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Harvey Bullock is a Detective of the Gotham Police department in Batman: The Animated Series. He is a staunch opponent of Batman, and has something of a gruff, tough guy exterior with a strong Italian-American accent. Bullock tends to alternate slightly in his role and nature from episode to episode. At times, he is nothing more than an oafish, incompetent comic relief character, while other episodes show him in a more serious context as a capable detective. Many episodes blend both of these aspects, thus giving more dimensions to the character. Despite his somewhat corpulent appearance, he is shown in a few episodes to be a capable fighter.

History[]

Bullock started out his his days as a beat cop. He was the junior partner of an officer "Jonesy".[1] The pair witnessed an unidentified assailant (who would later become Batman) during a highway chase. Later, Bullock assisted Commissioner Gordon at the crime scene of the murder of John Grayson and Mary Grayson by Tony Zucco.[2] After years as a uniformed officer, Bullock was promoted to a Detective.

Officer Bullock

Bullock as a uniformed officer.

Around the time when Batman started operating in Gotham, there was also many reported events about a giant bat-creature attacking and stealing from pharmaceutical companies. Bullock stated to The Gotham Glazer that the Gotham City Police Department was looking for Batman as the main suspect on the attacks and he asked Mayor Hill for a special task force to eliminate Batman. Bullock lead the squad against Batman, but the vigilante managed to escape without taking damage. After a while, Bullock learned that Batman wasn't responsible for the attacks, but instead it was Man-Bat, who was taken down by Batman and the case against him was dropped.[3]

Months later, when Joker escaped from Arkham Asylum, he kidnapped Bullock along with Commissioner Gordon and Summer Gleeson. They were all saved by Batman.[4]

During Scarecrow's first crime spree, Bullock found Batman in a crime scene, recovering from Scarecrow's attack with fear gas. Batman had a piece of cloth belonging to Scarecrow and Bullock wanted to retrieve it from Batman, but the dark knight pushed the officer away. Bullock threatened Batman with holding charges against him for holding police evidence, but Gordon arrived and stopped the fight, allowing Batman to disappear much to Bullock's frustration. Later on, Bullock insisted that Batman and Scarecrow were working together, however Scarecrow was just delivered to the police department and Bullock's theory was proven wrong.[5]

Bullock was in charge of the interrogation to the staff of the Rose Cafe after Harvey Dent was poisoned in that restaurant. However, after interrogating the chef and the dishwasher, Bullock found nothing helpful.[6]

On one occasion, Bullock was in charge of a bust that would capture an important gang in Gotham, but because of his recklessness, the bust went wrong and he had to be saved by Batman. Later, when he was interrogated by internal affairs, Bullock told a completely different story from what happened and even blamed Batman for the failed bust.[7]

Bullock earned the scorn of ex-wrestler and criminal kingpin Killer Croc Morgan after Bullock sent him to prison for killing a trade union member. Croc swore revenge on Bullock, and attempted to frame him for murder. When Batman suggested there could be a possibility of Bullock's guilt, Commissioner Gordon defended Bullock by stating that while he is gruff and hard to work with, he is an honest officer. Bullock was eventually arrested due to the evidence pointing to him, but he was soon released and Croc tried to finish him. Batman saved Bullock and captured Croc, clearing Harvey's name.[8]

TLF 46 - Joker gets Bullock

Bullock captured by Joker

Harvey was part of the team lead by Commissioner Gordon to provide police protection to possible victims of the Joker. After they were unable to prevent the second attack, Bullock deduced the location of Joker's hideout, but he tried to capture the madman by himself. Bullock ended up captured and he was almost killed by Joker when he was thrown into a water tank with a shark. Bullock was saved by Batman and afterwards Bullock arrested the Joker's gang.[9]

Bullock, along with Commissioner Gordon, Mayor Hill and Karl Rossum, was saved again by Batman after he and the others are abducted by H.A.R.D.A.C. to create robotic duplicates out of Gotham's Officials and take control of the city. The android Bullock has a notable fight scene against Batman, although Batman defeats the duplicate by pushing him off a building and onto the Batsignal.[10]

Bullock was the part of the raid to capture Jazzman and his gang and he blamed Batman for Commissioner Gordon's bullet wound at the scene. Bullock was the officer responsible for the capture of Jazzman, when the thug tried to murder Gordon at the hospital.[11]

BB 63 - Partners

Bullock and Batman team-up

Bullock even teams up with Batman to find out who is behind several attempts on his life. At first, it appears to be a Mob Boss, Vinnie "The Shark" Starkey, behind it, but it is later revealed that it was actually his own landlord, having been driven crazy by Bullock's attitude towards him, meaning Bullock's personality had generated enemies in the unlikeliest of people.[12] Despite their mutual dislike for each other, Bullock showed genuine regret when he heard of Batman's supposed demise.[13]

When Harley Quinn caused Bullock to crash his vehicle during a getaway, he started a chase that resulted in his car being completely totalled. Even though he couldn't capture Harley, Bullock managed to nab the wanted gangster Boxy Bennett.[14]

Appearances[]

Feature Films[]

Video Games[]

Other Appearances[]

In the comic based on the animated series, Bullock was forced to resign after The Penguin became mayor. As with the DCU version, he became a private detective.

References[]

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