2. Jim Gordon: Ultimate Badass
One thing I thought Nolans Batman trilogy was sorely lacking in was awesome Jim Gordon moments. Many see Jim Gordon as a peripheral character, there only as an official link between Batman and the people of Gotham, sort of a sanction, if you will, for why Batmans often extreme brutality is acceptable. But any comic book purist out there will know that theres a whole hell of a lot more depth to Jim Gordon than that; in fact, hes often cast as the protagonist in entire sub-plots of his own. Theres a particular Jim Gordon moment that, while its not directly involving to the Caped Crusader, sheds yet more light on exactly why Gotham does need a Batman. In Year One, another of Millers seminal Batman works, Gordon is beaten senseless by a group of masked assailants and deduces immediately that theyre his fellow officers in disguise; its an aggressive warning intended to coax Gordon out of his tough stance on corruption in the GCPD. Later, Gordon takes one of these officers, Detective Flass, out to the woods,
gives him a baseball bat, and proceeds to pummel him to within an inch of his life as a form of a reply to the original message. Again, I wasnt exactly well read on Batman when I picked this book up, but after this moment, my respect for Jim Gordon, as a character, went through the roof. If there are to be more Batman movies (and Im absolutely certain that eventually there will be), then for me, and I bet many others out there, we need more Gordon. And this moment not only exposes just how dire the situation is in Gotham (if infighting of this magnitude is occurring within the police force, how can Gotham be properly policed?) but exposes Gordon for the true, ultimate badass he really is.