Gotham City
The Gotham skyline with the Bat signal. From Batman: City of Crime. Art by Ramon Bachs and Nathan Massengill.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Batman #4 (Winter 1940)
Created by	Bob Kane
In story information
Type	city
Notable people	Bruce Wayne Alfred Pennyworth James Gordon Alan Scott
Notable locations	Wayne Manor Batcave Arkham Asylum

Gotham City, a fictional city appearing in DC Comics, is best known as the home of Batman. Batman's place of residence was first identified as Gotham City in Batman #4 (Winter 1940).

Contents 1 Origin of name 2 Fictional history 3 Atmosphere 3.1 Architecture 3.2 Police and corruption 3.3 Gotham Underground 4 Geography 5 Notable residents 5.1 Mayors in the comic books 5.2 Officers of the law in the comics 6 Notable areas, landmarks, institutions and businesses 6.1 Arkham Asylum 7 In other media 7.1 1960s 7.2 1989 movie 7.3 Batman Returns 7.4 Schumacher film series 7.5 Nolan film series 7.5.1 Batman Begins 7.5.2 The Dark Knight 7.6 Batman: The Animated Series 7.7 Batman Beyond 7.8 The Batman 7.9 Batman: The Brave and the Bold 7.10 Landmarks in other media 7.11 Smallville 7.12 The New Adventures Of Lois And Clark 7.13 Superman Returns 8 References 9 Sources 10 External links

[edit] Origin of name

Writer Bill Finger is credited with the creation of Batman's batcave in Gotham City.^[1] Finger commented on the naming of the city and reasoning for changing Batman's locale from Manhattan to a fictional city: "Originally I was going to call Gotham City 'Civic City'. Then I tried Capital City, then Coast City. Then I flipped through the phone book and spotted the name 'Gotham Jewelers' and said, 'That's it', Gotham City. We didn't call it New York because we wanted anybody in any city to identify with it."^[2]

[edit] Fictional history

In Swamp Thing #53, Alan Moore wrote a fictional history for Gotham City that other writers have generally followed. According to Moore's tale, a Norwegian mercenary founded Gotham City and the British later took it over—a story that parallels the founding of New York by the Dutch (as New Amsterdam) and later takeover by the British. During the American Revolutionary War, Gotham City was the site of a major battle (paralleling the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Long Island in the American Revolution). Rumors held it to be the site of various occult rites.

Shadowpact #5 by Bill Willingham expanded upon Gotham's occult heritage by depicting a being who has slept for 40,000 years beneath the land upon which Gotham City was built. Strega, the being's servant, says that the "dark and often cursed character" of the city was influenced by the being who now uses the name "Doctor Gotham."

In Gotham Underground #2 by Frank Tieri, Tobias Whale claims that 19th century Gotham was run by five rival gangs, until the first "masks" appeared, eventually forming a gang of their own. It is not clear if these were vigilantes or costumed criminals.

Many storylines have added more events to Gotham's history, at the same time greatly affecting the city and its people. Perhaps the greatest in impact was a long set of serial storylines, which started with Ra's al Ghul releasing a debilitating virus called the "Clench" during the Contagion storyline. As that arc wrapped, the city was beginning to recover, only to suffer an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter Scale in Cataclysm. This resulted in the federal government cutting Gotham off from the rest of the United States in No Man's Land. This trio of storylines allowed writers the freedom to redefine the nature and mood of the city. The result suggested a harder city with a more resilient, resourceful, and cynical populace; a more dramatic and varied architecture; and more writing possibilities by attributing new locales to the rebuilding of the city.^{[citation needed]}

The name "Gotham City" is generally associated with DC Comics, although it also appears in the first Mr. Scarlet story by France Herron and Jack Kirby from Wow Comics #1. Kirby historian Greg Theakston notes that this was published December 13, 1940, shortly before Batman #4 was published.^[3]

[edit] Atmosphere

In terms of atmosphere, Batman writer and editor Dennis O'Neil has said that, figuratively, "Batman's Gotham City is Manhattan below Fourteenth Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November."^[4]

Gotham City's atmosphere took on a lighter tone in the comics of the 1950s and part of the 1960s, similar to the tone of Batman stories of that era. However, by the early 1970s the tone of the city, along with that of the stories, had become grittier. Today, the portrayal of Gotham is a dark and foreboding metropolis rife with crime, grime, corruption, and a deep-seated sense of urban decay in the parts of the city not rejuvenated post-No Man's Land.

[edit] Architecture

Different artists have depicted Gotham in different ways. They often base their interpretations on various real architectural periods and styles with exaggerated characteristics, such as massively multi-tiered flying buttresses on Gothic cathedrals. Also, the huge Art Deco and Art Nouveau statuary was seen in Tim Burton's movie version. Cyberpunk, Japanese, and Greek elements were presented in Joel Schumacher's series of films.

Within the Batman mythos, the person cited as being influential in promoting the unique architecture of Gotham City during the pre-American Civil War era was Judge Solomon Wayne, Bruce Wayne's ancestor. His campaign to reform Gotham came to a head when he met a young architect named Cyrus Pinkney. Wayne commissioned Pinkney to design and to build the first "Gotham Style" structures in what became the center of the city's financial district. The "Gotham Style" idea of the writers matches parts of the Gothic Revival in style and timing. In a 1992 storyline, a man obsessed with Pinkney's architecture blew up several Gotham buildings in order to reveal the Pinkney structures they had hidden; the editorial purpose behind this was to transform the city depicted in the comics to resemble the designs created by Anton Furst for the 1989 Batman film.^[5][6][7]

After No Man's Land, Lex Luthor took the challenge of rebuilding Gotham City after the events of Cataclysm. Gotham's old Art-deco and Gothic structures were replaced with modern glass skyscrapers and buildings.

[edit] Police and corruption

A common theme in stories set in Gotham is the rampant and recurring corruption within the city's civil authorities and infrastructure, most notably within the Gotham City Police Department. During stories set early in Batman's career (most notably Batman: Year One), Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb was depicted as having his hands in many pockets. However, Batman found evidence for conspiracy charges, forcing Loeb to resign his position. Later stories depicted subsequent commissioners as also being corruptible, or open to various forms of influence. In other stories, Batman has had to take on crooked cops, either acting in collusion with supervillains, working for the mob, or on their own. Later stories, featuring James Gordon as the new Commissioner, show the two characters often uniting to purge corruption from the force. Gordon was the commissioner for about 9 to 10 years of continuity, then retired, handing the police force over to his replacement, Commissioner Akins.^{[citation needed]} Recent stories have returned Gordon to the position of Commissioner, unfortunately to find corruption taking a greater hold since his departure.

[edit] Gotham Underground

• Unified Crime Family
  • Black Mask - During the events of Batman: War Games, Black Mask gains control over all gangs in Gotham City. He works with The Society to kill Batman. He is eventually killed by Catwoman and a power vacuum leads to a series of gang wars. Recently a new Black Mask has returned in an effort to reunify the Gotham gangs.^[8]
  • Great White - Warren "The Great White Shark" White becomes the successor to Black Mask's crime empire, successfully running all crime in Gotham from inside Arkham Asylum.^[9] During Intergang's bid for power, Great White is beaten and hidden behind a door in Blackgate prison in order to keep him out of the way. After freeing Arkham's inmates the new Black Mask takes control over Warren and his men.

• Crime Families
  • Falcone Crime Family (Italian) - Run by Carmine "The Roman" Falcone, who maintained a stranglehold over all of Gotham City's crime before the rise of 'masks.' He is murdered by Two-Face and his daughter, Sofia Gigante takes control,^[10] however upon her death and the murder of many other family members, the family loses its grasp over the city.^[11]
  • Galante Crime Family (Italian)- Control the East side of Gotham. Taken over by Tobias Whale.^[12]
  • Maroni Crime Family - Headed by Luigi "Big Lou" Maroni until his death where his son Sal Maroni takes control of the family. He is responsible for scarring Harvey Dent and is eventually murdered while in prison.
  • Odessa Crime Family (Russian) - Arms dealers taken over by Tobias Whale.^[12]
  • Riley Crime Family (Irish) - Run by Peyton Riley's father Sam Riley until his death. It is implied Johnny Sabatino kills him.
  • Sabatino Crime Family (Italian) - The first crime family of Gotham. Johnny Sabatino was married off to Peyton Riley as a sign of peace between the Irish and Italian mobs. Their marriage was loveless and he tries to kill her. Peyton returns with Scarface and tries to kill Johnny and they both fall into the water after a struggle and disappear.^[13]

• Gangs
  • Ghost Dragons - Run by King Snake. Lynx was assigned as their field leader and eventually killed King Snake to gain control over the gang. Lynx was accidentally beheaded by one of her own gang members.
  • Intergang - Lead by Bruno Mannheim, Intergang employs Johnny Stitches to take control over the Gotham City underworld. They successfully take down Penguin's gang and buy out Tobias Whale to gain full control.^[14] It is yet to be seen how they will deal with Black Mask's claim to dominance.
  • Penguin's Gang - Run through the Penguin's Iceberg Lounge. The Penguin was once the premier gang power in Gotham. Ousted by Intergang but was restored by Batman.^[14] He is currently fighting for dominance over Two-Face's gang.^[8]

[edit] Geography

Gotham City's geography, like other fictional cities' geographies in the DC Universe, has varied over the decades, because of changing writers, editors and storylines. At various times the depiction has Gotham on the shores of "Lake Gotham". The majority of appearances, however, place Gotham on the eastern coast of the United States.

Historically, "Gotham" is a nickname for New York, first used by Washington Irving in the early 19th century.^[15] For most of the publication history of Batman in comics, Gotham has been assumed to be a New York City analogue;^[15] Frank Miller has said that "Metropolis is New York in the daytime; Gotham City is New York at night."^[16] DC Comics publisher and former president Paul Levitz says that Gotham is "New York from 14th Street down, the older buildings, more brick-and-mortar as opposed to steel-and-glass. Or, you know, Boston."^[15] The late New York Times journalist William Safire described Gotham City as "New York below 14th Street, from SoHo to Greenwich Village, the Bowery, Little Italy, Chinatown, and the sinister areas around the base of the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges.^[17]

However, longtime Batman artist Neal Adams considers Gotham to be based on Chicago (whose nickname is "New Gotham"), pointing to its history of corruption and organized crime, and adding, "One of the things about Chicago is Chicago has alleys (which are virtually nonexistent in New York). Back alleys, that's where Batman fights all the bad guys."^[15] Film adaptations have varied: Tim Burton's Gotham was based primarily on New York, while the films directed by Christopher Nolan have shown a Gotham more closely based on Chicago.^[15] In Nolan's films "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight", the license plates of the cars registered in Gotham strongly resemble those of Illinois but display "Gotham" as the state, while in Batman Begins, Alfred Pennyworth states that Bruce Wayne's great-grandfather used the caverns underneath Wayne Manner to smuggle slaves to the north.^[18] Nolan has stated publicly that Chicago is the basis of his portrayal of Gotham, and the majority of both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were filmed there.^[19]

[edit] Notable residents

The most notable characters are Batman and Robin.

Many comic book series and characters are set in Gotham. Some of the most prominent characters directly connected to Batman whose adventures are set in Gotham are Nightwing, Huntress, Barbara Gordon and most recently Batwoman.

Other DC characters have also been depicted to be living in Gotham, including Jason Blood, Ragman, The Question, Plastic Man, Zatara and Zatanna, Simon Dark, and Tommy Monaghan, the anti-hero Hitman. The superhero teams Section 8 and the Justice Society of America have also been shown operating in Gotham City.

Within the DC Universe continuity, Batman is not the first hero in Gotham. Stories featuring Alan Scott, the Golden Age Green Lantern, set before and during World War II depict Scott living in Gotham, and later depictions^[20] show him running his Gotham Broadcasting Corporation. Additionally, the Justice Society of America, Doctor Fate, and the Golden Age Black Canary have been depicted as operating in Gotham. Black Canary's daughter, the Modern Age Black Canary, is based in Gotham through much of the Birds of Prey series. Arella (formerly Angela Roth), a supporting character in Teen Titans and mother of Titan member Raven, is shown in flashback to have resided in Gotham City as a teenager.

Apart from Gotham's superhero residents, the residents of the city feature in a back-up series in Detective Comics called Tales of Gotham City^[21] and in two limited series called Gotham Nights. Additionally, the Gotham City Police Department is the focus of the series Gotham Central, as well as the mini-series Gordon's Law, Bullock's Law, and GCPD.

[edit] Mayors in the comic books

Several mayors of Gotham have appeared in the comic book series that collectively form the "Batman Family" of titles:

[edit] Officers of the law in the comics

[edit] Notable areas, landmarks, institutions and businesses

Gotham City is a major economic center within the United States of the DC Universe; its important industries include: manufacturing; shipping; finance; fine arts, represented by its numerous museums, galleries, and jewelers; and the production of giant novelty props. In addition to its commercial seaport, it also supports a naval shipyard.^{[citation needed]}

Major businesses based in Gotham City include its most noteworthy corporation: Wayne Enterprises, which specializes in various industrial aspects and advanced technological research and development. Its charitable division, The Wayne Foundation, is a major supporter to the city's major charity, arts and research endeavors.

Noteworthy newspapers in Gotham City include the Gotham Gazette and the Gotham Globe. In the Silver Age comics, the editor-in-chief of Metropolis newspaper The Daily Planet, Perry White, had once worked for the Gazette early in his career.

[edit] Arkham Asylum

Arkham Asylum is the primary but involuntary residence of many of Batman's foes. Dennis O'Neil named Arkham Asylum as an homage to the works of H. P. Lovecraft. For years, artists have rendered it predominantly as an old and sometimes crumbling structure, but at times some artists have depicted it as a more modern facility (notably, the storyline The Last Arkham involved Jeremiah Arkham tearing down the old asylum and replacing it with a modern structure more akin to a supermax prison). Its exterior and interior appearances often change to match the moods and needs of the creative team. In some stories, the rooms have the stereotypical white padded walls of a mental hospital, in others the brick or stone cells of an old-fashioned asylum, and in still others the glass and steel private rooms of a modern hospital. The suggestion often made is that its history in the city reaches back to the early part of the 20th century, and that its manager is always a member of the Arkham family. Its current manager is Jeremiah Arkham, the nephew of founder Amadeus Arkham. Perhaps the most notable trait of Arkham is that many writers have placed a seeming revolving door on it, whereby Batman's villains either escape or are freed very shortly after being admitted, allowing writers to use them without complications. Characters often comment on this situation, either comically or seriously remarking on the need for better security and care at Arkham.

[edit] In other media

[edit] 1960s

The 1960s live-action Batman television series never specified Gotham's location. One episode refers to Gotham Rock, implying a location analogous to Boston.^[22] The related theatrical movie, showed Batman to be flying over suburban Los Angeles, the Hollywood Hills, palm trees, a harbor, a beach and a view of the Los Angeles City Hall. No attempt was made to cover the fact that the movie was filmed in Los Angeles.

Although the setting for the series was Gotham City (as with virtually all Batman serials), several New York City locations are noted throughout the series. Among them are the New York Public Library Central Research Building on West 42nd Street, Central Park, and Foley Square in Lower Manhattan. Portions of the 1966 film also were shot on location in NYC.

[edit] 1989 movie

In the opening lines of the Sam Hamm screenplay to the 1989 film version^[23], Gotham is described as Hell erupted through the pavement and built a city (similar to a Pandæmonium, or the capital of Hell, from the terms of John Milton). The logic in screenplay is when elevators were utilized for taller structures, the buildings over a few stories were built around the existing structures of Gotham Town. These skyscapers cast a shadow over the city coupled with the smoke from Gotham's industry kept the city in perpetual dusk.

A map of Gotham City used in the film Batman (1989) was actually an inverted map of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In the same movie, a map of the Axis Chemical plant was actually a map of the Capitol Hill neighborhood in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

Anton Furst did the production design for the first Batman film directed by Tim Burton^[24][25]. Anton Furst's set designs for the Batman movie were an attempt to imagine what might have happened to New York City had there been no planning commission and had it been run by pure extortion and crime. Hence, there were no height restrictions, the skyscrapers were cantilevered toward the street rather than away, there were lots of bridges over the streets. In return, the city appeared to be extremely dark and claustrophobic. Burton even stated himself that his take on Gotham was "As if Hell came sprouting out of the concrete and kept right on growing."

The individual buildings in Furst's version of Gotham were based on a whole host of influences. The cathedral was based on Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Família, the Flugelheim Museum exterior was based on the work of Shin Takamatsu, and some of the other influences were Otto Wagner, Norman Foster, and Albert Speer.^[26] In essence, Furst deliberately mixed clashing architectural styles to make Gotham City the ugliest and bleakest metropolis imaginable.

For Wayne Manor, Knebworth House, a Gothic Tudor mansion 28 miles north of London was used for the exterior. The interior however, is Hatfield House, Hertfordshire.

The flag of Gotham City closely resembles the state flag of Indiana. It can be seen briefly in Harvey Dent's office.

[edit] Batman Returns

For Tim Burton's second Batman film, Batman Returns^[27][28] (1992), Bo Welch took over the production design^[29] duties from Anton Furst. Welch for the most part, based his designs on Furst's concepts.^[30] Whereas Anton Furst's designs showed a considerable amount of sinister visual grandeur, Bo Welch's designs had a more whimsical approach.^[31][32][33] Welch blended "Fascist architecture with World's Fair architecture" for Gotham City.^[34] Russian architecture and German Expressionism were also studied.

At least 50% of the Warner Brothers lot was taken up with Gotham City sets. The massive Gotham City sets were all constructed to be mobile, and were often shifted between days of filming. Michelle Pfeiffer (Catwoman) routinely got lost on her way to filming each day.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Schumacher film series

When Joel Schumacher^[35] took over directing the Batman films from Tim Burton, Barbara Ling handled the production design for both of Schumacher's films (1995's Batman Forever^[36][37][38] and 1997's Batman & Robin^[39][40][41]). Ling's vision of Gotham City was a luminous and marvelously outlandish evocation of Modern expressionism^[42] and Constructivism.^[43] Its futuristic-like concepts (to a certain extent, akin to the 1982 film Blade Runner^[44]) appeared to be sort of a cross between Manhattan and the "Neo-Tokyo" of Akira. Ling admitted her influences for the Gotham City design came from "neon-ridden Tokyo and the Machine Age. Gotham is like a World's Fair on ecstasy."^[45]

Batman Forever was going to be shot in Cincinnati, using the old subway tunnel. The exterior of the Gotham City Hippodrome (the arena where the "Flying Graysons" performed their trapeze act) is based on the exterior of Union Terminal, a famous 1930s Art Deco train station in Cincinnati.^[46]

Exterior scenes of Wayne Manor for Batman Forever were filmed at the Webb Institute of Naval Architecture in Long Island, New York. The production team had to change the school's "W" on the entrance gate because it had an anchor behind it.

The exterior set for Two-Face's hide out in Batman Forever was the same set used in the first disappearance of Max Shreck in Batman Returns.

The Arkham Asylum that was seen in Batman Forever was designed as a tall, spiraling castle-like structure, with narrow hallways lined with brightly-lit glass bricks.

During Mr. Freeze’s attempt to freeze Gotham in the film Batman & Robin^[47] (1997), the targeting screen for his giant laser locates it somewhere on the New England shoreline, possibly as far north as Maine.

The soundtrack for Batman & Robin featured a song named after the city and sung by R. Kelly.

[edit] Nolan film series

Director Christopher Nolan^[48] worked with production designer Nathan Crowley to create the look of Gotham City. Nolan designed Gotham City to be a large, modern metropolitan area that would reflect the various periods of architecture that the city had gone through. Elements were drawn from Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York City, but mainly Chicago.

The location of Gotham is ambiguous, although it is a seaside port. Alfred comments that the caverns beneath Wayne Manor that are to be converted into the Batcave were once used by a Wayne ancestor to hide escaping slaves in the Underground Railroad. The automobile license plates shown throughout the film and in its sequel are reminiscent of Illinois' license plate design.

[edit] Batman Begins

In Batman Begins^[49] the Chicago Board of Trade Building was the visual inspiration for the film's Wayne Tower design^[15]. The art-deco building was represented as the hub of Gotham's water and elevated railway systems and also housed Gotham's opera house. 35 East Wacker was depicted as Gotham's main courthouse. Several other Chicago skyscrapers where shown such as the Sears Tower, Hyatt Center, Two Prudential Plaza, the Chicago Water Tower and the twin Marina City towers. The former Rothschild estate, Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, was used to portray Wayne Manor's exterior and interior. The Narrows was based on the slummish nature of the now-demolished Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong.^[50] One notable change in this version of Arkham Asylum from the comics was the location. While the location has varied in the comics, it is generally located some distance away from urban areas, often in a rural or forested location. However, Batman Begins has it located in a densely populated slum.

[edit] The Dark Knight

In The Dark Knight^[51], the modern Richard J. Daley Center is suggested as the new headquarters for Wayne Enterprises. As Wayne Manor was being reconstructed in the events of the Dark Knight, a digitally enhanced Hotel 71 was used as Bruce Wayne's penthouse. 330 North Wabash was used as Gotham City Hall and housed Mayor Garcia's office. The then under construction Trump Tower was featured heavily later in the movie and was named the Prewitt Building. Other Chicago landmarks seen in The Dark Knight include Chicago Board of Trade Building, Sears Tower/Willis Tower, Aon Center, Two Prudential Plaza, NBC Tower, the Marina City towers, Navy Pier, the Randolph Street Metra Station, and lower Wacker Drive. It is revealed that downtown Gotham, or much the city, is on an island, similar to New York City's Manhattan Island, suggested by the Gotham Island Ferry. However, while Gordon is discussing evacuation plans with the Mayor, land routes to the east are mentioned. The Narrows itself was left in chaos after the events of Batman Begins and is therefore not mentioned during The Dark Knight. In conversation with Harvey Dent, Bruce Wayne indicates that the Palisades of the Wayne Manor estate are within the city limits, co-incidentally, this is also the name of a region of Northern New Jersey across the Hudson River from New York City.

In terms of population, Lucius Fox says that the city houses "30 million people" (this is likely a reference to greater urban area of Gotham as even the most densely populated cities in the world would struggle to have 30 million inhabitants.

[edit] Batman: The Animated Series

In the episode "Joker's Favor", a driver's license lists a Gotham area resident's hometown as "Gotham Estates, NY". This implies that Gotham City borders or is within the state of New York, and has suburbs (such as Gotham Estates) within commuting distance. In another episode, when Bruce Wayne leaves for England, it shows Gotham City located on New York's Long Island, clearly in the same location as Queens.

Another episode of The Animated Series however, implies that Gotham resides in a state of the same name; a prison workshop is shown stamping license plates that read "Gotham - The Dark Deco State" (as a reference to the artistic style of the series, this plate was intended as a gag). In addition, the episode "Harlequinade" states that Gotham City has a population of approximately 10 million people.

During the events of the direct-to-video film, Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, a computer screen displaying Barbara Gordon's personal information shows Gotham City, NY, but also displays her area code as being 212 - a common Manhattan area code. The series also has drawings which New Yorkers can easily recoginze as Times Square, Radio City Music Hall, the Statue of Liberty, and the Museum of Natural History. They refer to it as Gotham Square Garden but it is MSG. There is also a Statue Of Liberty, however, it has a shield and crown.

[edit] Batman Beyond

Batman Beyond envisions a Gotham City fifty years into the future, referred to as "Neo-Gotham". It has futuristic architecture which mixes Gothic and Asian influences, reminiscent of the film Akira, with elevated streets looping around buildings, replacing the Gothic architecture based on early 20th century American city.

[edit] The Batman

Gotham City in The Batman shares many similarities to Gotham depicted in Batman Begins, resembling a darker in architecture. Elements of art deco, albeit toned down, are prevalent as well. The sky is almost always colored red or green when depicted at night. Landmarks in the series include Lady Gotham, with an outstretched arm holding a sword and the other holding a shield. Wayne Manor is positioned in Gotham City itself, and has a taller, less stately appearance, resembling New York's Waldorf Astoria hotel in parts.

[edit] Batman: The Brave and the Bold

Gotham City appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

[edit] Landmarks in other media

• Batman: The Animated Series

• The Statue of Justice — The statue varies from the comics in that she is shown holding a shield and a torch.
• Stonegate Prison — The city's main prison as opposed to "Blackgate" in the comics.

• Batman Beyond

• Crime Alley — Bruce Wayne used his influence to keep the street preserved during the rebuilding of Gotham, making it the only part of the present-day Gotham City to remain.

• Batman (1989 film)

• Axis Chemicals — The factory where Jack Napier fell into a vat of chemicals and became the Joker. The name differs from Ace Chemical Processing Inc. in the comics.

• Batman Begins

• The Narrows — An island in the middle of the Gotham River, situated between Uptown and Downtown Gotham City. It is home to a severely dilapidated and crumbling neighborhood, as well as the infamous Arkham Asylum. The area is so dangerous cops only go there in force. It is connected to the main parts of the city by nine drawbridges, as evidenced by the map commissioned by Christopher Nolan. The novelization, however, stated the Narrows had three bridges and a tunnel connecting it to Gotham City proper. The tunnel (called the Battery Tunnel) appeared in Batman Begins (video game).

• The Dark Knight

• The Palisades - Mentioned by Bruce Wayne as being the site of Wayne Manor, apparently on the outskirts of the city, to the extent that Harvey Dent isn't sure if it's within Gotham City. Analogous to the New Jersey Palisades, located opposite New York. In the comics, and in particular, in the Gotham Map created for the No Man's Land story arc, this area is known as Bristol Hills.

[edit] Smallville

In the TV series Smallville, Gotham City is mentioned by Linda Lake in the episode "Hydro", who jokes she can see Gotham from her view. It is also mentioned in "Reunion", where one of Oliver Queen's friends mentions having to get back to Gotham.

[edit] The New Adventures Of Lois And Clark

In a conversation in public which Lois casually talks about Clark's alternate life as Superman, Clark chastises her, saying, "Could you say that a little louder? I don't think they heard you in Gotham City!"

[edit] Superman Returns

In the film Superman Returns, a newscaster reports sightings of Superman in many locations following his return, including Gotham City.

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

• Brady, Matthew and Williams, Dwight. Daily Planet Guide to Gotham City. Honesdale, Pennsylvania: West End Games under license from DC Comics, 2000.
• Brown, Eliot. "Gotham City Skyline". Secret Files & Origins Guide to the DC Universe 2000. New York: DC Comics, 2000.
• Grant, Alan. "The Last Arkham". Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1. New York: DC Comics, 1992.
• Loeb, Jeph. Batman: The Long Halloween. New York: DC Comics, 1997.
• Miller, Frank. Batman: Year One. New York: DC Comics, 1988.
• Morrison, Grant. Arkham Asylum. New York: DC Comics, 1990.
• O'Neil, Dennis. "Destroyer". Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #27. New York: DC Comics, 1992.

[edit] External links

• Bat Locations, a detailed list of locations used for the 1960s Batman show.
• Batman: Collected Issues of the Dark Knight - Gotham Map, an interactive map of Gotham City.
• Gotham City History and Notable Locations from the Batman 1960s TV show, a list of locations that appeared in the 1960s Batman show.
• Gotham City's article at Pop-Cult Guides, complete with sourced maps and lists of locations, etc.
• Gotham City - DC Database
  • Category: Gotham City - DC Database
• Feature: Gotham City, A Visual History

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