List of mayors of Gotham City
Main article:
Gotham CityMayors in the comic books
Several mayors of Gotham City have appeared in the comic book series that collectively form the "Batman Family" of titles:
- The first Mayor of Gotham seen in the comics was unnamed, but drawn to look like New York Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia (Batman #12 and Detective Comics #68).
- Bruce Wayne was Mayor of Gotham City for a day.[1]
- Mayor Hayes was introduced in Batman #207 (Dec. 1968).
- Theodore Cobblepot - The great-grandfather of Penguin. His tenure of office is the longest ever. He is mentioned in Gotham Underground #9 (August 2008).
- Mayor Thorndike appears in the flashbacks from the "Made of Wood" storyline (Detective Comics #784-786). He was killed by the original Made of Wood Killer on July 17, 1948.
- Wilson Klass - Mayor during Batman's early years. First appeared in the "Prey" storyline from Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. Presumably the mayor during Frank Miller's Batman Year One.[2]
- Hamilton Hill[3] — A corrupt politician elected mayor thanks to the machinations of Rupert Thorne. He became mayor in Detective Comics #511 (February 1982). During his early time in office, he assisted Thorne's attempts to identify and defeat Batman, principally by firing Police Commissioner (and Batman ally) James Gordon and replacing him with one of Thorne's cronies, Peter Pauling. After Thorne was defeated, Hill re-instated Gordon, but spent the rest of his time in office trying to shift the blame for the state of Gotham onto Gordon's shoulders. Hill last appeared in Batman #381 (March 1985) in the Pre-Crisis DC universe.
- Mayor Skowcroft appeared in Swamp Thing #53 (October 1986), trying to prevent panic when the city was under attack by Swamp Thing, due to Abby Holland's arrest for bestiality. He was eventually persuaded by Batman to release Abby, on the grounds that a definition of bestiality that included non-human intelligent humanoids would include a great number of superhero relationships.
- Julius Lieberman plays a significant role in in Batman versus Predator #1 (1991) and also appears in Batman: Run, Riddler, Run #1-3 and Justice Society of America (vol. 2) #1.
- Armand Krol — Krol first appeared in Detective Comics #647 (August 1992). Like Hamilton Hill, he did not like Commissioner Gordon. Krol also disliked Batman until the "Knightfall" series, during which Batman saved his life. After this he turned increasingly to Batman, rather than Gotham's police, to tackle crime in the city. He demoted James Gordon and replaced him as Commissioner with Gordon's wife, Sarah Essen-Gordon. After years of self-serving incompetence, Krol lost an election against Marion Grange (Shadow of the Bat #46, January 1996). During the "lame duck" period of his Mayoralty, Gotham finally descended into complete anarchy after Ra's al Ghul unleashed the "Clench" virus, during the "Contagion" story arc. Krol himself died of the virus during its second release, in the "Legacy" story arc (Detective Comics #699, July 1996).
- Marion Grange — Formerly a District Attorney, Grange was elected after winning Batman's endorsement. Grange was sworn-in early by the state Governor in the midst of the crisis caused by the Clench virus and Krol's inept handling of matters. Her first act as mayor was to forcibly eject Krol from the mayor's office, and her second was to re-appoint James Gordon as Police Commissioner (Robin #28, April 1996). She remained mayor until Gotham was devastated by an earthquake in the "No Man's Land" story arc, during which she failed to prevent the federal government from cutting off Gotham. Agents of Nick Scratch assassinated her shortly afterwards.
- Charles Chesterfield - Killed by a biological anomaly that removes fat cells from the human body.[4]
- Daniel Danforth Dickerson III — His term ran from the end of No Man’s Land through the early 2000s. A corrupt mayor, his term ended with his assassination at the hands of the Joker in 2003's Gotham Central #12.
- David Hull — His term ran through the mid-2000s.
- An unnamed female mayor was mentioned in the pages of 52. Details of her tenure are largely unrevealed.
- Mayor Sebastian Hady has been recently introduced in the pages of Batman.
Alternate universes
- While Thomas Wayne (the father of Bruce Wayne) was still living the mayor of Gotham City is named Aubrey James — he is mentioned in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #204 (June 2006).
- A year after the Infinite Crisis, a telephone conversation between Commissioner Gordon and the current mayor indicates a change in the mayoral office. Beyond a reference to the mayor as "she", the identity of the new mayor is unknown.
Mayors in other media
- Batman (1960s live-action TV series)
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- Mayor Linseed, played by Byron Keith. His name was a play on the name of New York City's then-mayor, John Lindsay. The governor of "Gotham State" was Stonefellow (as opposed to Nelson Rockefeller, who was governor of New York State during the same period). There was also a West River (as opposed to New York's East River), and "Bernie Park's Gallery", compared to the real Park Bernet Gallery.
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- Hamilton Hill — Lloyd Bochner provides his voice in this television show. In Batman Beyond, there is a high school named after him. He resigns in the Gotham Girls webtoon after Poison Ivy causes a plant to sprout from the top of his head every time he lies; ironically, he gives the reason for his resignation as "health worries". No replacement was ever shown. In the Batman Adventures spin-off comic, he is defeated in the re-election seemingly by the Penguin, but it is strongly hinted that the election was rigged by the Clock King, who had held a serious grudge against Hill after an incident depicted in the episode "The Clock King" and both The Penguin and Batman seem to suspect as much. Hill is last seen after the election, retired, living in Blüdhaven.
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- Marion Grange[6] — In a divergence from the comics, the Grange is a male, not a female, character. Adam West, who played Batman in the first television series, provides his voice.
- Hamilton Hill - Hill is the new mayor of Gotham City at the start of Season 5. In a diversion from the comics and B:TAS, this version of Hill is an African-American. Voiced by Lex Lang.
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- Mayor Manning, assassinated by Deadshot.[7]
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- Quincy Sharp, creates Arkham City one year after Titan attacks at both Arkham Asylum and at City Hall, the former he took credit for stopping for. He was later deposed out of office, due to an act of betrayal by Hugo Strange himself.
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- Hamilton Hill - Hill briefly appears in the episode "Alpha Male", where he and several friends are shown on a hunting trip in India. After accidentally stumbling upon scientific equipment built by the Brain, Hill and the others are shot by Monsieur Mallah. A headline in a Gotham newspaper later reveals that Hill survived, albeit with serious injuries. Voiced by Corey Burton.
References