clayface for this series. Steve Harris provides his voice.

The Dark Knight

*Detective Stephens, played by Keith Szarabajka. A police veteran echoing the post-crisis version of Harvey Bullock.

*Detective Anna Ramirez, played by Monique Curnen. Echoe's Rene Montoya.

*Detective Wuretz, played by Ron Dean.

Mayors in other media

Batman (1960s live-action TV series)

*Mayor Linseed, played by Byron Keith. His name was a play on the name of New York City's then-mayor, John Lindsay. The governor of "Gotham State" was Stonefeller (as opposed to Nelson Rockefeller, who was governor of New York State during the same period). There was also a West River (as opposed to New York's East River), and "Bernie Park's Gallery", compared to the real Park Bernet Gallery.

Batman (1989 film)

*William Borg, played by Lee Wallace.

Batman Returns

*Hamilton Hill, played by Michael Murphy.

Batman Forever

*An unnamed mayor played by George Wallace.

The Dark Knight

*Anthony Garcia, played by Nestor Carbonell.

Batman: The Animated Series

*Hamilton Hill — Lloyd Bochner provides his voice in this television show. In Batman Beyond, there is a high school named after him.

The Batman (TV series started in 2004)

*Marion Grange — In a divergence from the comics, Grange is a male character. Adam West, who played Batman in the first television series, provides his voice.

*Hamilton Hill - The new mayor of Gotham after Grange retires. In the TV series, he is portrayed as an African American. Lex Lang provides his voice.

Appearances outside of the comics and Batman media

Gotham is mentioned in Superman Returns as one of several cities where the newly returned Man of Steel operates.

In Kim Newman's alternate history novel The Bloody Red Baron, Gotham and its university are briefly mentioned.

Gotham is mentioned in Alan Moore's The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier as being visited by Mina Murray and Alan Quatermain, as well as being home to the Crimson Avenger.

Sister cities

References

Sources

Brady, Matthew and Williams, Dwight. Daily Planet Guide to Gotham City. Honesdale, Pennsylvania: West End Games under license from DC Comics, 2000.
Brown, Eliot. "Gotham City Skyline". Secret Files & Origins Guide to the DC Universe 2000. New York: DC Comics, 2000.
Grant, Alan. "The Last Arkham". Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1. New York: DC Comics, 1992.
Loeb, Jeph. Batman: The Long Halloween. New York: DC Comics, 1997.
Miller, Frank. Batman: Year One. New York: DC Comics, 1988.
Morrison, Grant. Arkham Asylum. New York: DC Comics, 1990.
O'Neil, Dennis. "Destroyer". Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #27. New York: DC Comics, 1992.