Blackgate Penitentiary is a fictional prison depicted in the DC Universe, traditionally located on a small island in the Gotham Bay, Gotham City. Batman: The Long Halloween suggests that it was preceded by Gotham State Penitentiary, which appeared often in pre-Crisis comics.
Contents
History
Gotham State Penitentiary is also known as Gotham Prison, especially when referenced after the Crisis. It is later officially renamed "Blackgate Prison". In the late 1980s, Blackgate Prison is condemned by Amnesty International and forced to shut down. When the prison eventually re-opens, it is officially known as "Blackgate Penitentiary".
Unlike Arkham Asylum, Blackgate is where non-insane criminals such as Catman, David Cain, Monsoon, Ernie Chubb, KGBeast and various henchmen, mobsters, and mafia bosses are incarcerated when captured. The Joker, the Penguin, Two-Face, Clayface II (Matt Hagen), the Ventriloquist, Mr. Zsasz, Firefly, Calendar Man, Rupert Thorne, Jason Todd and Bane are the only criminals that have done time in both Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Penitentiary.
There are instances where inmates from Arkham Asylum are temporarily moved to Blackgate, like when Bane destroys the original Arkham building in Batman #491. All of the Arkham inmates are incarcerated in Blackgate until the new Arkham structure is built and opened in Batman #521.
There is a one-shot about a breakout happening in the prison entitled Batman: Blackgate. The prisoners in the story are Cluemaster, Steeljacket, Ratcatcher, The Trigger Twins, Dragoncat, Gunhawk, Czonka (The Baffler), Actuary, and others. Several of these villains are also featured in the Cataclysm storyline when an earthquake and the resulting tidal waves damage the prison and open up a land bridge to Gotham. This allows the majority of the inmates of Blackgate to escape.
Known Inmates
- Actuary
- Bane
- Billy (one of The Ventriloquist's henchmen, seen in Detective Comics #610)
- Black Spider
- Bonaventure Strake
- Bruce Wayne (when he is falsely convicted of murdering Vesper Fairchild)
- Calendar Man
- Captain Stingaree
- Catman
- Frederick Rhino
- Mugsy
- Clayface (Basil Karlo)
- Clayface II (Matt Hagen)
- Cluemaster
- Crazy Quilt
- The Cypher (Avery Twombey)
- Dagger II
- Dalton Perry
- David Cain
- Deadshot
- Dean "Hungry" Fahy
- Dr. Fang
- Dragoncat
- Electrocutioner
- Emperor Blackgate
- Ernie Chubb
- Eustace Marker
- Faceless (Joseph Zedno)
- Firebug
- Firebug 2
- Firefly
- Roy Reynolds (The Getaway Genius)
- Gunhawk
- Henry Etchison
- Hsui Cheung
- Jan Brodie
- Jared Manx
- Jason Todd
- John McCone
- The Joker (temporarily held after being sentenced to death row [1])
- KGBeast
- Lady Spellbinder
- Matches Malone
- Mirror Man
- Monsoon
- Mortimer Kadaver
- Polka-Dot Man
- Mr. Zsasz (moved to Arkham)
- The Penguin
- Ratcatcher
- Rupert Thorne
- Sasha Bordeaux (when she is falsely convicted of involvement in Vesper Fairchild's murder)
- Stanislaus Johns
- Steeljacket
- Ten-Eyed Man
- Titus Samuel Czonka (Czonk AKA The Headbanger AKA The Baffler)
- Tony Zucco
- The Trigger Twins
- Two-Face
- The Ventriloquist
- Vincent Morelli
- Vincent "The Shark" Starkey
- Weasel (Chet Grimes)
- William Guillory
- Wrath II
In other media
Film
- Main article: Blackgate Prison (Nolanverse)
- In Christopher Nolan's 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises, the mercenary Bane liberates the criminals "wrongfully imprisoned" at Blackgate Penitentiary by Commissioner Gordon under the Dent Act and uses them in his army.
Television
- In Batman: The Animated Series, this prison is called Stonegate Penitentiary. It was built as a plan by Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent to build a better, safer Gotham. Criminals like Catwoman, Rupert Thorne, Bane, Clock King, Sidney Debris, the Terrible Trio and the Penguin were sentenced to Stonegate. It is also where the common criminals go.
Video Games
Batman: Arkham series
- Main article: Blackgate Prison (Arkhamverse)
Batman: The Telltale Series
Blackgate Penitentiary is mentioned several times in Batman: The Telltale Series and Batman: The Enemy Within. The Penguin is convicted to the prison following his defeat at Batman's hands. Two-Face can also be sent to Blackgate if the player confronts him in Guardian of Gotham. During The Enemy Within, Harleen Quinzel is mentioned to have been a psychiatrist at the penitentiary. After the being defeated by Batman, she can be committed to Blackgate, either due to a request made by the vigilante to Amanda Waller or after she is defeated with Joker. Should the former occur, Bane will also be sent to the prison.
Novels
- In the novel Batman: The Ultimate Evil, author Andrew Vachss refers to a "Hellgate Prison".
