Benjamin Urich (Earth-3434)

"My experience, there are no heroes, no villains. Just people with different agendas."

- - Ben Urich

Benjamin "Ben" Urich was an investigative journalist at the Gotham City Gazette who specialized in writing articles exposing the criminal empires within Gotham City, leading to the arrests of many high-ranking gangsters. Urich was murdered by Wilson Fisk after Vicki Vale convinced him to investigate Fisk's criminal activities.

Early Life
Urich worked for the Gotham City Gazette, his most notable stories were about the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne in the Crime Alley and the the corrupt scandals over the GCPD. He took the most pride in exposing organized crime in Gotham, through his stories he was able to bring several gangsters to jail as well as destroying crime rings.

His wife Doris was hospitalized with a debilitating chronic life threatening illness with some occasional symptoms of idiosyncratic impaired cognition. Due to his wife's need for constant care, Urich dedicated much of his time and money ensuring she got the best treatment possible. Urich was often advised to consider moving her into a nursing home due to her depleting mental state.

The Last Story
"You know when I went away to do my ten, every newspaper in town dragged my name through the shit. You were the only one who did it without mentioning my kids, always grateful for that. Then give me something, a name, anything. Take a pass on this one Benny."

- - Salvatore Maroni and Ben Urich Urich met with his contact in the mafia, Salvatore Maroni, to discuss the recent criminal activities in Gotham City. Maroni claimed the previous head mobster had been murdered and there was a new criminal leader, only nobody knew who it was and what he was planning. Maroni made it clear that the reason he had given Urich the information was that when the newspapers wrote articles exposing his mob, Urich was the only one who did not mention Maroni's family in his article.

Back in his office at the Gotham City Gazette, Urich spoke to the Gotham General Hospital about applying for an extension for his wife's care, but was told to sign a form from online. As he hung up the phone he was approached by his boss, Jonah Ellison, who asked about Urich's new pitch for a newspaper spread, based on Maroni's information about the new player in the city was was controlling all the crime rings, including the Russians and possibly Union Allied Construction. Ellison told him that it would not sell papers and suggested that he stop writing stories about gang violence and consider moving to another department and write about social events, such as whether or not Gotham would get a new subway line. Urich relented and Jonah promised to help him with his insurance for his wife.