Blackgate Prison (Arkhamverse)

Blackgate Prison is a key location in the story for the video game Batman: Arkham Origins, as well as where the story of the video game Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate takes place. The prison is located on an island with five primary sectors: The harbor to the east, the Industrial Sector, the Cell Blocks, the Administration Sector, and the Arkham Wing.

The security guards wore white uniforms resembling officer uniforms, although some personnel looked like riot guards. In addition, the head administrator is a warden.

History
After Arkham Asylum had been closed down due to there not being a need for a dedicated facility to house the criminally insane in Gotham City for quite some time, Blackgate became the defacto penal facility in Gotham. In the open-world of the game, Arkham Asylum can be seen in the background out into the sea, similar to Arkham City.

Batman: Arkham Origins
By the time of the events of Batman: Arkham Origins on Christmas Eve, in large part because of its current warden, Martin Joseph, focusing on the political role of his job instead of maintaining it as well as the highly corrupt nature of the Gillian B. Loeb-run Gotham City Police Department, the facility was run down. On Christmas Eve, Warden Joseph ordered for a laxing of security in the facility due to being threatened by the criminal kingpin Black Mask (or rather, a new criminal mastermind known as "the Joker" impersonating as him). This resulted in a Code 10 breakin by the False-Facers as well as a hired hitman named Killer Croc targeting Loeb, who had been on Black Mask's payroll, allegedly because he had been imprisoning his own men in the slammer and wanted to change things, but in actuality because the Joker, impersonating Mask at the time, wanted to get rid of anyone who was an asset to the fallen crime lord. Joker succeeded, with Batman being unable to save the warden from being gassed in the execution chamber. Joker also freed the originally intended execution prisoner, Calendar Man in the process. He managed to take out Killer Croc, resulting in the latter's arrest. Two other assassins, Deathstroke and Deadshot, were later imprisoned after the Dark Knight defeated them.

Later that night, the Joker, after being exposed as being Black Mask, was imprisoned at Blackgate at Captain James Gordon's order (acting as the leader of the GCPD after Loeb's death). The Joker also ended up undergoing a psychiatric evaluation by Dr. Harleen Quinzel, an intern for Professor Hugo Strange, resulting in her being manipulated into becoming an inside person for the Joker during his imprisonment. Black Mask ended up arrested and incarcerated shortly thereafter after Batman foiled his drug production at the church. Not too long thereafter, a second Code 10 breakin occurred after the Joker managed to manipulate Dr. Quinzel into supplying him with the security codes for the prison, resulting in a largely destructive riot with bed mattresses being arranged in such a manner that resembled a madhouse floor/wall, tons of graffiti, lots of people being killed (some by being set on fire), and a lot of carnage and releasing all prisoners save for Deathstroke. Batman managed to return to the prison to quell the riot and stop the Joker. The Joker attempted to force Batman into breaking his one rule against killing criminals by having him fight Bane, using a heart monitor attached to the South American mercenary/terrorist to charge up an electric chair. In order to ensure Batman's only option was to fight Bane, the Joker also set up a bomb in the facility timed to go off if either Bane or Batman tried to remove the heart monitor, with enough destructive power to completely obliterate the facility. Batman managed to trick Joker into believing he killed Bane by using one of his would-be assassins, the then-recently deceased Electrocutioner's shock gloves to place Bane into cardiopulminory arrest. Batman then resuscitated Bane, although the latter ended up injecting himself with TN-1 out of desperation. All of the exits were sealed, although Joseph ended up shot by a sniper. Batman managed to defeat Bane, the latter of whom was left with amnesia regarding Batman's identity due to the effects of TN-1. Batman was ambushed by Killer Croc, although he was later forced to let Batman go after grazed by a sniper shot. Batman then took out the rest of the prisoners before fighting and subduing the Joker at the prison chapel. Bane and Joker ended up arrested and returned to their cells.

After the events of Arkham Origins (when 2 riots occured in Blackgate on the same night), there are many discussions amongst Blackgate's inmates, thugs, police officers, and talk show hosts based on the idea that Arkham could be reopened. Later that evening, Quincy Sharp, a political activist, reveals his intentions to reopen Arkham Asylum, partially due to the manipulation of one of the assassins, Shiva under her master's orders, in light of the night's events in an effort to create a more secure facility for Gotham's most dangerous criminals. In addition, 21 prisoners ended up escaping from Blackgate in large part because of the Joker's earlier riot.

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
Three months later, two weeks after Catwoman ended up incarcerated at the prison for an attempted burglary, an explosion occurred at Blackgate Prison. This resulted in several of the criminals, from the minor prisoners to "the worst of the worst," taking over the prison in a riot and holding the personnel hostage. The Joker, Black Mask, and the Penguin (the last of whom was implied to have deliberately gotten himself arrested so he could run his criminal empire in relative safety from Batman) ended up taking control of the Administration Wing, the Industrial Wing, and the Cell Blocks, respectively. The Joker proceeded to rig the building with explosives as well as a modified riot control gas to ensure his control over the building, as well as massacre several guards and use their corpses as decorations, and vandalizing the building with graffiti. He then made the place a residential home for himself, and also captured the warden and wired him to several explosives after he attempted to escape via an emergency hatch in the sewer system. In addition, the Penguin decided to use the riot as an excuse to solidify his power base and gain recruits, also orchestrating fights among the guards with his "champion," Bronze Tiger, whom he forced into becoming his champion after the latter refused to join him. He also attempted to retrieve weapons from the harbor area. Black Mask, wanting to get rid of his rivals, especially the Joker whom he hated due to his earlier actions in destroying his criminal empire, forced an engineer to sabotage the prison facility's power generators into becoming overloaded with the hopes that it wipes out the opposition and, assuming he managed to escape from the prison in time, leave him the sole dominant criminal kingpin. Batman, having been notified of the riot by Captain Gordon, infiltrated the prison facility to quell the riot by scaling the wall from the ocean, fully aware that most if not all of the prisoners were thirsting for his blood as revenge for his role in imprisoning them. After encountering Catwoman, he was forced into an uneasy alliance with her after she told him that the hostages were locked up in the Arkham Wing, and he needed to take out the three kingpins to gain access to the Arkham Wing. The three, however, fully anticipated Batman's arrival, and ordered for Deadshot to kill him and offered him a bounty. He accepted, although he kept it a secret from each of them that he accepted all three contracted bounties. Batman managed to defeat Black Mask and Joker at their respective locations, although the Penguin managed to escape from the Cell Blocks, resulting in Batman encountering him at the docks while he was retrieving the arsenal. After taking out all three, he accessed the central sanctum of the Arkham Wing, only to discover Bane inside, who had been drained of most of his TN-1 and left frail. He deduced that Catwoman's true objective had been to break out Bane, which she confirmed, explaining that an anonymous individual contacted her with retrieving Bane. She also told Batman that she struck a deal with one of the three kingpins to lace the building and personnel with explosives, knowing full well Batman could not risk letting the bombs go off just to ensure Catwoman remained in the prison, thus buying her time to ensure both her and Bane's escape. However, because of Bane's diminished status, Catwoman could not get far before Batman caught up with her. She then fought him, even temporarily blinding him, although she was defeated. Rick Flagg then took Catwoman back into custody, although not before she relayed that she had been "given an offer [she] couldn't refuse" when explaining her motive. Bane was placed back into custody, with Flagg officially stating he had retrieved him before he could escape, although in reality he was forced to give him back to Blackgate to save face in the event that his and Waller's operation ended up exposed, with Bronze Tiger and Deadshot being recruited into their Suicide Squad.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Blackgate is not actually visited during the events of Batman: Arkham Asylum although it was mentioned: Dr. Penelope Young arranged for Bane to be smuggled over to Arkham Asylum to conduct research on Titan under the advice of "Jack White" (actually an alias of The Joker as part of one of his grand schemes). In addition, a lot of prisoners from Blackgate Prison, including most of Joker's henchmen, were placed in temporary transfer to Arkham Asylum due to a mysterious fire that broke out at the location (the fire was strongly implied to have been orchestrated by the corrupt Arkham guard Frank Boles under the orders of the Joker). Shortly thereafter, the Joker instigated a riot at the asylum, with Batman, having just delivered him back to the asylum, being forced to contend with the escaped inmates at the asylum while stopping the Joker.

Batman: Arkham City
As with Arkham Asylum, Blackgate does not actually make an appearance in Batman: Arkham City, although it was mentioned. It was rumored by several of the prisoners that, with the then-recent creation of Arkham City, Blackgate Prison was converted into a shopping mall, although these rumors were proven to be false when all of the inmates were transferred back to Blackgate as a result of Arkham City being shut down.