"Take It Up with the Constitution": I Finally Understand Why Gotham's Police Are Willing to Work with Batman

Warning! Contains spoilers for Absolute Power: Origins #1!

Summary Commissioner Gordon publicly endorses vigilantes in Gotham City during a press conference.

According to Gordon, Batman's collaboration with the police force is supported by the Constitution.

Gotham City needs Batman's help to combat crime, and Gordon is willing to work with him to keep the city safe.

Batman is the dark protector of Gotham City, and he often works very closely with the Gotham City Police Department. This collaboration has sometimes brought up questions about how James Gordon can keep his job while openly working with a vigilante, but recently, DC revealed a perfect answer to this burning question.

As revealed in Absolute Power: Origins #1 by John Ridley and Alitha Martinez, after Batman helps capture Joe Chill, James Gordon gives a press conference where he proudly announces that one of Gotham's oldest and worst cold cases has finally been closed. During this press conference, Gordon also gives some extremely important information on how vigilantism is not only allowed in Gotham City, but it seems to be fully supported by both the police force and the United States Constitution.

During his press conference, Gordon admits that vigilantes are allowed in Gotham City as long as they're willing to fully work with the police. This stance not only allows the vigilantes to help capture criminals, but it also grants them complete anonymity, allowing Batman to help capture as many criminals as he wants without Gordon ever needing to acknowledge that Batman helped.

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Batman's Vigilante Activities Are Protected by the Constitution

As Revealed by Commissioner Gordon Himself

Batman and the Bat-Family have been operating in Gotham City for years. When Batman first started out, he had the entire GCPD trying to bring him in, but after Gordon took over, the GCPD's position on vigilantes significantly softened. Gordon has maintained that if Batman ever breaks his no-kill rule, Gordon will use the full force of the GCPD to bring him down. But as long as Batman doesn't break that rule, then he's pretty much fully endorsed to work in Gotham City as much as he wants.

Gordon is likely just using a generous interpretation of the Constitution to make Batman's life easier.

The hardest part of being a vigilante is almost always having to deal with official forces, such as the government or the police force. When Nightwing briefly moved to Chicago during the New 52, for example, one of the biggest issues he faced was the overwhelming police force, which had a strict no-vigilante policy. This made hunting down Tony Zucco (and just stopping crimes in general) far more difficult. Nightwing's experience proves that Gordon is likely just using a generous interpretation of the Constitution to make Batman's life easier, as he knows Gotham needs Batman's help with the city's rampant crime.

Gotham Needs Batman, and Commissioner Gordon Knows It

Does This New Knowledge Protect Batman from Future Anti-Vigilante Crusades?

It's no secret that the Gotham City Police Department is often overwhelmed by the absurdly dangerous and well-equipped supervillains that plague Gotham every other week. Without Batman being able to freely do his job as Gotham's protector, then the city likely would've been destroyed a long time ago. While other cities like Chicago have a zero-tolerance policy for vigilantes, James Gordon has proven he's open to a rather generous interpretation of the Constitution in order to allow Batman to work closely with the police and keep the citizens of Gotham City safe.

Absolute Power: Origins #1 is available now from DC Comics!

ABSOLUTE POWER: ORIGINS #1 (2024) Writer: John Ridley

Artist: Alitha Martinez

Inker: Norm Rapmund

Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse

Letterer: Steve Wands

Cover Artist: Irvin Rodriguez