Carl Grissom (Burtonverse)

Carl Grissom
Burtonverse‎
Gallery
Real Name	Carl Grissom
Affiliation	Gotham Organized Crime
Base Of Operations	Gotham City
Status
Alignment	Bad
Identity	Public Identity
Citizenship	American
Marital Status	Single
Occupation	Crimelord
Characteristics
Gender	Male
Hair	Grey
Origin
Universe	Burtonverse
Creators	Sam Hamm · Warren Skaaren
First Appearance	Batman (June 23, 1989)
Appearance of Death	Batman: The Official Comic Adaptation #1 (August, 1989)

Carl Grissom was the most powerful crimelord in all of Gotham City, and the man responsible for Jack Napier becoming the Joker.

History

He had a mistress named Alicia who was secretly having an affair with Carl's "number one guy" Jack Napier. Carl had several members of the Gotham City Police Department on his payroll, including a corrupt lieutenant named Max Eckhardt. Lt. Eckhardt, who never liked Jack Napier, and wanted to see him brought down, told Grissom about the affair that Jack was having with Alicia. Without revealing that he knew the truth, Carl assigned Jack to a special project. He wanted Jack to go to their front company Axis Chemicals and remove all incriminating files before the the police had the opportunity to raid the facility. What Jack did not know was that Grissom had already cleaned out the plant, and had ordered Lt. Eckhardt to kill him.

The set up did not go as neatly as Grissom would have liked. Commissioner Gordon caught wind of the incident and interceded before Eckhardt could take Napier out. Compounding the issue was the appearance of the nocturnal vigilante, the Batman. Batman struggled with Napier, but ultimately Jack fell into a vat of toxic chemicals.

Napier survived the accident, but was horribly scarred and hopelessly insane. After a futile attempt at reconstructive surgery, Jack returned to Carl Grissom's penthouse for revenge. He could not believe that Carl would have him rubbed out over a woman. Carl tried pleading with the man, holding up his hands saying, "Jack, listen. Maybe we cut a deal". As Jack stepped into the light, he removed his fedora and said, "Jack? Jack is dead, my friend. You can call me... Joker. And as you can see — I'm a lot happier." At which point, Jack produced a revolver and shot Grissom several times in the chest, killing him because he has now sadly passed away.

Notes

• Carl Grissom was portrayed by the late Jack Palance.
• Grissom is originally an adaptation of Rupert Thorne.

Related

• 2 Appearances of Carl Grissom (Burtonverse)
• 2 Images featuring Carl Grissom (Burtonverse)
• Quotations by or about Carl Grissom (Burtonverse)
• Character Gallery: Carl Grissom (Burtonverse)

Footnotes

Batman Villain(s) This character, team or organization, has been primarily an enemy of the Batman, or the Batman Family as a whole. This template will categorize articles that include it into the category "Batman Villains."