Gotham City

For a song by R. Kelly, see Gotham City (song). For other uses, see Gotham (disambiguation).

Gotham City
File:GothamCity1.jpg
First appearance	Batman #4 (Winter 1940)
In-universe information
Type	City
Locations	Wayne Manor Batcave Arkham Asylum Ace Chemicals Blackgate Penitentiary Gotham City Police Department Iceberg Lounge Wayne Enterprises
Characters	Bruce Wayne Dick Grayson Jason Todd Tim Drake-Wayne Damian Wayne Alfred Pennyworth Terry McGinnis The Joker
Publisher	DC Comics

Gotham City (/ˈɡɒθəm/ GOTH-əm) or Gotham is a fictional American city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of Batman. Batman's place of residence was first identified as Gotham City in Batman #4 (Winter 1940). 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." Batman artist Neal Adams sees the 1940s mobster history of Chicago as the basis for Gotham, while writer/artist Frank Miller has stated that Metropolis is New York in the daytime and Gotham City is New York at night.

Locations used as inspiration or filming locations for the urban portion of Gotham City in the live-action Batman films have included Chicago, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and New York City. English country house locations in Nottinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire, as well as Stevenson Taylor Hall in New York, have been used to depict the less urban setting of Wayne Manor in live-action films.

Origin of name

Writer Bill Finger, on the naming of the city and the reason for changing Batman's locale from New York City to a fictional city, said, "Originally I was going to call Gotham City 'Civic City.' Then I tried 'Capital City,' then 'Coast City.' Then I flipped through the New York City 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."

The English village of Gotham, Nottinghamshire where the name originates. From 2010 to 2014, the Gotham sign had been stolen three times by Batman enthusiasts.

"Gotham" had long been a well-known nickname for New York City even prior to Batman's 1939 introduction, which explains why "Gotham Jewelers" and many other businesses in New York City have the word "Gotham" in them. The nickname became popular in the nineteenth century; Washington Irving had first attached it to New York in the November 11, 1807 edition of his Salmagundi, a periodical which lampooned New York culture and politics. Irving took the name from the village of Gotham, Nottinghamshire, England, a place inhabited, according to folklore, by fools. The village's name derives from Old English gāt 'goat' and hām 'home', literally "homestead where goats are kept", and is pronounced /ˈɡoʊtəm/ GOHT-əm, like the word goat (cf. Chatham, /ˈtʃætəm/ CHAT-əm, a similar name where the letters th represent a "t" sound followed by a silent "h" rather than a "th" sound). The Joker references this etymology in Detective Comics #880, in which he tells Batman that the word means "a safe place for goats". In contrast, "Gotham" as used for New York has a different pronunciation by analogy to other words spelled with "th" and is pronounced as /ˈɡɒθəm/ GOTH-əm, like the word Goth.

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, Captain Jon Logerquist, founded Gotham City in 1635 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 in the American Revolution). This was detailed in Rick Veitch's Swamp Thing #85 featuring Tomahawk. Rumors held it to be the site of various occult rites.

The occult origins of Gotham are further delved into by Peter Milligan's 1990 story arc "Dark Knight, Dark City", which reveals that some of the American Founding Fathers are involved in summoning a bat-demon which becomes trapped beneath old "Gotham Town", its dark influence spreading as Gotham City evolves. A similar trend is followed in 2005's Shadowpact #5 by Bill Willingham, which expands upon Gotham's occult heritage by revealing 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."

During the American Civil War, it was defended by an ancestor of the Penguin, fighting for the Union Army, Col. Nathan Cobblepot, in the Legendary Battle of Gotham Heights. 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 whether 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 effect 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 concluded, the city was beginning to recover, only to suffer an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter Scale in the 1998 "Cataclysm" storyline. This resulted in the federal government cutting Gotham off from the rest of the United States in the 1999 storyline "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. A city called "Gotham City" also appears in Captain America Comics #10 (January 1942), in a story called "Hotel of Horror".

In the storyline 'Court of Owls', it was shown that the Court of Owls' have been lording over Gotham for centuries.

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." Batman artist Neal Adams has long believed that Chicago, with its proliferation of mobsters in the 1940s, was the basis for Gotham, commenting, "Chicago has had a reputation for a certain kind of criminality," says Adams, who lives in New York. "Batman is in this kind of corrupt city and trying to turn it back into a better place. 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." Frank Miller has said that "Metropolis is New York in the daytime; Gotham City is New York at night."

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, particularly with Dennis O'Neil becoming a prominent Batman writer, the tone of the city, along with that of the stories, had become grittier. (Significantly, by the 1970s, Gotham's real-life counterpart, New York, had lost much of its 1960s "Fun City" luster and was beset by urban problems including public fear of rising crime, a declining economy, police corruption and municipal financial mismanagement). In most stories since the 70s, the portrayal of Gotham is that of a dark and foreboding metropolis rife with crime, grime, corruption, and a deep-seated sense of urban decay. This tone was particularly prominent in the parts of the city not rejuvenated post-"No Man's Land".

During his run as a writer, Batman scribe Grant Morrison brought about a more optimistic interpretation of Gotham City. As Morrison stated: "If Gotham was so bloody awful, no one normal would live there and there'd be no one to protect from criminals. If Gotham really was an open sewer of crime and corruption, every story set there would serve to demonstrate the complete and utter failure of Batman's mission, which isn't really the message we want to send, is it? You've got Batman and all his allies as well as Commissioner Gordon and the city still exudes a vile miasma of darkness and death? I can't buy that. It's simply not realistic and flies in the face of in-story logic (and you know I like my comics realistic!) so my artists and I have taken a different tack and we want to show the cool, vibrant side of Gotham, the energy and excitement that would draw people to live and visit there."

Architecture

Art deco and art nouveau buildings, such as the Helsinki Central Railway Station have served as an inspiration for some depictions of Gotham.

Different artists have depicted Gotham City 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 or the huge art deco and art nouveau statuary seen in Tim Burton's movie version. Cyberpunk, Japanese, and Greek elements were presented in Joel Schumacher's series of films.

Christopher Nolan, who once lived in Chicago, effected a depiction of Gotham that featured distinct Chicago architecture and which is cartographically based on the canon DC map of Gotham. Batman Begins features a CGI augmented version of Chicago while The Dark Knight more directly features Chicago infrastructure and architecture such as Navy Pier: however, The Dark Knight Rises abandoned Chicago, instead shooting in Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, New Jersey, London and Glasgow.

Within the Batman comics, 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 the storyline Batman: Gothic the Gotham Cathedral plays a central role for the story as it is built by Mr. Whisper. Whisper is man who has sold his soul to the devil. Mr. Whisper is the antagonist in the story. 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. Alan Wayne expanded upon his father's ideas and build a bridge to expand the city. Edward Elliot and Theodore Cobblepot also each had a bridge named for them.

Arkham Asylum: Living Hell mentions the "Sprang Act", which forbids Gothamite businesses from advertising on rooftops. It was passed after minor villain Humpty Dumpty over-wound the mainspring of the city hall clock, causing the hour hand to jump off and knock one of the billboards down, causing a chain reaction.

After the "No Man's Land" and "Cataclysm" storylines, Lex Luthor took on the task of rebuilding Gotham City, replacing many of Gotham's old art deco and Gothic structures 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. In the 1966 television series, Batman, the Gotham City police force was not a focus of the stories.

Gotham Underground

• Unified Crime Family
  • Black Mask - During the events of "Batman: War Games", Roman "Black Mask" Sionis gains control over all gangs in Gotham City and works with The Society to kill Batman. After his criminal operations are systematically crippled by the Red Hood, he is eventually killed by Catwoman and a power vacuum leads to a series of gang wars. Jeremiah Arkham takeover the Black Mask persona after Sionis' death and reunifies 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.' After he is murdered by Two-Face, his daughter, Sofia Gigante, takes control. Upon her death and the murder of many other family members, the family loses its grasp on the city. After an extended absence, Falcone's son, Mario, reclaimed some of the family's former power.
  • Sullivan Crime Family (Irish) - Run by Mickey "the Mink" Sullivan, the family was considered subordinate to the Falcone family. After a failed attempt to kill Two-Face, they were killed in a hotel by Holiday.
  • Ibenescu Crime Family (Romanian) - Run by Dragos "the Romanian" Ibenescu, the family was involved in animal fights, human trafficking and prostitution. They operate in the East End.
  • Maroni Crime Family (Italian) - Run by Luigi "Big Lou" Maroni until his death, from which the family was inherited by Lou's son, Salvatore "the Italian" Maroni. The latter Maroni was responsible for scarring Harvey Dent, and murdered while in prison.
  • Dimitrov Crime Family (Russian) - Run by Yuri "the Russian" Dimitrov, the family is continually at war with the Maroni Crime Family.
  • Moxon Crime Family (British) - Run by a distant friend of the Wayne family, Lew Moxon, who held a vast empire until his tragic death.
  • Odessa Crime Family (Ukrainian) - Run by Vasily and Alexandra Kosov, the family was taken over by Tobias Whale.
  • Riley Crime Family (Irish) - Run by Peyton Riley's father, Sean Riley until his death. It is implied that Johnny Sabatino killed him.
  • Sabatino Crime Family (Italian) - Run by Johnny Sabatino, who married Peyton Riley to cement peace between the Irish and Italian mobs. Their loveless marriage erupted into violence when he tried to kill her. Peyton allied with Scarface to kill Johnny, but all were apparently killed during the struggle.
  • Yakuza - Run by Akahara until his death in a shoot-out in War Games.
• Gangs
  • All-Americans - One of the first gangs in Gotham since the late 1800s.
  • Free Men - One of the first gangs in Gotham since the late 1800s.
  • Wound Ravens (Irish) - One of the first gangs in Gotham since the late 1800s.
  • East-Siders (Italian) - One of the first gangs in Gotham since the late 1800s.
  • Jewish Sons of David (Israeli) - One of the first gangs in Gotham since the late 1800s.
  • Ghost Dragons (Chinese) - Run by Sir Edmumd "the King Snake" Dorrance until his death at the hands of Lynx, who was assigned as the gangs field commander, to gain control over the gang. Lynx was accidentally beheaded by one of her own gang members.
  • Golden Dragons (Chinese) - Gotham branch of the Hong Kong-based gang. Their leader is the new Lynx.
  • Hanoi Ten (Vietnamese) - Rivals of the Golden Dragons.
  • League of Assasins (Arabian) - Run by Ra's "the Demon's Head" al Ghul, this eco-terrorist organization is made up of the most dangerous assassins in the world, orchestrating the method to give the world a perfect environmental balance through injustice, without hesitation or fear of death.
  • Joker's Gang - Run by the Joker, this gang enact in various schemes and heights made just for fun and to look like "bad jokes". Although not known for their intelligence, they have a nihilistic outlook and borderline insanity, dressing up as clowns and circus people to associate themselves with the Joker.
  • Scarecrow's Gang - Run by Dr. Jonathan "the Scarecrow" Crane, this gang is augmented by the Scarecrow's "fear toxin" to look ethereal and demonic, warping the perceptions of their victims and ranging from a common criminal to a vast gallery of monstrous and misleading hallucinations.
  • Riddler's Gang - Run by Edward "the Riddler" Nashton, this gang are known to leave riddles and puzzles leading to a deathtrap at their crime scenes.
  • Penguin's Gang - Run by Oswald "the Penguin" Cobblepot, this gang was once the premier power in Gotham until it was ousted by Intergang but was restored by Batman. The Penguin is currently fighting for dominance over Two-Face's gang.
  • Two-Face's Gang - Run by Harvey "Two-Face" Dent, the dominance over this gang is currently being fought over by the Penguin.
  • Bane's Gang - Run by the King Snake's son, Bane, this gang earn the right to obtain and be supplied with Bane's Venom drug to make them look tougher.
  • False Facers - Run by Roman "the Black Mask" Sionis, this gang wears a mask of their own choosing to conceal their features. Black Mask was never able to reform the gang after they were all seemingly killed during a bank robbery by Killer Croc, the gang itself has been ever since disbanded.
  • Sprang Bridge Soldiers - Control Robbinsville, almost taken over by Jason Todd.
  • Blackgaters - Briefly taken over by Jason Todd in an attempt to unite the gangs against the Underground.
  • Intergang - Run by Darkseid through Bruno "the Ugly" Mannheim, the gang 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.
  • The Burnley Town Massive - Run by Able Crown, this gang was made up of several other street gangs in the Burnley Town district that were later wiped out in a gang war.
  • The Mutants - Run by the mysterious Mutant Leader, this gang surfaced sometime after Batman's retirement brutal methods, advanced weaponry and vast numbers, making them too big of a threat for the GCPD to handle on their own. When Batman came out of retiremrent and defeated the Mutant Leader, the gang has ever since been disbanded and divided into splintered groups.
  • Batboys
  • Five Fingers
  • Sirens
  • Blue Flu Gang

Geography

File:Gotham City map.jpg

Gotham City map (1999).
Cartography by Eliot R. Brown, designed to reflect the geography of Gotham City post-"No Man's Land" and Gotham City Secret Files and Origins

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. The majority of appearances place Gotham on the Northeastern coast of the United States, where New York City is located. Also, Manhattan is an island in the Northeastern United States, which corresponds to maps depicting Gotham City. However, the 1990 Atlas of the DC Universe states that Gotham is located in New Jersey, across the Delaware Bay from Metropolis, which would place it on the southern coast of New Jersey.

Historically, "Gotham" has been a nickname for New York City originating on November 11, 1807 by Washington Irving in his Salmagundi Papers. 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." 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."

'Batman: Shadow of the Bat,' Volume 1, Annual #1 (1993) establishes that Gotham City is in New Jersey. Sal E. Jordan's driver's license in the comic depicts his address is: 72 Faxcol Dr Gotham City, NJ 12345.

Relationship with Metropolis

Gotham City is frequently depicted to be within driving distance of Metropolis, the home of Superman. Like Gotham, Metropolis' location has also varied over the years. The distance between Gotham and Metropolis has varied greatly over the years, with depictions of the two ranging from being hundreds of miles apart to Gotham and Metropolis being shown as twin cities on opposite sides of Delaware Bay, with Gotham City in New Jersey and Metropolis in Delaware.

In Bronze Age stories that depicted Metropolis and Gotham City as twin cities, the Metro-Narrows Bridge was said to be the main route connecting Metropolis to Gotham City. It has been described as being the longest suspension bridge in the world.

A map appeared in The New Adventures of Superboy #22 (October 1981), that showed Smallville within driving distance of both Metropolis and Gotham City. (In post-Crisis comics, Smallville was officially relocated to Kansas.) 1990's The Atlas of the DC Universe also places Metropolis in Delaware and Gotham City in New Jersey.

Notable residents

The various comic book series of the Batman family of books are set in Gotham, and feature characters such as Nightwing, Huntress, Black Canary, Barbara Gordon and Batwoman.

Other DC characters have also been depicted to be living in Gotham, such as mercenary Tommy Monaghan and renowned demonologist Jason Blood. Within modern 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.

DC's 2011 reboot of All Star Western takes place in an Old West-styled Gotham. Jonah Hex and Amadeus Arkham are among this version of Gotham's inhabitants.

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:

Main article: List of mayors of Gotham City

Officers of the law in the comics

Main article: Gotham City Police Department

Features

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.

Districts and locations

Otisburg

Otisburg is the district in Gotham that runs straight through the northern segement of the island and connects to Gotham County on the mainland.

• Stagg Enterprises is a multinational science company in Otisburg that specializes in various nation-wide industrial aspects and new, innovative methods in the fields of engineering, chemistry and genetics.
• Monarch Playing Cards is a playing card company next door to Ace Chemicals that the Red Hood gang attempted to rob before being gunned down using the Ace building as a shortcut.
• Knightsdome Sporting Complex is a sporting complex in the north-western section of Otisburg that hosts many of the city's major sporting teams and events.
• OMAC Base is the hideout of OMAC and his Brother Eye located underneath Knightsdome Sporting Complex.
• Ace Chemicals is a chemical company in the western area of Otisburg where one of its former engineers attempted to smuggle the Red Hood gang through so they can rob the Monarch Playing Cards company next door, but was stopped and tripped by Batman into one of the chemical vats, resulting his transformation into the Joker. In the 1989 Tim Burton film, the company is "Axis Chemicals".
• The Stacked Deck is a seedy nightclub where the most notorious criminals hang out.
• Amusement Mile is an amusement park in the northern cape of Otisburg lined Ferris wheels, roller coasters and other attractions typical to a theme park.
  • The Joker's Funhouse is a park attraction at the center of Amusement Mile owned and operated by the Joker, who uses it as the legitimate front for his criminal operations.
• GothCorp is a economical and pharmaceutical company rivaled by Wayne Enterprises. Its CEO is Ferris Boyle, who is responsible for the transformation of one of his employees, Victor Fries, into the supervillain Mr. Freeze.
• S.T.A.R. Labs is in an multinational research company in that specializes in weaponry through its Gotham branch.
• Westward Bridge is the bridge that extends over the Gotham River to the west, connecting the Burnley district to Arkham Island.

Burnley

Burnley is the district that runs at center of Gotham.

• Gotham University is one of the city's oldest and most prestigious universities, giving rise to many of the nation's brilliant minds and thinkers. Among these former college students were the Batman adversaries Harleen "Harley Quinn" Quinzel, who studied psychology there via a gymnastics scholarship, and Jonathan "the Scarecrow" Crane, who once taught psychology there until he was fired for experimenting a fear-inducing toxin on his students. Founded in 1898, the university became a highlight in academic education, resulting in it possessing its own bank and a museum with a priceless art collection. Though its primary sport is American Football, the college also hosts high end Gymnastics and Golf teams.
• Von Gruenwald Enterprises is an economical and biological defense company in Burnley that specializes in various industrial aspects and advanced pharmaceutical research and development.
• WGTU Radio is a television station supported by Gotham University based on the real station in Traverse City, Michigan.
• Gotham Mercy General Hospital is Gotham's primary public hospital.
• Giordano Botanical Gardens is a reservation garden in Burnley that Poison Ivy sometimes uses as a hideout.
• Burnley Freight Yards is a chief location for importing and exporting material to and from the city that is most likely used by the Falcone Crime Family.
• Gotham Arms Apartment is an apartment complex located in the southern area of Burnley that use to display a sign with a design or symbol by which to identify an inn or tavern. For example, the "Gotham Arms" was identified by a Gotham Coat of Arms hung above the tavern's doorway to easily distinguish it from the city's other residential establishments.
• Old Gotham Subway is an underground series of abandoned subway tunnels located underneath Burnley.

East End

The East End is an underdeveloped part of Gotham laden with poverty, crime, prostitution, and the circulation of illegal drugs and weapons. Catwoman takes an active interest in protecting this area.

• Crime Alley is a small side street located in the East End. Formerly known as "Park Row", Crime Alley is a dangerous, crime-infested area. This is where Joe Chill killed Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne in front of their young son Bruce after the family had visited an opera. In addition, this is the location where Batman first met Jason Todd when the youth attempted to steal the tires from the Batmobile. Crime Alley is also where Dr. Leslie Thompkins maintains her clinic.
  • Wayne Memorial is a memorial site in Crime Alley dedicated to Thomas and Martha Wayne. Although essentially a collection of roses placed over the spot where the Waynes fell, the site is maintained by Batman.
  • Park Row Theater is a once-fashionable run-down movie theater in Crime Alley that, over the years, became infamous for being the last location Thomas and Martha Wayne visited before they lost their lives in a mugging in front of their son. The theatre quickly lost business and ran into bankruptcy, joining the rest of the district in corruption and decay.
• The Bowery is described as Gotham's worst neighborhood. Bordered by Crime Alley to the north, the neighborhood is home to Crown Point, a smaller inner-district ridden with crime, homelessness, and prostitution.
• Falcone Penthouse was the headquarters of the Falcone crime family before Two-Face killed Carmine Falcone himself. This was also the place where Batman first encountered Catwoman and Two-Face, all of this in Batman: The Long Halloween.
• The Cauldron is an area of Gotham known to be used as the headquarters of the Sullivan and Riley crime families. It is also home to some of the most prestigious hitmen in the city.
• Daggett Enterprises is a economical and pharmaceutical construction company opposing Wayne Enterprises that specializes in various industrial aspects, epidemical research and real estate development.
• Special Crimes Unit (SCU) is a police station that serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff that are charged with overseeing the enforcement of law within the East End. To this end, the station is also home to the Bat-Signal and built to contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms. In The Dark Knight Trilogy, it is known as the Major Crimes Unit (MCU).
• Distribution Center is a hideout used by Bane slightly south of the SCU.
• Robert H. Kane Memorial Bridge is a colossal bridge constructed by the step-brothers Nicholas and Bradley Anders that connects the Eat End to Kane County.
• Robbinsville is a curved district on the East End's southern peninsula named after DC comics artist Frank Robbins.
• Cape Carmine is a cape at the end of Robbinsville that has always been under the occupation of organized crime.

Old Gotham

Old Gotham is the district more well known for the location of Oracle's Clock Tower and the GCPD headquarters.

• GCPD Headquarters is the primary headquarters for the Gotham City Police Department. The building itself had been a target for attacks from vandals, delinquents and supervillains alike, however, the building is always restored, rebuilt and refurnished to continue upholding the law and maintaining justice in a city filled with corruption.
• The Clocktower is a clock building which at one time contained the secret headquarters of Barbara Gordon, for her activities as Oracle.
• Gotham City Hall is the city's public institution where its city officials reside.
• Cathedral Square is the location of Gotham's main cathedral. The Cathedral was once intended to be the spiritual center of the city, with stone gargoyles and tolling bells watching over Gotham from its towers; designed conceptually to keep evil at bay, the Cathedral once dwarfed the surrounding buildings of the city.
• Riverfront Center is a bottled shopping center located in the northern area of Old Gotham, overlooking Miller Harbor.

Diamond

Diamond is a district of Gotham that is home to the city's wealthiest citizens.

• Wayne Enterprises is a economical military defense company in the Diamond District that specializes in various industrial aspects and advanced technological research and development.
• The Iceberg Lounge is a nightclub owned and operated by the Penguin. He uses the club as the legitimate front for his criminal operations.
• Robbins Enterprises is an insurance company that specializes in various software research and development.
• The Gotham Gazette is one of the major newspapers in Gotham City. 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.

Robinson Park

Robinson Park is the city's main park. During "No Man's Land", Poison Ivy claimed this area as her own.

Chinatown

Chinatown is a district that is home to a solid and traditional Chinese community. Known for its restaurants and oriental markets, Chinatown residents seem to consider themselves a self-contained community and neither ask for nor feel that they require assistance from "outsiders". The district's main street could be accessed through an ornate golden gateway on Gate Street.

• Vincefinkel Bridge is a bridge that connects Chinatown to the mainland out west. Originally known as the Brown Bridge before the No Man's Land incident, the Vincefinkel Bridge stretches across the Gotham River.

Blackgate Isle

• Blackgate Penitentiary is Gotham City's main prison, located on Blackgate Isle.
• Statue of Justice is a monument situated offshore of the city. The figure appears to have a blindfold over her eyes and a sword and scale in her outstretched hands.

Bristol County

• Wayne Manor is the mansion estate of Bruce Wayne and the location of the Batcave. It is also known as Wayne Mansion and Stately Wayne Manor.

In other media

Films

• During the events of the direct-to-video film, Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero (1998), a computer screen displaying Barbara Gordon's personal information refers to her location as "Gotham City, NY", and also displays her area code as being 212 - a Manhattan area code.

Gotham City's skyline, as it appears in the Batman (1989) movie.

• Batman (1989), the look of Gotham was designed by production designer Anton Furst, who won an Oscar for his work on the film. Wayne Manor's exteriors utilized Knebworth House, a Gothicised Tudor, while its interiors were Hatfield House in Hatfield. The Axis Chemical Works, where Jack Napier (Jack Nicholson) plunges into the chemical sludge, was filmed at a disused power station in Acton Lane, West London. The exploding exterior was Little Barford Power Station, a couple of miles south of St Neots in Cambridgeshire.
• Tim Burton's sequel, Batman Returns (1992), filmed city scenes entirely on soundstages. Production designer Bo Welch, who took over from Furst, based his designs on Furst's concepts.

Joel Schumacher films

File:Gotham City in Batman Forever.png

Gotham City as shown in Batman Forever.

When Joel Schumacher took over directing the Batman film series from Tim Burton, Barbara Ling handled the production design for both of Schumacher's films Batman Forever (1995) and 1997's Batman & Robin Ling's vision of Gotham City was a luminous and 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." When Batman is pursuing Two-Face in Batman Forever, the chase ends at Lady Gotham, the fictional equivalent of the Statue of Liberty. During Mr. Freeze’s attempt to freeze Gotham in the film Batman & Robin, 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 features a song named after the city and sung by R. Kelly, later included on international editions of his 1998 double album R.

File:Gotham City Batman Begins.jpg

Gotham City as shown in Batman Begins

Batman Begins

Christopher Nolan has stated that Chicago is the basis of his portrayal of Gotham, and the majority of both Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008) were filmed there. However, the city itself seems to take many cues from New York City: police cars use a paint job that was used by the NYPD in the 1990s, and the same is applicable to garbage trucks, and the Gotham Post seems to have the same font heading as The New York Post.

In Batman Begins the art deco Chicago Board of Trade Building was used for the film's Wayne Tower, which in the film, was also as the hub of Gotham's water and elevated railway systems. Garrick Theatre stood in as Gotham's opera house. 35 East Wacker was used as the Gotham courthouse. Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire was used to portray Wayne Manor. Nolan desired that Gotham appeared as a large, modern city that nonetheless reflected a variety of architecture styles and periods, as well as different socioeconomic strata. The production's approach depicted Gotham as an exaggeration of New York, with elements taken from Chicago, the elevated freeways and monorails of Tokyo, and the "walled city of Kalhoon" [sic] in Hong Kong, which was the basis for the slum in the film known as The Narrows.

The Dark Knight

In The Dark Knight, Wayne Enterprises was previously depicted at the Chicago Board of Trade Building, now the Richard J. Daley Center. As Wayne Manor was being reconstructed during the events of The Dark Knight, a digitally enhanced Hfront 71 was used as Bruce Wayne's penthouse. 330 North Wabash was used as Gotham City Hall and houses Mayor Garcia's office and Harvey Dent's office. The climax of the movie on the Prewitt Building uses the then-under-construction Trump Tower. Other Chicago landmarks seen in The Dark Knight include the Marina City towers, Willis Tower, Navy Pier, the Randolph Street Metra Station, and 111 East Wacker Drive. It is revealed that downtown Gotham, or much of the city, is on an island, similar to New York City's Manhattan Island, as suggested by the Gotham Island Ferry. However, while Gordon is discussing evacuation plans with the Mayor, land routes to the east are mentioned. In conversation with Harvey Dent, Bruce Wayne indicates that the Palisades of the Wayne Manor estate are within the city limits. In terms of population, Lucius Fox says that the city houses "30 million people". The film indicates that the city's area code is 735, which in real life is an unused code. In the film, a state trooper manning the blockade of the last remaining intact bridge connecting the city to the mainland is part of the "Gotham State Police", implying that Gotham City is in the fictional US state of Gotham. Compared to the previous film, less CGI was used in Gotham's skyline.

The Dark Knight Rises

For The Dark Knight Rises (2012), the production utilized Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, New York City, Newark, New Jersey, London and Glasgow for shots of Gotham City. Locations in Pittsburgh included the Mellon Institute and Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, and Heinz Field, which is used as Gotham City's football stadium. A scene where John Blake confronts two construction workers at the "Broucek Cement Company" was filmed at the Frank Bryan Cement Plant in South Pittsburgh. In Manhattan, the Trump Tower replaced the Richard J. Daley Center as the location for the headquarters of Wayne Enterprises. The JP Morgan Building at 23 Wall Street represents the exterior of the Gotham City Stock Exchange, the area of Park Avenue around 84th Street is used for the scene in which rich citizens are dragged from their homes, and Batman surveys the city from atop the Queensboro Bridge. In Newark, Military Park Station, on the Newark Light Rail, between Orange Street and Penn Station, is used as the subway tunnel through which Catwoman lures Batman into Bane's trap, and Newark City Hall was used as the Red Cross shelter inhabited by Bane's guerrilla army. An address by the president refers to Gotham City as "America's greatest city," combined with a map seen briefly onscreen, confirms that Gotham (which looks more like Manhattan than Chicago, the city that stood in for Gotham in the previous two films) is an analogue to New York City within the movie's universe.

Other films

• In Superman Returns (2006), Gotham is mentioned on a television report of Superman rescuing someone there.
• In the animated Batman: Gotham Knight (2008), which takes place between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, The Narrows was converted into an expansion of Arkham Asylum.
• In the upcoming film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), director Zach Snyder confirmed that Metropolis and Gotham City will be portrayed as being in close geographical proximity to each other. A television spot for Turkish Airlines premiering during the 2016 Super Bowl featured Bruce Wayne (played by the film's star, Ben Affleck) promoting Gotham as a tourist destination.

Television

• The 1960s live-action Batman television series never specified Gotham's location. 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. The George Washington Bridge was used as a backdrop to a bridge that led to "New Guernsey." Other New York references included Short Island Sound, the United World building, the West River and Chimes Square. A closer examination of the "Giant Lighted Lucite Map of Gotham City" reveals that the map itself is a reverse-image of the St. Louis metropolitan area, complete with Forest Park, Horseshoe Lake (on the Illinois side) and all major roadways as they appeared in 1966.
• Batman Beyond (1999-2001) envisions a Gotham City in 2039, referred to as "Neo-Gotham". It has futuristic architecture which mixes Gothic and Asian influences, with elevated streets looping around buildings, replacing the Gothic architecture based on early 20th century American city.
• Gotham City is featured in 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". 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 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). Also, in the episode "Fire from Olympus" it is seen on a character's address in a police file that Gotham city is located in New York state. In addition, the episode "Harlequinade" states that Gotham City has a population of approximately 10 million people.
• Gotham City appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
• The TV series Gotham films in New York City, and according to executive producer Danny Cannon, its atmosphere is inspired by the look of the city itself in the 1970s films of Sidney Lumet and William Friedkin. Clues to this include and signs showing phone numbers bearing the area code 212. Donal Logue, who portrays Harvey Bullock in the series Gotham, described different aspects of that series' design of Gotham City as exhibiting different sensibilities, explaining, "For me, you can step into things that almost feel like the roaring 20s, and then there's this other really kind of heavy Blade Runner vibe floating around. There are elements of it that are completely contemporary and there are pieces of it that are very old-fashioned...There were a couple of examples of modern technology, but maybe an antiquated version of it, that gave me a little bit of sense that it's certainly not the 50s and the 60s...But it's not high tech and it's not futuristic, by any means."
• Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman mentions Gotham in a conversation between Lois and Clark. Lois casually talks about Clark's alternate life as Superman in public, so Clark chastises her, saying, "Could you say that a little louder? I don't think they heard you in Gotham City!"
• In the TV series Smallville, Gotham City is mentioned by the character 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.
• In "Schooled", the fifth episode of Young Justice, Gotham City is indicated to be in Connecticut, near Bridgeport.

Video games

• Batman: Arkham
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009) opens with Batman driving Joker (comics) from Gotham City to Arkham Asylum. Joker also threatens to detonate bombs across Gotham.
  • In Batman: Arkham City (2011), the slums of Old Gotham City (the northern island) were converted into Arkham City. Inside the prison walls, this part of Gotham contains various landmarks throughout the story, like Penguin's Iceberg Lounge, the Ace Chemical Plant, the Sionis Steel Mill, the Old Gotham City Police Department building, and the Monarch Theatre with the Wayne murder scene in Crime Alley. Most of these locations have major events in the story.
  • In Batman: Arkham Origins (2013), an earlier, younger version of the city can be seen than that of other games in the Batman: Arkham series. In addition to the northern island, this installment in the series lets players explore a new southern island, connected to the former by the Pioneer's Bridge.
  • In Batman: Arkham Knight (2015), the Central Gotham City is five-times larger than Old Gotham.
• Gotham City appears in the Batman Begins video game.
• Gotham City appears in Lego Batman: The Videogame.
• Gotham City appears in DC Universe Online.
• Gotham City appears as the main hub world of LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes.
• Gotham City appears in LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham.
• Gotham City appears in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
• Gotham City makes another appearance in a video game with Injustice: Gods Among Us, where the player can fight in front of and inside of Wayne Manor, on top of a building and in an alley as well.
• Gotham City appears in Lego Dimensions.

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.

External links

• Bat Locations, a detailed list of locations used for the 1960s Batman show.
• Gotham City History and Notable Locations from the Batman 1960s TV show, a list of locations that appeared in the 1960s Batman show.
• Feature: Gotham City, A Visual History