The Face of Gotham City

THE FACE OF GOTHAM CITY

Real Name: Millicent Mayne

Class: Human mutant? / magic-user?

Occupation: Actress, oracle

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Gotham City

First Appearance: Detective Comics I #851 (February, 2009)

Powers: The Face was a powerful telepath who could read the minds and experience the lives of the citizens of Gotham City.

History: (Detective Comics I #851, Batman I #684) - Millicent Mayne was a celebrated actress in Gotham city. Low-level thug Gracchus tried to foist millions of dollars worth of diamonds on her while she was on stage, but she adamantly refused. The earthquake that kicked off No Man’s Land struck Gotham City, and Millicent was hit in the head by debris. When she crawled from the wreckage she found that she had telepathic powers that let her hear the voices and know the stories of every lost soul in Gotham City. With her new connection to Gotham’s wayward she dedicated her life to fundraising and became known as The Face of Gotham City in the press for the society galas she organized to help the underprivileged. Gracchus still had a vendetta against her and tried to convince Two-Face, who was laying low with him, to help him destroy her.Two-Face thought the work Millicent did was good, and had no interest in seeing her come to harm. At a fundraising event Gracchus burst in disguised as Two-Face and threw acid on Millicent, scarring her face. Two-Face was outraged, but decided to spare Gracchus’ life after a flip of his coin. Nightwing returned to Gotham City to investigate Two-Face’s seeming reemergence. The delivery man helped Nightwing escape the shop, and back at Wayne Manor Nightwing bemoaned his mistakes to Alfred, saying he was having a hard time keeping his head together with Batman gone. Alfred told him Batman wasn’t perfect and made his fair share of mistakes, but always learned from them. Gracchus, as Two-Face, robbed a jewelry store and phoned up Commissioner Gordon, warning him he was going to gatecrash the mayor’s reception at city hall. Gordon and Bullock lit the bat-signal again and when Nightwing answered he asked them to point him in the direction of Millicent Mayne. She was often seen wandering Gotham’s theatre district at night, one of the only parts of the city that had never been repaired after No Man’s Land. Millicent told Nightwing about her first encounter with Gracchus that led to his bitterness against her. The diamonds Gracchus offered her were still buried in the theatre and she knew he was using the attack on city hall as a diversion to distract the GCPD. Gracchus and his men arrived at the theatre and recovered the diamonds but were surprised by Nightwing, who easily defeated Gracchus and his men. Nightwing handed them over to the GCPD, and after he left Gordon and Bullock discussed weather or not they could hold out hope they’d ever see Batman again. Nightwing and Millicent talked into the night about the best way they could help each other defend Gotham City.

Comments: Created by Dennis O’Neil & Guillem March.