Jack Forbes was a member of the Internal Affairs division in the Gotham City Police Department who was hostile towards Batman because of his vigilante methods and his superior, Commissioner James Gordon, who supported Batman. At some point, Forbes became corrupted and joined Carmine Falcone's criminal organization.
Biography[]
Pursuing Batman []
After billionaire Bruce Wayne revealed himself to have been funding Batman's crusades and founded Batman Incorpoated, Forbes immediately tried to bring him down and Batman. In Batman: The Dark Knight - Knight Terrors, while at a Wayne Enterprises fundraiser for the Karachi Flood survivors, Forbes accused Bruce of having someone in the Gotham P.D. help him with Batman Inc. To protect Crispus Allen and James Gordon, Bruce tries to steer the conversation to something else but Forbes is persistent, and it the appearance of Jaina Hudson that forces Forbes to leave the fundraiser beaten. Later, Batman works with the Flash to bring down Basil Karlos, the meta human known as Clayface, who was fueled with Venom, on board a speeding train. Major Forbes led the GCPD to find Batman. Batman drops the unconscious Clayface on Forbes' car and warns Forbes stay out of his way or else. Forbes blames Bruce Wayne for sending Batman after him, but Batman tells him he is Batman with or with out Bruce Wayne. In Detective Comics: Faces of Death-Dollmaker, Major Forbes is partnered by Gordon with Harvey Bullock after a body is discovered of a corrupt cop on the roof of the GCPD Headquarters. Forbes and Bullock both learn from Batman that Gordon has been abducted.
Becoming Corrupted[]
After Carmine Falcone framed Gordon for the accident at the subway station, Mayor Hady places Forbes in charge as police commissioner, acting as Falcone's agent. Forbes reveals to Hady and Falcone that he hates Batman because Forbes missed the old days when costumed criminals were gunned down and the GCPD members were treated as if they were kings which delighted Falcone. Falcone has Forbes use the GCPD to make Batman its primary target and any of Falcone's gang members who are captured by the vigilante end up quickly getting released because the anti-vigilante stance that Forbes has. Forbes denied Montoya's request to intervene on the gang war that Falcone causes with help from a criminal known as the Road Runner. Also, Batman foils the operations of other criminals, notably Professor Pyg whose lab was destroyed and the Penguin, with whom he re-ignited an old rivalry when he sunk Cobblepot's Iceberg Casino into the ocean. Batman confronts Falcone and asks him whether or not he was involved with framing Gordon, which Falcone denies, but Batman vows that if he had anything to do with it he will take him down. Still feeling vengeful over the scar on his face, Falcone captures Catwoman when she attempted to steal from one of his safe-houses. Falcone vows to rid the city of the costumed freaks, starting with Catwoman, but before he could kill her, Professor Pyg, wanting revenge for the destruction of his lab, breaks into Falcone's penthouse. Pyg is about to perform surgery on Falcone before Batman intervenes and saves both. Falcone is then upset when Forbes and the GCPD are unable to capture Batman.
Jason Bard []
Jason Bard, a detective with ethics similar to James Gordon, takes advantage of the GCPD's animosity with Batman and attempts to take down the Roman in spite of the Forbes' orders. Having located one of Falcone's weapon caches, Bard feigns an attempt to take down a safehouse belonging to Batman Inc. only to arrest a number of Falcone's men for possession of illegal weapons instead, causing a lot of tension between Falcone and Forbes. Forbes finds proof that Forbes has been working with Falcone and hands it over to the GCPD, who has Forbes arrested. After Penguin looses his criminal empire, Bard tips Penguin to Falcone's whereabouts. Penguin then breaks into Falcone's hideouts, kills several of Falcone's men, and then brutally attacks the man himself but before he could finish him off, the GCPD led by Jason Bard barges in along with the press to arrest both criminals. Penguin is then charged for attempting to kill Falcone and Bard is able to get Falcone to confess on tape to framing Gordon.
Arrowverse[]
Jack Forbes appears in Batwoman, a television show set in the Arrowverse and is portrayed by actor Cameron McDonald. In this version, Forbes leads the Gotham City Police Department in Gordon's place. This version of
Forbes is a lot older than his comic book counterpart and a family man, as he has a wife and a son named Steven, who attends a prep school in Gotham city. In the Arrowverse, Commissioner Forbes is a gruff, no-nonsense and blunt individual; he is very strict regarding the code and protocols of Gotham City Police Department and rarely listens to what a suspect has to say when under arrest, He also seems to be greatly annoyed by the press everytime. Allthough Forbes is seemingly open-minded to vigilantes, he is prejudiced towards homosexuals.
In 2018, Forbes was tasked by the city council to transport the Bat-Signal to the Gotham Art Museum after the ceremony to shut it down. Months after the Executioner was brought down, Forbes ordered the police to put the Bat-Signal again to ask Batwoman for help, proving that he trusts her. Forbes is proven to be hostile towards Bruce Wayne's uncle Jacob Kane as he arrested Jacob for the murder of his wife, Catherine Hamilton-Kane. Sophie Moore, a Crows agent, and her partner Tyler, tried to call Forbes to explain how Mouse drugged them and that Jacob was framed by Alice, but Forbes refused to speak to them.
Eventually, during the Anti-Monitor Crisis, Forbes as well as everyone in the multiverse except for the seven Paragons, was killed in an antimatter wave by the Anti-Monitor on December 10, 2019, only to be restored a month later, after the Paragons and Oliver Queen created a new universe. In the new universe, Forbes had a good relationship with Batwoman until she publicly revealed herself to be a lesbian. Forbes refused to turn back on the Bat-Signal even after his son Steven and Mayor Michael Akin's son Bryan were abducted by Mouse. Despite the fact that his son Steven was saved by Kate Kane, Jacob's daughter and a known lesbian, Forbes still kept his stance against homosexuals which greatly upsets Steven, who is open-minded about homosexuals unlike his father.
It is unknown yet to whether this version of Forbes is a corrupt cop.