The Illuminati Court of Owls enabling more crime alongside the general pervasive corruption by the ruling class,
The buried evil bat god Barbatos who was summoned and remains under the city
The corruption of insane wizard Dr. Gotham who has also been buried under the city for over 40,000 years (Who gave him a doctorate 40,000 years ago is what I want to know.),
Amadeus Arkham (and seemingly every warden of Arkham since) grossly mistreating the patients there.
The city being surrounded by swampland lending it to be perpetually gloomy.
One can see why the city might not have the best base to positively grow from.
Joker might be supernatural in origin, too. The ‘vat of chemicals’ story is explicitly a maybe, Batman can’t find any evidence he existed before he showed up as Joker, and he keeps surviving things it should be impossible to survive. That last one could be connected to the lazarus pit, though.
Considering there’s, variously,
IlluminatiCourt of Owls enabling more crime alongside the general pervasive corruption by the ruling class,One can see why the city might not have the best base to positively grow from.
Joker might be supernatural in origin, too. The ‘vat of chemicals’ story is explicitly a maybe, Batman can’t find any evidence he existed before he showed up as Joker, and he keeps surviving things it should be impossible to survive. That last one could be connected to the lazarus pit, though.