Can Comic Books Gays Explain Gotham and Metropolis?

They're not supposed to be NYC, but NYC is indeed the dominant influence in both – Gotham as NYC at night and Metropolis as NYC during the day.

Metropolis is supposed to be NYC. Gotham City is supposed to be Chicago. The new Superman movie has a shot of Lois' car, and it has Delaware plates, which the comics have sometimes indicated is the location of Metropolis. Gotham City has often been depicted as an island that's part of New Jersey, although the license plates sometimes say "Gotham State."

I recall 1 Pre-Crisis comic book having Gotham and Metropolis on each side of NYC.

A Flash comic (B. Allen) I had revealed Central City as a Columbus Ohio location.

Coast City (GL Hal J.) was supposed to be in the San Fran location area. I can't recall if Hawkman & wife ( & the 1st Doom Patrol were heroes there too).

Star City (for G. Arrow & Black Canary) was shown in the Detroit area in 1 explanation and in another around Chicago.

I had no clue where Atom Ray Palmer's ivy Town was located.

Martian Manhunter had his own city (b4 going back 2 Mars) and I recall it being in the Denver area at 1 point.

Don't get me started on Blue Beetle 2's Hub City or Capt. Marvel's (a.k.a. Shazam) Fawcett City locales.

Gotham City is not Chicago you dumb cunt. It is NYC.

Easiest way to understand it

Metropolis is Manhattan during the day

Gotham City is Chicago at night

I once read that Metropolis was more Midwestern and Gotham more East Coast.

And then I read they were supposed to be across a large lake from one another.

It always changed.

Which is why it was a revelation that Spider-Man is from Queens.

R4's attitude is why I can't get into comic book fandom. There's varying timelines, retcons, etc. yet it's all taken so fucking seriously rather than just accepting the absurdity of it all. And heaven help you if you haven't read decades of this contradictory stuff.

I'll stick to reading the occassional graphic novel like The Dark Knight Returns, The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, Puma Blues, etc.

I bought the mid 80s DC role playing game with the JLA and New TT on the cover (by G. Perez).

I think it had maps of the DC cities in it that described some of their unique sites in detail.

it was a great read as was all the parts of the game. No regrets.

Gotham is New York, Metropolis is Chicago. Debate over!

Gotham City was always supposed to be new York City--"Gotham" is an old nickname for NYC dating back to Washington irving's day.

metropolis was originally supposed to be Cleveland, co-creator Jerry Siegel's hometown.

Eventually both cities became NYC, but different aspects of it. A DC Comics editor in the 1970s once explained, "Metropolis is basically Manhattan below the Village, on the nicest day in June. Gotham City is Manhattan above the Village--except with alleyways--on the coldest night in November."

I'm a comic book gay, OP.

r11 thinks she's BRENDA STARR!

I think Gotham is supposed to be a film noir version of New York City. The first Batman comic was around 1940.

R13 That’s exactly what the fuck it’s post to be.

[quote] it’s post to be.

?

In the recent DC movies aren't they just across a river from eachother or sister cities like the twin cities?

You'll notice a lot of different, conflicting answers on this thread. None of them are really wrong, though.

These stories/characters/settings have been in constant production since 1938 (Superman)/1941 (Batman). The continuity(ies) of their shared universe and the individual characters have changed countless times over the years. Multiple creative teams write these stories, sometimes simultaneously in different comics.

The audience/readership has changed (and evolved) countless times, too. They've also crossed over to many other media; animation, film, tv, etc. A current reader of comics could tell you the currently offical "canon," but more casual or older fans will just remember the version(s) they're familiar with from two-three-10 reboots ago, from the "Pre-Crisis" era (nerds get this reference), or the CW's "Arrowverse," or from the Super-friends cartoon 50 years ago, or, of course, from the previous DC movie franchise called the DCEU, aka the Snyderverse (Henry Cavill and Ben Afleck).

These characters aren't just old AF they're also endlessly adaptable and exploitable for profit, hence the amorphous and endlessly confusing continuities.

Metropolis has been vaguely portrayed as being in Illinois, New Jersey and Delaware (!) in various tellings. Gotham has been across a river from Metropolis or in an entirely different state or region of the country. They're both stand-ins for large rust belt cities, usually either New York or Chicago but it's never a simple 1=1. It's deliberately vague.

They're also intentionally meant to be their own thing. DC has always had these two cities, usually in addition to real life cities being portrayed in the same continuity; for example, Wonder Woman most often has DC as her home base while Superman and Batman have always had their fictional settings in the same universe, and there are always major characters and teams in New York as well; the (Teen) Titans are usually NYC based.

In earlier eras, mostly the golden age/1940s or silver age/50s-60s, when CBs were at their campiest/silliest and mostly aimed at kids, most or all cities portrayed in DC comics were fictional; "Coast City" (vaguely west coast) was the home of Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), while "Central City" (vaguely midwestern) was the home of Barry Allen (the Flash), etc. There were many more. I haven't read comics in decades so I'm not sure if any of these other fictional cities are still part of the continuity, but Metropolis and Gotham will likely always remain because they are so intertwined with DC's two flagship characters.

To answer your question though... neither is ever meant to be LA; they are always older, gritty, subway'd rust belt cities, not sprawling sunbelt cities. This reflects their original Depression/WWII settings, before LA/California was seen as major city on par with NYC, and Chicago was still the second largest city in the country. Both are versions of NYC/Chicago, but not direct stand-ins, and usually in coexistence with those cities.

Where is DC located in DC?

In the DC universe, R18.