Blüdhaven
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Blüdhaven (bl-urd hay ven) is a fictional city in the DC Comics 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 Newark, New Jersey, Atlantic City, New Jersey; Camden, New Jersey; and Gary, Indiana: economically troubled cities that exist in the shadows of larger metropolitan areas.[citations needed]
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[edit] Fictional geography
Maps, character conversation, and implied travel times have repeatedly represented Blüdhaven to be both south of and located close or adjacent to Gotham City.[1] 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,[2] neither of which is found in any Mid-Atlantic State in a similar location.
[edit] History within the comics
[edit] Beginnings
Dixon and McDaniel created the city as a former whaling town, which was officially incorporated as a "Commonwealth" in 1912.[2] 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 center. The stories often state that culturally and financially, Gotham City has always overshadowed Blüdhaven, and that the city has a worse crime rate than Gotham. Not unlike Gotham, organized crime syndicates always dominated Blüdhaven, which were until its final years, protected by endemic police corruption. These parallels represent a good setting[citation needed] for Nightwing - a character whose life often mirrors that of his mentor Batman - to carry out his war on crime.
[edit] 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 supervillain turned crime boss, Blockbuster. Blockbuster proceeds 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] The destruction of Blüdhaven
In Infinite Crisis #4, the Secret Society of Super Villains drops Chemo, a gigantic, semi-intelligent pile of chemicals, on the city, causing a devastating explosion and toxic chemical fallout. The city is destroyed. Nightwing, Batgirl and Robin survive, 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. In Adventures of Superman #648, official sources set the resulting death toll from Chemo's assault on Blüdhaven at 100,068.
Superman and other superheroes such as the Teen Titans enter Blüdhaven to save people from the chemical fallout at the same time that Chemo tries to re-integrate. Superman fights the monster, surmising correctly that Chemo would regenerate more quickly if he were in battle. As Chemo regenerates, he draws the toxins out of the city, removing harmful fall-out and chemical waste. At the culmination of his battle with the regenerating Chemo, Superman hurls the giant into outer space.
[edit] The Battle for Blüdhaven
- See also: One Year Later
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 fallout 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 (Geiger, Professor Radium, Reactron, Mister Nitro, Neutron ) 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. Later Brother Eye, in pursuit of Karate Kid, Una and his creator, the scientist Buddy Blank, claims Bludhaven for himself, activating a new OMAC Army.
[edit] Other media
Blüdhaven appears briefly in the Justice League Unlimited television series episode "Grudge Match" as the backdrop for a meta-human fighting match organised by Roulette in which female Leaguers under mind control (including Fire, 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 cameo.
The elder Bruce Wayne also mentioned Blüdhaven on one occasion during an episode of Batman Beyond. Nightwing was not mentioned or seen.
Blüdhaven is mentioned in Zero, a first-season episode of Smallville, and was referred to several times in the short-lived Birds of Prey series, the first occasion being in "Prey for the Hunter".
