Jim Gordon

"*From the first day I put on the badge, I was told things could never change. Gotham was corrupt. GCPD was corrupt. Criminals and lowlifes ran things. You just showed me different.*" —Jim Gordon to Gotham Central

## Biographical Information

### Aliases

James (real name)
Detective Gordon
Dad by Liam Gordon,Luna Stone-Gordon,Owen Stone,Aaron Stone
Jim by Barbara Kean

### Occupation

Police Detective at the GCPD
Father

## Family Information

### Family Members

Barbara Kean (wife)
Luna Stone-Gordon (stepdaughter)
Owen Stone (stepson)
Aaron Stone (stepson)
Liam Gordon (adoptive son)

## Supernatural Information

### Affiliation

Gotham City Police Department Detective (currently)

**James Worthington "Jim" Gordon** is the commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department. He is the son of the late Peter Gordon, the nephew of the late Frank Gordon, the best friend/partner of Harvey Bullock, the ex-fiancé/ex-lover of Barbara Kean, the father of Barbara Lee Gordon, the husband of Lee Thompkins, the ex-boyfriend of Valerie Vale and the ex-lover of Sofia Falcone. He started as a homicide detective within the GCPD. After being demoted to traffic duty by the corrupt then-police commissioner Gillian Loeb, Jim collected debt for Oswald Cobblepot to get his job back. He later murdered Theo Galavan, afterward was framed for Carl Pinkney's murder by Edward Nygma. After escaping from prison and clearing his name, Jim decided against re-joining the GCPD and sought to solve the mystery of who was behind the Waynes' murders once and for all.

Later on, after being dosed with the "Red Queen" drug by Jervis Tetch, he went through a hallucinogenic experience which helped him come to terms with his past enough to convince himself to re-join the GCPD as a detective once again. After he was infected with the Alice Tetch virus, Jim was going to leave Gotham with Lee until Bullock convinced Jim to cure himself and Lee. When Penguin came up with a new license of crime, Jim looked to Carmine Falcone for help but actually ended up working with his daughter, Sofia. Jim is later promoted to the rank of captain after saving a squad of cops from Professor Pyg's trap.

After Gotham is reduced to a lawless no man's land by Ra's al Ghul and Jeremiah Valeska, Gordon remains with Harvey, Lucius Fox, and a dozen other cops to fight for the evacuated city. He activates a searchlight atop the GCPD, intended both to draw his enemies out of hiding and as a beacon of hope.

During the events of the No Man's Land crisis, Jim has a brief fling with his ex-fiance Barbara, which led to her getting pregnant. The subject of the pregnancy garnered conflict between him and Lee which was eventually put to rest when the two of them finally get married in a ceremony inside the GCPD. Following the end of the No Man's Land crisis and Gotham joining the mainland, Jim was promoted to commissioner of the GCPD, a position he would serve in for 10 years.

## Biography

### Early life

Jim Gordon grew up within the suburbs of Gotham City, as the son of a successful but corrupt district attorney Peter Gordon. He was sheltered as a child, giving him a different perspective of Gotham as a child, opposite to the one he would be exposed to during his career as a police detective. As a child, he favored his mother and resented his father's strength. When Gordon was nine and riding in the car with his father their car was hit by another car and Gordon watched his father die. Gordon and everyone else believed Michael Ness, the other driver, was drunk at the time but in reality, he'd been hired to kill Peter Gordon. In his later years, he joined the army and became a war hero by the time he retired from the service. During his time in the army, he had saved and befriended another soldier, Eduardo Dorrance. He also became engaged to Barbara Kean at some point. After returning to his home city, Jim joined the Gotham City Police Department in hopes of cleaning up and saving the city which he had romanticized in his mind over the years.

### Joining the GCPD

"*I know how you feel right now. And I promise you, however dark and scary the world might be right now... there will be light. There will be light, Bruce.*"
—Jim Gordon to Bruce Wayne[src]
As his first case, Detective Jim and his partner Harvey Bullock was assigned the case of Thomas and Martha Wayne's murder. After arriving at the crime scene, Jim comforted the Waynes' son, Bruce, who had survived the ordeal, promising him that he would do everything in his power to find the murderer and bring him to justice. Though several of his colleagues berated him for doing so, insisting he and Bullock drop the case as it would bring unwanted attention, Gordon continued looking for leads anyway, determined to keep his promise to Bruce. After several cold leads and unproductive interrogations, Jim was taken to Fish Mooney's Nightclub by Harvey Bullock, to see if they could further their leads on the investigation. The two Detectives were led to a recently paroled felon, named Mario Pepper who was rumored to have attempted to sell Martha Wayne's stolen pearl necklace. After arriving and interrogating Pepper at his apartment, the Detectives requested to search the premises. Nervous because of this, Pepper made a run for it. After making the two chase him through the streets of Gotham, Jim cornered Pepper in an alleyway in which the two fought, and Pepper bested him in combat. However, Bullock, shot him before he could kill James. Returning to Pepper's apartment, the GCPD found Martha Wayne's pearl necklace within a box belonging to Pepper.

Jim would later go onto discovered Pepper was simply framed and wasn't the Waynes' murderer, after being questioned to whether he had taken any part in the heinous act by Barbara. Nevertheless, Jim mentioned the possibility to Bullock, not sure of whether his partner would tell him the truth, Jim went to Fish in search of his answer, finding out from her that the Mario Pepper was in fact, framed. He was then beaten and captured by Fish Mooney and her associates. Bullock later went searching for him and was captured alongside him. The two were freed by Carmine Falcone, the head of the Falcone Crime Family in Gotham, as well as an old friend of Jim's deceased father. In return, Jim was asked to kill Oswald Cobblepot, a former umbrella man for Fish Mooney, who had snitched to the Major Crimes Unit. However, when brought to the docks and faced down with the decision of whether to kill Cobblepot or not, Jim faked Cobblepot's death, pushing him into the Gotham River, and ordering him never to come back to Gotham.

In the weeks following, Jim and Bullock investigated the death of a homeless war veteran, discovering it was connected to recent kidnappings of homeless children, by people claiming to be with the Mayor's Homeless Outreach Program. After reporting this to Captain Essen, she demanded the two get to the bottom of the case, though not before emphasizing that neither of them goes to the press about this. Later that night while having dinner with Barbara, he mentioned the case which provoked her to call the Gotham Gazette with the news, anonymously, despite Jim telling her not to. The next day after narrowing down the suspects, Jim and Bullock arrived at Quillinformer, one of the pharmaceutical manufacturers suspected of supplying the snatchers with ATP, a drug previously used at Arkham Asylum to put the patients to sleep. There, the two detectives discovered the snatchers and a group of the missing homeless children.

Although the two kidnappers escaped, Jim and Bullock were able to recover the children, allowing Mayor Aubrey James to send them all upstate. The Gotham City Police Department soon learned the buses taking the children upstate had been hijacked by the child snatchers. Jim and Bullock attempted to discern their location by interrogating Morry Quillan who was in GCPD custody, learning from him that the truck the snatchers used had a plate with a fork on it. After getting every truck with a plate on a fork on it searched, Jim realized it wasn't a fork that was on the truck, it was a trident. Jim arrived at Trident Intercontinental Shipping, just in time to save Selina Kyle, and rescue the other homeless children who were in the process of being ready to be shipped overseas. At the GCPD headquarters, he later learned from Selina that she had seen the Waynes' killed, and the face of their murderer.

Jim and Bullock were later assigned to investigate the death of con man Ronald Danzer, who was killed when a man tied him to a balloon and let him fly away. At the same time, Montoya and her partner Crispus Allen asked Jim about what happened to Cobblepot. Jim denied knowing about him, and Montoya later visited Barbara at her house to discuss Jim's "corruption" - Barbara refused to believe Montoya and told her to leave. Jim later met Bill Cranston, a lieutenant of the GCPD at the office, and shortly after, Cranston was killed by the vigilante with a balloon as he beat down a drug dealer. The Balloonman was becoming a real threat to the police, so Jim and Bullock traced stolen balloons to Carl Smikers. Smikers told them that he sold the balloons to an unknown man but told him that there were only four; after Cardinal Quinn's death, there was one left. Jim's boss Sarah Essen ordered Jim and Bullock to find the man as soon as possible, and Jim then had a hunch that the Balloonman was living in the old orphanage. When they headed there, they found Davis Lamond, who held Bullock at gunpoint while telling Jim about his reasons for the murders - he wanted to bring justice to corrupt officials. Unswayed, Jim was then shot at by Lamond, but he was able to beat him down. Bullock tied Lamond to a balloon and let it go, but Jim sensed that this was the wrong thing to do and grabbed Lamond's leg, flying with him. Bullock reluctantly shot the balloon and Lamond was put on a stretcher to enter an ambulance, and Jim found out that Lamond's next target "didn't matter"; it could be any corrupt official in the city. When Jim returned to his apartment, he returned to Barbara, but a man knocked on the door. Barbara opened the door and let the man in, and it turned out to be Oswald Cobblepot, who needed to talk with Gordon.

Jim walked Cobblepot to the street, where he furiously berated him for coming back. However, Cobblepot then offered to work for Gordon as his underworld informer, telling Jim that though other lies to him, he would never lie to him. Jim questioned him about the "war" he spoke of us, and Oswald told him that war was just another form of politics and that it was all centered around Arkham. A couple of teenagers then arrived laughing and shouting, giving Cobblepot the opportunity to take off. The next day, Gordon is assigned the case of Councilman Ron Jenkins' murder. He later meets with Alfred to inquire about the Waynes' plan for Arkham. With the information he gets from Alfred, Gordon discovers that Jenkins was working for Falcone. After Councilman Zeller was killed, Gordon and Bullock learned that Zeller and Jenkins had been killed by the same killer. Gordon and Bullock visited another hitman at a prison, bribing him for information about the Councilman's killer, learning his name was Gladwell and his job location. The Detectives quickly went to the Lansky building where they failed to intercept Gladwell, though found a paper at his desk with the letters C, L, and M written on it. Jim later is told about Renee Montoya and Barbara Kean's relationship by the latter, when Barbara questions him about Cobblepot. Gordon received a call from Oswald informing him that Maroni had planned to attack a politician that night. Jim quickly went to get a list with the names of the policemen assigned to protect the city councilmen and noted that Officers Campos, Lazenby, and Martins were in charge of guarding the mayor. With time running out, Gordon went to the mayor's house where he discovered that none of the police officers were present. Knocking on the Mayor's door, Gordon informed Mayor James that he thought someone was coming to kill him. While trying to escape with Mayor James, Gordon encountered Richard Gladwell, and the two engaged each other in combat with Gladwell gaining the upper hand. However, Bullock arrived threatening to shoot if Gladwell didn't back away. Soon after Gladwell, attempted to finish his job to kill the mayor, despite being surrounded by Gordon and Bullock. This caused the two Detectives to fire at Gladwell, killing him.

Gordon and Bullock who were in the middle of lunch, hear the sound of the alarm and went to the store where the owner informs them that the attacker had stolen his ATM, with his bare hands. At the GCPD, Gordon and Bullock went over the evidence they had obtained with Captain Essen. Gordon and Bullock began to explore Gotham in search of information about the drug addict musician, Benny, who they ended up finding under a bridge. There, surrounded by milk containers, Benny asks them to find the man with the mangled ear for more of the drug that he gave him before trying to attack them and afterward dropped dead before Gordon and Bullock. Gordon and Bullock later received a visit from Taylor Reece, a public relations lawyer for WellZyn, quickly assuring them that WellZyn had no connection to it, after hearing about the man with a mangled ear she blames Stan Potolsky, a former employee of WellZyn. When Harvey leaves to get an arrest warrant for Potolsky, Jim receives a visit from Frankie Carbone who persuades him to accompany him to talk about Oswald Cobblepot. Arriving at Bamonte's, Gordon is greeted by Maroni who orders him to tell him the story Penguin had told him, or else Gordon and Cobblepot would both be killed. Reluctantly Jim is forced to tell Maroni everything, including the murder of the Waynes, the death of Mario Pepper and faking Cobblepot's death. Ecstatic that the two stories matched, Jim was allowed to leave by Maroni. Jim returns to GCPD where among the things left by Potolsky at WellZyn is a photograph of him with an old college professor of his. The Detectives then went to Gotham University where they discovered Professor Isaac Steiner assisted Potolosky, and they were then attacked by Steiner who had inhaled a vial of Viper. Gordon is forced to shoot down the old man as he got the upper hand of Bullock. Though before he died, the Professor informs them that Potolosky would strike back against Wayne Enterprises. There, Gordon went to the roof in order to to get Potolosky to stop the spread of Viper. Though already having fulfilled his plan to expose WellZyn, Potolosky asks Bullock and Gordon to visit Warehouse 39 before throwing himself off the ledge of the building to his death. Later, Gordon and Bullock visited the Warehouse but are surprised to find an empty lab inside.

Arriving at the scene of a crime, Gordon was informed by Bullock of what they were dealing with, and the two went to see Amanda Hastings' parents, where they inquired whether they knew anyone who would want to cause harm to Amanda. There they meet the Hasting family's therapist, Dr. Marks, who specialized in hypnotherapy. The two Detectives were unable to get any useful information out of Mr. Hastings. Comparing the murders of the Spirit of the Goat in the past with the murders committed by the Goat's imitator, Gordon realizes that in the absence of signs of intrusion into the homes of the victims, perhaps the murderer had a set of keys to their homes, which would only be available to some of the companies responsible for providing clean services. In the medical examiner's room, Gordon and Bullock attended the autopsy of Amanda Hastings to verify that the murder had been executed following the same exact methodology of the Goat. After discovering that the imitator had a penny into the back of the head of Amanda Hastings, Gordon and Bullock were sent to see Bullock's former partner Dix. He theorized that Randall Milkie hadn't worked alone in the past and instead had been apart of a conspiracy. The two began to argue, and when the Detectives began to leave, Gordon was told by Dix to watch out for Bullock as he was a loose cannon and thought of himself as a hero. They later find Ember Copley at an abandoned theater, and Gordon freed her while Bullock went after the Goat. Afterward, Gordon goes to help Bullock, knocking the Goat unconscious. Gordon is later arrested at the GCPD by Montoya and Allen of killing Oswald Cobblepot, despite Jim's objections that he hadn't killed Cobblepot, he isn't believed until Oswald Cobblepot arrives.

After the Penguin is discovered to be alive, Gordon, attempted to call Barbara to ask her to leave the city but is forced off the phone, when Bullock punches him and attempts to assassinate him, in order to placate Falcone. Gordon is able to disarm him, and returns home and quickly defeats both Gilzean and his associate. Fearing for Barbara's life, Gordon takes her to the bus station where he asks her to leave for a few days until he solved the situation. Later, Gordon returns to the GCPD, asking Alvarez for several blank arrest warrants signed by Judge Bam Bam. Essen tried to advise Gordon to leave town before he was killed because no one would help him. Victor Zsasz and his two female companions arrived at the GCPD looking for Gordon. A shootout between the two began, with Gordon being wounded in his side, escaping into the parking lot bleeding. While there, Gordon was almost caught by Zsaz, though an officer arriving in the parking lot gave Jim time to escape. Though he ended up getting shot again, this time in the leg. Fortunately, Montoya and Allen arrive on the scene to rescue Gordon. Hours later Gordon woke up in the veterinary department of the Gotham University, where Dr. Thawson managed to extract the bullets. Later, Jim and the Detectives went to Wayne Manor, where the Jim informed Bruce that if something were to happen him, Montoya and Allen would continue with the investigation into the murder of his parents. That night Jim hid out at his home while preparing his arsenal to carry out the suicide mission to arrest Falcone. Surprisingly, he is visited by Bullock, who somewhat drunk, offers his help in the madness that occurred since he figured he was dead either way. The next morning, the two detectives intercepted Mayor James in his limousine and used the Mayor as cover to infiltrate Falcone Manor without being executed. Falcone gave Gordon an ultimatum: trust his word or arrest him, condemning Barbra's life. Reluctantly, the detective decided to trust the word of Falcone, who was proved he wasn't lying calling for Zsaz to bring Barbara. They are later allowed to leave, as Jim had trusted Falcone.

The body of a fallen fighter is found near the river covered in black ink. The case is assigned to Detectives Gordon and Bullock, and it is later identified to be Coleman Lawson. Gordon is charged with finding out the reason Coleman Lawson had been killed, interrogating the victim's mother. Later, having exhausted all their resources, the detectives visit the black market to try and talk to a doctor responsible for dealing with wounded criminals. After squeezing him for information, they got the doctor who treated the man with the missing thumb, after which a card for Sionis Investments fell out of his pocket. With the new lead, Gordon arrested the doctor, which only served to widen the rift between Gordon and his fellow officers, namely Alvarez. Upon returning home, Jim discovered Barbara, who totally consumed by her fear of Zsasz, holding his spare gun after drinking several glasses of wine. He then tried to calm her down. Hours later, Gordon and Bullock reach the Sionis Investments to meet with Richard Sionis, however before meeting with him, they notice several employees with wounds on their faces. Sionis quickly denies Gordon's accusations and being involved in the murder of Coleman Lawson. Gordon does not believe in any of Sionis' excuses about the injuries of his employees, and accuses Sionis of being involved, though Sionis tells him to prove it. While leaving the office, Gordon notices a trail of blood on the floor leading to the bathroom. When Gordon enters, he finally finds the employee whose thumb had been torn off. The two engaged each other in battle, with Gordon ending up on the floor. Fortunately when he tries to flee Harvey Bullock stops him with the door. At the GCPD, Gordon and Bullock find out from a man missing his thumb, Adams, that Sionis ran a sort of circuit where he forced all potential employees to fight to the death for a job. Gordon later reaches an old office complex where he finds three men locked in cages. Unfortunately, before he can release them he is incapacitated by Sionis using an electric baton. Gordon fights against the three individuals until he finally emerges victorious to the dismay of employees Sionis Investments. To everyone's surprise, Richard Sionis appears wearing a black mask and carrying a sword. Jim is forced to dodge the attacks, and using an office object to fight back. Gordon eventually defeats Sionis, with Essen and several other GCPD officers arriving soon after. Later, Detective Alvarez informs him that a teenage thief who had been arrested wanted to talk to him, who Gordon realized was Selina Kyle.

Jim arrives at Barbara's penthouse with Selina Kyle, finding a letter Barbara had left him, telling him that she had gone away for a while as she was still paranoid because of what had happened with Falcone. Gordon proposed a new place to keep Selina safe, Wayne Manor. Later, Gordon visits the Wayne mansion to present Bruce with the drawing of his parent's killer, also asking Bruce and Alfred to accommodate Selina in the mansion until they were able to take the case to trial. Despite not having the support of Alfred, Bruce accepts hosting Selina. Later, Gordon, Montoya, and Allen met with the assistant district attorney Harvey Dent, for help with Wayne murder case. Dent, an idealistic lawyer with strong convictions and a desire to execute justice, states that he believes that the entrepreneur Dick Lovecraft, a rival of Thomas Wayne's, was involved with the Wayne murders. Dent announced his idea of scaring the corrupt of Gotham, and with Gordon's permission decided to spread the word about having a new witness to the Wayne case without confirming their identity. At the GCPD, Gordon and Bullock interrogated Ian's brother, John Hargrove. Nygma informs Gordon and Bullock about the discovery of the distinctive plate between the remains of the bomb that went off last night, which belonged to an abandoned metal factory. Wasting no time, the two detectives arrived at the factory where they found Hargrove working on yet another bomb. Relieved by the Detectives' arrival, he informs them that his captors had threatened to kill his brother and his brother's family, and were Russians led by a guy named Gregor Kasyanov who were trying to strike against Falcone. The Russians then arrive at the factory and started a shootout against the police as to recover Hargrove and his bomb and then escaped. Gordon and Bullock are able to arrive on time to stop the Russians, with reinforcements, but before they could arrest the Russians, Butch, who was located in a position near there, activated the bomb placed under the van, that ends up killing Kasyanov and all his men. Later Bullock informs his partner that Hargrove and all the criminally insane inmates at Blackgate had been transferred to the old Arkham Asylum building by the order of mayor.

Jim and the rest of the police arrive at the manor and during which Bullock discovers Gordon and Harvey Dent's plan to try to solve the murder of the Waynes. This causes an argument between the two partners but Alfred quickly silences the two, because all that mattered at that moment was to find Bruce. Jim offers that the murderer may have been sent by Lovecraft, so he asks Bullock try to find Selina and Bruce as he tried to get Lovecraft to call off the assassins. Gordon confronted Dent to find out how the assassins knew that Selina Kyle was the surprise witness of the Wayne murder case. Reluctantly, Dent confesses to leaking his name to give credibility to the rumor. Given that Lovecraft could not be found anywhere, Dent gives Jim the addresses of several of Lovecraft's condos that he had under the name of his mistress to try to find him. Gordon went to Lovecraft's condo, and finds the entrepreneur there, fearing for his life. Lovecraft denies having sent the murderers after Selina as they were also chasing him. At the precise moment when Lovecraft tried to reach the documents proving his non-involvement in the Wayne murder, the female assassin entered the apartment, subduing Gordon after the two engaged each other in battle. Gordon receives a call from Bullock informing him of the children's location, The Factory, where Selina's fence was based at. Standing up, Gordon begins to search for Lovecraft, finding him in his bathtub, dead, with a shot in the head, that been deliver with Gordon's gun. Jim later arrives at the scene with other police to assist in the effort. The next day Gordon and Dent were lectured by Mayor James, about the death of Lovecraft. Before the media could circulate the story of his murder, the politician decided to pass it off as suicide because of the pressure from the accusations of Gordon. The mayor then told them that one of them would be a scapegoat, picking Gordon, as Dent knew how to walk the line, whereas Gordon didn't. When the news about Lovecraft's death is made public, Gordon is relieved from his duties as a detective and sent to work as a security guard at Arkham Asylum.

Several weeks pass and Jim Gordon begins his job as a security guard for Arkham Asylum. One night in the middle of a play, Frogman Jones loses his sanity and attacks one of the actors, Royston hitting him several times before Gordons and his cohorts manage to stop it. It being another altercation that he should have been prevented, Jim is reprimanded by Director Gerry Lang, who blames him for letting the situation happen in the first place. Moments later, Dr. Leslie Thompkins comes to the infirmary to inspect Royston and meets Jim. Amidst one of his rounds, Gordon discovers a patient in a vegetative-like state complete with a two holes on the side of his head. With the help of Dr. Thompkins, Jim discovers that someone had administered electroshock therapy on the patient, completely frying his brain. After being informed of the situation, Director Lang prohibits Gordon from alerting the police and gives him the task of finding out who committed the act. As someone needed the keys from a guard to access the patient's cell, Gordon investigates his fellow officers, namely Steven Wenger, to discover which one of them lost their keys, with Wenger confessing that he lost his during the riot during the play the previous night. Along with Nurse Duncan, Gordon interrogated several patients in the asylum, including Jack Gruber. Suspecting that perhaps it was a staff member doing so, but Gordon calls the GCPD. Alerted by Gordon's call Bullock visited the Asylum, happy to see his former partner. Gordon later discovers that the person who had been attacking the inmates should be based in the basement area, so Nurse Duncan offered to escort him there. On the way to the basement, Jim begins to notice her strange behavior, and the situation worsens when the two cross paths with Dr. Thompkins who offered to accompany them. Suddenly, Duncan pushes Leslie towards Gordon and begins to flee in terror. Soon after, Harvey calls Gordon to inform him that Dorothy Duncan was actually a patient. Duncan releases all of the inmates from their cells, starting a riot, and Jim and Leslie on, manage to gate the inmates off and save themselves. At the GCPD, Gordon and Bullock reported to Captain Essen what had happened. However, the Medical Examiner comes in to tell Essen that he had found electroshock therapy marks on Duncan's head as well, proving she was not the culprit after all. Arriving at the Asylum, Gordon finds a note from Gruber in the hand of a dying Director Lang, in which he expressed his wishes for the two to meet again.

Jim makes a deal with Commissioner Loeb that gives him 24 hours to go after Gruber. If he succeeds, he will be reinstated into the police force, though if he didn't, both him and Bullock would both be at Arkham. Gordon is visited by Arkham nurse Leslie Thompkins. She tells Gordon that Arkham Asylum is getting over the incidents and tells him about an inmate who curses dolls of people for inmates, giving him a doll that resembled Don Maroni. Later, Gordon and Bullock speak to Maroni about Buchinsky and want to use him as bait for the Electrocutioner. When "The Electrocutioner" began his attack on the GCPD, Gordon appeared wearing rubber shoes. Gordon uses a beverage to short out Electrocutioner's gear. Electrocutioner and Helzinger are then arrested. Gordon is then reinstated into the police force by Commissioner Loeb. Later, Leslie visits GCPD to ask Gordon for Arkham Asylum's "sorceress's" doll back. A police officer then informs Gordon about the shootout at Mooney's nightclub.

Gordon is later introduced to Arnold Flass. The three meet with a night janitor named Leon Winkler, who was a witness in a public homicide. When at the police station, Winkler is visited by a mysterious person who kills him. Edward Nygma states that the weapon used on Winkler was an ice pick. Gordon suspects that a cop is behind this, as Sarah Essen tells him not to take action without her say-so. Gordon, after interrogating some guards, confronts Officer Delaware upon his role in the guard duty and finds the same drugs in Delaware's car that were on the murder victim. Due to the illegal search, Essen removes Gordon and Bullock from the murder investigation. At a restaurant, Bullock tells Gordon that Flass and his men have taken possession of drug stash houses and that Flass is protected by serious people. Gordon and Bullock arrive at a stash house where Delaware and his men claimed that they have the search warrant on this stash house. Gordon and Bullock are later told by Essen that Internal Affairs has ruled Winkler's death as a suicide and advises that they move on to the next victim. Gordon visits Cobblepot at the nightclub where he meets Cobblepot's mother, Gertrud. Gordon asks Cobblepot as a favor to find anyone with info on Flass. Gordon is later given the evidence, the tape and the ice pick, by Gabe. Later in an alley, Delaware pleads to Gordon not hurt his family. Gordon realizes that because of the "favor" Copplepot did him, Delaware thinks Gordon is a threat to them.

Gordon arrives at Barbara's penthouse and finds that Selina Kyle had been staying there in his ex-fiancee's absence. Soon after, he is told by Selina that she didn't actually see the Waynes' killer, and had lied. After hearing this, Gordon visits Bruce at Wayne Manor to confirm what he had been told. However, Bruce decides to relinquish Detective Gordon from his promise, as after several months had passed, Gordon hadn't found any leads. Going to the furniture factory that made the chair used to hang Adam Jodowsky, Gordon, and Bullock, to the surprise of both, find a guy, wearing a pig mask, torturing the kidnapped man. After shooting the masked man, Bullock decides to visit Scott's phobia group to give the good news, however, Gordon insists on further research to make sure the man they shot wasn't working alone, because of the post-mortem incision made in Jodowsky's body before being killed. Without being able to call upon Nygma's expertise, Jim uses the case as an excuse to see the Leslie Thompkins. He later confessed this to her after she arrived dressed up and the two kissed before Gordon had to leave. Jim and Harvey later arrive at Lemmars Park, after "Tod" kidnapped Scottie Mullens. Harvey throws himself into the pool to save the woman, and Jim chases Tod into the boiler room, simultaneously shooting at him. Unfortunately, Crane gets away after closing a door, cutting Jim off. Dr. Thompkins arrives at the GCPD to inform Gordon that the murderer extracted the adrenal gland, commonly known as the fear gland to extract all its hydrocortisone. Jim then tells her that there will possibly be more work for her, as their medical examiner had been fired for stealing body parts. Excited by the offer, to which leads to dinner between the two, she decides to kiss Gordon passionately uncaring that they'd be seen by the rest of the police department.

In the city, Jim and Leslie concluded their third date, with Leslie informing him that she was hired as the new medical examiner of the GCPD, much to Gordon's surprise. The next day, while the police search the home of the most recent victim of Crane, Bullock gives Gordon the rundown once he arrived. Gordon and Bullock later go to Aquinas High School intending on finding out information about Crane, and the headmaster, Judith Barthel informs them that Crane was very overprotective of his son Jonathan and that his wife died several years ago in a car accident. She also gives them an academic paper that Crane had written where he explained his theory that the fear was an evolutionary failure in humans and was trying to cure himself of it.Back at the GCPD, Gordon and Bullock discover that Crane had intentions on creating inoculations for himself and another person, dubbed "Subject B". Later, Jim turned down Oswald's offer of attending the nightclub and though Penguin offered to help him with his case, Gordon rejected the offer telling him he didn't want him coming to the GCPD again. Offended, Penguin tells Jim that he shouldn't treat him that way and that he'd one day soon he'd need his help. Jim later draws a line with Lee regarding PDA during the job, though the two are interrupted by Bullock. Gordon and Bullock discover that Crane's real fear he had been generated by the guilt of not being able to save his wife from a fire that had occurred in their house, years ago. With that information, they decide to visit the old Crane house. Gordon and Bullock arrived at the old house Crane house, where, Gerald and Jonathan attempted to escape through the courtyard. Stopping at the hay under the Scarecrow, Gerald decided to conclude the injections and administered a large dose to Jonathan that him convulsing wildly before in fear of the Scarecrow. Fearing nothing, Gerald takes his gun and shoots at the Detective, though they quickly shoot him down. Finding Jonathan convulsing, Gordon quickly tells Bullock to call an ambulance. Later, Jim visits the hospital to check on the state of Jonathan Crane. There, Doctor Anderson informs him that the injections had altered Crane's brain activity, leaving him in a constant state of terror.

Jim and Leslie share a date together at Haly's Circus but the date abruptly ends when clowns burst onto the scene led by Owen Lloyd who engages Alphonse Grayson. Annoyed, Jim raises his badge, announcing himself as a GCPD detective to stop the conflict. Interrogating those involved in the fight Jim fails to find anything out, however, Leslie manages to find out through John Grayson and Mary Lloyd that it had been about a snake charmer named Lila Valeska. Fearing that something might have happened to the woman, Jim and Leslie visit her son, Jerome Valeska, to find out the whereabouts of his mother. Suspicious, Jim uses her snake to guide them, they soon after manage to find Lila's dead body covered by a blanket. Investigating Alphonse and Owen separately, Gordon and Bullock discover that the grudge between the two families dated back to an accusation of a stolen horse. Concluding that they had all the alibis at the time, Jim decided to release the rest of the circus members after warning them not to fight anymore, as they had seen where it had gotten their friends, using Alphonse and Owen as examples. At that moment an elderly, blind, psychic, named Paul Cicero arrived before Gordon and Leslie to deliver a message Lila had supposedly sent him from beyond the grave. Later, Jim and Leslie visit the park at night and to the surprise of them both of they immediately find an old ax blood covered with symbols carved into the handle. The detective immediately recognized the symbols as belonging to Hellfire Club, an old satanic cult who used to perform ritual murders. Later in the interrogation room of the GCPD, Jim, accompanied by Leslie, summons Paul Cicero to tell him about the ax. Knowing that the so-called messaged he had received from Lila had been invented and that the ax was planted to divert the investigation, Jim proceeds to accuse him of covering up the real murderer, who was someone close to him. After that, Jerome was summoned into the room, with Gordon then revealing that Cicero was Jerome's biological father, and accused Jerome of being the real murderer. Though he initially denied it, Jerome began to feign crying before chuckling evilly. With joy, Jerome confesses to the murder of his mother.

Gordon and Bullock are assigned to solve the theft carried out by the group and after learning that a smoke bomb had been set off in the bank a week previous, they decide to analyze previous recordings of the theft to try to find if it was connected to the robbery. Thanks to security recordings, Gordon discovers that one of the robbers had Gus previously visited the bank to time the reaction time of the police. Fortunately for them, the robber neglected to take off his work uniform for the auto shop where he worked at, Kleg's Auto. At Kleg's Auto, Gordon and Bullock found Gus Floyd's body inside a refrigerator, and the Red Hood Gang performed another heist at another bank, with Clyde imitating Gus Floyd's actions as the new Red Hood. At the GCPD, with the help of the witness, Gordon and Bullock manage to find Clyde Destro, however, instead of arresting him they let him go in order to follow him and track down the rest of the Red Hood Gang. Gordon and Bullock quickly enter the apartment after hearing gunshots and call an ambulance for the Destro, and there they discover that the band had been robbing banks that denied Destro loan's in the past and that the next target would be the International Savings Bank of Gotham. The next day the Red Hood Gang, now only down to three people, closed in on the bank, but are surrounded by the GCPD. They begin a gun shootout, though they are all gunned down. After which, Jim receives a call informing him about what happened to Alfred. Upon reaching the hospital he finds Bruce next to Alfred's bed. The two then embrace, with Jim trying to comfort Bruce.

At the hospital, Jim checks in on Bruce and Alfred. Gordon questions them about who attacked Alfred, though to no avail. At the GCPD, Gordon and Harvey Dent learn from Captain Essen, that Commissioner Loeb was able to find a witness to get Arnold Flass exonerated, and that he'd be backing him as the head of the policeman's union. When Gordon visits Loeb, he showed Gordon footage where Bullock states that he presented false evidence against Flass. Back at the GCPD, upon confronting Bullock, Gordon learns from him that Loeb had dirt on him and half of the GCPD, and years ago he had been given a task similar to Gordon's of killing a criminal. Gordon and Dent interrogate an ex-partner of Loeb's, Charlie Griggs, in order to find out what exactly Loeb has on some police officers. After questioning him, he tells them to go see a Chinese bookkeeper by the name of Xi Lu. Later, Gordon and Dent enter Xi Lu's den and try to get him to show them where Loeb's stash of evidence is, but Xi Lu has the workers who were counting the money attack Gordon and Dent with knives. They later escape when Bullock crashes through a gate with his car and rescues them. With Bullock's help, Gordon they learn from Griggs that the only person who knew where Loeb kept his files was Falcone. Gordon and Bullock visit's Oswald's to ask the Penguin for his help and he agrees after Jim promises him a favor. That night Gordon, Bullock, and Penguin reach an old farm located on the outskirts of the city, there they are welcomed in by an elderly named Jude and Marge, under the guise of being a security team sent to check out the farm's security. Unexpectedly, the elderly couple, having figured out that they were not who they claimed to be, opened fire against them however they managed to subdue them quickly and went to check the attic. In the attic they discover Miriam Loeb, the daughter of Commissioner Loeb, living there. After having a long talk with Miriam, who had serious mental issues, the detectives end up discovering that she was the real killer of her mother. The next day at his office, Gordon confronted Loeb with the truth. Overwhelmed by the turn of events, Loeb offers to resign, however, Jim tells him not to, as then he'd have to deal with someone else who was also Falcone's lap dog. But with Loeb, at least he had leverage. In exchange for keeping Miriam's whereabouts secret, Jim demands Arnold Flass be tried fairly, Loeb's dirt on all of the GCPD officers sent to Dent, though he is only given Bullock's file, and for Loeb to support him as president of the policeman's union.

Jim is approached by Officer Len Moore, a young idealist who looked up to Gordon. Len, knowing Gordon's reputation of closing cases, asks him to look into the case of a girl found dead to bring justice to her family. Somewhat reluctant, Gordon promises to check the case out, however, when Leslie sees the report she is horrified to discover that the victim, Grace Fairchild, is close to her age, and was last seen alive in a bar located in her neighborhood. Determined to find Grace's murderer, Jim gets a list of the bars in Leslie's neighborhood, and before leaving, having convinced Bullock to join him, he asks Nygma find evidence from the case that was apparently missing. Gordon and Bullock begin to go to bars looking for information about Grace, eventually finding a barwoman who remembered seeing her leave months ago with a "hot" date. At the GCPD, Nygma informs Gordon that he couldn't find the missing evidence, though he did find a photocopy of an image of a hand-painted broken heart. Seeing this, Bullock informs Gordon that they were dealing with a known serial killer. Gordon is informed by Bullock of the history of the serial, known as the Ogre, who kidnapped young and beautiful women and then killed them. The reason he hadn't been stopped, however, was because the Ogre used to take revenge on those who tried to catch him, killing their loved ones. Realizing that he had been setup, Gordon and Bullock go to find Officer Moore. Gordon and Bullock interrogate Moore until he confesses that he brought the case to Jim under the orders of Commissioner Loeb. Afterward, Harvey recommends that Jim stop looking into the case, and no one knew he was, though Jim refused. Loeb then entered the GCPD building, and Gordon is overwhelmed by rage, leading him to confront Loeb and in the presence of his fellow officers, he tells Loeb that he intends to stop the Ogre, then afterward he was coming for Loeb himself.

Trapped by the desire to stop the serial killer and protect Leslie, Jim asks his girlfriend to leave town, but she refuses. Gordon and Bullock met with Detective Ben Mueller the first officer to ever investigate the Ogre. Mueller reveals that the first victim was a nurse at a cosmetic surgery clinic. At the plastic surgery clinic, Gordon and Bullock meet with Dr. Cushman to find out about the first victim of the Ogre, which was recommended to them by a client. Unfortunately to find out the client's name they would need a court order. Outside passing by an alley, Gordon saw a car he had recognized from outside the GCPD. When he begins to approach it, the car starts and tries to run him over but he fails. Back at the GCPD, Gordon reports to Essen what happened, when he suddenly got a call ordering from the Ogre ordering him to stop investigating him. Telling him that if Gordon kept on his current path he'd kill someone that Gordon loved. In response to this threat, Gordon held a press conference to make the Ogre's killings known. Later, Gordon and Bullock arrive at the van Groot home and quickly find a man trying to hang himself. Gordon interrogated Jacob Skolimski and found out that the Ogre was actually his son, and that his son wouldn't be capable of murder. Skolimski then informed them that his son Jason, being treated affectionately by Mrs. Van Groot, became convinced that she was his biological mother. When she refused to recognize it and give her his surname, he killed her and devoted himself to finding a woman that would love him unconditionally. However, he scoffs at the idea that Jason could be a woman seducer since he had been born with the brutally disfigured face, causing his actual mother to leave them. With that information, Gordon returned to the cosmetic surgery clinic where he confirmed there that they had indeed operated on Jason. At the GCPD, Gordon, Bullock, and Captain Essen all gather leads on the case to try to find out who the Ogre was. Despite not having a picture in the file "Jason Van Groot" of the clinic, they manage to get a sketch of him. Delving into the information, Gordon realizes that the press article cited by the Ogre during their conversation included a photo of him with Barbara Kean. Jim quickly goes to her penthouse, and asks Selina if the sketch looked like the man Barbara had left the ball with.

After learning that the Ogre frequented a brothel called The Foxglove, an extremely exclusive place that was only never used the same place twice. Given his desperation, Jim decides to once more resort going to Oswald Cobblepot already owning Cobblepot a favor. Gordon arrives at Oswald's' and after threatening him, he manages to get the Penguin to get him an invitation to the Foxglove, though having to promise him another favor. Jim gave Bullock the invitation for Foxglove, to go instead of him. At the Foxglove, Gordon and the rest of the police arrive, beginning to question the host until he's told to talk to Sally. Taking off her mask to reveal a large scar on her face, she reveals that in the past she was kidnapped by a man, who for some unknown reason did not kill her, though he gave her the scar. After telling her story she informs them that the murderer took her to an apartment in midtown Gotham, and after giving specific details, Gordon deduces that it was across from the Gotham Royal Hotel. At Jason's apartment, Gordon and Bullock arrive, finding it empty. After discovering the Ogre's torture chamber, the Ogre communicates with Jim via a telephone and confirms that Barbara was safe with him. During the call, Gordon hears the sound of a passing train over a bridge and quickly deduced that they were on their way to Barbara's parents' house. The Ogre then engages Gordon in battle, while Barbara stares in shock. After being stabbed in the arm with his own knife, the Ogre sneaks behind Barbara to take her hostage. With the knife at her neck, the Ogre orders him to lower his weapon, and Barbara tells Jim to leave them alone, but Bullock distracts Skolimski from behind and Gordon shoots him in the forehead, killing Skolimski, avenging the women he has killed and ending his killing spree. With the Ogre dead, and Barbara still in shock, Jim comforts her telling her that everything would be alright. At the GCPD, Gordon is celebrated as a hero for stopping the Ogre. Gordon and the rest of the GCPD are informed by Essen of the gang war between Falcone and Maroni.

Gordon visits Barbara, who was being examined by Leslie Thompkins. Leaving the room, Bullock informs Gordon about the attack on Falcone and how almost all the politicians in the city, including the GCPD, had decided to switch their support over to Maroni. Gordon arrives in time to stop Penguin from killing Falcone at the hospital and arrest both him and Gilzean for attempted murder. Jim comes to free Falcone knowing that if he died and Maroni took control, the city would collapse into civil war. In exchange for his help, Falcone promises that it would only take two days to regain control at his safe house. Jim called Bullock at the hospital asking his help in getting Falcone out of the hospital. At that moment, Tommy Bones arrives and is surprised to see Gordon there. When he leaves, he comes back with Commissioner Loeb who orders him to leave. When Jim refuses to obey his orders, Loeb turns around and leaves the thugs to open fire on the detective. Later, Gordon and Bullock take Falcone to his safe house, where he tells them that anyone who knew about it was dead. However while there, Fish arrives with a gang of her very own. After Fish kills Maroni, Gordon is freed by Bullock and Jim, Bullock, and Falcone tried to escape without being seen by Fish Mooney's people, during which Falcone confesses to the Detective that he had thought about it and after it was all over, he planned on retiring to his place down south. The trio is quickly recaptured by Selina and the rest of Fish's men. They are escorted back to Fish, but the Penguin unexpectedly reappears, carrying a machine gun and opens fire against Fish's gang. The trio takes the opportunity to escape in a car. Gordon, Bullock, and Falcone arrive at Barbara's penthouse, to see Leslie and Barbara fighting. Jim and Leslie then embraced while Leslie explained what had happened. After dealing with the situation with Barbara, Gordon meets with Falcone on the balcony to see if he had changed his mind about leaving, but the Don says no. Falcone knew that Gotham needed a lawman like Gordon and not a criminal such as himself. He then gives Jim his knife which Gordon's father had given him as a birthday present, years ago.

### Descent into darkness

Jim is subsequently demoted from Detective to traffic duty. One month later, while in the midst of directing traffic Zaardon arrives in an intersection, introducing himself while firing two pistols. An altercation between the two ensued, and Zaardon was subdued by Gordon. Gordon's new partner arrives late, which angers Gordon. Gordon shoves Officer Franks before stopping a few street thugs from stealing from a street vendor. Gordon was later called into Essen's office, as Officer Frank complained that he was shoved by Gordon, Loeb fires Gordon due to the violation of section 12. Essen stuck up for Gordon, though Gordon gave up his badge. Before Gordon leaves, Gordon reminds Loeb of his promise to break him. Later that night, Gordon tells Leslie Thompkins of what occurred. The next day, Gordon arrives and asks Cobblepot for a favor, believing he owes him one after saving his life at the hospital. Despite reluctant at first, Cobblepot agrees. As Gordon leaves, Cobblepot tells Gordon he should return another favor, collecting a debt from Odgen Baker for him. However, Gordon refuses, he then arrives at the Wayne Manor, telling Bruce he had been fired and can no longer keep his promise. Bruce tells Gordon that in order to do something right, he has to do something ugly first. Taking Bruce's words into consideration, Gordon goes to collect the debt from Odgen Barker. Gordon is chased by Odgen's men, who report nearby police that of Gordon stealing money. Gordon locks a door to buy time, though he is fired at by Odgen. Gordon ducks and fires at Odgen, killing him. Gordon brings the money to Cobblepot. Later, Barbara calls Gordon, trying to convince him Leslie lied about what had happened the night the two fought. Leslie tells Gordon they should leave Gotham and start a new life, though Gordon says they can't due to him doing an unlawful action. Jim is later reinstated as a Detective. The next day when Captain Essen is made Commissioner, she informs Gordon that six inmates had escaped Arkham, including Barbara.

Commissioner Essen puts Jim in charge of the Arkham breakout case. Gordon goes to the bar that Bullock was employed at to visit him, intending to ask his friend to return to the police, however, Scottie Mullen arrives, extremely against the idea. After trying but failing to convince Bullock to return to the force, Bullock gives him a clue towards his case. Bullock asks him why the Maniax had chosen the specific shipyard that they had. Jim later obtains the license plate number and description of a fuel truck that The Maniax stole, and reported the news to Commissioner Essen. After The Maniax took over a Gotham City High School bus, Gordon and his colleagues quickly arrive at the scene. The Maniax and the GCPD have a shootout, with Jerome eventually ordering Aaron Helzinger and Robert Greenwood to get the truck started, leaving Dobkins to light the fire. Jim sneaks up right behind Dobkins, making him drop the lighter which ignites the gasoline. He quickly knocks Dobkins out with a punch, and gets into the bus, driving it away from the fire to save the lives of the cheerleaders on the bus. Later after the cheerleaders were safe, he questions Dobkins as to discover who set him free, but the latter was shot. Gordon later received an unexpected call from Barbara. Soon after, he sports in the GCPD and begins to pursue her. Outside, Barbara has Gordon chase her to an alley where he is surprised by Aaron Helzinger, who brutally attacks him, leaving him on the verge of blacking out. Barbara then kisses Jim's bloodied face, before hinting at what had happened back the GCPD. Later Gordon returns to the GCPD, where after discovering that Lee was okay, found Essen lying on the ground, shot and dying. Later, Gordon entered Essen's office where seconds later, Bullock arrived, deciding to return to force despite Scottie's opposition towards it. The two were then informed by Officer Zeke that they need to see something, who turned on the news, as they had obtained the video Jerome had recorded. In the recording, Jerome told the public that they were all prisoners of sanity, and they needed to wake up, and furthermore, they hadn't seen anything yet.

Gordon and Bullock began searching for Jerome by confronting people on the streets about his whereabouts, throwing them out of windows. Afterward, the Detectives decide to check with Jerome's father, Paul Cicero to see if he knows where his son is. Gordon and Bullock arrive to find an already dead Cicero and Jerome manages to escape. Jim is later called by Leslie who informs him that Jerome and Barbara were at the Gotham Children's Hospital Gala. When Jim finally arrives, Jerome talks to him on Leslie's cell phone telling him he has 10 minutes before he starts killing people and that tells him he has his "performance" was being broadcast on every TV in Gotham. As Jim is arguing with the fellow police officers he sees Selina coming out of the secret entrance giving Jim an opportunity to get into the Gala. Jim arrives as Bruce is about to head back into the gala to save Alfred. Jim gives him a gun to give to Alfred, and after Jerome drags Bruce and holds him at knifepoint, neither Alfred or Jim can find a clean shot that won't hurt Bruce leaving the three in a standoff until Theo who regains consciousnesses stabs Jerome in the neck, saving Bruce. Before anyone can react Barbara escapes through a trap door on the stage. Jim later has Leslie kiss him in front of Alfred, when the latter tries to flirt with her.

After Captain Barnes arrives at the GCPD, introducing himself to everyone and firing several cops, he calls Jim into his office afterward. He calls Jim a troublemaker and a fighter and appoints him his second in command. Jim tells Barnes they're shorthanded and it's going to be tough to correct the unit. Barnes tells him tough is what they eat for breakfast. Jim walks out and is greeted by Bullock, who disagrees with Barnes, but Jim has faith in the new captain. That night, Jim receives a call from Barnes who tells him to meet up with him at 0700 at the Gotham Police Academy. There the next morning, Barnes informs Jim of his plan, as he wanted to grab the cadets at the Academy for the GCPD before they became corrupt or crushed. Jim and Barnes meet Gus Freeman, a trainer at the Academy, they continued to interview several other cadets and pick four who will answer only to Jim. After Barnes is informed about Janice Caulfield's murder. Jim and Harvey go to the scene looking for information. A witness reluctantly gives Jim a description of the Penguin. Later, Jim, Bullock, and The Strike Force arrive outside of Randall Hobbs' campaign office and try to stop Zsasz. A gunfight ensues and they bring the candidate to safety. Zsasz gets shot and shoots a fire hydrant on his way down, allowing him to escape unseen. Jim and Harvey wonder what Penguin is playing at. Later, Jim accuses Penguin of killing Caufield. Penguin tells Jim it's complicated. He asks Jim to walk away and when he doesn't, Cobblepot tells Jim he knows why he came alone. Jim is cornered and can't arrest Penguin because of how he had Penguin get him his job back. Jim leaves though he tells Penguin that he'd face whatever was coming to him.

After successfully raiding one of Penguin's cash houses, Gordon, Bullock, and Barnes were attacked by a man with a rocket launcher. Gordon informs Captain Barnes of a place called The Merc where criminals were getting such weapons. At the GCPD, Leslie convinces Jim to have a double date with Nygma and Kristin Kringle that night at their home, and afterward, he receives a surprise visit from Theo Galavan. Talking alone, Theo confesses to still feel bad about what happened with Jerome Valeska but seeing the confidence people had in Jim, asked his support in the upcoming mayoral election. Though Gordon was flattered by the offer, he rejected it, as he didn't want to get involved with politics. However, Theo tells him to possibly reconsider his decision. Later, The Strike Force led by Gordon and Captain Barnes arrives at The Merc, telling everyone to freeze. Evan tries to run to escape, but he was pursued by Gordon and Barnes, but he attempts to pull out a gun, though the cops shoot him first and accidentally hit the Napalm in his pants, causing him it to explode. That night, Gordon returns home for his double date with Leslie, Kristin, and Ed. To his surprise, the latter is more relaxed, lively and cheerful and even offers up a toast to their friendship. The next morning, with five buildings set on fire, Gordon was ordered by Barnes to find some kind of pattern that would show them where the next potential location was. Later Jim discovers that all the buildings burned, belonged to Wayne Enterprises so, assuming the arsonists followed a pattern, he deduced that the next target would be the Gotham City Book Depository. That night, Gordon and Bullock had a stakeout outside the library, with the Pikes pulling up outside the book depository soon after. The Strike Force quickly appears to stop the arsonist, and Officer Luke Garrett is eventually accidentally set on fire. Gordon puts Garrett out and calls for an ambulance, the next day he is informed of Garrett's death and agrees to Galavan's proposal.

In the city, Gordon pursues and captures Nino, a known arsonist to get the name of Officer Garrett's killer. Gordon's behavior was later reported to Captain Barnes, who puts a note in his file, then harshly berates him for it. After asking him if his interrogation had gotten him any leads, Barnes showed him the video of the robbery that had taken place at an auction house, with Gordon recognizing Selina Kyle in the footage. Later, Gordon breaks into Selina's home. The two momentarily had a face down, guns pointed at each other, but when questioned about Bridgit, Selina informs Jim that Bridgit was forced to burn down the buildings by her brothers, and it was their fault that Officer Garrett was dead. Gordon commits to doing everything possible to bring the Pikes justice while keeping Bridgit safe, though Selina had to stay out of it. Later, Gordon and Bullock arrive at the Pike apartment where they found the two charred bodies of Joe and Cale. Gordon and Bullock then went over the evidence, with Gordon questioning why they were burning down Wayne Enterprise buildings. Gordon returns to the GCPD with the information he had obtained about Bridgit and tells Captain Barnes. Gordon receives a call from Selina who after making sure he remembered his promise, told him where Bridgit was going. Outside the auction house, the Strike Force led by Gordon and Captain Barnes waited for Bridgit. To avoid confrontation, Jim tries to reason with Bridgit for her to stop, though she refuses to listen and uses her flamethrower. An officer instinctively shoots and breaks one of the fuel pipes on her suit which leaks out. Bridgit then uses her flamethrower to blow up a squad car, though the fire from the explosion ends up reaching her, causing her to catch on fire. Gordon arrives at Leslie's apartment, apologizing to Lee about the situation. Soon after, Gordon regretfully informs Selina about the death of Bridgit, and although he tried to help her, she didn't want to go quietly. With her eyes full of tears and outraged at Gordon, he questioned her as to who had hired the Pikes to set the fires. Citing that Gordon didn't care about people like them, she told him that it wasn't as if he'd go after his "little friend", revealing it to be Penguin.

With Galavan set to win the election, Theo and Harvey Dent arrive at the GCPD to inform Captain Barnes of Penguin's attack on Theo's life, telling the GCPD officers that Penguin attacked him when he refused to agree to an alliance between the two. However, Gordon was quick to point out that reaction seemed extreme even for Penguin. Dent gave Barnes an arrest warrant for Cobblepot and announced that due to the recent events that had occurred Judge Turnball declared a state of emergency, giving the Mayoral office additional powers. However, Jim was hesitant at the idea of martial law. Thanks to Bullock's informant, Gordon and Bullock leave for downtown as they had heard of Penguin and Butch's falling out, and that Butch had put together his own crew. Inside of Butch's hideout, they encounter Butch along with his crew, who refuses to tell them why Penguin went after Galavan. When Zsasz arrives, Butch finally confesses that the Galavan made Penguin do everything as he had kidnapped Penguin's mother for leverage. Zsasz and his crew started shooting from outside, forcing Gordon and Bullock to use the weapons inside to defend themselves. After Zsasz relented and left, Gordon and Bullock were surprised to find Butch gone, with his fake hand left in the handcuff. At Theo's celebration party, Theo takes a moment to talk to Jim and tries to get some information about Gordon's encounter with Butch. However, Gordon pretended to not have discovered anything. Jim later escorted Theo out a back exit to a car when Penguin's men attack, though upon reaching their destination, he finally comes face to face with the Penguin. The two faced off, and Galavan ordered Jim to execute Penguin, but Gordon refused since he knew that Galavan had Penguin's mother killed. Penguin tries to warn Gordon about Theo's real plan, which involved a person Jim cared about, but Penguin is unexpectedly shot in the shoulder. Detectives Gordon and Bullock shoot at Tabitha on the roof while Oswald takes advantage of the confusion to steal Theo's car and escapes, with the two Detectives shooting at the car as he drove away. Gordon later reaffirms his determination to take down the monsters of the city, starting with Galavan.

Jim was present when Barbara arrived at the GCPD entrance. Later, Jim visited Barbara in the interrogation room attempting to see what information he could get out of her about Galavan. He kisses her, and Barbara tells him that if accompanied her to a surprise she had for him, she would answer anything he wanted. Gordon manages to convince Barnes to comply with his request to go because she was their only link to Galavan. As they drove downtown, Jim tries to get Barbara to confess her affiliation with Galavan, however, it fails. Captain Barnes then contacts the Detectives through the radio telling them that he was pulling them out. However, Barbara tells them that if they turned around they'd get nothing. Gordon and Bullock then ignored Barnes' order over the radio, continuing on. Suddenly a truck rammed the patrol car and left Bullock unconscious while Jim was disoriented. Jim was then tranquilized. Later, Gordon awakened in the Gotham Cathedral tied to a wheelchair. Barbara entered dressed as a bride holding a shotgun, ready to begin the ceremony. Though Gordon told her he didn't want to die, Barbara told him that he did, and asked him if he was tired of lying to himself and Lee. Gordon told Barbara that he didn't lie to Lee. Leslie was then brought in who was also tied to a wheelchair. Gordon eventually breaks free and grabs the shotgun Barbara had previously wielded. The GCPD then arrived invading the cathedral and Jim went after Barbara. In the ensuing struggle, Barbara goes through a stained glass window and is saved from falling thanks to Jim. However, Barbara releases her hand from his grip, falling to the ground. Later, Leslie informed Jim that her life was saved thanks to bushes that broke her fall, but was in critical condition. After that, Gordon informs Barnes about what Barbara had told him about Mayor James being stashed at China Docks. There, Gordon and Bullock discover Mayor James, who had a box over his head. Gordon questioned James as to who had kidnapped him, with Mayor James confirming his suspicions about Theo Galavan. Afterward, Gordon and the GCPD burst into Galavan's penthouse to arrest him for kidnapping Mayor James.

While entering the elevator to Galavan's penthouse and Jim was accompanied by a man sent there to repair a piano. Suddenly the man tries to kill him with piano wire, and the two intertwine in a violent battle until finally, Jim emerges victorious. After the fight, Gordon drags the man before Captain Barnes showing him the piano wire and confirming that he was a professional killer. Soon after, thanks to the video cameras the building, Gordon and Barnes are alerted to several armed men entering the lobby to finish the unfinished job of killing Gordon. The assassins managed to blow up the door and enter the room shooting, but the three policemen quickly manage to repel the assault and Jim kills his original assassin after he threatens the life of Officer Parks. Barnes immediately orders for them to evacuate for fear of a new wave of assassins, but Gordon refuses to leave believing that the evidence against Galavan could be destroyed if they left. Seeing something in a hole behind a painting Jim finds a monk's cassock. Suddenly, one of the killers gets up and attempts to attack Gordon with a knife to kill him, but Barnes comes between them and kills the attacker. Unfortunately, he receives a stab wound to his left leg that punctured an artery, which threatened to bleed out if moved. Later outside of Galavan Towers, the GCPD reinforcements arrived, but within seconds they are all killed by Flamingo. Seeing Flamingo on the cameras, Gordon decides to face down Flamingo Arriving outside, Gordon finds several police cars with their officers killed. Flamingo immediately appears armed with a chain and initiates a series of attacks against him. Jim moves fast and despite sustaining several blows, he lands several of his own. Eventually, after a series of well-aimed punches, Jim throws Flamingo to the ground and continues to beat him. Seeing the villain laugh, the detective takes a gun and puts it in his mouth. But with a cry of frustration, Gordon overcomes his inner darkness and does not kill Flamingo. At Leslie's apartment, Jim has informed of Officer Katherine Parks' death at the hands of Flamingo.

Jim, Barnes and several GCPD officers attended Katherine Parks' funeral. Afterward, visited Theo Galavan at Blackgate Penitentiary to inform him he'd be attending his trial to see him found him guilty. Later, Barnes orders Jim to investigate a body found at the harbor with the victim's throat slit, as the Galavan case was closed. A few minutes later, Harvey was presented with the information that the symbols belonged to the ancient Order of St. Dumas which used to have an abbey in the center of the city, that the Mayor's office tried to it a few weeks ago. Knowing that it presently served as a Chinese massage parlor, Gordon chooses to ignore Barnes' order. There, a monk attacks and later informs Gordon that the day of judgment was near. The man then threw himself into the street and is killed by a truck. Later, Gordon deduced that the monk's companions were operating in the sewers, and there, he and Bullock made their way to the area near the ports. Walking through the sewer Jim and Harvey finally manages to find the altar of the Order of St. Dumas but are attacked by another monk. However, Harvey manages to defeat him by throwing him against a stone column, which topples over his head. Gordon deceived the monk, posing as one of his brothers to get the truth. By doing so, Gordon finds out that the Order was going to kill the "Son of Gotham" next. Later at Galavan's trial, Gordon enters the room and Aubrey James admits to having lied about Theo Galavan abducting him. James admits that his abductor was actually Penguin. After Theo is released, Jim is carried away by his own anger and hits Galavan in front of everyone. Several cops immediately grab Jim and drag him to the outside, attacking him with electric batons until he passed out. Upon awakening, Jim finds his hands tied to a beam and Theo before him. Theo, in addition to telling Gordon the truth about his family, and beckons for Gordon to be untied, giving him the opportunity to beat him. However, Jim fails to strike a single blow to Galavan, after the latter uses a series of martial arts. He then leaves to allow Gordon to be killed at the hands of the police officers who abducted him. However, Penguin arrives and saves him.

## Having a son

#### Adopting Liam

Jim sat in the meeting, trying to focus on the presentation, but his mind kept wandering to his phone, which had been buzzing non-stop. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and excused himself, explaining that he needed to take an urgent call from his wife. As he stepped out of the conference room, Barbara's panicked voice filled his ear. She told him about a teenager named Liam Thomas who had run away from home because his father was abusive, and his mother had died. Jim's heart went out to the boy, and he knew he had to do something to help. He quickly made arrangements to meet Barbara and Liam at the Gotham City Police Department. When he arrived, he found Barbara and Liam waiting for him, looking scared and uncertain. He took Liam's hand and led him inside, determined to do whatever it took to help him. Once they arrived at the GCPD, Jim took Liam into a little cage to talk with his co-worker Harvey. Together, they discussed what Jim could do to help Liam, and whether or not he should adopt him. They talked about the challenges of raising a teenager, especially one who had been through so much trauma, but in the end, Jim knew in his heart that he wanted to help Liam. He went back to Barbara and Liam and told them his decision. Liam's eyes filled with tears as he hugged Jim, grateful for the chance at a new life. Barbara beamed with pride at her husband's compassion and kindness. Together, they left the GCPD, ready to start a new chapter in their lives with Liam by their side.