Batman has one of the greatest rogues galleries in comics. His laundry list of iconic, recurring villains includes most of the biggest names in costumed crime, with his best foes even being more popular than the majority of heroes. Two-Face, the Penguin, Poison Ivy, Bane, and so many more offer such fun and individualized challenges for the Dark Knight, each bringing out at least one of the aspects that make him so great. Of course, Batman’s best-known rivalry is with the Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker. These two have battled for Gotham’s soul across decades, neither willing to relent on their endless crusade.
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The Joker stars in some of Batman’s greatest stories, from The Killing Joke to The Dark Knight Returns. Heck, he changed the course of Batman history forever by killing Jason Todd. None of Batman’s other costumed foes can hold a candle to the Joker’s impact. Despite that, the Joker isn’t Batman’s greatest villain. None of the typical rogues gallery is. The one foe that has always vexed Batman, the one he’s battled more times than anyone else and who has always eluded him, is none other than Gotham City itself. Believe me, I mean that metaphorically and literally.
A City Built on Corruption
Gotham City is corrupt to its core. A common complaint for fans who don’t know much about Batman is that he should funnel his money towards building Gotham up to reduce crime. The thing is, Bruce does that. Constantly. The Wayne fortune funds practically ninety percent of the benevolent forces in Gotham, both in and outside the law. Yet, every time Bruce or someone else pushes for positive change, Gotham City fights back. There are villainous examples, such as how the Court of Owls manipulated Gotham from the shadows since its founding, guiding it towards melancholy and misery to tighten their grip on its resources. The more prevalent issue, however, isn’t one group, but a system set in place long ago.
The city was founded by people dedicated to maximizing their own profits and power. Every institution in Gotham, from the highest mayor seat to the lowest bureaucratic clerk, makes up a single system designed to incentivize theft and exploitation. It doesn’t matter how much money Batman pumps into it if it all disappears into people’s pockets before it reaches who it was for. Even when Bruce does force good change, everything slides back to its negative status quo eventually, and that’s because of the people who make up Gotham.
Gotham’s residents are, as a rule, living in one of the worst cities in the country. They face constant hardship from the systems designed to beat them down and supervillains like on other. Just look at how many times Gotham has been taken over in the past decade alone, and tell me Gothamites aren’t always expecting a shoe to drop on their neck. It might seem like the people of Gotham are willing to throw away their faith in the heroes who protect them at the drop of a hat, but the public is fickle, especially when that public is tormented with no end in sight. The people of Gotham are always fighting against Batman, even when it’s against their best interests.
A Hellscape for Demons and Dark Fates
Beyond the city priming itself for destruction through its institutions and people, Gotham often stands against Batman in a much more direct way. There’s a not uncommon belief that the city is cursed, and there’s plenty of evidence to support that claim. The dark god Barbatos claims to have influenced Gotham City to produce Batman, steering the city towards chaos and evil to foster his spirit. Even without Barbatos, the city is a hotbed for supernatural and mundane threats that seem to drag the darkness out of everyone. The storyline “Dark Knight, Dark City” is narrated by a seemingly sentient Gotham, and recounts a story where the founders of Gotham conducted a ritual to summon a demon to control Gotham, called the Ceremony of the Bat.
Batman is as shrouded in supernatural mystery as he is in grounded situations. The Dark Knight works best when he toes the line between the demonic and the realistic, and Gotham City being potentially cursed and supernaturally pointed towards evil is a fantastic backdrop for him to operate in. The city always circles back to its darkness, no matter how many times Batman guides it into the light. Heck, even Batman occasionally starts to believe Gotham is cursed. Such as in Scott Snyder’s Batman (2011) run, where the story of the Pale Man as the embodiment of Gotham’s evil circulated and nearly tricked Batman. Heck, there’s a literal zombie who resurrects out of a place called Slaughter Swamp. And that’s nowhere near half Gotham’s canonical curses!
Whether it be because it’s cursed to drown in darkness, or because its people and foundations refuse to change, Gotham City has always been Batman’s greatest opponent. Still, despite the adversities and potential that he can never change anything meaningful, Batman keeps fighting. Heroes always stand up to their enemies, even when that foe is an entire city.
What do you think stands as Batman’s greatest obstacle? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts on the ComicBook Forum!
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