Gillian Loeb

Gillian Loeb
Full name	Gillian B. Loeb
Family	Miriam Loeb (daughter)
Affiliation	Gotham City Police Department (formerly) Carlson Grey (friend) Carmine Falcone (formerly) Sal Maroni (formerly)
Occupation	Commissioner (formerly)
Status	Alive
First	"What The Little Bird Told Him"
Portrayed by	Peter Scolari

"Petulance and naiveté are a bad combination. Know when you're beaten."

—Gillian Loeb to Jim Gordon^[src]

Gillian Loeb is the corrupt former commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department.

Biography

Background

Twenty years prior, Gillian Loeb's unstable daughter Miriam murdered his wife in a fit of rage when she was just a teenager. Not wanting her locked away in Arkham Asylum, he covered up the death to make it look like his wife had simply fallen down the stairs and died, and using his connection to Carmine Falcone had Miriam kept in an attic at a farmhouse, where she got taken care of by a couple. Loeb would visit his daughter in secret on many occasions, and play checkers with her in which he allowed her to win.

Also twenty years ago, before Loeb was commissioner, he and Charlie Griggs were partners in the Gotham City Police Department's homicide unit.

Later he started an alliance with Carmine Falcone and became commissioner. Loeb started or continued a system with Falcone where police were forced to do serious crimes like murders and Loeb kept all evidence in secret stash in case that he needed to blackmail GCPD personnel to do what he or Falcone wanted to be done. Basically it meant Falcone was in control of most of GCPD and most police knew it.

Feud with Gordon

When Arkham patient Jack Buchinsky escaped, Loeb assigned Gordon to the case. Gordon currently worked at the asylum as a prison guard after being demoted there by Mayor Aubrey James as punishment for constant interference. Loeb gave Gordon an ultimatum to find Buchinsky within 24 hours, or he and his partner Harvey Bullock will be sent to the asylum to work as guards there indefinitely. Sure enough Gordon managed to capture Buchinsky (who himself arrived at the precinct in an attempt to murder Sal Maroni) and Loeb reassigned him as detective.

Gordon investigates a conspiracy involving the Commissioner which also resulted in the release of Detective Arnold Flass from prison after Gordon arrested him in. As Gordon and DA Harvey Dent find something to expose his corruptness they find that he is robbing money from a chinese dealer. They are later chased by them until Harvey Bullock rescues them. Later on, Bullock and Gordon find out he works for Carmine Falcone and that his daughter Miriam killed her mother and he helped her cover it up and kept her locked in an attic. Gordon later uses this as leverage as he confronts Loeb in his office who offers to resign but Gordon tells him to stay and in order to keep Miriam safe he will give Gordon the President of Police Union to him instead of Flass, Flass will be put on trial, and he gets Harvey Bullock's incriminating files, who was blackmailed to release Flass, instead of everyone's as Loeb considers himself a dead man.

As revenge against Gordon, he assigns him the case of the Ogre, a serial killer who kills the loved ones of the cops that are on to him. Once Gordon discovers his betrayal, he confronts Loeb in front of everybody he vows that once he puts the Ogre behind bars, he will come after him.

During the shooting war between the crime families, Loeb switches his loyalty to Maroni. When he finds Gordon defending Falcone, Loeb orders him to leave but Gordon vows to put the commissioner behind bars or kill him. Loeb leaves his men to kill the detective though they fail.

Forced resignation from the GCPD

A month after the end of the mob war, Loeb demoted Gordon to traffic duties along with Bullock. Bullock quit the GCPD due to not being able to put up with the corruption at the department any longer. When Gordon pushed a fellow officer in frustration while dealing with Zaardon, Loeb fired him much to the objection of Captain Sarah Essen. Gordon went to new crime lord Oswald Cobblepot for a favor to help get his job back at the GCPD, although was quite reluctant to do so. Once doing the favor for him, Cobblepot and his hitman Victor Zsasz broke into Loeb's home at night, killed his guards, and threatened to kill him. Loeb came close to death as Cobblepot concluded that even if he were to give Gordon his job back, he will more than likely try and fire him again at a later date. Loeb managed to negotiate a deal, although it meant him resigning as commissioner. He was given a farewell ceremony that was overseen by Theo Galavan and Sarah Essen was sworn in as the new police commissioner.

Revenge on Gordon

Months later, Gordon was wrongfully imprisoned at Blackgate Penitentiary, which was run by Loeb's friend Warden Carlson Grey, after Gordon was framed by Edward Nygma for the murder of Carl Pinkney. As revenge against Gordon for forcing Loeb into resignation, Grey had him moved into F-Wing (also known as the "World's End"), which contained prisoners that Gordon himself locked up. Before leaving Gordon's new cell, Grey told him that Loeb said "hi". Grey later conspired with a prisoner named Henry Weaver to ensure that Gordon would be killed. Gordon managed to fake his death during a movie screnning and escaped the prison with the assistance of Harvey Bullock, Carmine Falcone, and Falcone's prison contacts, where he then returned to Gotham City to clear his name.

While taking refuge in Bullock's apartment, Gordon had his suspicion that Loeb was the one who framed him. This turned out not to be the case as Edward Nygma was responsible and was later arrested upon Captain Nathaniel Barnes and the police officers present being close enough to hear his confession.

Personality

"I do enjoy when unwavering certainty is undermined by the truth."

—Gillian Loeb to Jim Gordon^[src]

Gillian B. Loeb is seen as an amoral, corrupt commissioner who has a close ties to the mob, specifically to Carmine Falcone. He is described as a "bully" to Gordon and the others, because he wants to attain its own position. He is also keen to collaborate with other dirty cops, including his release of Narcotics Officer Arnold Flass and his relationship with prison warden of Blackgate prison Carlson Grey. Although he is corrupt, he has some sort of sympathy, because he doesn't want own daughter Miriam be transferred to Arkham and he loves her very much; when Gordon found out, he promised him to not allow to happen. Despite of this, Loeb doesn't want to give up his position and constantly tries to rid of Gordon several times, but his attempts ultimately resulted to resign as a GCPD commissioner.

Appearances

Season 1

• "What The Little Bird Told Him"
• "Welcome Back, Jim Gordon" (mentioned)
• "Everyone Has a Cobblepot"
• "Beasts of Prey"
• "Under the Knife" (mentioned)
• "The Anvil or the Hammer" (mentioned)
• "All Happy Families Are Alike"

Season 2

• "Rise of the Villains: Damned If You Do..."
• "Rise of the Villains: Strike Force" (mentioned)
• "Wrath of the Villains: Prisoners" (mentioned)
• "Wrath of the Villains: Into the Woods" (mentioned)

Behind the scenes

• The character was created by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli and first appeared in Batman #404 (February 1987), the first part of the Batman: Year One story.