10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Commissioner Gordon

During Lincoln March’s yearlong plot to destroy Batman, Commissioner Gordon became his first victim. Gordon was chasing Professor Pyg and his gang into a Gotham subway and shot at a crook he believed had a weapon. The bullet hit a transformer, causing two trains to collide and killing many people. Security tapes showed no weapon was present and Jim Gordon was sent to Blackgate Prison.

While in Blackgate, Jim was caught in the middle of a gang war between Carmine Falcone and the Penguin, and saved as many prison guards as possible. In Batman Eternal #13, Gordon refused his estranged son James Jr.’s offer to escape together. On the outside, Batman investigated and found that James Sr. was framed for those deaths and was brainwashed into thinking there was a weapon. New Commissioner Jason Bard destroyed the evidence that would clear Gordon.

After almost a full year in Blackgate, Jim was in the middle of another riot created by the Penguin, this time with Gordon as the target. He might have died if not for Harvey Bullock and Bard, who abandoned his allegiance to March. Once free, the former Commissioner organized the citizens to rally behind Batman as he faced off against Lincoln March.