20 Best Police Characters In Comics (Ranked)

Publish date: 2024-07-18

Does your favorite hero have a cop friend?

Some of the best superheroes out there have a cop friend they can lean on for support or just to get the police out of their way, even for a while. While most of these cops don’t entirely agree with hero logic or reasoning, they see that there is some value in their work. So, they help. Some superheroes even moonlight as cops, so they’re technically on the job 24/7. We imagine that to be very hectic.

We have compiled a list of some of the best cops that have graced our comic books!

Let’s get to it.

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#20 Harvey Bullock

Publisher: DC Comics
Cop Status: Detective, GCPD

We kick this list off with Harvey Bullock, a slightly sketchy GCPD police officer and a once partner to Jim Gordon. Depending on the writer, Harvey has shown different traits over the years. 

For the most part, he is depicted as a police officer with bent morals, but there is a line that he will not cross. He has aided Batman on many occasions and remains loyal to Jim Gordon at every turn. Though there is controversy around this man, he seems to be a close friend of Gordon.

Best Work: Bullock and Gordon were able to stop the Joker from destroying Gotham. He easily slips into the bad cop persona to do so. 

#19 Misty Knight

Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cop Status: Detective, NYPD

Misty Knight is an NYPD Officer who loses her arm during a bomb attack. Once this happens, he receives a bionic arm and carries out her duties to serve the city via a private investigation agency. 

Even before this accident, Misty was considered a rising star in the NYPD. After receiving her bionic arm via her private investigation agency, she goes on to support and aid the Heroes for Hire in many of their missions. 

Best Work: Misty was able to help Power Man and Iron fist to rescue the captives of John Bushmaster and later helped Power Man find evidence that would relieve him of his wrongful charges.

#18 Renee Montoya

Publisher: DC Comics
Cop Status: Officer, GCPD

Renee Montoya made one appearance in the comics before being properly introduced in the Batman Animated series. From there, she caught on and became a recurring face in The Dark Knight ethos. 

Renee eventually becomes the second in Question after she quits the GCPD because of its corruption. While on the Force, Renee had come in contact with Batman on multiple occasions and has aided him whenever Jim Gordon could not. 

Best Work: During the events of No Man’s Land, Renee uses her influence over Two-Face to save Jim Gordon from what appeared to be an unfair trial. 

#17 Dick Grayson

Publisher: DC Comics
Cop Status: Detective, Detroit PD

The former Robin turned Nightwing, left Gotham at one point, and settled in Detroit. Here, he used his crime-solving expertise and education to become a detective with Detroit PD.

This job helped Dick Grayson keep his ear to the ground and be notified of any significant events that were about to happen. Dick is also a great detective like his mentor and uses his training to solve as many crimes as he can without wearing a mask.

Best Work: Dick could decipher Donna Troy’s origins using his detective expertise.

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#16 Maggie Sawyer

Publisher: DC Comics
Cop Status: Detective, Metropolis PD

Maggie Sawyer was once the police contact for Superman, in the same way that Jim Gordon was there for Batman. Maggie works for a department that looks into superhuman crimes whenever Superman isn’t around.

Her character is interesting because she is one of the few LGBTQ+ characters introduced into comics. She also crossed swords with Superman at many points because she believed that her department did not need the help of vigilante heroes. 

Best Work: Maggie leaves behind a file containing evidence of her sexuality. This evidence was used by Lex Luthor to blackmail her, and she leaves it behind because she is not ashamed of herself. This has opened doors for more LGBTQ+ people in the comics and taught many readers that it was normal to be so.

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#15 Psi-Judge Anderson

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Cop Status: Street Judge, Mega-City One

Psi-Judge Anderson is one of the law enforcers in the same universe as Judge Dredd. She has worked with Dredd on multiple occasions and has been instrumental in many of his victories.

Psi-Judge is a member of the PSI division of the Justice Department and has psychic and telepathic powers. This enables her to do her job better than most and act as a trusted aid to Street Judges.

Best Work: When the Half-Life Virus was released on Mega-One City, it was Psi-Judge Anderson that stopped it. 

#14 Rick Flag

Publisher: DC Comics
Cop Status: Agent, Task Force X

Rick Flag is a frequent member of the Suicide Squad and is Amanda Waller’s right-hand man. Before that, he was an elite government agent and special ops soldier. Essentially, a super-cop. 

The origin of this character has been retconned one too many times, but in each, he is shown to eventually become the leader of the Suicide Squad and goes on to complete many missions. 

Best Work: Rick Flag has been the leader of Task Force X on many occasions and is instrumental in taking down the terrorist group called Jihad.

#13 Guardian

Publisher: DC Comics
Cop Status: Officer, Metropolis PD

Guardian might just be a cheap knockoff of Captain America. He carries the shield, and even the appearance looks too similar to call it a coincidence. Initially, a police officer with Metropolis Suicide Slum took on the identity of Guardian to fight crime. Furthermore, he believed that the police just couldn’t do the job.

Furthermore, Guardian had no powers and was armed with an indestructible shield. Sound familiar?

Best Work: He forms a team called the Newsboy Legion, which is just a bunch of good kids who need a chance. These young boys eventually grow up to be the leaders of Project CADMUS.

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#12 Bishop

Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cop Status: Officer, X.S.E. Mutant Police Force

Bishop is a mutant from the future that was an officer of the Xavier Security Enforcers. This police force was born to keep the dream of Charles Xavier alive – a world where both man and mutant can live as one.

Bishop traveled back in time and joined the ranks of the legendary X-men. Even in the new Krakoa storyline, he comes as Captain commander and is kept in charge of the Krakoa War College. 

Best Work: Bishop was one of the youngest cadets of the X.S.E and even graduated as the youngest to ever do it. He was only beaten out by his sister Shard.

#11 Jefferson Davis

Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cop Status: Police Officer, NYPD

Jefferson Davis is the father of Mile Morales, a.k.a. Spiderman. Jefferson is a Police Officer for the NYPD and has been an outstanding role model for his son. Despite the dangers of being a masked vigilante, Miles decided to take up the role simply because he grew up watching his father be a hero.

Jefferson was utterly unaware of his son’s alter-ego at first and tried to track down the new Spiderman. Upon discovering his true identity and realizing he cannot be persuaded to stop, Jefferson goes on to be a trusted advisor and helper to Miles.

Best Work: Jefferson helped Nick Fury to take down Wilson Fisk by acting as a spy for the organization. His actions directly led to their victory, and he was even offered the position of Agent of SHIELD. 

#10 Flash (Barry Allen)

Publisher: DC Comics
Cop Status: Forensic scientist, Central City PD

Before Barry Allen became the fastest man alive, he was fighting crime as the Chief forensic scientist for the Central City PD. This was a result of Barry vowing to prove his father’s innocence in his mother’s death, and he would secretly work on the case in his spare time. 

His work with the police department allows Barry to keep his ear to the ground and gives him the resources and information to know what major activity is happening in the city. His experience with police work has turned him into one of the finest detectives on the planet.

Best Work: Flash played a critical role in helping to decipher the mystery of the Button during the events of the Doomsday Clock.

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#9 Green Lantern

Publisher: DC Comics
Cop Status: Green Lantern, GL Corps

Green Lanterns are essentially space cops, and each Lantern is given a power ring as their ultimate weapon in capturing space criminals. These rings can do anything that they can imagine. The planet OA acts as their base of operations, and the Guardians are essentially the Chief of Police.

Many have taken on the name of Green Lantern, and there are thousands across the galaxies. Each of these heroes is given a sector, and they must patrol it and ensure that order is kept. Hal Jordan is one of the finest to ever do it.

Best Work: Hal Jordan, along with the Green Lantern Corps, brought down Parallax. Parallax is a fallen Guardian that embodies fear and tries to corrupt anything it comes across. 

#8 Hawkman

Publisher: DC Comics
Cop Status: Hawk-police, Thanagar Police Force

While the Golden Age version of the character was a reincarnated Pharaoh prince, the origin of this character was tweaked. Hawkman was now introduced as a law enforcement officer from the planet Thanagar who was sent to Earth to study how we deal with the criminals here. 

Hawkman was both a member of the Justice League and the Justice Society of America. He first came to Earth while trying to hunt a criminal and was intrigued by the planet. He returned, stayed with his wife, and became the protector of Midway City.

Best Work: When Thanagar became a military dictatorship and attempted to invade Earth, Hawkman turned against his people and sided with Earth. This helped Earth’s heroes to thwart this invasion.

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#7 RoboCop

Publisher: Marvel Comics, Darkhorse Comics
Cop Status: Cybernetic Cop, Detroit PD

RoboCop was first made famous via the cinematic adaptation in 1987, and the character garnered so much attention that he seeped into various other forms of media. Besides the movies that would follow, he appeared in many comic book adaptations, both by Marvel Comics and then later by Darkhorse comics. 

RoboCop is the story of a cop killed in action and then revived to be a cyborg cop in a dystopian future. In this future, anyone with money can create killer robots, and RoboCop appears to be the only force to stop them.

Best Work: RoboCop is shown to take on the robotic dinosaurs of Dino Park. Even though he loses much of his cyber-body, since he does not feel pain, he continues to fight the towering monsters to save the people in danger.

#6 Detective Chimp

Publisher: DC Comics
Cop Status: Detective, Bureau of Amplified Animals

Detective Chimp isn’t your regular, run-of-the-mill cop. He is a detective of all things supernatural and does the same job as the police, but only on a different level.

Detective Chimp has worked with the Bureau of Amplified Animals and is also a core Justice League Dark Team member. His expertise is said to be on par with Batman, and if The Dark Knight is unavailable, then the Chimp is who you go to. Before he drank from the fountain of youth, Detective Chimp even worked as a deputy for the Florida PD as Bobo. 

Best Work: Detective Chimp is so good that he was once able to deduce that a gunshot was made from outside a circus tent with just a raindrop. 

#5 Jim Corrigan

Publisher: DC Comics
Cop Status: Detective, NYPD

Before Jim Corrigan became the Spectre, he was a Police Officer with the NYPD. The two roles overlapped for a very long time until Spectre became more aware of his responsibilities. As a detective, Corrigan was hard on criminals and showed no mercy to them. He believed that to be fighting fire with fire.

Long story short, he was kidnapped and thrown into a river inside a cement barrel. Here he met the Divine Wrath, which gave him the power to kill the people who tried to end him.

After the JSA was disbanded in 1951, Spectre disappeared without a trace, and for twenty years, Corrigan didn’t know what happened. Eventually, Spectre was released from Corrigan’s body.

Best Work: Jim Corrigan was able to gain much leeway into the affairs of Rhami and Gat Benson, and it was this that got him killed the first time. These events led to the Divine Wrath finding him.

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#4 Barbara Gordon

Publisher: DC Comics
Cop Status: Commissioner, GCPD

Barbara Gordon is the Doctor of the great Jim Gordon and eventually took over from her father as commissioner. Barbara, formerly Batgirl and Oracle, is someone who always wanted to help her city and struggled to find her place. As Police Commissioner, she found her calling and is said to have become a better one than even her father. 

Barbara’s training with Batman and her extensive knowledge of technology makes her the best choice for the job. She has a no-nonsense attitude and will stop at nothing to get her guy. Even as commissioner, she continues to be a close confidante to Batman and gives him support whenever required. 

Best Work: Barbara Gordon was able to trap and capture many of Gotham’s worst criminals, including the Riddler, Scarecrow, and the Penguin.

#3 Phil Coulson

Publisher: DC Comics
Cop Status: Agent of SHIELD

Phil Coulson is not precisely a Police Officer but an agent of SHIELD. Isn’t that like a cop times 100? 

Unlike the other members on this list, Phil Coulson did not make his debut in the comics but in the MCU. He was loved so much that he inevitably made his way to the comics. Once he was adapted for the comics, his backstory was changed a little. He started as a US Army Ranger and slowly made his way to the special ops team.

Phil Coulson eventually made his way to the SHIELD ranks and headed the Special Ops. Department.

Best Work: As Head of the SHIELD Special ops, Phil faced off against Dormammu and helped Dr. Strange stop the interdimensional conqueror.

#2 Judge Dredd

Publisher: IDW Comics
Cop Status: Street Judge, Mega-City One

Judge Dredd is a law enforcement officer called a ‘Street Judge’ in a future dystopian world. In this bleak future, the surviving humans band together to form a group of police officers that would act as enforcers, judges, and executioners. No mercy is to be shown.

He is given the ultimate authority and carries out this brand of justice with the ‘Lawmaker,’ a pistol that can recognize only his handprint. Judge Dredd is Robocop on steroids, and that is saying a lot. He does not care about anything else but the law. 

Best Work: Dredd was able to fight and beat Fairly Hyperman, a Superhero who is comparable to Superman. Fairly Hyperman did not know of his weakness, Kapolite, but Dredd shot him with bullets made from it and managed to defeat him. 

#1 James Gordon

Publisher: DC Comics
Cop Status: Commissioner, GCPD

James Gordon is almost as famous as Batman himself. Formerly a detective with GCPD, Jim rose in the ranks and eventually became the commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department. 

James Gordon was doing his bit to protect his city long before Batman ever came along, and we get a perfect look at this during the events of the Gotham television series. James Gordon was part of the investigation team that oversaw the Wayne Murders.

Best Work: Jim Gordon was one of the first people on the scene when Thomas and Martha Wayne were murdered, and he was one of the few cops that were good to the young Bruce. It showed Bruce that there was still good in the city and that it was worth saving. This small interaction played a massive role in the creation of the Bat.

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Honorable Mentions

This brings us to the end of our list of supercops. Some of these cops are why our heroes can carry on their excellent work. All of them are heroes in their own way.

Revisit averagebeing.com for more fun articles and comic news!

Later, Nerds.

FAQ

Is Batman a Cop?

No, Batman is not a cop. He is a masked vigilante who has exceptional detective skills. He is even said to be the greatest detective of all.

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