Gotham City

**Gotham City** is a fictional city in comic books published by the American company DC Comics. It first appeared in *Detective Comics* #33 (November 1939), but its first appearance in *Swamp Thing* comics was in *Swamp Thing* #7 (December 1973). It was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.

## History

Gotham City, or simply Gotham, is an American city rife with corruption and crime. It is the home of its iconic protector Batman.

### Origins

The origins of Gotham City are some shrouded in mystery. Many millenniums ago, an evil warlock was buried alive beneath what would one day become the central island of Gotham. It is alleged that while the warlock laid in a state of torpor, his evil essence seeped into the soil, poisoning the ground with his dark, corrupt touch. By the warlock's own reasoning, he claims that he fathered the modern spirit of Gotham City and has even taken to calling himself Doctor Gotham.

The territory surrounding Doctor Gotham's burial spot was also the home of an ancient Native American tribe known as the Miagani. The Miagani inhabited the Gotham islands several centuries before European explorers ever crossed the Atlantic. The Miagani tribe is no longer in existence, and there is much speculation as to their final fate. One posited theory suggests that a shaman named Blackfire came to them, proclaiming to be a holy messenger. Within short order, however, Blackfire took control of the Miagani and proved to be a cruel and evil tyrant. The Miagani chieftain, Chief Paleface, demanded that Blackfire leave the tribe. Unfortunately, the shaman would not be silenced, and he struck down Paleface with his staff, killing him. The other Miagani revolted against Blackfire. They shot him with their arrows and tied him to a pole to die. Blackfire didn't die though, so the Miagani sealed him inside of a cave. They erected a totem in front of the tomb as a warning sign of the evil that resided within. Some sources cite that Shaman Blackfire emerged from the cave and used his power to cause a blight across the land. As such, the Miagani had little choice but to abandon their homes in search of fertile ground. Two days into their journey, a rival tribe came upon them and slaughtered all of the Miagani. Some legends, however, say that it was actually Shaman Blackfire who murdered them.

### 17th century

In 1609, the Dutch East India Company selected English explorer Henry Hudson to chart an easterly passage to Asia. Along his journey, he surveyed the Northeastern coastal region of what would one day become the United States. Following Hudson's course, Dutch pioneers sailed for this New World and began populating the region once inhabited by the Miagani. The pioneers established themselves in two different colonies. One colony was set up along the shore where fishing was plentiful, and the other was developed further inland. The latter colony came upon the sealed cave with the Miagani totem erected before it. Unaware of its significance, they ignored the totem's warning and loosed Shaman Blackfire from the cave. The colonists were never seen again. Two days later, men from the coastal community traveled to visit their inland brothers. When they arrived in the village, they found the town deserted. Pools of blood dotted the streets, but there were no bodies. A trapper claimed to have seen the image of a naked Indian walking from the woods to the settlement.

### 19th Century

During the latter half of the 18th century and the early half of the 19th century, Gotham was a major port city known as Gotham Town. Beginning as early as 1799, Darius Wayne began construction on a family estate that would eventually become known as Wayne Manor.

On January 1, 1800, the frontiersman known as Tomahawk became embroiled in a fight with a British spy named Lord Gerald Shilling. Shilling had disguised himself as Tomahawk's close ally Stovepipe in order to get in close enough to procure a piece of mystical amber that Tomahawk had acquired from occultist Jason Blood years earlier. The two fought one another inside of an immense, bat-filled cavern not far from the Wayne estate. During the fight, the piece of amber fell into a stream of molten fluid. Shilling reached to retrieve it, and the amber fused itself to his hand, mummifying his entire arm. Tomahawk severed the arm and returned with it to Gotham Town. The arm and amber later became known as the Claw of Aelkhünd. The cavern in which the two fought one another would later service modern age superhero Batman as the Batcave.

In 1840, Gotham underwent a major urban planning initiated by Judge Solomon Wayne and architect Cyrus Pinkney that laid the foundation of Gotham City. Under Wayne's commission, Pinkney's design was meant to invoke a "bulwark against the godlessness of the wilds wherein we may nurture the gifts of Christian civilization and be protected from the savagery which lurks in untamed nature."[6] Pinkney saw his designs as an organic whole, almost a living being that would itself fight against evil. Gargoyles to frighten people onto the path of righteousness; rounded edges to confuse malevolent beings; thick walls to lock in virtue. It also had many elevated walkways, with some buildings connected to each other in such a way as they could not stand alone. Although vehemently criticized by Wayne's fellow Gothamites, the edifice pleased the judge and, in fact, was highly successful in that it attracted others to locate their ventures nearby - which in fact became the focal point for a thriving commercial center in Gotham's financial district. Together Wayne and Pinkney raised no fewer than a dozen other similar buildings. Pinkney's "Gotham Style" structure, for a time, was widely imitated, both in Gotham and elsewhere despite universal vilification in the architectural world.

In 1895, the legend of Solomon Grundy was born when Gothamite Cyrus Gold, through varying accounts, came to his death in Slaughter Swamp that led to his transformation into the undead being who would emerge to the public fifty years later.

By the end of the century, Gotham City became a bustling hub of industry. However, it also became a haven for crime, known more for its poverty, the squalidity of its slums and the utter corruption of its government than for commercial and cultural achievements.

### 20th Century

By the 1930s, crime and corruption had reached a significant height in Gotham in which it became immortally characterized as a dark foreboding metropolis. At the same time, however, Gotham became the home of two of the earliest super-heroes: the Golden Age Green Lantern and Black Canary. Eventually, the Justice Society of America would even make its headquarters in Gotham for a short while. However, no matter what good these forces managed to do, the city remained in the control of organized crime.

During the 1950s, Gotham evolved with the changing times, particularly in light of the paranoia perpetuated by the Cold War. Various bomb shelters were erected all throughout the city. By the 1960s, Gotham City planners began an ambitious project called the Underground Highway. Beginning at Fourth Avenue, they began building an actual subterranean thoroughfare designed to link with the subway system. They only managed to complete two-hundred yards worth of tunnel before budget cuts forced them to abandon the project. In later years, the unfinished highway became a haven for the homeless and even a few criminals such as Killer Croc.

Crime in Gotham would continue to proliferate in the later half of the century. This increase in criminal activity would provide Gotham to host its iconic superhero, Batman. Other vigilantes such as Robin, Batgirl, and the Huntress appeared in the years that followed, countering the increased evil with their presence. But with heroes, Gotham was also introduced to a number of outlandish, yet very dangerous supervillains such as the Joker, the Penguin, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Riddler, and Scarecrow.

### No Man's Land

Shortly following Ra's al Ghul's attempt to contaminate Gotham with a deadly virus, the city suffered an magnitude 7.6 earthquake in an event commonly referred to as the "Cataclysm". With hopes for rehabilitating the broken city, the United States government declared it a "No Man's Land", which effectively quarantined the entire island city. Eventually, thanks in no small part to the financial and political machinations of Lex Luthor — dipping his hands, as ever, in both legitimate and illegal means to achieve his goals — Gotham City was released and rebuilt, and rejoined the United States.

### War Games

Gotham later fell into a massive gang war between many of the city's major criminal groups following a botched contingency plan created by Batman that was implemented by Stephanie Brown (without Batman's permission). The end results allowed the crime lord Black Mask to single-handedly rule over the city's organized crime until his death at the hands of Catwoman and a temporary police arrest warrant on vigilantes until being revoked by Police Commissioner James Gordon.

### Battle for the Cowl

Gotham was once again victim of chaos when word about Batman's death spread. Criminals all over the city tried to claim their own territory while the heroes and vigilantes tried to keep the situation under control, with much more success than the GCPD. However, chaos and violence were rampant in Gotham in which the National Guard was forced to intervene and create a citywide curfew.

### Challengers Mountain

When the Bat-God Barbatos and his underlings The Dark Knights launched their attack on Prime Earth, the centrestage of their invasion was Gotham City. The dark energies involved wiped out a huge portion of the city by erupting a giant mountain (Challenger's Mountain) into the city centre, which subsequently served as a base for The Batman Who Laughs.

## Points of Interest

### Neighborhoods

* Brideshead
* Burnley
* Burnside
* Cherry Hill
* Chinatown
* Devil's Square
* East End
* Crime Alley
* Gotham Heights
* Gotham Village
* Miller Harbor
* Otisburg
* The Hill
* The Narrows
* Tricorner

### Parks and Recreational areas

* Robinson Park
* Grant Park

### Museums

* Gotham Children's Museum
* Gotham Museum of Antiquities
* Gotham Natural History Museum
* Wedgwood Museum

### Waterways

* Gotham River
* Sprang River
* Finger River
* Hinkley Creek

### Schools

* Dillon Academy
* Evanston High School
* J.J. Carmody Senior High School
* Louis E. Grieve Memorial High School
* Gotham Academy
* Gotham Heights High School
* Gotham City High School
* Gotham University
* Widow Creek Elementary

### Other Public Locations

* Amusement Mile
* Archie Goodwin International Airport
* Gotham City General Hospital
* Gotham City Hall
* Gotham City Police Headquarters
* Gotham Public Library
* Gotham Zoo
* Sacred Heart Convalescent Home
* Saint Eligius Medical Center
* St. Michael's Square
* Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic
* West Mercy Hospital

### Businesses

* Ace Chemical Processing Plant
* Gotham Opera House/Vauxhall Opera Shell and Indoor Concert Center
* Caroline's Diner
* S.T.A.R. Labs
* Monarch Theater
* Noonan's Bar
* O'Shaughnessy's
* Peregrinator's Club
* Rags 'n Tatters
* Sea-Fine Seafood
* Silver Lake Shopping Plaza
* Sundollar
* Tobacconists' Club
* Wayne Enterprises
* Wayne Aerospace
* Wayne Industries

### Media

* Gotham Broadcasting Company
* Gotham Gazette
* WXYZ Radio
* Gotham Eagle

### Other Locales

* Arkham Asylum
* Batcave
* Blackgate Penitentiary
* Club Vesuvius
* Finnigan's
* Gotham State Penitentiary
* Hall of Justice
* Iceberg Lounge
* Jason Blood's Apartment
* Justice Society Headquarters
* My Alibi
* Shadowcrest
* Slaughter Swamp
* The Stacked Deck
* Toxic Acres
* Wayne Manor
* Wayne Tower

## Residents

### Heroes

* Batman
* Azrael
* Batgirl (Barbara Gordon)
* Batwoman
* Cassandra Cain
* Creeper
* Grim Ghost
* Green Lantern (Alan Scott)
* Huntress (Helena Bertinelli)
* Ragman (Rory Regan)
* Robin/Nightwing (Dick Grayson)
* Robin/Red Hood (Jason Todd)
* Robin/Red Robin (Tim Drake)
* Robin (Damian Wayne)
* Spoiler (Stephanie Brown)

### Villains

* Anarky
* Bane
* Black Mask
* Black Spider
* Blockbuster (Mark Desmond)
* Blockbuster (Roland Desmond)
* Calculator
* Calendar Man
* Catman
* Catwoman
* Cavalier
* Charlatan
* Cheater
* Clayface
* Cluemaster
* Crazy Quilt
* Crime Doctor
* Deadshot
* Doctor Death
* Doctor Double X
* Doctor Phosphorus
* Electrocutioner
* Etrigan
* Film Freak
* Firebug
* Firefly
* Harley Quinn
* Hugo Strange
* Hush (Thomas Elliot)
* Johnny Warlock
* Joker
* KGBeast
* Killer Moth
* King Snake
* Kite-Man
* Lockup
* Lynx
* Mad Hatter
* Magpie
* Man-Bat
* Maxie Zeus
* Mister Freeze
* Nocturna
* Penguin
* Poison Ivy
* Polka Dot Man
* Red
* The Riddler
* Rupert Thorne
* Scarecrow
* Solomon Grundy
* The Terrible Trio
* Tiger Moth
* Tweedle-Dee
* Tweedle-Dum
* Two-Face
* Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong
* Victor Zsasz
* Warlock's Daughter

### Others

* Alberto Falcone
* Alfred Pennyworth
* Anthony Zucco
* Ariana Dzerchenko
* Carmine Falcone
* Colin Wilkes
* Crispus Allen
* Crystal Brown
* Daniel Danforth Dickerson III
* David Hull
* Dinah Drake
* Francine Langstrom
* Glenda Mark
* Harvey Bullock
* Irene Miller
* Jack Drake
* James Gordon
* Janice Porter
* Jason Bard
* Jason Blood
* Jeremiah Arkham
* Joe Chill
* Leslie Thompkins
* Lucius Fox
* Martha Wayne
* Mia Mizoguchi
* Olive Silverlock
* Randu Singh
* Rebecca Langstrom
* Renee Montoya
* Robert Langstrom
* Rupert Thorne
* Sarah Essen
* Sebastian Ives
* Shondra Kinsolving
* Silver St. Cloud
* Sofia Falcone
* Tamara Fox
* Thomas Wayne
* Tommy Monaghan
* Tiffany Fox
* Tony Zucco
* Tristan Grey
* Vicki Vale
* Zoanne Wilkins
* Arkham Family
* Cobblepot Family
* Kane Family
* Wayne Family

### Sports Teams

#### Baseball

* Gotham City Eagles
* Gotham Giants
* Gotham Goliaths
* Gotham Griffins
* Gotham Guardians
* Gotham High Hawks
* Gotham Knights
* Gotham Mammoths

#### Basketball

* Gotham Gators
* Gotham Goliaths
* Gotham Guardsmen
* Gotham Knights

#### Football

* Gotham Knights
* Gotham Academy Grackles
* Gotham City Wildcats
* Gotham High Titans
* Gotham Rogues
* Gotham University Nighthawks

#### Hockey

* Gotham Blades
* Gotham City Giants
* Gotham City Knights

## In other media

*Main article: Gotham City in other media*