Gotham City

**Gotham City** is a fictional city which is the home of Batman, a DC Comics character. It became Batman's home in 1941. Gotham was a village in England, near Nottingham, where the people were believed to be evil, greedy or insane.

## Background

Gotham City is usually shown to be in the U.S. state of New York.Gotham's look and atmosphere were inspired by New York City, Chicago and London.

Author Washington Irving was the first person to describe New York as Gotham in his 1807 book, _Salmagundi_.

## Media

In Christopher Nolan's _Batman Begins_, and _The Dark Knight_, Gotham City is based in Chicago. _The Dark Knight Rises_ Gotham City is based in Pittsburgh, New York City, and Los Angeles.

Christopher Nolan based Gotham City on Chicago, New York City, and London. When Bob Kane first thought of a city he wanted it to be like New York City, London, and Chicago. Bill Finger was about to name the city "Civic City".

### In comics

The first Mayor of Gotham seen in the comics was not named. He was drawn to look like Fiorello H. LaGuardia, who was mayor of New York City.

- Bruce Wayne was the Mayor of Gotham City for a week.
- Mayor **Hayes** was introduced in _Batman_ #207 (Dec. 1968). His first name was not known.
- Mayor **Theodore Cobblepot** was the great-grandfather of Penguin. He had the longest time in office of all the mayors of Gotham City. He is mentioned in _Gotham Underground_ #9 (August 2008).
- Mayor **Thorndike** appears in the flashbacks from the "Made of Wood" storyline (_Detective Comics_ #784-786). He was killed by the original Made of Wood Killer on July 17, 1948. His first name was not given.
- Mayor **Wilson Klass** was mayor during Batman's early years. He first appeared in the "Prey" storyline from _Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight_.
- Mayor Hamilton Hill was a corrupt politician who became mayor through the dealings of Rupert Thorne. He became mayor in _Detective Comics_ #511 (February 1982). During his early time in office, he helped in Thorne's attempts to identify and defeat Batman. He fired Police Commissioner James Gordon and replaced him with one of Thorne's lieutenants, Peter Pauling. Hill last appeared in _Batman_ #381 (March 1985) in the Pre-Crisis DC universe. Lloyd Bochner provides the voice of Mayor Hamilton Hill in _Batman: The Animated Series_. In _The Batman_, he is voiced by Lex Lang. He also briefly appears in the _Young Justice_ episode "Alpha Male", in which he is voiced by Corey Burton.
- Mayor **Skowcroft** appeared in _Swamp Thing_ #53 (October 1986). He tried to prevent panic when the city was under attack by Swamp Thing. He is also mentioned in Batman #389 (November 1985) and appears in Detective Comics #553 (August 1985).
- Mayor **Julius Lieberman** plays a major role in _Batman Versus Predator_ #1 (1991) and also appears in _Batman: Run, Riddler, Run_ #1-3 and _Justice Society of America_ (vol. 2) #1.
- Mayor **Armand Krol** first appeared in _Detective Comics_ #647 (August 1992). Like Hamilton Hill, he did not like Commissioner Gordon. Krol also did not like Batman until the "Knightfall" series, during which Batman saved his life. Krol died of the "Clench" virus released by Ra's al Ghul in the "Legacy" story arc (_Detective Comics_ #699, July 1996).
- Mayor **Marion Grange** was elected during the crisis caused by the Clench virus. She replaced Krol, who was not doing a good job. She re-appointed James Gordon as Police Commissioner (_Robin_ #28, April 1996). She remained mayor until Gotham was hit by an earthquake in the "No Man's Land" story arc. She was killed by agents of Nick Scratch. Grange appeared as a male in _The Batman_, and was voiced by Adam West. The male version was also featured in the _Beware the Batman_ episode "Broken".
- Mayor **Charles Chesterfield** was killed by a strange biological disease that removed fat cells from the human body.
- Mayor **Daniel Danforth Dickerson III** was mayor from the end of _No Man's Land_ through the early 2000s. He was a corrupt mayor. He was killed by the Joker in _Gotham Central_ #12.
- Mayor **David Hull** was mayor through the mid-2000s.
- Mayor **Sebastian Hady** was introduced in _Batman_ as a very corrupt and mean politician. He was taken hostage by Azrael (Michael Lane) during the events of "Judgement on Gotham", but was rescued by Red Robin.

## In other media

Some of the mayors listed above also appeared in television series and movies about Batman. There are some series and movies that have their own Mayors of Gotham City:

- The 1960s television series _Batman_ featured Mayor **Linseed** (played by Byron Keith). His name was a reference to the name of the mayor of New York City at the time, John Lindsay. The governor of "Gotham State" was named Stonefellow (a reference to Nelson Rockefeller who was governor of New York State during the same period).
- The movie _Batman_ (1989) featured Mayor **William Borg**, played by Lee Wallace.
- _Batman Forever_ (1995) featured an unnamed mayor (played by George Wallace).
- _Gotham Knight_ (2008) featured a Mayor **Manning** who was killed by Deadshot.
- _The Dark Knight_ (2008) and _The Dark Knight Rises_ (2012) featured Mayor **Anthony Garcia**, played by Nestor Carbonell. He was mayor during the Joker's reign of terror. He survived an assassination attempt by the Joker thanks to James Gordon, who took the bullet for him and faked his own death to catch the Joker. Because of his efforts in both situations, Garcia promotes Gordon to succeed Gillian B. Loeb as police commissioner after Loeb was killed. After the death of Harvey Dent, he signs the "Dent Act", giving Commissioner Gordon enough police power to arrest every criminal in Gotham. Garcia was killed during a Gotham Rogues football match at the start of the Gotham Revolution.
- The television series _Gotham_ (2014-2019) featured Mayor Aubrey James, played by Richard Kind. Aubrey James is the long-term mayor of Gotham City. He is a corrupt political figure, formerly under the control of Carmine Falcone and The Court of Owls.
- The television series _Gotham_ (2014-2019) featured Mayor Burke in Season 4, episode 19.
- _The Batman_ (2022) features Mayor Mitchell, played by Rupert Penry-Jones.