James Gordon is a former officer in the Gotham City Police Department. He also served one term as the city's mayor.
History
Gordon first met Martha Wayne when he arrested her at a protest.[1] Years later he was one of the officers who responded to the shooting at Gotham Zoo where Martha's husband Thomas was killed. He found Bruce Wayne hiding in the bat enclosure being swarmed by the animals. Gordon became friends with Martha and Bruce.[2]
Gordon eventually ran for Mayor, beating the notoriously corrupt Hamilton Hill in a narrow election. During his mayorship the city was attacked by a gang of nihilistic terrorists called the Party Animals, overwhelming the GCPD. A vigilante known as Batman arose to fight them.[3]
Black Mask, the leader of the Party Animals, distributed crates full of weapons around the city and offered huge amounts of money to anyone who committed acts of violence with them.[4] Gordon and Martha were confronted by a group of armed men, as their murders were each worth one million dollars. Gordon told Martha to run, and the gunmen also decided to spare her, but she refused to leave. She told the men that she had seen all their faces, so if they were going to kill anyone they should start with her, yelling at them that the people of Gotham should be better than this. They decided to kill her anyway, but just as they were about to the system Black Mask used to communicate with and pay them went down. The lead thug asked if that meant there was no money for them and Martha punched him out while he was distracted. The rest of them shamefully dispersed.[5]
As a result of the Party Animals attacks happening on his watch, Gordon lost the next mayoral election to Hamilton Hill who instituted martial law to "protect" the city from Batman and outfitted the GCPD with military style equipment.[6] Martha told Jim that he should speak out against it and try to rally political resistance against Hill's authoritarianism, but he believed that his brand was irrevocably tarnished and his time in frontline politics was over. He told Martha that it was her time to take the lead and promised to give her whatever support she needed.[7]
Powers and Abilities
Abilities
Notes
- James Gordon was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, first appearing in Detective Comics #27. However, the Absolute Universe version of James Gordon first appeared in Absolute Batman #1 by Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta.
Related
- 7 Appearances of James Gordon (Absolute Universe)
- 2 Images featuring James Gordon (Absolute Universe)
- Quotations by or about James Gordon (Absolute Universe)
- Character Gallery: James Gordon (Absolute Universe)
Footnotes
![]() ![]() This character is or was an officer of, or held a title in the Gotham City Police Department, in any of its various incarnations. This template will automatically categorize articles that include it into the "GCPD members" and "Police Officers" categories. |