Christopher Nakano

Origin

Nakano was a patrolman at the GCPD before running for mayor. He’s been seen as one of the few good cops in the GCPD with how corrupt it is, being seen as always on the straight and narrow by his peers and Bruce Wayne himself. It is suggested that he helped the people more than the system, with average, everyday people having a liking towards him and caring for his safety.

During the onslaught of The Joker War when Nakano and his partner, Bart, were called in by Lucius Fox for a break in at Wayne Enterprises Record Storage Facility. The break in was by Batman, who was disarming a bomb that was planted by the Joker. When Nakano and his partner arrived on the scene, they were quick to assume that Batman was the one who broke into the building, shouting at him to put his hands up. Little did they know, as Nakano let Bart enter the scene first, the place was triggered to explode with one misstep. In the impact of the explosion, Nakano’s partner, Bart, was caught in the explosion and set on fire, quickly dying a painful death. Nakano survived by the help of Batman, who pushed him out of the impact of the explosion, only costing Nakano his left eye. Despite this, Nakano pledged to his now-dead partner that he would seek justice for his death, blaming Batman and the Joker for Bart’s death and the loss of his eye.

Creation

Christopher Nakano was created by Mariko Tamaki and Dan Mora.

Major Story Arcs

Becoming the Mayor

After having recovered from his injuries during The Joker War, Nakano ran the elections in Gotham to become the Mayor of Gotham City and help from a real level, instead of small-scale help in the GCPD, having quit the GCPD due to his injuries. His campaign centered around the outlawing of masks and banning vigilantes like Batman from roaming the streets and ultimately making Gotham worse. He puts his reason forward for wanting to outlaw masks in that transparency is essential to ensuring injustice doesn’t take route, and vigilantes like Batman can be held accountable for their actions.

Nakano is often plagued by nightmares of the night his partner died, and is haunted by the memories. He wakes up after an intense nightmare, lashing out in anger, before he is comforted by his wife. It is here where it is revealed that Nakano’s wife, Koyuki, is pregnant with their son.

Nakano is approached by the Mirror, who, much like him, wishes to see masks be outlawed in Gotham, despite wearing a mask himself. The Mirror is a cult-like criminal who has been shaking up the anti-vigilante sentiment, inadvertently in Nakano’s favor, and wants to work with Nakano to aid him in winning the election with a memory drive. Nakano shows his good-hearted intentions by outright refusing the Mirror’s help, stating his discontent against working with the enemy, rather losing than be a corrupt mayor.

To aid his lack of eye and remove the eyepatch, Nakano is due an appointment with a doctor to get a prosthetic eye, which he has cancelled twice and is encouraged by his wife to attend. He states that he has gotten used to wearing his eyepatch, comparing it to a mask where he can hide his real identity behind it, despite his beliefs, and finds comfort in it. Yet, he finds the eye he is given impressive, up until the point where he finds out Bruce Wayne had paid for him to get the upgraded prosthetic eye, demanding the eye be removed and smashing the eye to the ground in a panic, stating he refused to be controlled by the rich when he becomes mayor.

Nakano wins the election with no influence by criminals or the rich, purely on his own terms. Despite this, he is shocked he won the election, and doesn’t actually know how to proceed.

No Good Deed

For more information see: Harley Quinn: No Good Deed

Nakano hires Hugo Strange to clean up the “clown” problem that Gotham City is having.

Verdict

For more information see: Harley Quinn: Verdict

When Verdict takes over City Hall, Nakano is one of the hostages. Verdict demands that Nakano push the button to blow up the building killing everyone inside and wiping Gotham clean of its corruption.

Later when Harley Quinn, with the aid of Batwoman saves the day, Nakano personally thanks her for saving him and offers her a pardon for her crimes.