Line #10 ComicBook/Gothtopia


1	[[quoteright:349:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/645921c855971bd19f12fabcf830747d.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Gotham is the world's happiest and brightest city, the perfect utopia [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade ... Just don't look too close.]]]]
3	'''Gothtopia''' is a ComicBook/New52 Franchise/{{Bat\|man}}family [[BatfamilyCrossover Crossover]] starting in ''Detective Comics'' #27 and ties in ''ComicBook/{{Batgirl\|2011}}'', ''Batwing'', ''ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}'', and ''ComicBook/BirdsOfPrey''. It celebrates Batman's 75th anniversary and serves as the GrandFinale to John Layman and Jason Fabok's run on ''Detective Comics''.
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5	Gotham City, the world's safest and happiest city, an almost completely crime-free haven where dreams come true, and everyone leads the life they want to lead. A place of sunny skies, safe streets, gleaming skyscrapers, and brightly costumed heroes. This is Gotham City. This has ''always'' been Gotham City. Looking past the mysterious all-time high suicide rate, it is truly a utopia... and no one knows why. But if you want to survive, you have to believe.
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7	----
8	!!Gothopia provides examples of:
9	* BadassInDistress: When Batman figures out why Gotham is so utopian, the Batfamily capture him because he's defying their way of life and thinking. They leave him in the care of Dr. Crane for rehabilitation. This leaves the Batfamily on their own when they also realize the utopian facade.
10	* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Played with in an unusual way. In the false Gotham the Penguin believes himself to be the Mayor and seems to be a pretty good one even though he's still as ugly as he was before. Of course, he only ''thinks'' he's a decent mayor.
11	* BigBad: [[spoiler:The Scarecrow]]
12	* BrainwashedAndCrazy: [[spoiler:The Scarecrow]] has all of Gotham in a hallucination, making them think everything is wonderful while [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade eliminating anyone who thinks otherwise]].
13	* CassandraTruth: Anyone who espouses what Gotham City is truly like is considered insane, such as Poison Ivy and Mother Mercy.
14	* CrapsaccharineWorld[=/=]FalseUtopia: On the surface, everything is great. However, the heroes start noticing that things are off and try to figure out what really is going on.
15	** Batwing's tie-in has him walking around the city in his civvies. To him, Gotham looks beautiful and serene. The viewers, however, are shown the actual Gotham alongside his.
16	* CreepyCrossdresser: Zsasz "works" as a nurse at Arkham Asylum, which may or may not be a nod to ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' and Creator/HeathLedger's role as the Joker.
17	* DrivenToSuicide:
18	** Despite crime and unemployment being at an all-time low, suicide rates are unusually high. The suicide victims are people who became immune to the hallucinatory gas and could see Gotham for what it really is. Unable to convince anyone, they took their lives.
19	** Lucius Fox tried to shoot himself when his workers under-performing causes him to despair. Fortunately, Batwing (his son, Luke) stops him before he can do it.
20	* EnemyMine: Batman teams up with Poison Ivy to fix whatever's going on because Ivy is immune to the drug-induced fantasy. However, when the story begins Batman thinks Ivy is just raving and only realizes she was right afterwards.
21	* EvilPlan: The plan of the villain is to first soften the heroes' defenses with the fantasy of Gothtopia, then shatter their resolve to fight back with NightmareFuel, thereby enforcing the heroes as his own lackeys, too scared to fight back.
22	* FindTheCure: After realizing the facade, Batwing creates a cure for the hallucinogen and gives it to himself and his family. He's working on a way to spread it to all of Gotham.
23	* FriendlyEnemy: Daybreak, Batgirl's best friend and ally, is actually her archnemesis, Knightfall. They have no memories of their previous confrontations and think they'd first met rescuing a couple.
24	* GoodCostumeSwitch:
25	** Gotham always had heroes, but now they've traded their dark, imposing costumes for bright, inspiring ones.
26	** More traditionally, Knightfall has a brighter costume as Daybreak.
27	* HeelFaceTurn: Catwoman and Knightfall as Catbird and Daybreak, but not of their own volition. The Penguin thinks he's the Mayor of Gotham City and seems to be a good one at that.
28	* HostageSituation: Batgirl's tie-in has a woman calling herself Mother Mercy poisoning the ice cream in a Joker's Ice Cream factory and taking children on a field trip there as hostage. Batgirl steps in so the cops won't risk shooting a hostage. [[spoiler:Mother Mercy was someone who remembered Gotham's true face and is despairing. Seeing the factory's Joker emblem makes Batgirl remember as well]].
29	* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: Inverted, as Catbird and the others seem to think Batman has gone insane and try to reach out to the "real" him even though ''they'' are the ones who are hallucinating.
30	** Played straight with Steeljacket trying to get through to Catwoman that she is not Catbird.
31	* LightIsNotGood: Everything is bright and sunny and wonderful and it's a giant, ugly lie.
32	* LotusEaterMachine: Everyone in Gotham has been put into one.
33	* MeaningfulRename: With exception of Batman, the Batfamily changed their names to reflect the sunnier atmosphere. [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl 2011}} Knightfall]] does as well.
34	** Batgirl --> Bluebelle
35	** Batwing --> Flying Fox
36	** Batwoman --> Brightbat
37	** Birds of Prey --> Wings of Truth
38	*** Black Canary --> Warbler
39	*** Strix --> Artemis
40	*** Condor --> Eagle
41	** Catwoman --> Catbird
42	** Talon --> Gothamite
43	** Knightfall --> Daybreak
44	* MythologyGag:
45	** Daybreak is a blonde who wears a purple cloak like Spoiler.
46	** Flying Fox was the name of a Batman expy from ''Young All-Stars'' and a young Bruce Wayne from a Silver Age ''Adventure Comics'' story and ''Comicbook/SupermanAndBatmanGenerations''.
47	** Penguin being the Mayor of Gotham City seemed to be a nod to ''Film/BatmanReturns'' or ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'', only in this world he's viewed as a pretty decent mayor.
48	** Zsasz dressed up in a wig as a nurse may be referencing the Joker's crossdressing stint in ''Film/TheDarkKnight''.
49	** In the tie-in short story ''Better Days'', 75 year-old Bruce Wayne steps into the mantle of Batman despite having retired long ago. The first panel of him as Batman is almost identical to the one in ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'', but he's smiling instead of scowling and describes how much body-destroying pain he's in rather than how freeing it feels.
50	* NonIndicativeName: The only aspect of Bluebelle's costume that's actually blue is her bat symbol.
51	* NoodleImplements: In the short story ''Twenty-Seven'' there are many glimpses of the worlds of the future Batmen (the giant Talon Mecha fight, the various future Robins, a street chase involving tripod robots, and many various villains that are unnamed), but all of it is left for the reader to interpret and speculate on.
52	--> '''Bruce Wayne #8 (looking at giant joker playing card):''' What's that one?
53	--> '''Bruce Wayne #7:''' You'll find out. We all do.
54	* OnlySaneMan: Some of the only people who realize the truth fully are Poison Ivy, Batman, Batwing, Lucius Fox, and Steeljacket, while nearly everyone else who does so snaps from the conflicting memories and drug-induced stupor and tries to commit suicide. [[spoiler: Black Canary is snapped out of it by the arrival of Ra's al Ghul.]]
55	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Since Batman needs Poison Ivy to resist [[spoiler:Scarecrow's gas]], Batman willingly kisses her back. She's actually surprised by this.
56	* OutOfCharacterMoment: In the final issue, Batman succeeds because [[spoiler:he seduces Poison Ivy, something he would never do out of his identity as Bruce Wayne]].
57	* {{Sidekick}}: Catbird is Batman's right hand woman.
58	* SpotTheThread: Gotham is perfect, unless you see something that triggers a memory of the real Gotham. Once you do, the facade fades.
59	* SugarBowl: The entire plot is that Gotham is BrainwashedAndCrazy to believe their city is this.
60	* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: Catbird attempts to maim Poison Ivy for trying to kiss Batman until Batman manages to calm her down.
61	* WistfulAmnesia: In the ''Catwoman'' tie-ins, it looks as if Selina's subconscious is trying to force herself out of the hallucination, but Catbird enjoys her new life too much and rejects her old life as the actual hallucination. When she visits Batman at Arkham, she gets upset that he still calls her Catwoman and asks why he just doesn't give in.
62	** Likewise, Batgirl as Bluebelle seems more willing to accept the new world at the end of her tie-in issue after watching [[spoiler: Mother Mercy get shot by a police sniper]].

Context ComicBook / Gothtopia