BvS Geography of Batman v Superman

[SuperSeth]

I might be in the minority, but the geography of Gotham and Metropolis are very interesting to me. I'm curious how much they will address it, and what changes to real geography will be made.

So far from set photos and interviews we know:
Gotham and Metropolis are sister cities separated by a bay.
Metropolis is a district like Washington D.C. (Metropolis D.M.)
Gotham seems to be its own state.

Looking at maps, and comparing it with previous canon; my thought is that Metropolis D.M. is next to or cut out from Deleware. Gotham is either New Jersey renamed, or an additional state, and the Deleware bay is what's separating the cities.

Do you think they'll address this? Perhaps Gotham is a district also. There are obviously many more locations to this Universe - will the be identified over time?

I know it's not that important, I just love geography and love fully explained ideas.

 

[PerryYellow]

I dont like how they're so close together. I want Gotham to be somewhere on its own, with its respective surroundings. If Metropolis is just across.... it ruins the atmosphere of it.

 

[LEVITIKUZ]

Metropolis is NYC and Gotham is Jersey.

I've always thought they were close by. Personally I prefer Gotham be like Chicago and Metropolis be like NYC but this direction is definitly more faithful and inline with the comics.

 

[The Englishman]

How do we know they are so close?

 

[the last son]

Affleck explained you could take a ferry to each city.

 

[SuperSeth]

Metropolis is NYC and Gotham is Jersey.

I've always thought they were close by. Personally I prefer Gotham be like Chicago and Metropolis be like NYC but this direction is definitly more faithful and inline with the comics.

I'm not sure that fits in with "a big bay" though

 

[PerryYellow]

Metropolis is NYC and Gotham is Jersey.

I've always thought they were close by. Personally I prefer Gotham be like Chicago and Metropolis be like NYC but this direction is definitly more faithful and inline with the comics.

I have the same Chicago - NYC concept in my mind (also, i think Central City is Seattle) but it's true that in the comics they're across a bay too.
I just want each city to have its own respective surroundings and not be confined by the presense of the other. Somehow the gloomy marshes around gotham, or the island where Arkham is situated dont look so... gothamy, when shining Metropolis is seen across the bay.

 

[SuperSeth]

I believe i read central city is in Missouri.

 

[PerryYellow]

Then Star City is Seattle. One of them is Seattle, i'm not sure which.

 

[Ghostcrow13]

I always took this as the map of DC America

http://ifanboy.com/articles/the-secret-geography-of-the-dc-universe-a-really-big-map/

So essentially what OP said.

 

[The Batman]

I always liked the old DC Atlas where Metropolis was in Delaware, and Gotham was in New Jersey.

In the context of BvS, it seems like Metropolis in NYC, and Gotham is Jersey City.

 

[SuperSeth]

I think Snyder would have used NYC and Jersey as the example if that was the case. I think there's more distance than that.

 

[The Guard]

I thought what Ben said about the juxtaposition of the wealth and success of Metropolis VS the more downtrodden Gotham City was pretty interesting. Sounds like that will be a key element of the film. Nice to see, and a bit deeper than "Dark, crime-ridden city" VS "Bright, futuristic city".

 

[tnekkralc]

Snyder mentioned at the BvS panel at Comic-Con this weekend that Metrolpolis/Gotham is a San Francisco/Oakland correlation.

 

[The Question]

I always liked the old DC Atlas where Metropolis was in Delaware, and Gotham was in New Jersey.

In the context of BvS, it seems like Metropolis in NYC, and Gotham is Jersey City.

You can take a ferry from northern delaware to the south Jersey shore very easy. Takes about an hour and a half, tops.


Anyway, I actually like it. I've always liked the idea of Gotham and Metropolis being in very close proximity.

 

[KillerWolf]

Apparently people who work in Metropolis and live in Gotham are taking a ferry to get to the other city. Affleck said so at SDCC panel. I find it very interesting.

 

[matt47]

I like it. Makes it seem like Metropolis is the middle-high class part and Gotham is the middle-low class. The only thing that sorta bothers me is that Gotham is suppose to have a very different atmosphere; raining, overcast gloomy 24/7. I don't know, maybe two cities so close can have that?

 

[KillerWolf]

I like it. Makes it seem like Metropolis is the middle-high class part and Gotham is the middle-low class. The only thing that sorta bothers me is that Gotham is suppose to have a very different atmosphere; raining, overcast gloomy 24/7. I don't know, maybe two cities so close can have that?

I am not sure if factories could contribute to that, if Gotham has a large industrial area...?

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Eh... Gotham raining has to do with writers loving atmospheric back drops more than needing some in world rationale.

 

[sdc10]

I thought what Ben said about the juxtaposition of the wealth and success of Metropolis VS the more downtrodden Gotham City was pretty interesting. Sounds like that will be a key element of the film. Nice to see, and a bit deeper than "Dark, crime-ridden city" VS "Bright, futuristic city".

I like Miller's analogy of how Metropolis is supposed to represent NYC in the daytime and Gotham is NYC at nighttime.

 

[Pink Ranger]

If this was any other treatment of the movie, I'd hate it, but I think there's potential here in the socio-political commentary here that can be good if treated well. To have a wealthy, orderly place protected by a utopian demigod vs. a poorer, chaotic city protected by a man dressed as a demon, the symbolism there is stark.

I like Miller's analogy of how Metropolis is supposed to represent NYC in the daytime and Gotham is NYC at nighttime.

Or post-Giuliani NYC vs. pre-Giuliani NYC.

 

[Shikamaru]

I always saw Gotham and Metropolis as both slightly north of New York and in close proximity to one another.

 

[Bruce Malone]

I just heard about the twin city thing, it's interesting but I'm not a huge fan

In reality (I know this is a comic film) usually in the case of twin cities one city seems to dominate the other more.

I like the idea of Gotham being a full fledged city with good and bad parts and not just the rougher counter-part to a glitzy Metropolis.

 

[BH/HHH]

On Radio KAL Michael Bailey said back in the old days (maybe the Golden Age) that Gotham used to be over the bridge from Metropolis so guess this is something they've taken from the comics still.

 

[The Guard]

Gotham's never been THAT far from Metropolis, really. They've just taken that to its extreme.