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| “ | No -- Gotham doesn't die -- not on MY watch! | „ |
| ~ Commissioner Jim Gordon. |
| “ | This is our city. And when Hell is unleashed, we don't run and hide, we stand up. And there's a symbol, a symbol we all know stands for what we can do. What we are capable of. Tonight needs more than just one hero. It needs a city. It needs all of us. Tonight we need to do what he does for us every night. Tonight, we all need to be Batman. | „ |
| ~ Prime Earth Jim Gordon. |
Commissioner James Worthington "Jim" Gordon, Sr., also known simply as Commissioner Gordon, is a supporting character in the DC Universe, specifically being one of the main characters in the Batman franchise.
He is the commissioner and the head of the Gotham City Police Department, who has dedicated his life to stopping criminals or bigger threats from destroying the city. While Batman's fights against crime outside the law, Gordon supports him and his allies due to their shared goal of getting rid of crime with Gotham. In modern comics, he is sometimes showed to be initially distrustful of the Dark Knight and his methods, he sees that the vigilante is needed. During the 2015-2016 comic book issues, Gordon briefly held the mantle of Batman. Depending on the continuity or universe, he is the uncle or father of Barbara Gordon, the father of the serial killer James Gordon, Jr., and an ally of the Batman Family.
Since the character's debut in the DC comics, Gordon has appeared in numerous media. In Batman: Dark Tomorrow, he was voiced by the late Ron McLarty. In the Christopher Nolan trilogy, he was portrayed by Gary Oldman and in the DC Extended Universe film, Justice League and it's directors cut, he was portrayed by J.K. Simmons. In Gotham, he was portrayed by Ben McKenzie, and in the 2022 Matt Reeves film, The Batman, he was portrayed by Jeffrey Wright.
He was created by the late Bill Finger, the late Bob Kane, the late Lawrence Donovan, Henry Ralston and John Nanovic, and first appeared in Detective Comics #27 in May of 1939.
Overview[]
Background[]
Commissioner Gordon is the head of GDP and a supporting character of Batman, whom he originally attempted to arrested. He is also the adoptive father (and later biological father) of Barbara Gordon, and the father of James Gordon, Jr., a recurring foe to Batman.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
James Worthington "Jim" Gordon was born in Chicago, Illinois, and would break his femur while jumping a fence to escape a truant officer when he was fourteen. In his youth, Jim graduated high school and went to Gotham State University, and received his honorary doctorate in criminology. During an unknown time, Gordon joined the United States Military and special forces, where he was trained in advanced hand-to-hand combat and martial arts. On Prime Earth, Gordon joined the United States Marine Corps, and later moved to Gotham City after his divorce.
Year One[]
Gordon started his crimefighting career in Gotham around the same time as Batman. He was transferred from Chicago along with his pregnant wife. He found himself immediately out of his comfort zone with the corrupt police force and the Batman who operated outside the law. Teaming up with his attractive new partner Sarah Essen, Gordon was inching closer to Batman's true identity every day.
He had a brief affair with Essen, but stopped it as soon as possible and confessed to his wife, who reluctantly forgave him. After his newborn son was kidnapped, Bruce Wayne rescued him. Gordon had lost his glasses earlier, leaving it up to the reader to guess if he'd figured out that Batman and Bruce Wayne were one and the same. Gordon then teams up with Batman to take on the Joker and future threats. Gordon and Batman later forged an alliance with Gotham district attorney Harvey Dent, and the three became dedicated to stop organized crime. The trio worked on stopping crime family leader Carmine Falcone, and succeeded at the cost of Harvey having half of his scarred with acid and losing his sanity. Harvey became Two-Face, a criminal who would use a coin to choose his deeds, and Gordon blamed himself for his fall since he didn't trust him much with evidence.
After Dent became a criminal, Janice Porter became the new district attorney of Gotham, and she worked with Gordon on investigating a series of murders by a killer known as "The Hangman". Janice was killed by Two-Face, and the criminal later killed the Hangman, who was revealed to Carmine Falcone's daughter, Sofia. Gordon later became the legal guardian of his niece, Barbara Gordon after his brother and sister-in-law were killed in a car crash. Jim later adopted her as his daughter, and around this time, and his wife Barbara Eileen later left him and took James Jr. with her. Gordon functioned largely as a father figure to his niece, and Barbara would become a member of Batman's crime-fighting family, donning the title "Batgirl".
The Killing Joke[]
Years later, the Joker kidnapped Gordon from his home and shot Barbara, causing her to become a paraplegic and ending her career as a vigilante. Gordon was then taken to a run-down amusement park, stripped naked and put into a cage to be driven insane by the Joker. Despite the Joker's attempts to make him go mad by seeing photos of Barbara in pain, Gordon kept his sanity and ethics. Upon being rescued by Batman, Gordon insisted to Batman that the Joker be apprehended, so he could be shown that their way of stopping criminals works.
No Man's Land[]
Sometime after these events, after a massive earthquake destroys Gotham, Gordon spends three months trying to keep a sudden crime wave in check (as Batman had suddenly disappeared during that time). Determined to put a stop to this, Gordon makes an uneasy alliance with the criminal Two-Face, which ends with Two-Face kidnapping him. Fortunately, he is saved by Batman once again. During the confrontation, Gordon berates Batman for letting Gotham "fall into ruin". Batman offers to prove his trust by revealing his secret identity, but Gordon refuses to look when Batman removes his mask. Eventually, the two repair their friendship.
Personality[]
He showing be very brave and determined commissioner of GCPD who being close friend of Batman and helping him and his allies fight against any villains in Gotham City. He showing also be very compassionate, kind and benevolent towards his daughter Barbara and his fellow police officers. Additionally, Gordon demonstrates great will power in his fight against crime, evident when he didn't break like the Joker intended to during the events of "The Killing Joke".
Portrayals[]
Films[]
- In the 1949 serial Batman and Robin, he was portrayed by the late Ed Wood.
- In Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher's Batman series, he was portrayed by the late Pat Hingle.
- In the Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, he was portrayed by Gary Oldman, who also played Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series, Jacob Marley, Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim Cratchit in the 2009 film, A Christmas Carol, and voiced Viktor Reznov in the Call of Duty series.
- In Batman: Gotham Knight, he was voiced by Jim Meskimen.
- In Batman: Under the Red Hood, he was voiced by Gary Cole.
- In Batman: Year One, he was voiced by Bryan Cranston, who also played Hal Wilkerson in Malcolm in the Middle, Walter White in Breaking Bad, and Joseph Brody in the 2014 film, Godzilla
- In Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, he was voiced by David Selby.
- In Lego Batman: The Movie - DC Super Heroes Unite, he was voiced by Townsend Coleman.
- Coleman also voiced the character in Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes.
- In Son of Batman, Batman: Bad Blood, and Batman: Hush, he was voiced by Bruce Thomas, who also voiced Russell Adler in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Warzone.
- In Batman: Assault on Arkham, he was voiced by Chris Cox, who also voiced Wedge Antilles in Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, Admiral Ackbar in Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike, Fred Jones in Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed Game, James Sullivan in Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault, and The Terminator in Mortal Kombat 11.
- In Batman Unlimited: Animal Instincts and Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem, he was voiced by Richard Epcar.
- In Batman: The Killing Joke, he was voiced by Ray Wise.
- In Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders, he was voiced by Jim Ward.
- In The Lego Batman Movie, he was voiced by Héctor Elizondo.
- In Justice League, a film of the DC Extended Universe, he was portrayed by J.K. Simmons, who famously portrays J. Jonah Jameson in the Sam Rami Spider-Man trilogy and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and voices Omni-Man in Amazons Invincible.
- In DC Super Hero Girls films, he was voiced by Tom Kenny, who famously voices SpongeBob SquarePants in the titular franchise.
- In Batman: Gotham by Gaslight, he was voiced by Scott Patterson.
- In Batman: The Long Halloween, he was voiced by Billy Burke.
- In The Batman film directed by Matt Reeves, he was portrayed by Jeffrey Wright, who also played Felix Leiter in the Daniel Craig era of the James Bond series and voices Uatu the Watcher in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Television[]
- In the 1960s Batman series and Batman: The Movie, he was portrayed by the late Neil Hamilton.
- In The Batman/Superman Hour, he was voiced by the late Ted Knight.
- In Super Friends, he was voiced by the late Danny Dark and the late Robert Morse.
- In The New Adventures of Batman, he was voiced by the late Lennie Weinrib.
- In the DC Animated Universe, he was voiced by the late Bob Hastings.
- In The Batman, he was voiced by Mitch Pileggi.
- In Young Justice, he was voiced by Corey Burton, who also voiced Zeus in God of War II, God of War III, PlayStation All-Star's Battle Royale, and 2018s God of War, Zeus in Disney's Hercules: The Animated Series, Ranger Smith in Boo Boo Runs Wild and A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith, Ludwig Von Drake in DuckTales, Mickey Mouse and Mickey and the Roadster Racers.
- In Beware the Batman, he was voiced by Kurtwood Smith, who also portrayed Red Forman in That 70s Show.
- In Gotham, he was portrayed by Ben McKenzie.
- In DC Super Hero Girls, he was voiced by Fred Tatasciore, who also voiced Poseidon in 2005s God of War, Damon Baird and Tai Kaliso in the Gears of War series, and Nikolai Belinski in the Call of Duty zombies series.
- In Harley Quinn, he is voiced by Christopher Meloni, who also played Colonel Nathan Hardy in Man of Steel and Elliot Stabler in Law & Order.
Video Games[]
- In Batman: Dark Tomorrow, he was voiced by the late Ron McLarty.
- In Batman Beings, he was voiced by Gavin Hammon.
- In DC Universe Online, he was voiced by Ken Webster.
- In Lego Batman: The Video Game, his vocal effects were done by Keith Ferguson.
- In Arkhamverse, he was voiced by Tom Kane and Rick D. Wasserman as a young man in Arkham Asylum, David Kaye in Arkham City, Michael Gough (who also voiced Price in Call of Duty and Call of Duty 2, Anthony, Benjamin and Clayton Carmine in the Gears of War series and Deckard Cain in the Diablo series) in Arkham Origins, and Jonathan Banks in Arkham Knight.
- Kane also voiced the character in Lego DC Super-Villains.
- In Lego Dimensions, he was voiced by Steve Blum, who also voiced Vincent Valentine in the Final Fantasy series, Crash Bandicoot in Crash Nitro Kart, Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop, Grayson Hunt in Bulletstorm, Bo' Rai Cho and Sub-Zero in the Mortal Kombat video game series and Injustice 2, Hal Jordan in Injustice 2, Tank Dempsey in the Call of Duty zombies series, and Urdnot Grunt in the Mass Effect series.
- In Batman: The Telltale Series, he was voiced by Murphy Guyer.
Musicals[]
- In Holy Musical B@man!, the character was played by Lauren Lopez.
Trivia[]
- According to Nightwing, Gordon took the pipe to quit smoking.
- Gordon has been one of Batman's most trusted allies in his fight against crime.
- Because James Gordon made his debut in Detective Comics #27 which is also the same issue that introduces Batman, this makes him the first supporting character in the Batman mythos before Alfred came along.
- Both the New Earth and Prime Earth versions of Gordon are aware of Barbara Gordon's secret identities as Batgirl and Oracle.
