Rupert Thorne

In the year 1891 of Gotham by Gaslight, a Gotham City Council member named Thorne is selected as the new Mayor of Gotham City following the death of Mayor Tolliver.

Justice League: Gods and Monsters

In the comic prequel Justice League: Gods and Monsters, Rupert Thorne appears when mobster Lew Moxon attends a meeting of the other crime lords in Gotham. During the meeting, it is revealed that Thorne and Moxon have been friends since childhood and that they started their criminal careers together. Moxon reveals that he knows Thorne betrayed him by stealing money from his prostitution business and, following an unwritten code of conduct, Thorne atones for his crime by taking out his gun and shooting himself.

In other media

Television

• Rupert Thorne appears in Batman: The Animated Series, voiced by John Vernon. This version is a composite character who possesses elements of other gangsters from the Batman mythos such as Carmine Falcone and Sal Maroni, including his status as Gotham's most powerful crime boss and role in the creation of Two-Face. His most prominent appearances are in the episodes "It's Never Too Late", where he competes with aging crime boss Arnold Stromwell for control over the city's rackets and tries to kill him, resulting in Stromwell deciding to redeem himself by surrendering to the police; the two-part episode "Two-Face", where Thorne's plan to blackmail District Attorney Harvey Dent ends with Dent being scarred in a chemical explosion, turning him into Two-Face and resulting in him attacking Thorne's rackets before Batman intervenes; "The Man Who Killed Batman", where Batman is seemingly killed by a small-timer named Sidney Debris, whom Batman saves when Thorne tries to murder him; and "Bane", where Thorne hires the mercenary Bane to kill Batman, only for the Dark Knight to defeat Bane and reveal his plan to usurp Thorne's empire with help from his treacherous moll Candice. Despite numerous arrests after confrontations with Batman and Gotham's police, Thorne avoids imprisonment through bribing Gotham's many corrupt politicians, allowing him to remain Batman's enemy throughout the series' run. He makes minor appearances in "Paging the Crime Doctor", introducing his brother Matthew, a de-certified doctor who is forced to make a living performing surgery on Rupert's thugs; "Vendetta", in which he is briefly suspected of kidnapping small-time criminal "Spider" Conway before Killer Croc is revealed as the true culprit; "Shadow of the Bat", in which he is part of corrupt GCPD Deputy Commissioner Gil Mason's plot to frame Gordon; and "Second Chance", in which Robin questions him about Two-Face's apparent kidnapping.

• Rupert Thorne appears in The Batman, voiced by Victor Brandt. Introduced in the pilot episode "The Bat in the Belfry", this version is one of Gotham's last old-school crime bosses who is quickly apprehended by Batman. He makes cameo appearances in subsequent episodes, such as "A Matter of Family" and "Rumors".

Film

• Rupert Thorne was originally meant to appear as a major antagonist in the 1989 film,
  Carl Grissom (Jack Palance
  ), who was modeled on Carmine Falcone.
• Rupert Thorne appears in the DCAU film
  Kasnia
  . The three are also allied with Bane (although there is no mention of Bane's previous treacherous actions against Thorne). Of the three Batwomen, Thorne shares a personal history with rogue cop Sonia Alcana, whose life he ruined when he ordered her parents' shop burned down for refusing to pay protection money when Sonia was still a child. Thorne escapes punishment due to lack of evidence, although everyone knew he was the one behind it. In the end, Thorne is proven guilty for his role in the arms deal.