Hamilton Hill (comics)

Hamilton Hill is a DC Comics character. He is a known mayor of Gotham City and an adversary of Batman.

Publication history

Hamilton Hill first appeared in Detective Comics #503 and was created by Gerry Conway and Don Newton.

Fictional character biography

Hamilton Hill is a corrupt politician who ran against Arthur Reeves in Gotham City's mayoral election.^[1] Hill defeats Reeves when Reeves’ "Batman identity" photos turn out to be faked and becomes the new Mayor of Gotham City. Unbeknownst to the citizens, Hill is in league with crime lord Rupert Thorne, who helps him become Mayor. During his early time in office, he assists Thorne's attempts to identify and defeat Batman.^[2]

Hill hires an assassin to take out Harvey Bullock.^[3] When Bullock confronts Hill, Hill shoots him, but he survives.^[4]

Hill fires Police Commissioner James Gordon and replaces him with one of Thorne's cronies, Pater Pauling. After Thorne is defeated and Pauling killed, Hill re-instates Gordon but spends the rest of his time in office trying to shift the blame for Gotham's problems onto Gordon's shoulders.^[5]

Hill tries to get rid of Batman by accusing him of a crime that was actually committed by the Night Slayer. When Batman defeats Night Slayer and exposes Hill's plot, Hill is removed from office.^[6]

In other media

Television

• Mayor Hamilton Hill appears in Batman: The Animated Series voiced by Lloyd Bochner. While originally hostile to the Batman and somewhat comical at times, this version of Hill showed absolutely no trace of the corruption that the comics version demonstrated. He first appeared in the episode "On Leather Wings" where he allows Detective Harvey Bullock to pursue Batman (along with his own task force), who is framed for the robberies of pharmacies throughout Gotham City. In the episode "Pretty Poison," Mayor Hill supported the establishment of Stonegate Penitentiary. In the episode "Be a Clown", his son Jordan is kidnapped by the Joker after he runs away because he thinks his dad does not care about him. As seen in "The Clock King," Temple Fugate had a grudge against Hill because he believed that he made him late for a court date on purpose (Fugate was appealing against a $20 million judgement against his company, and subsequently lost). Hill had been a lawyer at the time, which also caused Fugate to believe Hill did it on purpose because the lawyers who had worked on the case were represented by Hill's law firm. Taking on the mantle of Clock King, Temple tried to dispose of Mayor Hill at a clock tower only for Batman to intervene. In the episode "Heart of Steel" Pt. 2, Mayor Hill was almost replaced with a robot duplicate made by HARDAC. In the episode "Blind as a Bat," Commissioner Gordon meets with Mayor Hill and Harvey Bullock about the Penguin's theft of the Raven X1-11 at the time when Bruce Wayne was temporarily blinded. In the episode "Harlequinade," Mayor Hill refuses to take Commissioner Gordon's suggestion to have Gotham City evacuated when Joker steals a bomb that would "dent" Gotham City due to lack of proof. In the episode "Time Out of Joint," Mayor Hill is once again targeted by Clock King who is now using Dr. Wakati's time device. Batman and Robin rescue Mayor Hill and defeat Clock King. In the episode "Lock-Up," Mayor Hill is among those who are abducted by Lock-Up. He is later rescued by Batman and Robin
• Lloyd Bochner reprises his role of Mayor Hamilton Hill in The New Batman Adventures. In the epiosde "Cold Comfort," Mayor Hill is among those who attend the Gotham Tricentennial celebration until it is crashed by Mr. Freeze. In the episode "Over the Edge," Mayor Hill appears at Gotham City Police Department where he tells Commissioner Gordon to stop hunting down Batman (who they now know is Bruce Wayne) out of gratitude to the Dark Knight for saving his life many times and that of his son. Gordon refuses to follow Hill's orders as he blames Batman for his daughter Barbara's death at the hands of the Scarecrow. After mentioning that the District Attorney's office wants to conduct an investigation, Hill tells Gordon to step down as police commissioner after Barbara's funeral. It turns out that the events of this episode are just part of Barbara's dream after she was exposed to Scarecrow's fear gas.
• In Batman Beyond, the high school Terry McGinnis attends is named Hamilton Hill High School (or "Hill High"), presumably after the now-deceased Hamilton Hill.
• In The Batman episode "The Batman/Superman Story" Pt. 1, Hamilton Hill (voiced by an uncredited Lex Lang) is identified as the newly elected mayor of Gotham in the season premiere and is portrayed as African-American. He is elected after Marion Grange resigns from office following an invasion by The Joining.
• Mayor Hamilton Hill is seen in the Young Justice episode "Alpha Male" voiced by Corey Burton. He is involved in a tiger poaching ring that is attacked by Monsieur Mallah. A headline in a Gotham newspaper later reveals that Hill survived, albeit with serious injuries.

Film

• In the movie Batman: Under the Red Hood, a newspaper clip revealed that Jason Todd (during his time as Robin) saved Mayor Hamilton Hill's life.

Video games

• Mayor Hamilton Hill appeared in the video game Batman Vengeance, voiced again by Lloyd Bochner. He was blackmailed by Poison Ivy along with other politicians and wealthy socialites.
• In Batman: Arkham Origins, there is a sign that reads "Hamilton Hill." During the credits for the story-based campaign expansion "A Cold, Cold Heart", a report can be heard saying that Hill was mayor, but was resigning following protests caused by the events of the game which saw Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb exposed as a corrupt officer working for Black Mask.
• Mayor Hamilton Hill appears in Batman: The Telltale Series, voiced by Robert Pescovitz. This version has connections with Carmine Falcone. He is an opponent of Bruce Wayne because of Wayne's support for District Attorney Harvey Dent to replace Hill as mayor. Mayor Hill later had the Gotham City Police Department ransack Wayne Manor. Harvey Dent had no knowledge of this when visited by Bruce Wayne. Later on, Batman finds that Mayor Hill is in cahoots with Oswald Cobblepot sometime after Falcone was arrested and later killed. Depending on if the player visits him as Batman or Bruce Wayne, Hill admits that he hired Cobblepot and leaked information about the Waynes in order to discredit Dent's campaign and further corroborates that he, the Waynes, and Falcone were partners. Knowing that Cobblepot will betray Hill, Batman teams up with Catwoman and heads to a planned public debate between Hill and Dent but is too late to stop Cobblepot from assaulting the debate and holding Hill and Dent hostage. In the ensuing chaos, Hill admits that he was the one who arranged Joe Chill to kill the Waynes before he himself is killed by Cobblepot. Following Hill's death, Harvey Dent is sworn in as the new Mayor of Gotham City.

Web series

• In Gotham Girls, Poison Ivy gives him a toxin that makes him grow a root out of his forehead. This makes him resign from office.
• In Episode 1 of the web series Nightwing, Hamilton Hill is assassinated by Deathstroke.

Miscellaneous

• In The Batman Adventures, a comic book spinoff of Batman: The Animated Series, the Penguin replaces Hamilton Hill is replaced as mayor thanks to Temple Fugate rigging the votes. Batman foils Fugate and Penguin's plan and Hill is reinstated.
• Mayor Hamilton Hill appears in an issue of The Batman Strikes. He is taken hostage at one of Bruce Wayne's parties by Black Mask.

References

External links

• Hamilton Hill at DC Comics Wiki
• Hamilton Hill at Comic Vine