BvS Geography of Batman v Superman

[Fallen Angel]

This is how it is usually in the DC comics universe.

 

[KillerWolf]

This is how it is usually in the DC comics universe.

Thanks for posting this.

So, by this map, they're actually not as far from each other as I believed them to be. It definitely doesn't look like it is a big change in this universe from this, with the exception of Bludhaven being between two cities here.

 

[TX85]

Gotham is actually in NJ in the comics? Wow never knew. I wonder if bludhaven will be referenced

 

[KillerWolf]

Gotham is actually in NJ in the comics? Wow never knew. I wonder if bludhaven will be referenced

Only if Dick is alive, as he's pretty much the only reason for that city to exist.

 

[EEK]

Don't know if anyone said this, but to me it's basically NYC and Jersey. I have no problem with them being close.

 

[dnno1]

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.

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.

How do we know they are so close?

Atlas of the DC Universe, by Paul Kupperberg
(circa 1990)

Map of the US East Coast in the DC Universe
(source: Atlas of the DC Universe)

Back in 1990, Paul Kupperberg wrote The Atlas of the DC Universe, which was published by Mayfair Games for their DC Heroes role playing game. You might brush this off as non cannon, but it should be noted that Kupperberg was the Editor in Cheif of DC Comics from 1991-2006, so he eventually had ties to the company. I have a feeling that the producers of BvS are basing this "sister cities" idea on the map shown above (which is taken from the Atlas) and the body of water that divides the two is the Deleware Bay.

It should be noted that in the DC universe, the major cities that we are familiar with in the real world exist there. NYC, Washington DC, Hollywood, et. al. all exist with the same names, although there are the ficticious cities such as Metropolis, Gotham City, Fawcett City, Central City, Coast City, Star City, and others existing there as well. It is for that reason that many have speculated over the years that DC superheroes were more powerful than their Marvel counterparts because the Earth in the DC Universe is much bigger and denser than the Marvel Universe and this is why there is room for these extra cities and towns.

Post Script Edit: If you are interested in seeing where the other fictional places in the DC Universe are located, you can see them at the online Atlas of the DC Universe, based on the book of the same name that was published in 1990. It should be noted for those who asked that Blüdhaven was created in 1996 after the atlas was published, so you won't be able to see it there. In spite of this if you read the comics, we are all led to believe that the city is located somewhere near Gotham.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

The different size thing was even referenced by Busiek in his JLA/AVENGERS crossover.

 

[Dr.]

...It should be noted that in the DC universe, the major cities that we are familiar with in the real world exist there. NYC, Washington DC, Hollywood, et. al. all exist with the same names, although there are the ficticious cities such as Metropolis, Gotham City, Fawcett City, Central City, Coast City, Star City, and others existing there as well.

Yeah… but best not to think about this too deeply. Typically, Metropolis is huge and culturally influential and home to the most prestigious newspaper in the country. I.e., it’s “New York City” (wink, wink). Indeed, this is why Clark moves to Metropolis and wants to work at The Daily Planet. It’s the “center of the world” and it’s the best place (for Superman) to keep tabs on super villains and various looming crises. But if NYC exists separately, why didn’t Clark move there and take a position with The New York Times?

Same goes for Gotham (which is also NYC ). According the DC “Superhero cities” map, Gotham’s annual crimes number 14,000. Now maybe that’s bad; but compared to NYC (with 50,000+ crimes) Gotham is a paradise. IOW, if NYC exists then Batman is working in the wrong place.

 

[DKDetective]

I always thought of Gotham being NYC and Metropolis, Toronto

I'm sorry, but say what? Toronto is in Canada and pales in comparison to major US cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles...

 

[Bruce Malone]

I'm sorry, but say what? Toronto is in Canada and pales in comparison to major US cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles...

Toronto doesn't pale in comparison to Chicago at all. Its city proper population is actually bigger now and its metro area is catching up fast.

If anything he's likely coming from the fact that it's known that Toronto originally served as the model for Metropolis due to Superman co-creator Joe Schuster who was born in Toronto and was a newsboy for the Toronto Daily Star.

 

[DKDetective]

Toronto doesn't pale in comparison to Chicago at all. Its city proper population is actually bigger now and its metro area is catching up fast.

If anything he's likely coming from the fact that it's known that Toronto originally served as the model for Metropolis due to Superman co-creator Joe Schuster who was born in Toronto and was a newsboy for the Toronto Daily Star.

Yeah, Chicago and TO are relatively close in population now, but TO doesn't have the look of a great American city like Chicago does (at least to me as someone who lives just down the 401 and visits TO often) and Metropolis is supposed to have. More importantly, other than the Schuster connection (which once again super aware of due to the Canadian history moment that seemingly played once a week on TV during my childhood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO9Pe7UnHr0), Toronto doesn't really have the attributes that Metropolis is consistently portrayed having in the comics. It isn't really a great shining beacon like New York City and it would be odd for Superman to chose such a place in comparison to an NYC-like Gotham.

 

[Bruce Malone]

Check out the pics above Toronto has some Metropolis like attributes. No it's not New York but it does play it enough in movies.

Funny enough Suicide Squad was and might still be shooting in Toronto. You can tell in the trailer that as well.

 

[DKDetective]

Check out the pics above Toronto has some Metropolis like attributes. No it's not New York but it does play it enough in movies.

Funny enough Suicide Squad was and might still be shooting in Toronto. You can tell in the trailer that as well.

Torontonian defending your city? Yeah, it plays New York quite a bit in the movies at the ground level, but plate shots of NYC are used a lot to sell the illusion. Also, my fiancé was in Toronto for an academic conference recently during the shooting of Suicide Squad. Her brother just lives down the street from where they were going the Jokermobile and Batman stuff and she missed it by one day. I was stuck in London working and missed it all.

 

[DKDetective]

Check out the pics above Toronto has some Metropolis like attributes. No it's not New York but it does play it enough in movies.

Funny enough Suicide Squad was and might still be shooting in Toronto. You can tell in the trailer that as well.

I guess I was dead wrong and you and brandeezy89 were right. New quote from Snyder's production designer from Empire:

“There are other things happening too,” says Tatopoulos. “Gotham is a very different city from Metropolis. Metropolis is Toronto on Steroids. Gotham is Detroit.”

If Gotham is Detroit, Toronto as Metropolis does make a lot of sense given their geographical closeness.

 

[KillerWolf]

I guess I was dead wrong and you and brandeezy89 were right. New quote from Snyder's production designer from Empire:

“There are other things happening too,” says Tatopoulos. “Gotham is a very different city from Metropolis. Metropolis is Toronto on Steroids. Gotham is Detroit.”

If Gotham is Detroit, Toronto as Metropolis does make a lot of sense given their geographical closeness.

I think he is referring to the aesthetic and overall attributes of the cities and not geographical comparison.

Geographically, I can't recall which analogy Snyder used, but it was different.

 

[DKDetective]

I think he is referring to the aesthetic and overall attributes of the cities and not geographical comparison.

Geographically, I can't recall which analogy Snyder used, but it was different.

I know, which is what my previous debate with Bruce Malone was about, which I now concede I was wrong about. See above.

 

[KillerWolf]

Ah, indeed. I just caught that. It would appear that this thread got more posts I wasn't aware of.

What do you have against Toronto?

 

[Shikamaru]

To be fair, Metropolis was originally based on Toronto but that hasn't been the case for a long time. Modern day Metropolis is NYC more or less. They even call it "The Big Apricot" in the comics.

I guess I was dead wrong and you and brandeezy89 were right. New quote from Snyder's production designer from Empire:

“There are other things happening too,” says Tatopoulos. “Gotham is a very different city from Metropolis. Metropolis is Toronto on Steroids. Gotham is Detroit.”

If Gotham is Detroit, Toronto as Metropolis does make a lot of sense given their geographical closeness.

I'm not too happy to hear this. To me, Superman and Batman always felt like stories of two men trying to change the world than just their respective cities. I don't think any other city in the US/Canada embodies "the world" the same way NYC does.

 

[antsman41]

I really hope Snyder uses the Eliot R. Brown/Rucka map, if it isn't broken... don't fix it.

 

[Guts]

I guess I was dead wrong and you and brandeezy89 were right. New quote from Snyder's production designer from Empire:

“There are other things happening too,” says Tatopoulos. “Gotham is a very different city from Metropolis. Metropolis is Toronto on Steroids. Gotham is Detroit.”

If Gotham is Detroit, Toronto as Metropolis does make a lot of sense given their geographical closeness.

I do see some Detroit influence in those buidings behind Bruce in that Bruce/Clark photo.

 

[Fallen Angel]

I'd really love it if Snyder made a DC movie universe map of all the heroes cities. Just to see where in his universe everyone is.

 

[KillerWolf]

I find this very possible. Or at least he chose to go by one of the pre-existing ones.

Or did you have in mind a worldwide map that includes Themyscira, Atlantis and such? That would be really great. I don't think one such exists already.

 

[DKDetective]

I do see some Detroit influence in those buidings behind Bruce in that Bruce/Clark photo.

Well, Detroit has a great aesthetic for Gotham in that it is a once great American industrial city that has rotten away from the inside due to poverty and crime.

 

[Fallen Angel]

I find this very possible. Or at least he chose to go by one of the pre-existing ones.

Or did you have in mind a worldwide map that includes Themyscira, Atlantis and such? That would be really great. I don't think one such exists already.

Yeah that would be even better. Like where is Atlantis? Well we know where that is but Thermiscyra and other outpost's.

 

[KillerWolf]

Yeah that would be even better. Like where is Atlantis? Well we know where that is but Thermiscyra and other outpost's.

Actually, given Momoa's Polynesian ethnicity, I am pretty sure they won't go by Plato and will place Atlantis elsewhere. So, I'd say we don't know even that. Not exactly.

But man, do I need a LOTR-like map of the DCEU now. t: