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Quote1 I'm the Mayor-- Gotham is mine! Too many factors are in my control-- too many deals already set in motion-- too many people owe me favors they can never reveal! Too many have too much to gain with me in power-- and every one of them will obey my every whim! Quote2
Mayor Hamilton Hill src

Hamilton Hill was a corrupt political stooge and crony of Gotham City councilman Rupert Thorne.

When Hill launched his candidature for Mayor of Gotham, his strongest opponent was City Commissioner Arthur Reeves, which is why he had Bruce Wayne and Commissioner Gordon's support.[1] However, when he asked Wayne to fund his campaign, Wayne refused to contribute.[2]

Hill won the Mayoral Election thanks to Thorne's manipulation of Arthur Reeves.[3] In his first act as Mayor of Gotham, Hill made good on his campaign promises and asked Gordon for his resignation within 24 hours otherwise he would be impeached.[4] Gordon complied reluctantly and following Thorne's instructions, Hill appointed Peter Pauling as the new Police Commissioner.[5] However, not long after this, Thorne came to the wrong conclusion that Hill and Pauling were conspiring against him and tried to eliminate them. He only managed to murder Pauling as he was promptly stopped by Batman. With Pauling dead and Thorne deemed insane, Hill remained free due to a lack of evidence against him.[6] This also left Hill no choice but to reinstate James Gordon as Police Commissioner.[7]

Mayor of Gotham

When Hill noticed Gordon's declining health, he decided to appoint the troublesome police officer Harvey Bullock as Gordon's assistant,[8] with the intention of undermining Gordon's determination. Bullock's attitude and apparent improved performance relative to Gordon's, were part of Hill's plan to get rid of Gordon once and for all.[9]

Hill and Bullock conspired together to soil Gordon's good reputation and to give him as many troubles as they could.[10] However, when one of these schemes caused Gordon to have a stroke,[11] Bullock realized the seriousness of the situation and stopped following Hill's orders.[12]

For this betrayal, Hill made a deal with criminals to have Harvey Bullock murdered and in return Hill would release the crime Kingpin Doctor Fang from prison.[13][14] When his hired killer was captured, Hill arranged his prompt release and also manipulated the Child Welfare Bureau in order to have Bruce Wayne, a noted detractor, lose the legal battle to gain custody of Jason Todd.[15] When Batman interrogated the hired killer and learned about Hill's corrupt involvement in these conspiracies, he personally threatened the crooked politician.[16]

In order to get ahead, Hill framed Batman of attacking him and planting "false evidence" against him. During a press conference, Hill suspended Gordon from the GCPD as an "ally" of Batman and instructed the police force to arrest Batman by any means, even if deadly force was required. With Gordon out of action and Batman being hunted down, the only man who confronted Hill was Bullock, who went to the Mayor's Mansion to set the record straight. It was then that Hill shot Bullock, hoping to finally kill him but claiming to the public that it was in "self defense".[17] Luckily, Bullock was not killed and Hill was forced to finally release Doctor Fang from prison and instructed him to murder Bullock.[18] Fang failed when he was killed by the Night-Slayer, a criminal who started impersonating Batman to commit crimes. In his demented paranoia, Hamilton Hill believed it was all a setup against him and he had his goons investigate the situation.[19]

Hill believed that Batman was acting as a criminal on purpose to discredit the Mayor's image and as soon as he got an anonymous tip about Batman's next crime, Hill summoned the GCPD and the media to capture the criminal red-handed. Hill's plan was successful as they indeed captured "Batman" while committing a crime, but when the real Batman exposed the Night-Slayer as an impostor and also exposed Mayor Hill's corruption, the police and the press had all the evidence needed about Hill's crimes and he was subsequently removed from office, never again to be seen.[20]


Abilities


  • This version of Hamilton Hill, including all history and corresponding appearances, was erased from existence following the collapse of the original Multiverse in the 1985–86 Crisis on Infinite Earths event and later restored following the rebirth of the infinite Multiverse during the Dark Crisis of 2022-2023. Even though other versions of the character may have appeared, this information does not apply to those versions.
  • Hamilton Hill was voiced by Jason Sudeikis in Batman: The Audio Adventures.

Related

Footnotes


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Batman Villain(s)
This character, team or organization, has been primarily an enemy of the Batman, or the Batman Family as a whole. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Batman Villains."

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