Detective Arnold John Flass is a fictional character in the Batman universe, created by Frank Miller. Although he is a minor character, Flass plays a pivotal role in the Dark Knight's modern origin and, as such, has been adapted into the film Batman Begins.

Biography

Flass first appears in 1987's Batman: Year One, in which he is characterized as a corrupt detective in the Gotham City Police Department and a former Green Beret. He is Jim Gordon's partner, and Gordon's first introduction to the ugly reality of Gotham City. On their first patrol together, Gordon witnesses Flass beating up a teenager for fun.

Flass, who has been in Mafia boss Carmine Falcone's pocket for several years, resents Gordon's strong moral character, and worries that he will create problems for the department, which is built on corruption. One night, Flass and several other officers accost Gordon and beat him mercilessly in order to "teach him a lesson" with the threat of repeating not only on himself, but his family as well. Gordon soon turns the tables on Flass, however, beating him up and leaving him stripped of his clothes gagged and bound in the middle of the woods. By putting Flass in such a humiliating position, Gordon successfully ensured that his enemy would never admit that one man was capable of accosting him like that, and thus never harass Gordon and his family again for fear of exposing the truth.

Flass's troubles prove to be only beginning as he then encountered Batman as the corrupt police officer was taking a bribe from criminals and left him severely injured in the resulting altercation. Batman later intimidates a drug dealer named Skeevers, who turns on Flass and offers to testify against him. Then-Assistant District Attorney Harvey Dent offers Flass a plea bargain he cannot refuse: in exchange for testimony against Falcone and Police Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb, Flass would receive a lighter sentence. Flass accepts the deal and turns over extensive notes of his dealings with the Mob, giving Dent evidence to prosecute much of Gotham's organized crime.

After Year One, Flass made only occasional cameos in the Batman series. He is the third victim of the Hangman killer during the limited series Batman: Dark Victory (1999–2000), set a few years after Year One; the Hangman seeks to eliminate everyone who helped Dent's career as D.A., regardless of their motives for doing so. By this time, Flass has become a bouncer at a sleazy strip club called the "Cheetah Room", where the Hangman killer hangs him to death.

Flass's death in Dark Victory creates a continuity problem; namely, that Flass is portrayed as being alive when Jim Gordon married Sarah Essen Gordon in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Annual #2 (1992) - a story that takes place chronologically after the events of Dark Victory (when Gordon is married to his first wife, Barbara).

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