Question about Marvel Universe Geography

[Jim Hall]

I seem to remember from a long time ago (I started reading comics in the mid 70s) that the Marvel Universe wasn't always quite so New York centered. I seem to remember Thor operating out of Chicago and Iron Man out of Detroit. Is this right or am I just developing early Alzheimer's?

[Sean Walsh]

Maybe it was like that back in the '70s, but NYC has pretty much been the hub of the Marvel Universe for the last 15-20 years.

[jackalope]

I seem to remember from a long time ago (I started reading comics in the mid 70s) that the Marvel Universe wasn't always quite so New York centered. I seem to remember Thor operating out of Chicago and Iron Man out of Detroit. Is this right or am I just developing early Alzheimer's?

I'm pretty sure that Donald Blake's offices were in New York, but the early Iron man issues were very international, and if Stark Enterprises was in New York, it wasn't in NYC but upstate.

[Shellhead]

No, Marvel has always been very focused on New York City, except for the X-titles, which focus somewhat on upstate New York and then do a lot more travelling. Thor did focus on Chicago for a while, but I don't remember Iron Man being in Detroit unless maybe it was for a couple of issues when a new Stark facility opened there.

Even when Marvel does have a series that takes place outside of New York City, they usually fail to convey any local flavor. Champions were based in L.A., but no L.A. landmarks ever appeared or were even mentioned in that series. West Coast Avengers had a base that looked kind of generically southern California, but Englehart should have done better than that considering he lived in California at the time.

It was especially extreme in the 60's. Spider-man, Fantastic Four, Avengers, Daredevil, and Dr. Strange were all in NYC. Even SHIELD had a base in Manhatten. And most super-villains conveniently chose to commit their crimes in NYC.

[StarsAndGarters]

Daredevil was in San Francisco with Black Widow. Don't remember how well that went as far as geographical accuracy.

Runaways is doing a spectacular job of nailing LA. I think they mentioned the 101 or some such highway. Glad they're referencing something other than the Hollywood sign. That's overused.