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Template:Cleanup-comics-date Blüdhaven is a fictional city in the DC Universe. Created by Chuck Dixon and Scott McDaniel in 1996, it was originally intended to serve as a backdrop for the Nightwing comics series. In some ways, it resembles such cities as Atlantic City, New Jersey, Camden, New Jersey and Gary, Indiana: economically troubled cities that exist in the shadows of larger metropolitan areas.

Fictional geography

Blüdhaven is often represented, by maps, character conversation, and implied travel times, to be both north of, and located close or adjacent to Gotham City. some published maps of the two cities fit corresponding points on the New Jersey coast: Gotham's geography fits the Little Egg Harbor area of Ocean County, while Blüdhaven fits in to the area of Atlantic City or Brigantine Island. Its metropolitan region is divided between two DC Universe-specific counties, named Haven and Avalon , neither of which is found in any Mid-Atlantic State in a similar location.

History within the comics

Beginnings

Dixon and McDaniel created the city as a former whaling town, which was officially incorporated as a "Commonwealth" in 1912 . The town has been depicted as having a generally poor socio-economic populace, owing in part to failed efforts to transform itself into a manufacturing and shipping centre. The reader is often told that culturally and financially, it was always overshadowed by Gotham City and that the city had a worse crime rate than Gotham. Not unlike Gotham, Blüdhaven was always dominated by organized crime syndicates, which were until its final years protected by endemic police corruption. These parallels represent a good setting for a character who is often compared, both in and out of the comics, to his mentor Batman.

Introduction to the DC Universe

Blüdhaven first became a major setting in the DC Universe with the start of the Nightwing ongoing series. Nightwing goes to Blüdhaven in pursuit of the supervillian turned crime boss, Blockbuster. Blockbuster is shown to take over organized crime in the city. Soon Nightwing sets up shop in Blüdhaven, becoming its protector. Writers quickly introduced corrupt police officers, such as Detective Soames and Chief Redhorn. As Dick Grayson, Nightwing joined the force himself and fought the corruption from within.

Effects of later stories

After numerous plots in which the villains lead back directly, or indirectly, to Blockbuster, who was never completely defeated in any of these stories, writers built a more complex arc to bring resolution to the arc. Under the writing of Devin Grayson, Nightwing let the amoral vigilante Tarantula shoot and kill Blockbuster, although the reader sees that he could have stopped her. Suffering a crisis of conscience and wracked with guilt, Nightwing left Blüdhaven, apparently for good. Writers soon relocated two other Batman related heroes, Robin and Batgirl, to Blüdhaven, to act as its resident heroes.

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The destruction of Blüdhaven

In Infinite Crisis #4, the Secret Society of Super-Villains dropped Chemo, a gigantic, intelligent pile of chemicals, on the city. This caused a devastating explosion and the spread of toxic chemical fallout. The city was effectively destroyed. Nightwing, Batgirl and Robin survived, since all were out of the city at the time of the attack, but the fates of other Blüdhaven-based heroes such as Tarantula are unknown. It was later revealed, in Adventures of Superman #648 that the resulting death toll from Chemo's assault on Blüdhaven was 100,068.

Superman and other superheroes such as the Teen Titans entered Blüdhaven to save people from the chemical fallout at the same time that Chemo tried re-integrating. Superman fought the monster, surmising correctly that Chemo would regenerate more quickly if he were in battle. As Chemo regenerated, he drew the toxins out of the city, removing harmful fall-out and chemical waste. At the culmination of his battle with the regenerating Chemo, Superman hurled the giant into outer space.

The Battle for Blüdhaven

Following the Chemo disaster, the President declares a state of emergency and erects a wall around the city, as it is a threat to public health. Since Chemo was only chemically toxic, the nuclear fall-out present in the city is a mystery. A new government-sanctioned super team codenamed "Freedom's Ring" (an apparent spin-off of the Force of July) takes charge of Blüdhaven, and orders the Teen Titans and all other metahumans to leave the city.

One year later, "The Wall" has become a permanent structure, and displaced citizens compare the immediate area to the Gaza strip. Many live in refugee camps that have sprung up around the wall while the superhero Monolith helps to keep the peace.

Within the city, Father Time commands American forces, ordering his men to shoot and kill any heroes (referred to as insurgents) who enter the city. His forces also erect internment camps in which experiments are conducted upon American citizens. Also active in the city are the Atomic Knights, who run an underground railroad in an attempt to smuggle citizens out of the city. The Society dispatch the Nuclear Legion to discover the nature of the radioactive leak inside the city, but in a conflict with Freedom's Ring and the Atomic Knights, one member of the Legion is killed. The Society sends the Nuclear Family to assist, and they locate the leak, but engage the Atomic Knights under the city in a struggle that merges into a larger battle between the Titans and SHADE agents.

Increasingly concerned by the developments, Robin leads the Titans back into the city. The Black Baron, once a drug lord who was mutated by the blast, now styles himself as the leader and ruler of the inner part of the city. In a fight with the Titans, Monolith and Firebrand, the Baron is punched into the next state by Monolith. SHADE agents engage the Titans and Lady Liberty is killed by Ravager, who then defeats the SHADE officers sent to retrieve the Titans. The Green Lantern Hal Jordan arrives to square off against Major Force, and Major Victory tells Force to stand down. Force refuses and beats Victory to death using Victory's own arm, after which Force's subordinates and some of the SHADE agents refuse to stand by him. Monolith is shattered in the fight and Firebrand escapes, following a voice that urges him to come to the Mississippi River.

The Atomic Knights then place Captain Atom in a containment suit designed to limit his radiation output, similar to the armor worn by Monarch. Atom then kills Major Force by draining all of the radioactive energy out of him and delivers a warning, telling anyone who wants to live to evacuate the city. After the evacuation, Captain Atom unleashes a nuclear explosion, destroying what is left of Blüdhaven and leaving a radioactive crater in its place.

Meanwhile, the Atomic Knights retreat to an underground bunker known as Command-D. Template:Endspoiler

Other Media

Blüdhaven appears briefly in the Justice League Unlimited television series episode Grudge Match as the backdrop for a meta-human fighting match orgainsed by Roulette (DC Comics) in which female Leaguers under mind control (including Fire (comics), Wonder Woman and Black Canary) fight it out. A signboard at the city's entrance says "Welcome to Blüdhaven". in the same scene, the silhouette of Nightwing appears in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo.

References

1. Nightwing Secret Files and Origins # 1
2. Nightwing Secret Files and Origins # 1

• DC Comics towns and cities
• DC Comics titles