The City of Tomorrow: The Metropolis Thread

[Sawyer]

I want those sky walkways to feature in a live-action Metropolis to an irrational degree lol. They were in STAS, they were in For All Seasons - bad place Fritz Lang had them in the OG Metropolis as well - it's time they make their way to a live-action Supes flick, dammit.

I’d love that.

Really I’d just want anything that’s a dead giveaway that this isn’t just the city they happen to be filming in and nothing more. Aside from maybe Superman Returns, we haven’t really gotten that for Superman.

The DCU is made up of fictional cities, we can certainly do more to set it apart from the world we’re living in.

 

[AndrewGilkison]

Agreed to an extent. I don’t want Metropolis to look like Tomorrowland, but would really hope we can somehow move away from New York/Chicago. Not a dealbreaker at all, but other than the shots of Madison Square Garden in The Batman, I wasn’t finding myself recognizing real-life cities beyond the presentation of Gotham.

Superman Returns was most sets and sound-stages on backlots which gave it this idyllic-type aesthetic harkening back to Donner / Reeves but it certainly didn’t feel like a city. And other than watching buildings fall in Man of Steel, I can’t recall any shots / sequences of actual city life. So I wouldn’t look those movies for inspiration.

I always felt that that making Metropolis a NY/Chicago type city makes it too similar to Gotham. I mean it worked in the Reeve movies to a certain degree, but I would just love a Metropolis that felt like a very heightened comic book version of a California city (LA, San Fran, etc).

 

[GreenKToo]

It needs to be a blend of several different buildings from large cities around the world, with some made up buildings as well.

I picture metropolis with dozens and dozens of buildings that are ( at least ) 2,000' high.

A city with lots of brightness,
with drone like blimps in the air, art deco statues, and Skywalks connecting different buildings.

 

[GreenKToo]

Modern Metropolis, with its huge skyscrapers, would be the way it is in large part due to Lex.

His ego would have caused him to want to make his city the best on the planet.

He would have invested billions in construction in metropolis, inspiring others to do the same.
It would be a race to see who could build the biggest, the tallest, and the most outlandish buildings.

 

[BobJM]

View attachment 60787

I don’t know if I’m quite sold on the inclusion of blimps yet but this art could convince that sky bridges throughout Metropolis could be cool. I wouldn’t overdo it l, however, and try to limit just how high up they are.

 

[GreenKToo]

Metropolis ^

Gotham....

 

[Iceman]

View attachment 60789 It needs to be a blend of several different buildings from large cities around the world, with some made up buildings as well.

I picture metropolis with dozens and dozens of buildings that are ( at least ) 2,000' high.

A city with lots of brightness,
with drone like blimps in the air, art deco statues, and Skywalks connecting different buildings.
View attachment 60787View attachment 60788

Love your version of Metropolis. Need to put you on the planning/design team.

 

[GreenKToo]

Love your version of Metropolis. Need to put you on the planning/design team.

Oh it's not my design. Just some I found that I liked.

 

[Iceman]

Oh it's not my design. Just some I found that I liked.

I meant what you were saying about Metropolis and how you envisioned it. Didn’t think that you had drawn up the pics just for this discussion lol.

 

[GreenKToo]

Lol ok gotcha.

 

[GreenKToo]

But yes, metropolis should be a sleek, clean, ultra modern, city, with all the lastest high-tech.

Gotham on the other hand should be doom and gloom, and dirty.
A place where you're afraid to walk the streets even during the day.

 

[Andrew92]

Singer's Metropolis was actually spot on IMO. That aspect and Brandon Routh are the only good things about that movie.

 

[TheScarecrow]

 

[GreenKToo]

 

[GreenKToo]

 

[Rijowhi]

I was thinking about how Metropolis and Gotham should look/feel earlier. I feel Metropolis should be the biggest ‘DC’ City, thriving with plenty of skyscrapers and pride in itself (though smaller than the likes of truly leading Cities like NYC/London/Tokyo). When it comes to Gotham it should surely be struggling like Detroit has well known issues. There are shoots of hope but the struggle is all too real…

I think my love of Cities has poured into this…

 

[WatchProtect]

If Metropolis is half as much a character as Reeves Gotham then that'll be more then enough. I think Gunn should really go all out, walkways, glass buildings and statues.

 

[BobJM]

I like my Metropolis to be big, so I think you start with New York City as your base. Just dress it up digitally, and remove/alter a few NYC landmarks so it’s not so recognizable. Even if filming takes place at multiple locations/cities, NYC should be the base for establishing shots:

 

[Iceman]

I like my Metropolis to be big, so I think you start with New York City as your base. Just dress it up digitally, and remove/alter a few NYC landmarks so it’s not so recognizable. Even if filming takes place at multiple locations/cities, NYC should be the base for establishing shots:

Sounds like a good way to go about it.

 

[GreenKToo]

Metropolis should be full of huge art deco statues of god like beings.
There should be Lots of blue skies and sunshine. The buildings should be crisp and clean.

Gotham on the other hand should have lots of gargoyle like statues on the sides of it's buildings.
There should Lots of clouds, with thunder and lightning present in several scenes. Real doom and gloom stuff.

 

[Alien Anal]

In one of my earlier Superman stories that I was writing, I had the world have a retro-futuristic style not too dissimilar to what is shown here, mostly the cars though (not so much jet packs and such)


Although mine was more of a combination of Tales from the Loop + retro-futurism. The world would look used and lived in. The tech would be from Lex Corp.

Not everyones cup of tea im sure but I liked it.

 

[Nemeres]

One thing I really liked from the Superman Returns videogame is the visual of Metropolis as a city built of "platforms" of different heights, Suicide Slum being the lowest. You could explain it saying the city was built as a military stronghold during the Revolutionary War or something. Then you add stuff like a huge dam or elevated railways and make it distinctive and unique, the way cities like Rio de Janeiro are, but just real enough to avoid the Tomorrowland feel. If you make the city *too* much of a wonder, you dilute the "alien hero in the real world" effect.

 

[Silvermoth]

Give me atompunk and make it distinctive from Gotham

 

[Arachnerd]

Art deco style Metropolis or bust.

 

[Iceman]

I love all your ideas

Quite a few different versions of Metropolis that would excite me.