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).
Origin of name
Writer
Bill Finger is credited with the
creation of Batman's batcave in Gotham City. 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 didn't want anybody in any
city to
identify with it."
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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. Recent stories have
returned Gordon to the position of Commissioner, unfortunately to
find corruption taking a greater hold since his departure.
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.
- 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.
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, however upon her death and the murder
of many other family members, the family loses its grasp over the
city.
- Galante Crime Family (Italian)- Control the
East side of Gotham. Taken over by Tobias
Whale.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. 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. He is
currently fighting for dominance over Two-Face's gang.
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. For most of the publication history of Batman in
comics, Gotham has been assumed to be a New York City analogue;
Frank Miller has said that
"
Metropolis is New York in the
daytime; Gotham City is New York at night." 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."
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
.
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." 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.
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 Manor to smuggle slaves to the north. 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.
Notable residents
The most notable characters are Batman, Robin, the Commissioner,
Joker, and Penguin.
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 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 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.
Mayors in the comic books
Several mayors of Gotham have appeared in the comic book series
that collectively form the "Batman Family" of titles:
Officers of the law in the comics
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.
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.
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.
In other media
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
. 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.
1989 movie
In the opening lines of the
Sam Hamm
screenplay to the 1989 film version, 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. 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. 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.
Batman Returns
For Tim Burton's second
Batman film,
Batman Returns (
1992),
Bo Welch took
over the production design duties from Anton Furst. Welch for the
most part, based his designs on Furst's concepts. Whereas Anton
Furst's designs showed a considerable amount of sinister visual
grandeur, Bo Welch's designs had a more whimsical approach. Welch
blended "
Fascist architecture
with
World's Fair architecture"
for Gotham City.
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.
Schumacher film series
When
Joel Schumacher 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 and
1997's
Batman &
Robin). Ling's vision of Gotham City was a luminous and
marvelously outlandish evocation of
Modern expressionism and
Constructivism.
Its futuristic-like concepts (to a certain
extent, akin to the 1982 film
Blade Runner) 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."
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.
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 (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.
Nolan film series
Director
Christopher Nolan 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.
Batman Begins
In
Batman Begins the Chicago
Board of Trade Building
was the visual inspiration for the film's Wayne
Tower design. 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. 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.
The Dark Knight
In
The Dark Knight, 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.)
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.
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.
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.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold
Gotham City appears in
Batman: The Brave and the
Bold.
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.
- *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.
- *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.
- *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 .
- *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.
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.
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!"
Superman Returns
In the film
Superman
Returns, a newscaster reports sightings of Superman in
many locations following his return, including Gotham City.
References
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.
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