Jim Gordon (character)

For the Gotham television series adaptation of the character, see Jim Gordon (Gotham). For other uses, see James Gordon (disambiguation).
Jim Gordon
Commissioner Jim Gordon on the cover of Detective Comics #25
(November 2013).
Art by Lee Bermejo.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearance
Created by

(based on Commissioner James W. "Wildcat" Gordon by Henry Ralston, John Nanovic, and Lawrence Donovan)

In-story information
Full nameJames W. Gordon[1]
SpeciesHuman
Team affiliations
Supporting character of
Notable aliases
  • Jim (nickname)
  • Commissioner Gordon (title)
  • Batman (2015–2016)
Abilities
  • Skilled marksman and hand-to-hand combatant
  • Master tactician, strategist, and field commander
  • Police training
  • Criminology training
  • Expert detective

James W. "Jim" Gordon Sr. is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, most commonly in association with the superhero Batman. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane as an ally of Batman, the character debuted in the first panel of Detective Comics #27 (May 1939), Batman's first appearance, making him the first Batman supporting character ever to be introduced.[2]

As the police commissioner of Gotham City, Gordon shares Batman's deep commitment to ridding the city of crime. The character is typically portrayed as having full trust in Batman and is even somewhat dependent on him. In many modern stories, he is somewhat skeptical of Batman's vigilante methods, but nevertheless believes that Gotham needs him. The two have a mutual respect and tacit friendship. Gordon is the father or adoptive father (depending on the continuity) of Barbara Gordon, the second Batgirl and the information broker Oracle. Jim Gordon also has a biological son, James Gordon Jr., a psychopathic serial killer who first appeared in Batman: Year One (as an infant).

One of Batman's most notable and enduring allies, Gordon has appeared in various forms of non-comics media; he has been voiced in animation and video games by Bob Hastings, Bryan Cranston, Jonathan Banks, and Christopher Meloni among others, and has been portrayed in live-action by Lyle Talbot in the Batman and Robin 1949 serial, Neil Hamilton in the 1960s Batman show and film, Pat Hingle in the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher Batman film series, Gary Oldman in The Dark Knight Trilogy, Ben McKenzie in Gotham, J. K. Simmons in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film Justice League and its director's cut, and Jeffrey Wright in The Batman. In 2011, Jim Gordon was ranked 19th in IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes".[3]

  1. ^ Greenberger, Bob (July 23, 2014). "What's in a Name? Ask Barbara Kean". BobGreenberger.com. Archived from the original on April 22, 2019. Retrieved April 22, 2019. Speaking of Wikipedia, as useful as it can be, errors still creep in or fans with an agenda can skew the results. [...] someone else decided the W. in James Gordon's name stood for Worthington although not a single comic book story establish this fact.
  2. ^ Jimenez, Phil (2008). "Gordon, James W.". In Dougall, Alastair (ed.). The DC Comics Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1. OCLC 213309017.
  3. ^ Top 100 Comic Book Heroes, IGN Entertainment, archived from the original on February 27, 2015, retrieved July 6, 2011