Gotham City was the main area of operations of Batman, Robin and Batgirl. A sprawling metropolis on an unnamed seafront, the city was well known for its grand architecture and statues. However, the city was notoriously overrun with crime, particularly brightly-colored and costumed criminals. Their activities necessitated the need for the vigilante Batman and his sidekicks.
History[]
Early History[]
Some accounts suggested this Gotham shared as similar history to another incarnation of the city, some even claiming they were the same version. By the time of Batman's operations, Burian-Mohr served as its mayor whilst James Gordon was Police Commissioner. Harvey Dent once served as the city's district attorney, though an altercation with Sal Moroni led to his disfigurement and reimagining as the criminal Two-Face.
Batman Forever[]
Two-Face Returns[]
After he escaped Arkham Asylum, Two-Face set to terrorizing Gotham to bring Batman out into the open. In a high-profile confrontation, he and his thugs attacked the Second Bank of Gotham, forcing the Dark Knight's arrival to rescue hostages. The two then engaged in an aerial chase, ending when Dent's helicopter collided with the Statue of Justice.
Two-Face continued his attacks by targeting the Hippodrome during a charity circus hosting many of Gotham's elite. Reasoning that Batman would be among them or that someone may know his identity, Dent threatened to kill everyone present with a bomb unless the hero unmasked himself. Two-Face's plan was sabotaged by the Flying Graysons, though most of the troupe lost their lives when Dent gunned them down.
NygmaTech[]
After another failed attempt to kill Batman, Two-Face joined forces with a new criminal called the "Riddler." Together, the villains and their henchmen engaged in a crime wave, robbing many of its businesses. Around this time, an eccentic inventor called Edward Nygma founded his own company NygmaTech, producing entertainment devices referred to as "The Box". Gothamites became immediatly mesmerized with the devices, many buying it to experience 3D television. Unknown to them all, Nygma drained their intelligence, using it to inhance his own. The inventor, secretly the Riddler, planned to use the gained knowledge to steal from and blackmail those who's information he absorbed.
NygmaTech Party[]
After Edward Nygma became Gotham's newest tech magnate celebrity he threw a Nygma-Tech BOX release party at the swanky Ritz Gotham hotel. Two-Face arrived to rob attendees of the party and Batman quickly emerged to give chase.
Claw Island Siege[]
Riddler built his NygmaTech factory on a small island off the coast of Gotham Harbor. Nygma wanted to drain the information from all the brains in Gotham City. In the end, both were defeated by Batman and his new partner Robin.
Batman & Robin[]
Confrontation at Gotham Museum[]
After receiving a call from Gordon, Batman and Robin responded to a break-in at the Gotham Museum of Art organized by a ice-themed criminal called Mr. Freeze. Arriving shortly after he stole a valuable diamond, they fought off his Hockey Thugs to retrieve the diamond and chased him through the Gotham skyline. However, during the confrontation, Robin was frozen by Freeze and, rather than let him die, Batman chose to revive him at the cost of letting Freeze go. After the fight, Bruce reviewed footage to discover Freeze's past, including his wife, her disease and his lab accident. Deciding to set a trap for Freeze and his men, he donate some of his family's diamonds to an auction to lure him into another heist.
Showdown at Gotham Observatory[]
Batman, along with Robin, and their new partner, Batgirl, arrived at the Gotham Observatory to stop Freeze from freezing Gotham forever. To prepare for this mission they wore Ice Armor that could nullify and reflect the cryonic blasts of Freeze. Upon their arrival they fired grapple lines to reach the top of the observatory.
But Freeze had planned for their arrival and sent Bane to get rid of Robin and Batgirl while he took care of Batman himself. When the trio arrived, they thawed out the two scientists and the telescope targeting mirrors. They decided to use the satellites to thaw Gotham, but Freeze interrupted them and flung both Robin and Batgirl off the telescope to meet Bane while he battled Batman.
Robin and Batgirl succeeded in defeating Bane by draining away the Venom circulation to his brain. Meanwhile, after a fierce fight, Batman defeated Freeze by knocking him off the stand which destroyed his Freezing Engine. Batman then set to work and used the satellite rays to thaw Gotham, but Freeze craftily detonated his icicle bombs that Bane had placed around the telescope earlier, which destroyed its supports and made it fall from the observatory and to the ground below with Batman and the thawed out scientists clinging on for dear life and supposedly crushed the weakened Bane in the process. Batman saved them by firing two Bat Grapples up through the observatory walls, but the telescope was destroyed.
After he set the scientists down on the ground safely, Batman took Robin and Batgirl back to the observatory. After the telescope was destroyed, they decided to use the satellites to thaw Gotham directly, succeeded, and Gotham was restored to normal. Batman went over to Freeze who fell during his fight with Batman and was amid the wreckage of the telescope structure. After a long talk, Freeze gave Batman two vials of a cure to help a dying Alfred Pennyworth and went peacefully back to Arkham Asylum where Ivy was too.
Locations[]
- Batcave
- Wayne Manor
- Arkham Asylum
- Wayne Enterprises
- Gotham City Police Department
- Two-Face's Hideout
- Cross Laundry
- Claw Island
- Hippodrome
- Second Bank of Gotham
- Gotham Harbor
- Casino Excelsior Grand
- Diamond Exchange
- Gotham Children's Hospital
- Snowy Cones Ice Cream Factory
- Turkish Bath House
- Botanical Gardens
- Gotham Museum of Art
- Gotham Observatory
- Gotham University
- Monarch Theatre
- Ritz Gotham
Behind the Scenes[]
Batman Forever[]
Matt Codd illustration for the third movie
Director Joel Schumacher took the look of the city in a new direction at the behest of Warner Brothers after the franchise star Michael Keaton decided to depart the project early in development. Conceptual illustrators Matt Codd and Sean Hargreaves built on what had previously been established with the city. The human faces and figures in the second film became larger and more abundant throughout the cityscape. When it finally came to shooting miniatures and sets many flamboyant neon lights were used to attract new youthful energy. Computer rendered models of the city were used for the first time in Batman Forever, most notably a shot showing Wayne Enterprises in broad daylight.
Batman & Robin[]
Tani Kunitake illustration
The more vibrant Gotham with bright neon lights and a vivid nightlife was continued for the fourth film. A car chase involving the Batmobile, Redbird and Freezemobile took place on the arm of an enormous human figure statue. The Gotham Observatory was located on the shoulders of another figure statue, the location of the final showdown in the film. Despite the similar art style, no key locations from the third film are seen in the fourth. The same exterior is used for Wayne Manor outside the city.
Trivia[]
- When Joel Schumacher took over directing the franchise from Tim Burton, Barbara Ling handled the production design for both of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. Ling's vision of Gotham City was a luminous and outlandish evocation of Modern expressionism and Constructivism. Its futuristic-like concepts (to a certain extent, akin to the 1982 film Blade Runner) appeared to be sort of a cross between Manhattan and the "Neo-Tokyo" of Akira. Ling admitted her influences for the Gotham City design came from "neon-ridden Tokyo and the Machine Age. Gotham is like a World's Fair on ecstasy."
- During Mr. Freeze’s attempt to freeze Gotham in Batman & Robin, the targeting screen for his giant laser locates it somewhere on the New England shoreline, possibly as far north as Maine. The soundtrack for Batman & Robin features a song named after the city and sung by R. Kelly, later included on international editions of his 1998 double album R.