observation/question about gotham city

[loki lauyfeyson]

ok so gotham city is in new jersey(not here to get into an argument over this its been shown it is in new jersey) is there no new york city in the dcu? maybe it exists but never became such a large city because of gothams existence. has there ever been mention of nyc in batman or dc in general, i honestly cant think of one off the top of my head. if new york did exist you would think all the gotham criminals would just go there to avoid the batman. i know marvel is the new york centric comic company and i like the distinction between the two companies, with using the fictional cities vs new york. im not a new-york obsessed person or anything im from chicago and really couldnt care less about it but im just curious from a continuity/storytelling vantage point how having nyc(as we are familiar with it) next to gotham would affect the bat.

[DonC]

The Justice League used to be headquartered in New York and United Nations--building and organization--have both appeared numerous times.

[Kensei]

I remember that in one of the Superman-Spiderman team-ups back in the late 70s or early 80s, which guest-starred Wonder Woman and the Hulk, Spiderman was watching Wonder Woman fight and being in awe of her and thinking, "I wonder why we never ran into each other when she used to operate in New York? Oh well, it's a big town."

[Shepherd492]

Talon issue #3 features Calvin in NYC. It does exist in the New 52.

[MajorHoy]

Yes, there's an NYC in the DC Universe . . . it was there before CoIE, after CoIE, and it's in the post-Flashpoint world of the New 52.

As for Gotham City being in NJ, I don't know if DC itself ever established it was or wasn't, but it's been said to be there, and was located there in a role-playing game world based on DC characters. I don't know if it's still thought to be there in the New 52, though . . . especially in light of what was in the first volume of the I, Vampire tpb collection.

[Nightfeather]

Well New York City does exist, I believe some of the Teen Titans story is there. I think they avoid the question or don't really care. You could put it wherever you want for now but in the NJ/NY area.

[Captain Jim]

I believe that Nightwing operated out of NYC for a time before Flashpoint.

[kevink31593]

Peter Tomasi's run on Nightwing took place in NYC.

The JSA was headquartered in NYC.

The Wolfman/Perez Titans were headquartered in NYC.

[Toreador]

The Teen Titans (Perez/Wolfman years) were based on an island just off the coast of NYC, Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner) lived there for a time and Firestorm (Ronnie Raymond) lived there as well before moving to Pittsburgh. DC generally likes basing their heroes in fictional cities instead of real counterparts probably because it's easier to place any element (wharfs, docks, airports, chinatowns) in these cities. Fans tend to complain over little details about the city landscape not looking exactly like the real city.

[thewarning]

Themysciran embassy is in NYC.

Yeah. It is a place.

Gotham is an Atlantic-coastal city - it's probably between Boston and NYC.

[Captain Jim]

DC generally likes basing their heroes in fictional cities instead of real counterparts

I really don't think that's true anymore, but it was certainly true in the Golden and Silver Ages. That's why you have places like Metropolis, Gotham City, Central City, Star City, etc.

Not sure about the DCnU, but in the former DCU, they kept using these places in order to maintain continuity. Newer characters (such as Firestorm) could be placed in real cities.

At least Metropolis and Gotham City are iconic in their own right and will probably never be changed for this reason alone.

[Toreador]

I really don't think that's true anymore, but it was certainly true in the Golden and Silver Ages. That's why you have places like Metropolis, Gotham City, Central City, Star City, etc.

Not sure about the DCnU, but in the former DCU, they kept using these places in order to maintain continuity. Newer characters (such as Firestorm) could be placed in real cities.

At least Metropolis and Gotham City are iconic in their own right and will probably never be changed for this reason alone.

True, and to a far lesser degree DC tied the heroes to their own cities:

Green Arrow -- Star City (later on moving to Seattle)
Hawkman & Hawkwoman -- Midway City (later Chicago and St. Roch)
The Spectre -- Gateway City
Green Lantern [Hal Jordan] -- Coast City
Flash (Barry Allen) -- Central City
Flash (Jay Garrick) -- Keystone City

[MajorHoy]

Green Arrow -- Star City (later on moving to Seattle)
Hawkman & Hawkwoman -- Midway City (later Chicago and St. Roch)
The Spectre -- Gateway City
Green Lantern [Hal Jordan] -- Coast City
Flash (Barry Allen) -- Central City
Flash (Jay Garrick) -- Keystone City

And don't forget the Jack Knight version of Starman in Opal City.

[Mat001]

It's real simple. The DC Earth is much larger than the real world Earth. This allows for certain states, countries and even whole island nations to exist that don't in the real world. Along side the actual locations. It was touched upon in the old Multiverse stories that featured Earth-Prime, which was supposed to be the real world. It was talked about during "Crisis On Infinite Earths" when Superman was accidentally transported from his own universe which was dubbed Earth-1 to Earth-Prime. It resurfaced again in "JLA/Avengers" about ten years back, when comparing the DC Earth to the Marvel Earth.

In other words New Jersey is twice the size in the DCU, to accommodate Gotham and Bludhaven, two major cities that were only separated by a couple hundred miles. Khandaq and Biayla both exist in the Middle East.

[JimmyOlsenMustDie]

Don't forget that New 52 Hawkman, Constantine, and Static all operate out of New York.