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Carl Grissom

Evil-doer

Full Name

Carl Gorhause Grissom

Alias

Boss Grissom

Origin

Batman(1989)

Occupation

Boss of theGotham Crime Syndicate

Powers / Skills

Wealth

Manipulation
Underworld power
Police connections

Goals

Take over Gotham City's criminal underworld(succeeded, later failed).

KillJack Napier as revenge for his affair withAlicia Hunt(failed).

Crimes

Organized crime

Racketeering
Bribery
Attempted murder by proxy
Corruption
Fraud
Mutilation(unintentionally)
Money laundering

Type of Villain

Arrogant Crime Lord

“	My friend… your luck is about to change.	„
	~ Carl Grissom betrayingJack Napier.

Carl Gorhause Grissom is the overarching antagonist ofTim Burton's 1989 filmBatman, the first installment of Tim Burton andJoel Schumacher'sBatman film andcomic series.

A notorious gangland figure, he is the most powerful crime boss in Gotham City and was the leader of theGotham Crime Syndicate as well as the employer ofJack Napier; that was until Grissom betrayed Napier by arranging an assassination attempt on the latter, who survived and ended up killing Grissom in retaliation shortly after resurfacing as the infamous supervillain called "the Joker". He is loosely based on bothCarmine Falcone andRupert Throne from the comics.

He was portrayed by the lateJack Palance, who also playedYves Perret inTango & Cash,Rothbart inThe Swan Princess,Voltan inHawk the Slayer,Dracula inBram Stoker's Dracula andLong John Silver inTreasure Island.

Biography[]

Batman (1989)[]

“	Grissom: Jack, listen... maybe we can cut a deal. Napier: Jack? Jack is dead, my friend. You can call me.... Joker! And as you can see, I'm a lot happier.	„
	~ Carl Grissom's last words before being shot to death by Napier.

Carl Grissom used to be the most powerful gangland boss in Gotham City, as he had commanded the other crime lords of the city and also had some or even most officers of the Gotham City Police Department (except Commissioner Gordon) on his payroll - one of whom included LieutenantMax Eckhardt. When the recently-elected District AttorneyHarvey Dent begins to make connections between Grissom and Axis Chemicals, Grissom panics as he knows that the evidence stored at the factory is enough to have him convicted.

Grissom also finds out from Eckhardt that his mistressAlicia Hunt has been having an affair with Napier. So to take his revenge, Grissom sends Napier and his crew to Axis Chemicals to seize the evidence before Dent can. At the same time, he calls Lt. Eckhardt and orders him to lead a team of police officers to kill Napier. However, the plan goes wrong when Commissioner Gordon intervenes to take Napier in alive. Eckhardt then attempts to escape, but is shot in the chest and killed by a vengeful Napier. Napier is then confronted by Batman, but falls into a vat of chemicals, leaving Grissom to believe that Jack is dead, much to his delight.

The next day in the night, after a shower, Grissom has a visit from Napier, who survived the fall in the vat of chemicals and now wants revenge for setting him up. Grissom feigns relief in an attempt to grab his gun, but Napier scoffs him and plays wise to Grissom's moves by holding the crime lord at gunpoint. Grissom, now at Napier's mercy, then offers to cut a deal, but Napier refuses and instead reveals his new identity as the Joker, with green hair, white skin, and a widened, permanent grin with red lips, much to Grissom's horror. Laughing as he declares himself to be "a lot happier", the Joker fires a shot at Grissom's chest, causing the crime lord to stumble, before firing a second shot at his heart that kills him. The Joker then randomly unloads the remaining four shots at Grissom's corpse, laughing maniacally and dancing as does so. With Grissom dead, the Joker declares "What a day!" and assumes control of his empire.

Legacy[]

After Grissom died and his body was disposed of, the Joker told Grissom's associates that Grissom was in hiding and that he was standing in for him. MobsterAntoine Rotelli is electrocuted to death by the Joker for refusing to cooperate while mobsterVinnie Ricorso presents false documents to the city government that Grissom handed over all his properties. Ricorso is then executed by the Joker, who makes his first public appearance. As for Alicia, she would be tortured to insanity by the Joker since the Joker was enraged that Grissom only punished him and not her for the affair.

The Joker uses Grissom's factory Axis Chemicals to manufacture toxins that cost lives until Batman and Vicki Vale informed the G.C.P.D. about the lethal combinations that the Joker was using. Grissom's death would finally be avenged when Batman allows the Joker to fall to his death from the top of the Gotham Cathedral when Joker was trying to make moves on Vicki due to wanting nothing to do with Alicia anymore. Grissom's actions indirectly caused Joker's actions to lead to the rise of lunacy in the criminal underworld which led to theatric criminals rising such as thePenguin,Catwoman, andRed Triangle Circus Gang.

Max Shreck, a corrupt member of Gotham's elite, would try to take advantage of this lunacy by turning Selina Kyle, his secretary, into Catwoman after trying to kill her and manipulating Penguin to running for mayor by terrorizing Gotham to approve of a power plant that Shreck planned to construct in order to drain Gotham of it's electrical power.

Personality[]

According to the novelization, Carl Grissom enjoyed the finer things in life such as Alicia and his penthouse. Grissom had no remorse for his murderous actions, but was willing to manipulate others for his own ends. For instance, when Grissom learned that Napier and Alicia were having an affair, Grissom sent Napier to Axis Chemicals to get assassinated by the G.C.P.D. and Napier only went to Axis Chemicals to retrieve documents from Grissom that would've incriminated him if District Attorney Harvey Dent were to seize them. Grissom at first had guilt in setting Napier up, but decided otherwise since he knew he had to draw the line while reshuffling the entire organization. When Napier resurfaced to get revenge on Grissom, Grissom tried to manipulate Napier again by feigning relief and tried to bargain for his life only for the Joker to play wise to Grissom's motives.

Despite Grissom being a ruthless gangster, he truly did love Alicia and would never have tortured her to insanity similar to what Napier did when Napier became the Joker. Prior to his transformation as the Joker, Napier was rude to Alicia while Grissom was always polite to her. Grissom was only motivated to set Napier up because of his affair with Alicia, and was unaware that Napier was already planning to kill him to take control of the organization before becoming the Joker.

Gallery[]

Carl Grissom's first appearance.

Grissom fearing he will be exposed if the authorities recovers evidence of his empire's connections to Axis Chemicals.

Carl Grissom orderingJack Napier to dispose of evidence at Axis Chemicals.

Grissom greeting his mistress,Alicia Hunt.

Grissom eyeing at Alicia and watching Jack's reaction, having discovered their affair.

Grissom hearing Jack wanting to back out on the assignment.

Grissom convincing Jack to do the assignment he tasked him to do.

Grissom watching Jack leave.

Grissom at his desk about to make a phone call from GCPD to kill Jack.

"Get meLieutenant Eckhardt."

Grissom after taking a shower.

"That you,Sugar Bumps?"

When Jack reveals himself to be alive, Grissom feigns relief, but Jack does not buy it.

Grissom trying to get his gun, only for Jack to stop him, holding him at gunpoint.

"Your life won't be worth spit!!"

"Jack, listen. Maybe we can cut a deal."

Grissom horrified to see Jack's disfigurement.

Grissom in pain

Grissom killed by Jack/the Joker.

Grissom's corpse.

Trivia[]

In early drafts of the film's script,Rupert Thorne was meant to fill Carl Grissom's role before Grissom was created.
Coincidentally, Jack Palance, the actor who played Grissom inBatman, inspired the look of the face ofDarkseid, a Superman rogue and another DC Comics villain (yet oneactually created in the comics).
Along withRoss Webster fromSuperman III andMax Shreck fromBatman Returns, Carl Grissom is one of the few characters created in a DC Comics live-action movie who has not been featured in actual comic media before or since then (though he could be considered a Carmine Falcone expy). Interestingly, all three characters were created to replace in their role an actual comic character.
Tim Burton'sBatman was released the same year asTango and Cash and both films featured Jack Palance playing crime lords.