Hamilton Hill (comics)

Hamilton Hill is a DC Comics character. He is the mayor of Gotham City and an adversary of Batman.

History

Hamilton Hill is a corrupt politician who ran against Arthur Reeves in the mayorial elections in Gotham City.^[1] Hamilton Hill defeats Arthur Reeves when Reeves’s "Batman identity" photos turn out to be faked. Unbeknownst to the citizens, Hamilton Hill is in league with corrupt councilman Rupert Thorne (who is secretly a crime lord) who helps him become Mayor. During his early time in office, he assists Thorne's attempts to identify and defeat Batman.^[2]

Mayor Hamilton Hill later hires an assassin to take out Harvey Bullock.^[3]

Mayor Hamilton Hill later accuses Batman of a crime which was committed by a villain called the Night Slayer. When Harvey Bullock visits Mayor Hill for a confrontation, Harvey ends up shot but manages to survive.^[4]

Mayor Hamilton Hill later fires Police Commissioner (and Batman ally) James Gordon and replaces him with one of Thorne's cronies Pater Pauling. After Thorne is defeated and Pauling killed, Hill re-instates Gordon but spends the rest of his time in office trying to shift the blame for the state of Gotham onto Gordon's shoulders.^[5]

When Batman defeats Night Slayer and exposes his plot to frame Batman, Mayor Hamilton Hill's involvement in this plot is also exposed, resulting in Hill's removal from office.^[6]

In other media

Television

• Mayor Hamilton Hill appears in Batman: The Animated Series voiced by Lloyd Bochner. While originally hostile to the Batman and somewhat comical at times, this version of Hill showed absolutely no trace of the corruption that the comics version demonstrated. He first appeared in the episode "On Leather Wings" where he allows Detective Bullock to pursue Batman (along with his own task force), who is framed for the robberies of pharmacies throughout Gotham City. In "Be a Clown", his son Jordan is kidnapped by the Joker after he runs away because he thinks his dad does not care about him. Batman later saves the boy and returns him to Hill, who then grows to trust Batman, unlike before. Throughout the show, he gradually begins to respect Batman after needing his help in dire situations like in the episode "Lock-Up" when he is kidnapped by an ex-Arkham Asylum employee or when he is kidnapped by the Joker in "Harlequinade" or almost replaced with a robotic duplicate in "Heart of Steel" Pt. 2. Batman has also saved his life twice from Temple Fugate, the Clock King, who had a grudge against Hill because he believed that he made him late for a court date on purpose (Fugate was appealing against a $20 million judgement against his company, and subsequently lost). Hill had been a lawyer at the time, which also caused Fugate to believe Hill did it on purpose because the lawyers who had worked on the case were represented by Hill's law firm.

• In Batman Beyond, the high school Terry McGinnis attends is named Hamilton Hill High School (or "Hill High"), presumably after the now-deceased Hamilton Hill.

• In The Batman episode "The Batman/Superman Story" Pt. 1, Hamilton Hill (voiced by an uncredited Lex Lang) is identified as the newly-elected mayor of Gotham in the season premiere and is portrayed as African-American. He is elected after Marion Grange resigned from office, due to an alien invasion in Gotham.

• Mayor Hamilton Hill is seen in the Young Justice episode "Alpha Male" voiced by Corey Burton. The intro has him out poaching tigers only to be attacked by Monsieur Mallah. The newspaper article about his attack is partly what leads the team and Captain Marvel to investigate.

Film

• In the movie Batman: Under the Red Hood, a newspaper clip reveal that Jason Todd (during his time as Robin) saved the life of Mayor Hamilton Hill.

Video games

• Hill also appeared in the video game, Batman Vengeance, where he was being blackmailed by Poison Ivy along with other politicians and wealthy socialites.

Web series

• In Gotham Girls, Poison Ivy gives him a toxin that makes him grow a root out of his forehead. This makes him resign from office.

Miscellaneous

• In Batman Adventures, he is replaced as mayor in an extraordinary election by the Penguin, thanks to Fugate's machinations. Batman foils Fugate and Penguin's plan and Hill is reinstated.
• Hill also appears in The Batman Strikes! where he is taken hostage at one of Bruce Wayne's parties by Black Mask.

References

External links

• Hamilton Hill at DC Comics Wiki