Gotham City has a branding problem.
On the surface, it looks like a place run by mobsters, lunatics, and one very committed billionaire in tactical yoga pants. Dig a little deeper, though, and you realize Gotham isn’t governed by money or law. It’s governed by power, and not the neat, Marvel-friendly kind.
This is the city where power comes from fear, obsession, planning, influence, mutation, ancient curses, and occasionally straight-up magic. It’s not always about who punches hardest. Sometimes it’s about who controls the room before the punch ever lands.
So this list isn’t “strongest punches in Gotham.” That’s boring. This is a ranking of the most powerful people in Gotham, measured by what actually matters in-universe: control, capability, survivability, and the ability to bend the city to their will.
Yes, Batman is here. No, he is not automatically number one. Calm down.
Before we start ranking, we need ground rules, because Gotham power scaling is messy and we refuse to pretend otherwise.
Power in Gotham comes from several sources:
If someone can’t survive Gotham for more than a year, they don’t make this list. If someone constantly loses but somehow keeps running the city, congratulations, that’s power.
Now let’s get into the dangerous people.
Yes, Bruce Wayne is here. Obviously. But let’s be clear about why.
Batman’s power is never strength and anyone with a brain and two knows about it. It isn’t gadgets. It isn’t money, although that helps. Batman’s power is prepared inevitability.
Give him time, and Gotham bends.
Batman has:
He consistently defeats beings who should atomize him on contact. That’s systems thinking weaponized.
Batman isn’t the strongest being in Gotham, sure, but he is the most consistently victorious. That matters.
Ra’s al Ghul doesn’t rule Gotham because he doesn’t want to rule Gotham. That alone makes him terrifying.
This man has centuries of experience, an army of assassins, and access to Lazarus Pits that casually laugh at death. He plays Gotham like a long game of chess where everyone else thinks they’re playing checkers.
Why Ra’s is a top-tier power player:
Ra’s is about correction. Gotham is a failed experiment in his eyes, and he’s more than capable of wiping it off the map if it suits the plan.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: The Joker doesn’t need superpowers because Gotham itself is his superpower.
The Joker controls fear the way others control armies. He destabilizes systems just by existing. Gotham reacts to him like a body reacts to poison.
His power comes from:
He has broken Batman emotionally more than once. He has destabilized Gotham’s government, police force, and criminal underworld repeatedly. You don’t need laser eyes when you can rewrite the rules of sanity.
If power is measured by impact, Joker is a walking catastrophe.
Pamela Isley is wildly underestimated by people who think plant powers are cute.
They are not.
Poison Ivy has nearly wiped out Gotham multiple times, mind-controlled entire populations, and gone toe-to-toe with Justice League-level threats when written seriously.
Her advantages are brutal:
Gotham is surrounded by green spaces, underground root systems, and aging infrastructure. That’s Ivy’s playground. If she ever decides Gotham needs to go, there’s very little stopping her.
People who only know movie Bane miss the point.
Comic Bane is terrifying because he’s strong, yes, but he’s also smart. He studied Batman, broke him physically and mentally, and took over Gotham’s criminal ecosystem with terrifying efficiency.
Bane’s power set includes:
He conquers. Gotham under Bane becomes organized, which is somehow worse.
Jonathan Crane is proof that power needs access.
Scarecrow’s fear toxin rewires perception, identity, and sanity. It turns Gotham into a city of hallucinations and paranoia.
Why Scarecrow belongs here:
Fear is Gotham’s natural state. Scarecrow just amplifies it until the city collapses inward.
If you think Gotham is run by criminals, you’re already behind.
The Court of Owls has been shaping Gotham since before Batman put on the cowl. They control wealth, politics, assassins, and history itself.
Their power comes from:
They erase you.
Clayface is often treated like a joke. That’s a mistake.
In many incarnations, Clayface is functionally indestructible, capable of altering mass, shape, and density at will. He’s beaten Batman through brute force alone.
Clayface’s advantages include:
If Clayface had discipline, Gotham would be done. The fact that he doesn’t is the city’s only saving grace.
Victor Fries is not loud about his power. He doesn’t need to be.
Freeze controls temperature to lethal extremes and possesses scientific intelligence that rivals Batman’s in specific fields.
Why Freeze matters:
When Freeze commits, Gotham freezes with him.
Oswald Cobblepot writes checks.
Penguin’s power comes from being legitimate enough to operate openly while still controlling massive chunks of Gotham’s underworld.
His strengths include:
He survives because Gotham needs him. That’s real power.
Hugo Strange knows things he shouldn’t. About Batman. About Gotham. About human psychology.
That knowledge makes him dangerous.
He brings:
Strange doesn’t need to win the fight because he dismantles people.
These didn’t crack the top tier, but don’t get comfortable:
Each of them has moments where Gotham nearly falls apart. That’s the baseline here.
The most powerful people in Gotham aren’t always the strongest or the flashiest. They’re the ones who survive, adapt, and keep influencing the city even after defeat.
Gotham rewards obsession. It rewards preparation. It rewards fear.
And if you think this city is ever truly safe, you haven’t been paying attention.