Gotham City

{{DC Database:Location Template
 * Image                  = gotham_harbor_small.jpg
 * OfficialName           = City of Gotham
 * Aliases                = Gotham Town (18th century); The Dark-Deco State; Gotham; Nieuw Rotterdam (original Dutch name); Fort Adolphus


 * Quotation              = I'm not particularly fond of Gotham. It's like someone built a nightmare out of metal and stone.
 * Speaker                = Superman


 * Universe               = Earth-Two; Earth-One; New Earth;
 * Galaxy                 = Milky Way
 * Sector                 = 2814
 * StarSystem             = Sol
 * Planet                 = Earth
 * Country                = United States
 * City                   =
 * State                  = New Jersey
 * Province               =
 * Locale                 = Gotham County


 * Dimensions             = 846.9 km²  (327 sq mi) (divided among six islands)
 * Population             = (2000 census)
 * Pre-No Man's Land: 8,168,564
 * Post-No Man's Land: 2,722,851


 * First                  = Detective Comics #27


 * HistoryText            =

Origins
The birth of Gotham City is one shrouded in both mystery and mysticism. Millennia 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, corruptive 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, but 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 1st, 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 super-hero 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." 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 squalidness 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 super-hero, 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 super-villains such as the Joker, the Penguin, Two-Face, Poison Ivy, Riddler, and Scarecrow.

No Man's Land
Gotham City had suffered the results of a 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.


 * PointsOfInterest       =



Neighborhoods

 * Bristol
 * Gotham Heights
 * Devil's Square

Public locations

 * Gotham City General Hospital
 * Gotham City Police Headquarters
 * Gotham Public Library
 * Robinson Park

Streets and Highways

 * 1940 Fox and Gardner
 * 52 Kane Street

Businesses

 * 52 Pick-Up
 * Ace Chemical Processing Plant
 * S.T.A.R. Labs
 * Infantino's Costumes
 * Monarch Theater
 * Tobacconists Club
 * Wayne Enterprises
 * Wayne Aerospace
 * Wayne Industries

Media

 * Daily Tattle
 * Gotham Broadcasting Center (GBC)
 * Gotham Gazette

Other locales

 * Arkham Asylum
 * Batcave
 * Blackgate Penitentiary
 * Club Vesuvius
 * Crime Alley
 * Bristol Country Club
 * Hall of Justice (Super Friends continuity only)
 * Iceberg Lounge
 * Justice Society Headquarters
 * Slaughter Swamp
 * Wayne Manor
 * Wayne Tower

Alternate Continuity

 * New Gotham: In the continuity of the Birds of Prey television series, Gotham City was re-named New Gotham shortly after the disappearance of the Batman. New Gotham was distinguished from other versions of the city due to its high Metahuman population. The protector of New Gotham was the daughter of Bruce Wayne and the late Selina Kyle, Helena Kyle. One of its primary drinking establishments was "No Man's Land" - a bar for Metahumans.


 * Residents              =

Earth-Two

 * Batman (Bruce Wayne)
 * Green Lantern (Alan Scott)
 * Huntress (Helena Wayne)
 * Robin (Dick Grayson)

Earth-One

 * Ace the Bat-Hound
 * Bat-Girl (Bette Kane)
 * Batman (Bruce Wayne)
 * Bat-Mite
 * Batwoman (Katherine Kane)
 * Ragman (Rory Regan)
 * Nightwing (Dick Grayson)

19th Century

 * Jonah Hex

Modern

 * Azrael (Jean-Paul Valley)
 * Batgirl (Barbara Gordon)
 * Batman (Bruce Wayne)
 * Batwoman (Katherine Kane)
 * Black Bat (Cassandra Cain)
 * Birds of Prey
 * Black Canary (Dinah Laurel Lance)
 * Huntress (Helena Bertinelli)


 * Catwoman (Selina Kyle)
 * Jason Blood
 * Nightwing (Dick Grayson)
 * Ragman (Rory Regan)
 * Red Robin (Tim Drake)
 * Robin (Damian Wayne)

Villains

 * Anarky
 * Bane
 * Black Mask
 * Blockbuster (Mark Desmond)
 * Blockbuster (Roland Desmond)
 * Calculator
 * Calendar Man
 * Catman
 * Cavalier
 * Clayface (Basil Karlo)
 * Clayface (Clay Payne)
 * Clayface (Matt Hagen)
 * Clayface (Preston Payne)
 * Clayface (Sondra Fuller)
 * Cluemaster
 * Deadshot
 * Doctor Double X
 * Doctor Phosphorous
 * Dragoncat
 * Electrocutioner
 * Film Freak
 * Firebug
 * Firefly
 * Grotesk
 * Harley Quinn
 * Hugo Strange
 * Hush (Thomas Elliot)
 * Joker
 * KGBeast
 * Killer Moth
 * King Snake
 * Kite-Man
 * Lady Shiva
 * Lockup
 * Mad Hatter
 * Man-Bat
 * Maxie Zeus
 * Mister Freeze
 * Victor Zsasz
 * Nocturna
 * Penguin
 * Poison Ivy
 * Red Hood (Jason Todd)
 * The Riddler
 * Rupert Thorne
 * Scarecrow
 * Silver Monkey
 * Solomon Grundy
 * Talia al Ghul
 * The Terrible Trio
 * Tweedle-Dee
 * Tweedle-Dum
 * Two-Face

Others

 * Robert Langstrom
 * Alberto Falcone
 * Alfred Pennyworth
 * Anthony Zucco
 * Carmine Falcone
 * Crispus Allen
 * Eddie Skeevers
 * Francine Langstrom
 * Harvey Bullock
 * Irene Miller
 * James Gordon
 * Janice Porter
 * Jason Bard
 * Jim Corrigan
 * Joe Chill
 * Leslie Thompkins
 * Lucius Fox
 * Martha Wayne
 * Rachel Dawes (non-canon)
 * Renee Montoya
 * Silver St. Cloud
 * Sofia Falcone
 * Thomas Wayne
 * Tony Zucco
 * Vicki Vale


 * Notes                  =
 * The concept of Gotham City was first developed by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.


 * In the early Batman stories, his home base was established as New York. The name "Gotham City" was first used in.


 * Trivia                 =
 * In the Golden and Silver Age Gotham Cities, the rooftops were littered with bizarre gigantic props that were often used as staging places by villains, but by the 1970's they had all but been removed. In Arkham Asylum: Living Hell #3, it is revealed that Humpty Dumpty is responsible for this, as he once accidentally set off a chain reaction causing all of the props to be knocked down off of their rooftops, like dominoes. This caused the senate to actually place a ban against giant unnecessary props, referred to as the "Sprang" Act.
 * 'Gotham' is a long-standing nickname for the real New York City.


 * CustomSection1         = Recommended Reading
 * CustomText1            =
 * Azrael: Agent of the Bat
 * Batgirl
 * Batman
 * Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight
 * Batman: Shadow of the Bat
 * Birds of Prey
 * Catwoman (Volume 1)
 * Catwoman (Volume 2)
 * Catwoman (Volume 3)
 * Detective Comics
 * Huntress (Volume 1)
 * Huntress (Volume 2)
 * Nightwing (Volume 1)
 * Nightwing (Volume 2)
 * Nightwing/Huntress
 * Robin (Volume 1)
 * Robin (Volume 2)
 * Robin (Volume 3)
 * Robin (Volume 4)
 * World's Finest (Volume 1)

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 * CustomSection2         = Related Articles
 * CustomText2            =
 * Batman Family
 * Batman Villains
 * Gotham City Police Department
 * Links                  =
 * Gotham City article at Wikipedia
 * Map of Gotham City
 * Unofficial Guide to the DC Universe
 * Batman Secret Files and Origins #1
 * DC Atlas
 * Daily Planet Guide to Gotham City