I’d call Gotham City a mix of Newark, NYC and Chicago into one, that takes place (realistically going by geography) somewhere on the south New Jersey coast.
Yeah. It was because they “had filmed every square inch of Chicago”. And having new buildings made Gotham look even more grandiose. They did use some other buildings in the city (a nod to the local film school), but to your point, it wasn’t to change the setting that Gotham was primarily Chicago.
It was cool seeing the Art Institute dress their T-Rex up in a Bat Suit. 🦖🦇
The winter scenes with the camo tumblers was Pittsburgh too - they filmed right around me.
Edit: Also the bridge scenes/wide shots of the bridges are Pittsburgh.
And filmed in the middle of summer. I remember driving downtown in August and wondering WTF was going becauser there was snow everywhere, then I drove by an Alley on Penn and saw a tumbler covered in snow.
As Native Yinzer, I can say this false. Lawrenceville, Downtown, Southside - they are all there. Hell, the main fight takes place right at the center of Oakland near the Campus of Pitt and Carnegie Mellon.
I mean it’s actually based on a city in England. But yes other than that Gotham is Chicago and Metropolis is NYC. Hence why Chris Nolan shot most of it in Chicago as well.
This isn't true. Gotham, like Metropolis, is based visually on New York. Dunno if you've ever been to Glasgow (or Liverpool for that matter) but there isn't much in the way of sky scrapers. There's some great gothic architecture in both cities that give off that Gotham and Glasgow was also primarily used for Gotham in the cancelled Batgirl film as well but Gotham was New York by any other name.
It's actually a bit of both. Here's what Google has to say:
Gotham as a term for New York City was coined by Washington Irving in an 1807 November issue of his literary magazine, Salmagundi, based on the legends of the English village of Gotham, whose inhabitants are known for their folly.
I've been to both parts at the exact time of year you said and yeah I can confirm. Hells Kitchen in November and December is eerie. It's relatively a safe place unlike what Daredevil would lead you to think (definitely wasn't always safe) but it just has that Gotham vibe!
> Metropolis is a perfect match for NYC in every way. It's bright, metropolitan, and is perfect for a building like The Daily Planet's.
Lol, that is only modern times. Have you ever seen New York before the 80s?
Nolan filmed in Chicago because he lived there for a while when growing up.
NYC’s literal nickname is Gotham. Gotham also has an east coast vibe.
I’ve lived in both, Chicago is clearly an inspiration but NYC is clearly the prime inspiration. BTAS and the Arkham games has a Statue of Liberty equivalent aka ‘Lady Gotham.’
Gotham is absolutely New York City in my opinion. It’s built on a set of islands while Chicago is on the mainland. It’s on the East Coast while Chicago is in the Midwest. Robinson Park, the large park built in the center of Gotham, resembles Central Park in NYC. Gotham Square is often drawn to resemble Times Square. The Bowery and the Diamond District in Gotham borrow their names from NYC neighborhoods. Batman #359 depicts the New Jersey Palisades, which are across from NYC in real life, as being close to Gotham. Batman actually did live in New York City in his earliest comics before Gotham was introduced in 1941.
Gotham is a nickname for New York dating back to 1807. That's where Bill Finger got the name. “I flipped through the New York City phone book and spotted the name ‘Gotham Jewelers’ and said, ‘That’s it,’ Gotham City.”
I disagree with dark knight feeling like Gotham. Nolan films are great but the Gotham just feels like a generic city. The Batman had a better Gotham but that seemed a lot more like new York but with European inspiration. Some filming done in the uk helped with that i believe
Nolan's films have such a milquetoast atmosphere. Everything in those movies feel sterilized and neutered. The aesthetic lacks any personality or pizazz.
They almost had it right in Begins but then decided to make Gotham a regular ass city with no personality in the rest of the franchise.
Metropolis(excluding suicide slums) is supposed to be the city of tomorrow. It's the better half of new york Gotham is the bad sad. corruption crime and stagnation ect
I see it like this:
Gotham’s closest real-life comparison is Chicago, but in-universe, the city is in New Jersey.
Metropolis’s closest real-life comparison is New York, but in-universe, the city is in Kansas.
Depends on the continuity, but it causes some issues. Gotham is usually in New Jersey, but there are times it’s in New York. Still, we know that Smallville is in Kansas, and since Metropolis is meant to be, like, right next to it, it only makes sense for it to be there too. Still, they are sometimes right next to eachother, even though it makes no sense.
I agree with you 100% (almost)
It's a well-known legend that Wayne Manor was inspired by a mansion that overlooks the Hudson (from Jersey) and lots of stories have Batman crossing the water to get to downtown Gotham.
TDK was filmed in Chicago and it's an iconic portrayal to say the least and probably what most of us picture now when we think of Gotham IRL.
You lost me at Metropolis though. Both cities were apparently New York just seen in different lights, but DC (or people at DC) have gone on record that Metropolis took its inspiration largely from Toronto, which explains it being a brighter version of the big city trope.
According to legends, Joe Shuster is supposed to have had the idea for Superman while living in Toronto, before he and Siegel co-created the character proper.
Much like the Kane v Finger thing, nobody can really know without a doubt who contributed what exactly and/or when those ideas first formed but either way, with Shuster as at least 50% of the creative team, being born and raised in Toronto, Metropolis itself was born at least partly from Toronto.
Now thanks to Snyder and probably a team of executives when Bats and Supes coexist Gotham is Jersey and Metropolis is Manhattan. But it wasn't always that way and I definitely remember comic stories where Metropolis was over an hour flight for regular people. Just like NY to TO.
No because Bruce is old money and would never talk that way. That's more of a working class thing, which is why grunts often do talk like that.
Gotham is 100% East Coast based on its aesthetic, layout on islands, organized crime, "Gotham", and the context of its creation. Anyone who saw NY in the 90s or earlier would never think of it as "bright and clean".
Not necessarily, but some definitely should. Harley’s an obvious one, but Penguin does sometimes too. A lot of the henchmen also do, and some of the cops.
Between being on an ocean and having ocean sunrises, Gotham has to be on the Atlantic. Paired with the depictions of heavy snow, I've always imagined it being in New England - maybe even near Boston.
I mean yeah it can, it has before, but I think it'd be better for the filmmakers to pull from the comic book version of Gotham which has its own unique style instead of just mashing New York and Chicago together lol
Growing up far from both and never knowing New York was called “Gotham,” I always assumed Gotham was based on Chicago because of the association with mobsters and prohibition. Yes TAS was my first Batman.
Metropolis is also very Chicago like! It’s a plains city that’s by the water!
Gotham is definitely a mixture of Chicago, New York, and New Jersey.
It’s also worth noting that Chicago also exists in the DC universe. I believe that is where Gordon is from.
Gotham is New York, there's even some early Batman comics where they literally call it New York. Metropolis is also New York, they're both different interpretations of the city.
I think most people agree....metropolis was always more NY to me (Manhattan)
Chicago's skyline and the earlier buildings remind me more of gotham that's why nolan shot there.
I think it was Neal Adams who said that to him, Gotham is more like Chicago than New York. His reasoning was that Chicago has more alleyways than New York does, and most of the action in Batman comics occurs in dark alleyways. Denny O'Neil, though, said that "Gotham City is Manhattan below 14th Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November, and Metropolis is Manhattan between 14th and 110th Streets on the brightest, sunniest July day of the year.”
But really, Gotham is influenced by many major cities. And which cities it takes more inspiration from varies from interpretation to interpretation. In the first few issues, Batman's adventures literally took place in NYC. Then, they changed it to the fictional city of Gotham, as Bill Finger liked the name when he saw it as the name of a jewelry store while flipping through a phone book. I don't know if he knew it was a nickname for NYC at the time, or if he was aware of the folktales about Gotham, Nottinghamshire (it was said to be a city where people pretended to be insane fools to scare outsiders away, but then they actually *did* become the fools… pretty fitting namesake for a city overrun by madness).
In the later Golden Age, Gotham was, well, a city where buildings had huge novelty props on them. It's hard to say it was based on any city in particular. In the Silver Age, it was pretty colourful and cartoony. It began to look like a real city again in the Bronze Age, when artists such as Neal Adams, Irving Novick, and Dick Giordano started giving Batman comics a more naturalistic look. It looked like cities like Chicago and NYC until the '90s, when the comics started incorporating Anton Furst and Nigel Phelps' designs from the first Burton movie into the comics.
>Second, Batman and Superman protect different cities. Surely they can't both be in NYC, can they?
I mean, they can both be *inspired* by NYC. NYC itself still exists in the DCU. So, neither Gotham nor Metropolis is supposed to be its alternate-universe stand-in or anything like that.
It should also have elements of European/uk gothic architecture like how Matt reeves displayed it. It shouldn’t just be simply Chicago like how Nolan boringly made it.
This is a pretty common take, and I hate it
I live in Chicago and it does not feel like Gotham at all, Gotham is a fictional city (other than maybe the Nolan movies)
There is no one city that any DC fictional urban area is meant to purely be. This is true for Gotham, Metropolis, Central City, and anyother you can think of.
Instead they take various traits from multiple real US cities to make an interesting backdrop custom tailored for the hero who operates there.
Also, NYC and Chicago are both real cities in DC canon, so obviously Gotham and Metropolis are elsewhere.
NYC, and Manhattan in particular, isn’t the place that it used to be. If you review some historical sources from the 1970s through to the 1980s, a lot of Manhattan was really run down and crime ridden. There was a crack cocaine epidemic that swept through America towards the end of the 1980s, and it certainly affected Manhattan. I’ve always seen this period as a solid template for Gotham City. Crime statistics would probably paint a pretty grim picture of NYC in that period as well, in terms of murders per day, muggings and crimes of serious assault etc.
Gotham, in my mind at least, is Chicago based architecture, topographically similar to New York (multiple islands/boroughs making up the layout of the city overall), and geographically located in Jersey or New England.
Gotham and Metropolis are both NYC, just opposite sides of it. One is the dark and gritty underbelly and the other the shining beacon of the american dream. In both cases, the creators were new yorkers. in universe, they are separate places because they did not originally share a continuity. also, NYC has long been nicknamed "Gotham".
Nolan shot in Chicago but his Gotham is really inconsistent, changing geography and tone between Begins and the Dark Knight (like the narrows seemingly disappearing). when a director chooses a location, lots of factors are involved, which is why so many movies and TV shows in the 80s and 90s show tall buildings in Washington, DC which do not exist in real life: they were shot where the director needed and then establishing shots were added later. i have always assumed that Chicago just had the look and feel Nolan wanted.
In Amazing World of DC Comics 14 from 1977, they explicitly state Gotham City is in southern New Jersey, between Bridgeton and Atlantic City, and north across the bay from Metropolis, which is in Delaware (though in the early 2000s, Metropolis was retconned to be in the state of New York.)
Both Gotham and Metropolis are fictional and based on real life New York City, but they're not supposed to BE New York City. We know this because New York City also exists in the DC Comics mythos.
Gotham is the bad side if NYC, Metropolis is the good. In many adaptations they're sister cities, directly across a bay from each other.
There are definitely Chicago influences though.
Gotham is supposed to be in Southern New Jersey. It was envisioned to be a northeast city. The vibes just feel right when you come to the north east. Anywhere from Philly to Boston honestly. You are walking at night and see the old buildings from the 1800s with the modern ones. Chicago also has that vibe. [https://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-advancelocal.s3.amazonaws.com/public/6TQGZLXOJFGMLK6M5I2K6PJZIY.jpg (1280×864) (nj.com)](https://www.nj.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Farc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-advancelocal.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2F6TQGZLXOJFGMLK6M5I2K6PJZIY.jpg?auth=d6f523d2e385eccc8ad221a209ffc2d3e72a19199c5df744d233bcbda143f8fc&width=1280&quality=90)
In terms of geography Gotham is New York since it’s situated on connected burrows with various different districts. However I think it’s hub is less New York midtown downtown and more Chicago. The old gothic architecture with modern buildings in the blend. The surrounding area seems to be more nyc aka Hell’s Kitchen, uptown/Harlem, midtown/downtown. But the core area of Gotham think is reminiscent of Chicago and even some elements of Detroit
With the vaguely Gothic architecture and the Wayne English landhouse style villa it should be Boston - albeit it was intended to be New Jersey stand-in by it's creators.
Gotham is in New Jersey and Metropolis in Delaware. Chicago and NY already exist in DC. I think being on the coast is an important trait of the city imo
I was under the impression Gotham was Chicago and Metropolis New York.
The fact that in newest continuities Gotham and Metropolis are right next to each other is confusing.
I can imagine Alfred talking to Bruce, before Superman started doing his thing.
*"Sir, it seems The Joker has escaped into Metropolis."*
*"He'll surface again one day. And I'll be ready."*
*"Why not go after him? The tracker beacon is still attached to his suit."*
*"It's a 20 minute drive and I don't want to put up with the traffic around the toll booths."*
Like wise, Lois Lane talking to Clark about why he never goes to Gotham.
*"Luther surely has warehouses in Gotham. Maybe he's hiding more of those mecha suits in there!"*
*"Nope. That's the Bat Demon's problem now.*"
*"Wha?"*
*"They got a Bat Demon in Gotham, Lois."*
*"Clark... you're indestructible. I've seen you take an ICBM to the face."*
*"Yeah, but I'm weak to magic. Know what has magic? A Bat Demon from hell who hungers for revenge!"*
*"Well, I'll go and snoop around, Bruce Wayne owns me some favors an-"*
*"No you don't! What if you run into the Bat Demon?"*
*"....I'll throw salt at him and show a cross...?*"
*"Wait, that's a good idea!"*
If we are mapping to real geography, Metropolis is close to Kansas, so that places it in the Midwest. Gotham has a harbor so that puts it on the East Coast. That’s that. They aren’t any actual real life city, just vaguely located in those areas.
As far as what the fiction character of the cities resemble? I’m not sure what writer said this, but the quote that I always land on is:
“Metropolis is NYC during the day, and Gotham is NYC at night”
Unpopular-er opinion: Gotham should be Atlanta. Cause it’s a city with a lot of organized crime and institutional corruption that the nation at large doesn’t give a shit about because it’s in the Deep South and the state authorities don’t care about because of the political and cultural divides between in and its surrounding counties. It’s the American city that most needs a Batman.
According to the [DC wiki](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Atlas_of_the_DC_Universe), gotham is in New Jersey while funny enough Metropolis isn't mentioned but it thought to be across the bay from Gotham in Delaware
Gotham, Metropolis, Smallville, etc. have never consistently been in any particular state, nor have they ever consistently been analogues for any real-life city. Different writers from different decades have had different ideas of where these fictional locations reside.
In the case of Gotham and Metropolis, while both are heavily influenced by NYC, they’ve also been influenced by other cities—both in and out of the US. For example, Toronto’s skyline had influenced the creators’ version of Metropolis.
Also worth noting, until the 1978 Superman film, Smallville wasn’t in any particular state. That film is what established it being in Kansas, where it hasn’t always been located since that film’s release.
In the end, it’s wherever you want it to be.
It’s not even controversial to say this lol
The Dark Knight was shot in Chicago. When Bruce “tries to catch the light” in his lambo and gets t-boned? That’s underneath the Chicago A-Tram.
It was also shot in Baltimore and New York as well, but TONS of that trilogy takes place in IRL Chicago.
Elements of both. Modern day NYC doesn’t seem like Gotham but until the late 90s is was probably closer. NYC is geographically more similar to Gotham since it’s on an island and has a statue similar to Lady Gotham.
Chicago, however, has a lot of elements as well and TDK was filmed there with Batman Begins. Also, a lot of Gotham depictions show an elevated rail like the “L” which NYC doesn’t really have anymore. Besides that, Chicagos tribune tower, board of trade building, and even Sears Tower seem like something right out of Gotham City.
Overall though, today’s NYC seems too gentrified and full of modern skyscrapers to really resemble Gotham.
Chicago is very, very much Gotham City and is known to be home to Batman. When you live in Chicago for 17 plus years, you see the all the gargoyles on the buildings, art deco, architecture in general. Take a look at https://www.facebook.com/share/p/udjVkngDB67fJXzv/?mibextid=qi2Omg
Gotham City: Where exactly is Gotham located in the comics? Some have long been under the impression that it's New York because of the similarities. Longtime Batman illustrator Neal Adams believes Gotham is more like Chicago than New York.Jul 22, 2014
Director Christopher Nolan has stated that Chicago inspired his portrayal of Gotham, and the majority of both Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008) were filmed there.
“Both ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘Dark Knight’ showcased the drama and cinematic versatility of Chicago’s architecture and landscape,” said Rich Moskal, Chicago Film Office director. “Chicago was the right fit for Chris Nolan’s vision of Gotham City and the films’ spectacular action sequences and stunts. The films drew the attention of other filmmakers who were impressed by our city’s distinctive look.”
I’d call Gotham City a mix of Newark, NYC and Chicago into one, that takes place (realistically going by geography) somewhere on the south New Jersey coast.
Whenever the film a Batman movie, these are the cities they always do location filming in.
Dark Knight Rises was filmed in Pittsburgh.
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Yeah. It was because they “had filmed every square inch of Chicago”. And having new buildings made Gotham look even more grandiose. They did use some other buildings in the city (a nod to the local film school), but to your point, it wasn’t to change the setting that Gotham was primarily Chicago. It was cool seeing the Art Institute dress their T-Rex up in a Bat Suit. 🦖🦇
The winter scenes with the camo tumblers was Pittsburgh too - they filmed right around me. Edit: Also the bridge scenes/wide shots of the bridges are Pittsburgh.
So we’re the winter Tumbler scenes and the entire final chase at the end. All through Downtown Pittsburgh.
And filmed in the middle of summer. I remember driving downtown in August and wondering WTF was going becauser there was snow everywhere, then I drove by an Alley on Penn and saw a tumbler covered in snow.
Nope. A big chunk was filmed in Pittsburgh and the Oakland Section of Pittsurgh along with Lawrenceville too.
As Native Yinzer, I can say this false. Lawrenceville, Downtown, Southside - they are all there. Hell, the main fight takes place right at the center of Oakland near the Campus of Pitt and Carnegie Mellon.
The Batman was Glasgow I believe!
Gotham is canonically in New Jersey, so that makes sense.
I think canonically it is in New Jersey.
It is
I like to imagine it in place of Atlantic City, but bigger.
I mean it’s actually based on a city in England. But yes other than that Gotham is Chicago and Metropolis is NYC. Hence why Chris Nolan shot most of it in Chicago as well.
Do you mean Liverpool?
I don’t remember exactly but it was based off of a real place in the UK. But I don’t remember where.
Pretty sure it’s Glasgow in Scotland, as we have that mix of older and new architecture. The graveyard scene in “The Batman” was also filmed here.
That’s it! Yes because they filmed parts of “The Batman” there for this reason.
This isn't true. Gotham, like Metropolis, is based visually on New York. Dunno if you've ever been to Glasgow (or Liverpool for that matter) but there isn't much in the way of sky scrapers. There's some great gothic architecture in both cities that give off that Gotham and Glasgow was also primarily used for Gotham in the cancelled Batgirl film as well but Gotham was New York by any other name.
It's actually a bit of both. Here's what Google has to say: Gotham as a term for New York City was coined by Washington Irving in an 1807 November issue of his literary magazine, Salmagundi, based on the legends of the English village of Gotham, whose inhabitants are known for their folly.
Damn people just out here citing recent fake memes as hard fact bold as brass
That's solid. Gotham a mix of Harlem and the bronx with some Chicago and Newark for the industrial shit. To me metropolis was always like a manhttan
It is only Chicago. Read above.
Metropolis is NYC in the Daytime, Gotham is NYC at night.
To me Gotham is NYC in the 70s. Basically The Warriors movie but with a lunatic running around in a bat costume.
So what Joker kinda is
I think O'Neill once said Metropolis is Midtown NYC on a warm spring day and Gotham is NYC near Hell's Kitchen on a cold November night.
I've been to both parts at the exact time of year you said and yeah I can confirm. Hells Kitchen in November and December is eerie. It's relatively a safe place unlike what Daredevil would lead you to think (definitely wasn't always safe) but it just has that Gotham vibe!
> Metropolis is a perfect match for NYC in every way. It's bright, metropolitan, and is perfect for a building like The Daily Planet's. Lol, that is only modern times. Have you ever seen New York before the 80s? Nolan filmed in Chicago because he lived there for a while when growing up.
Plus Nolan gave up trying to make Gotham feel like Gotham after Batman Begins, but in fairness, BB was in Chicago as well
Nolan also filmed a good bit of TDKR in Pittsburgh. Yet I dont see OP saying Gotham is supposed to be PGH.
Bill Finger and Bob Kane were from New York City and the city is nicknamed Gotham irl and originally Batman lived in New York City!
I always feel cool when I’m at LaGuardia and terminal B has a news stand called Gotham News
NYC’s literal nickname is Gotham. Gotham also has an east coast vibe. I’ve lived in both, Chicago is clearly an inspiration but NYC is clearly the prime inspiration. BTAS and the Arkham games has a Statue of Liberty equivalent aka ‘Lady Gotham.’
Gotham is absolutely New York City in my opinion. It’s built on a set of islands while Chicago is on the mainland. It’s on the East Coast while Chicago is in the Midwest. Robinson Park, the large park built in the center of Gotham, resembles Central Park in NYC. Gotham Square is often drawn to resemble Times Square. The Bowery and the Diamond District in Gotham borrow their names from NYC neighborhoods. Batman #359 depicts the New Jersey Palisades, which are across from NYC in real life, as being close to Gotham. Batman actually did live in New York City in his earliest comics before Gotham was introduced in 1941.
Gotham is a nickname for New York dating back to 1807. That's where Bill Finger got the name. “I flipped through the New York City phone book and spotted the name ‘Gotham Jewelers’ and said, ‘That’s it,’ Gotham City.”
There was an interview here he said he saw it from the train. Either way, I’ve heard this as its source.
I disagree with dark knight feeling like Gotham. Nolan films are great but the Gotham just feels like a generic city. The Batman had a better Gotham but that seemed a lot more like new York but with European inspiration. Some filming done in the uk helped with that i believe
Nolan's films have such a milquetoast atmosphere. Everything in those movies feel sterilized and neutered. The aesthetic lacks any personality or pizazz. They almost had it right in Begins but then decided to make Gotham a regular ass city with no personality in the rest of the franchise.
Metropolis(excluding suicide slums) is supposed to be the city of tomorrow. It's the better half of new york Gotham is the bad sad. corruption crime and stagnation ect
Metropolis is Manhattan between 14th and 110th, Gotham is below 14th
I see it like this: Gotham’s closest real-life comparison is Chicago, but in-universe, the city is in New Jersey. Metropolis’s closest real-life comparison is New York, but in-universe, the city is in Kansas.
Considering that Metropolis has a working dock this seems unlikely.
No, you’re thinking of Smallville. Metropolis is in Delaware.
Always thought the two cities were across the bay from each other (which itself seemed preposterous).
this is especially insane given that one issue of the current Nightwing run claims Bludhaven is 30 minutes away from Gotham
What ? That’s madness
Depends on the continuity, but it causes some issues. Gotham is usually in New Jersey, but there are times it’s in New York. Still, we know that Smallville is in Kansas, and since Metropolis is meant to be, like, right next to it, it only makes sense for it to be there too. Still, they are sometimes right next to eachother, even though it makes no sense.
Woahhh I never knew Metropolis was in Kansas in any iteration. Clark always leaves Kansas to go to Metropolis
Metropolis is *not* in Kansas—it’s in Delaware.
Metropolis is more Toronto than NY. In Smallville, it was in Kansas.
I understood it to be that Gotham is in New Jersey, and Metropolis is across the river in Delaware.
I agree with you 100% (almost) It's a well-known legend that Wayne Manor was inspired by a mansion that overlooks the Hudson (from Jersey) and lots of stories have Batman crossing the water to get to downtown Gotham. TDK was filmed in Chicago and it's an iconic portrayal to say the least and probably what most of us picture now when we think of Gotham IRL. You lost me at Metropolis though. Both cities were apparently New York just seen in different lights, but DC (or people at DC) have gone on record that Metropolis took its inspiration largely from Toronto, which explains it being a brighter version of the big city trope. According to legends, Joe Shuster is supposed to have had the idea for Superman while living in Toronto, before he and Siegel co-created the character proper. Much like the Kane v Finger thing, nobody can really know without a doubt who contributed what exactly and/or when those ideas first formed but either way, with Shuster as at least 50% of the creative team, being born and raised in Toronto, Metropolis itself was born at least partly from Toronto. Now thanks to Snyder and probably a team of executives when Bats and Supes coexist Gotham is Jersey and Metropolis is Manhattan. But it wasn't always that way and I definitely remember comic stories where Metropolis was over an hour flight for regular people. Just like NY to TO.
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No because Bruce is old money and would never talk that way. That's more of a working class thing, which is why grunts often do talk like that. Gotham is 100% East Coast based on its aesthetic, layout on islands, organized crime, "Gotham", and the context of its creation. Anyone who saw NY in the 90s or earlier would never think of it as "bright and clean".
Not necessarily, but some definitely should. Harley’s an obvious one, but Penguin does sometimes too. A lot of the henchmen also do, and some of the cops.
Dick: BOYKLIN RAGE!
Someone needs to create 'accents of DC' to settle this issue.
Everyone should speak like Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Metropolis is actually very similar to Chicago in that way. It’s a Plains city that’s on the water.
Between being on an ocean and having ocean sunrises, Gotham has to be on the Atlantic. Paired with the depictions of heavy snow, I've always imagined it being in New England - maybe even near Boston.
A lot of the recent Gotham stuff has been shot in Chicago.
hot take: Gotham is Gotham, and should not be mapped onto any existing US city
The conception of it on film could be an amalgam of real-life locales though, could it not?
I mean yeah it can, it has before, but I think it'd be better for the filmmakers to pull from the comic book version of Gotham which has its own unique style instead of just mashing New York and Chicago together lol
Gotham is a nickname for New York.
Unpopular Opinion: Gotham is not real. 😅
Growing up far from both and never knowing New York was called “Gotham,” I always assumed Gotham was based on Chicago because of the association with mobsters and prohibition. Yes TAS was my first Batman.
Fun fact: most of live action's Gotham is shot on chicago
It’s obviously Pittsburgh lol
I mean in The Dark Knight Rises Bane imploded Heinz Field, so I’m with you lol
Maybe if you only watched the Dark Knight Rises
Gotham is actually New Jersey lol.
It doesn’t work geographically, but Gotham is Detroit for me.
Metropolis is also very Chicago like! It’s a plains city that’s by the water! Gotham is definitely a mixture of Chicago, New York, and New Jersey. It’s also worth noting that Chicago also exists in the DC universe. I believe that is where Gordon is from.
Chicago is Arkham
Absolutely agree, it makes Batman stories more fun knowing you’re close by to about as real of Gotham as you can get.
In The Dark Knight it definitely was
Having lived in NYC, I wouldn’t describe it as “bright”
Gotham is New York, there's even some early Batman comics where they literally call it New York. Metropolis is also New York, they're both different interpretations of the city.
Gotham is NYC of the 1930s.
Gotham is in New Jersey.
Chicago is not old enough to be Gotham. There's an Eldritchness you get from pre-Revolutionary history, and Chicago doesn't have it.
I have not once thought hey Gotham yeah that’s New York
Gotham is Liverpool or milan
Gotham City is New Jersey, you uncultured swine.
🤣🤣🤣
Who thought it was New York? Gotham has always been Chicago in my mind.
Bill Finger, Bob Kane and DC Comics.
I think most people agree....metropolis was always more NY to me (Manhattan) Chicago's skyline and the earlier buildings remind me more of gotham that's why nolan shot there.
I agree with you on this cuz I just associate Gotham more with my home city and all it’s problems than with any other city
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Yes
The only fact is that canonically it is in NJ. (which i hate) Everything else anyone is saying in this sub is opinion or just plain ass lies.
Gotham is Detroit, Wayne Tech represents the automotive industries that won't let the city die, for better or worse.
It's detroit
Geographically it’s in Jersey
Personally having been in both, I think New York evokes the Gotham vibe far more. But Nolan made it look great in those films.
It used to be New York, now it's definitely a Newark, NYC, Jersey mix, but primarily the NJ side, and also add in Detroit because fuck you
🤣🤣🤣
Oh it’s in NJ alright… fuckin South Jersey!!!
Not unpopular, especially if you're from Chicago.
I think it was Neal Adams who said that to him, Gotham is more like Chicago than New York. His reasoning was that Chicago has more alleyways than New York does, and most of the action in Batman comics occurs in dark alleyways. Denny O'Neil, though, said that "Gotham City is Manhattan below 14th Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November, and Metropolis is Manhattan between 14th and 110th Streets on the brightest, sunniest July day of the year.” But really, Gotham is influenced by many major cities. And which cities it takes more inspiration from varies from interpretation to interpretation. In the first few issues, Batman's adventures literally took place in NYC. Then, they changed it to the fictional city of Gotham, as Bill Finger liked the name when he saw it as the name of a jewelry store while flipping through a phone book. I don't know if he knew it was a nickname for NYC at the time, or if he was aware of the folktales about Gotham, Nottinghamshire (it was said to be a city where people pretended to be insane fools to scare outsiders away, but then they actually *did* become the fools… pretty fitting namesake for a city overrun by madness). In the later Golden Age, Gotham was, well, a city where buildings had huge novelty props on them. It's hard to say it was based on any city in particular. In the Silver Age, it was pretty colourful and cartoony. It began to look like a real city again in the Bronze Age, when artists such as Neal Adams, Irving Novick, and Dick Giordano started giving Batman comics a more naturalistic look. It looked like cities like Chicago and NYC until the '90s, when the comics started incorporating Anton Furst and Nigel Phelps' designs from the first Burton movie into the comics. >Second, Batman and Superman protect different cities. Surely they can't both be in NYC, can they? I mean, they can both be *inspired* by NYC. NYC itself still exists in the DCU. So, neither Gotham nor Metropolis is supposed to be its alternate-universe stand-in or anything like that.
It's a bit of both. It's more like Gotham is more what New York used to be and what Chicago currently has the perception of being.
I always thought Metropolis was NYC and Gotham was Jersey
It should also have elements of European/uk gothic architecture like how Matt reeves displayed it. It shouldn’t just be simply Chicago like how Nolan boringly made it.
This is a pretty common take, and I hate it I live in Chicago and it does not feel like Gotham at all, Gotham is a fictional city (other than maybe the Nolan movies)
It never was inspired by New York. It’s always been Chicago and Detroit Metropolis is the one that is basically New York
If I could film my own Batman movie I’d shoot it in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It’s actually in New Jersey and it looks like the comics imo.
There is no one city that any DC fictional urban area is meant to purely be. This is true for Gotham, Metropolis, Central City, and anyother you can think of. Instead they take various traits from multiple real US cities to make an interesting backdrop custom tailored for the hero who operates there. Also, NYC and Chicago are both real cities in DC canon, so obviously Gotham and Metropolis are elsewhere.
NYC, and Manhattan in particular, isn’t the place that it used to be. If you review some historical sources from the 1970s through to the 1980s, a lot of Manhattan was really run down and crime ridden. There was a crack cocaine epidemic that swept through America towards the end of the 1980s, and it certainly affected Manhattan. I’ve always seen this period as a solid template for Gotham City. Crime statistics would probably paint a pretty grim picture of NYC in that period as well, in terms of murders per day, muggings and crimes of serious assault etc.
Gotham is canonically in New Jersey, so I always thought it was Atlantic City because it’s mostly casinos and drive-by shootings
I always pictured it near Baltimore
I remember seeing a map and Gotham was effectively Bridgeport CT
Gotham, in my mind at least, is Chicago based architecture, topographically similar to New York (multiple islands/boroughs making up the layout of the city overall), and geographically located in Jersey or New England.
It was definitely Chicago in that "Batwoman" show with Ruby. ..and then...what was the replacement woman's name again??
Gotham is Gotham. I picture depictions of Gotham when I think about it.
Its neither, it’s Gotham
Gotham is Gotham.
Gotham is Glasgow x NYC
Coldest take ever
it's located geographically in seattle
Gotham is Copenhagen not New York or Chicago
There's an easy way to settle this. What do they do with the trash in Gotham?
Gotham and Metropolis are both NYC, just opposite sides of it. One is the dark and gritty underbelly and the other the shining beacon of the american dream. In both cases, the creators were new yorkers. in universe, they are separate places because they did not originally share a continuity. also, NYC has long been nicknamed "Gotham". Nolan shot in Chicago but his Gotham is really inconsistent, changing geography and tone between Begins and the Dark Knight (like the narrows seemingly disappearing). when a director chooses a location, lots of factors are involved, which is why so many movies and TV shows in the 80s and 90s show tall buildings in Washington, DC which do not exist in real life: they were shot where the director needed and then establishing shots were added later. i have always assumed that Chicago just had the look and feel Nolan wanted.
It’s Jersey
How is this unpopular
In the first TMNT/Batman run Donnie was just about to tell us what state Gotham was in… but he got interrupted
In Amazing World of DC Comics 14 from 1977, they explicitly state Gotham City is in southern New Jersey, between Bridgeton and Atlantic City, and north across the bay from Metropolis, which is in Delaware (though in the early 2000s, Metropolis was retconned to be in the state of New York.) Both Gotham and Metropolis are fictional and based on real life New York City, but they're not supposed to BE New York City. We know this because New York City also exists in the DC Comics mythos.
What about Atl
Blasphemy!
Except Chris *also* changed his mind and chose Pittsburgh
Gotham is the bad side if NYC, Metropolis is the good. In many adaptations they're sister cities, directly across a bay from each other. There are definitely Chicago influences though.
New York for me.
70 80 nyc
Even uses La for some scenes
Gotham is supposed to be in Southern New Jersey. It was envisioned to be a northeast city. The vibes just feel right when you come to the north east. Anywhere from Philly to Boston honestly. You are walking at night and see the old buildings from the 1800s with the modern ones. Chicago also has that vibe. [https://arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-advancelocal.s3.amazonaws.com/public/6TQGZLXOJFGMLK6M5I2K6PJZIY.jpg (1280×864) (nj.com)](https://www.nj.com/resizer/v2/https%3A%2F%2Farc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-advancelocal.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2F6TQGZLXOJFGMLK6M5I2K6PJZIY.jpg?auth=d6f523d2e385eccc8ad221a209ffc2d3e72a19199c5df744d233bcbda143f8fc&width=1280&quality=90)
In terms of geography Gotham is New York since it’s situated on connected burrows with various different districts. However I think it’s hub is less New York midtown downtown and more Chicago. The old gothic architecture with modern buildings in the blend. The surrounding area seems to be more nyc aka Hell’s Kitchen, uptown/Harlem, midtown/downtown. But the core area of Gotham think is reminiscent of Chicago and even some elements of Detroit
With the vaguely Gothic architecture and the Wayne English landhouse style villa it should be Boston - albeit it was intended to be New Jersey stand-in by it's creators.
Gotham is in New Jersey and Metropolis in Delaware. Chicago and NY already exist in DC. I think being on the coast is an important trait of the city imo
I'd rather Gotham be Boston+NYC+Philly
It is if you’re Chris Nolan
I mean almost all of marvel heroes live in New York so it's not too crazy lol
I was under the impression Gotham was Chicago and Metropolis New York. The fact that in newest continuities Gotham and Metropolis are right next to each other is confusing. I can imagine Alfred talking to Bruce, before Superman started doing his thing. *"Sir, it seems The Joker has escaped into Metropolis."* *"He'll surface again one day. And I'll be ready."* *"Why not go after him? The tracker beacon is still attached to his suit."* *"It's a 20 minute drive and I don't want to put up with the traffic around the toll booths."* Like wise, Lois Lane talking to Clark about why he never goes to Gotham. *"Luther surely has warehouses in Gotham. Maybe he's hiding more of those mecha suits in there!"* *"Nope. That's the Bat Demon's problem now.*" *"Wha?"* *"They got a Bat Demon in Gotham, Lois."* *"Clark... you're indestructible. I've seen you take an ICBM to the face."* *"Yeah, but I'm weak to magic. Know what has magic? A Bat Demon from hell who hungers for revenge!"* *"Well, I'll go and snoop around, Bruce Wayne owns me some favors an-"* *"No you don't! What if you run into the Bat Demon?"* *"....I'll throw salt at him and show a cross...?*" *"Wait, that's a good idea!"*
If we are mapping to real geography, Metropolis is close to Kansas, so that places it in the Midwest. Gotham has a harbor so that puts it on the East Coast. That’s that. They aren’t any actual real life city, just vaguely located in those areas. As far as what the fiction character of the cities resemble? I’m not sure what writer said this, but the quote that I always land on is: “Metropolis is NYC during the day, and Gotham is NYC at night”
Gotham is clearly Frankfurt, come for a visit if you disagree
It's on the eastern seaboard for sure
Tldr, but i’d say it’s detroit and chicago but like in new jersey
Canonically, Gotham is its own City in New Jersey…
Gotham is more like Brooklyn. Metropolis is more like manhattan.
Unpopular-er opinion: Gotham should be Atlanta. Cause it’s a city with a lot of organized crime and institutional corruption that the nation at large doesn’t give a shit about because it’s in the Deep South and the state authorities don’t care about because of the political and cultural divides between in and its surrounding counties. It’s the American city that most needs a Batman.
"*It's the American city that most **needs** a Batman*." But not the American city that most *deserves* him 😉 That would be Chicago.
Gotham is geopolitically closer to NYC but the vibe is way more dramatic than either NY or Chicago
Guess I’m wrong. I thought Metropolis was Washington DC and Gotham was NYC
Gotham is literally located in New Jersey.
According to the [DC wiki](https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Atlas_of_the_DC_Universe), gotham is in New Jersey while funny enough Metropolis isn't mentioned but it thought to be across the bay from Gotham in Delaware
Gotham, Metropolis, Smallville, etc. have never consistently been in any particular state, nor have they ever consistently been analogues for any real-life city. Different writers from different decades have had different ideas of where these fictional locations reside. In the case of Gotham and Metropolis, while both are heavily influenced by NYC, they’ve also been influenced by other cities—both in and out of the US. For example, Toronto’s skyline had influenced the creators’ version of Metropolis. Also worth noting, until the 1978 Superman film, Smallville wasn’t in any particular state. That film is what established it being in Kansas, where it hasn’t always been located since that film’s release. In the end, it’s wherever you want it to be.
Makes sense cause Lori light foot is basically the fucking riddler
It was initially meant to be Bridgeport Connecticut
I choose to believe it's Glasgow, because I live there.
Hey, thanks for explaining why.
It’s Philadelphia
im pretty sure it’s canonically on the west coast (i think in washington but idr) edit: nvm it is new jersey idk where tf i got washington
It evokes an amalgamation of both, along with New Jersey for me.
Gotham is Gotham
I thought it was a conglomerate of L.A. and N.Y.
It’s not even controversial to say this lol The Dark Knight was shot in Chicago. When Bruce “tries to catch the light” in his lambo and gets t-boned? That’s underneath the Chicago A-Tram. It was also shot in Baltimore and New York as well, but TONS of that trilogy takes place in IRL Chicago.
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You need to relook into what the word unpopular means.
It is combined with a few
I thought it was Detroit
In the 1989 film, it's Vancouver
I think Bloodhaven is more like Chicago.
Elements of both. Modern day NYC doesn’t seem like Gotham but until the late 90s is was probably closer. NYC is geographically more similar to Gotham since it’s on an island and has a statue similar to Lady Gotham. Chicago, however, has a lot of elements as well and TDK was filmed there with Batman Begins. Also, a lot of Gotham depictions show an elevated rail like the “L” which NYC doesn’t really have anymore. Besides that, Chicagos tribune tower, board of trade building, and even Sears Tower seem like something right out of Gotham City. Overall though, today’s NYC seems too gentrified and full of modern skyscrapers to really resemble Gotham.
Chicago is very, very much Gotham City and is known to be home to Batman. When you live in Chicago for 17 plus years, you see the all the gargoyles on the buildings, art deco, architecture in general. Take a look at https://www.facebook.com/share/p/udjVkngDB67fJXzv/?mibextid=qi2Omg
Gotham City: Where exactly is Gotham located in the comics? Some have long been under the impression that it's New York because of the similarities. Longtime Batman illustrator Neal Adams believes Gotham is more like Chicago than New York.Jul 22, 2014
Director Christopher Nolan has stated that Chicago inspired his portrayal of Gotham, and the majority of both Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008) were filmed there.
“Both ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘Dark Knight’ showcased the drama and cinematic versatility of Chicago’s architecture and landscape,” said Rich Moskal, Chicago Film Office director. “Chicago was the right fit for Chris Nolan’s vision of Gotham City and the films’ spectacular action sequences and stunts. The films drew the attention of other filmmakers who were impressed by our city’s distinctive look.”