Gotham City
Profile image by Alex Garcia (Pen and inks) and David Stepp (Colors)
On Earth-Two, Gotham City is a major metropolitan city on the East Coast of the United States, located in the Northeast Corridor along other major cities including New York, Philadelphia and Metropolis. It is famed primarily as a base of operations for costumed adventurers that emerged in the 1940's.
The origins of Gotham City are shrouded in history. It is known, from time travel experiences by Batman and Robin that the city was likely founded as a frontier village in the early 18th century, In the mid to late 17th century, it is known the area occupied by the future Gotham City was unexplored wilderness, inhabited only by indigenous people and occasional scouts, one of which operated out of the future Bat-Cave (Detective Comics #205). By the mid 18th century, America's colonization is in full swing and drawing it into conflict with the native tribes. The new town of Gotham was not immune to this and in 1753, a citizen of Gotham named Abel Adams took on the identity of Captain Lightfoot to help broker peace between the colonists and the natives (Batman #79).
Gotham prospered along with the growth of the new nation and became one of America's major cities. Inspired by an eclectic style of architecture mixing Gothic and Baroque with modern American traditions. In the late 19th century, one of Gotham's prominent sons was born: Thomas Wayne. Possessed of ancestral wealth and a servant heart, Wayne and his wife Martha became some of Gotham's leading citizens. In 1900, another Gotham dignitary, James Gordon was born. In 1915, Thomas and Martha welcomed the heir to the Wayne fortune, their son Bruce. Gotham thrived in the early parts of the 20th century giving rise to an Ivy League Gotham University (World's Finest #3) and two newspapers, the Gotham Gazette (Batman #4) and the Gotham Globe (All-Star Comics 43). With the rise of radio, Apex Broadcasting became one the nation's major media companies (All-American Comics #20) and WXYZ became Gotham's lead station (Green Lantern #20).
In the 1924, two seminal events occurred, The first is that James Gordon entered the Gotham Police Force (World's Finest #53), a path that would lead to the pinnacle of Gotham law enforcement. Also that year, Joe Chill robs and murders Thomas and Martha Wayne before the eyes of their young son. In addition to shocking Gotham to its core, this event traumatized young Bruce into eventually becoming the Batman (Detective #33). Bruce was then raised in part by his uncle Phillip, a friend of James Gordon (Secret Origins #6). Over the next 15 years, Gordon rose in ranks to become police commissioner and in 1939, faced the arrival of the vigilante known as the Batman (Detective Comics #27)..
As the 1940's began, an array of costumed adventures exploded across Gotham on both side of the law. In 1940 Batman picked up a colorful sidekick in the person of Dick Grayson, code-named Robin (Detective Comics #38). In the summer of that year, a more powerful hero in the form of the Green Lantern began being sighted over Gotham's skies (All-American Comics #16). On the other side, costumed charatcers such as the Joker and the Catwoman (Batwoman) along with the Scarecrow (World's Finest #3) and the Penguin (Detective Comics #58) antagonized the law in brazen fashion.
World War II ends in 1945 and more even more heroes and villains dot the Gotham landscape including heroines Black Canary (Flash Comics #86) and Batwoman (Detective Comics #233). Villains like the Icicle (All-American Comics #90) and the Sportsmaster (Green Lantern #28) brought post-war technology to business of crime, furthering the arms race with forces of the law. In 1951, the House Un-American Affairs Committee forced a confrontation with the Justice Society, resulting in their disbanding (Adventure Comics #466). While Green Lantern is thought to have gone into retirement, Batman remained active in Gotham throughout the early 1950's due to his relationship with James Gordon and the Gotham Police. By 1955, with most costumed crime subdued, Batman largely retired and married Selina Kyle (Brave and the Bold #197). Their daughter, Helena, was born in 1957 (revealed in the Last Days of the Justice Society Special).
In the early 1960's, the mood on costumed heroes had shifted and the Justice Society, Bruce Wayne remained largely in semi-retirement and allowed Robin to become Gotham's more prominent defender. Robin joined the Justice Society in 1967 (Justice League of America #55) and with the retirement of James Gordon, Wayne became the Commissioner of the Gotham Police (All-Star Comics #66). Wayne's daughter Helena assumed the identity of the Huntress after the death of her mother at the hands of criminals (DC Super-Stars #17). The 1970's were a tragic time for Wayne including not only the death of his wife, but his manipulation by the Psycho-Pirate (All-Star Comics #67-69) and his own diagnosis of cancer (America vs. the JSA #4). In 1979, in one last case as the Batman, Wayne was killed by an eldritch-empowered criminal as part of a wide plot by sorcerer Federic Vaux (Adventure Comics #461-463).
In the 1980's, Green Lantern began operating more out of Keystone City following the bankruptcy of his broadcasting company (All-Star Comics #69) and Robin had a more international presence due to Dick Grayson role as an ambassador (All-Star Comics #58). The Huntress became Gotham's most prominent protector until Earth-Two was sealed off by the Crisis on Infinite Earths. She is known to have maintained that role and had one final confrontation with the Joker (Justice Society Annual #1) but the later activities of anyone in Gotham remain largely unknown.