Bradley Gates

Creation

Bradley Gates was created by writers Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins, first appearing in the mini series, Batman: Gates of Gotham 

Gates of Gotham

In the 1870s, Nicholas and his stepbrother Bradley were approached by Alan Wayne, great-great grandfather of Bruce Wayne, and asked to help bring Gotham into the future. The brothers would build three bridges in Gotham, each dedicated to one of the men who helped finance the projects including then Mayor Theodore Cobblepot and newspaper tycoon Edward Elliot. Shortly after the construction of the bridges, the two were brought in to build Old Wayne Tower. With the completion of these projects, the brother’s notoriety grew, and Nicholas decided to take his stepbrother’s last name, Gates. Together, the two would become known as the Gates of Gotham. 
 
Within a few months, Nicholas got married and had a child. After Wayne Tower was built, the founding fathers asked the Gates Brothers to construct a retaining wall along the Eastern shoreline of Gotham in order to provide additional land thereby establishing new buildings. Alan Wayne wanted the Gates Brothers to do this because he was familiar with Gotham’s poor geography and he wanted a foundation that will enable the Gates Brothers to build a colossal bridge which will surpass the others. With this bridge, the main city will be connected to on of the outer counties and allow Gotham to grow into one of the largest cities in the world. 
 
Nicholas approached Bradley with the founding fathers’ new proposal. However, Bradley was less than thrilled about this monumental bridge. Bradley feels their efforts have only lined the founding fathers’ pockets and when there is nothing left to build in Gotham or their usefulness runs out, they will be cut off financially. Bradley tries to convince his brother into branching out with different cities while they still have notoriety. 
 
By the summer of 1892, Cameron Kane became involved with the founding fathers’ push for a new bridge because the bridge would connect Gotham to the northern county which is owned by Kane. Theodore was concerned about this new bridge because Gotham would be open Kane County’s infamous reputation as a solicitor of prostitution, gambling and violence. This could jeopardize his chances for re-election. Edward Elliot on the other hand, was leaning towards the connection between Gotham and Kane County because if they move the direction of the bridge towards the Eastern county then Alan Wayne will gain more influence since he owns the Eastern half. 
 
The Elliots were jealous of the Waynes and the Cobblepots worried about their reputations being tainted by the Kane’s corrupt legacy. The founding fathers left the decision of building the bridge to Nicholas. Nicholas admired Alan Wayne out of three founding fathers so he decided to build the bridge and connect to the Eastern county. Kane angrily left Wayne Manor because this meant less clientel for Kane county.Bradley and Nicholas began the construction of the colossal bridge but they were met with disaster. Bradley was working on the bridge’s foundation below the water line with his underwater protection suit until the bridge suddenly came crashing down on him. Nicholas only found Bradley’s helmet among the wreckage.