Gotham City

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

Gotham City is based on many large cities such as Baltimore, Chicago and particularly New York City; the longstanding nickname "Gotham" was first attached to New York by Washington Irving in his magazine Salmagundi.

Creation
Writer Bill Finger is credited with the creation of 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 wanted 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 Willidicck 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."

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.

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.

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;

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." that shows some of the city's streets as well as Gotham International Airport, which is depicted as being in an adjacent county or city.

Also in The Dark Knight, the License plates of the cars registered in Gotham strongly resemble that of Illinois but they say Gotham for the state.

Of the five feature-length Batman films, only the third, "Batman Forever," (1995) was filmed partly in New York City, with additional locations in California, Oregon and Israel. Of the others, "Batman" (1989) was filmed in London. "Batman Returns" (1992) was filmed on the back lots and sound stages of Warner Brothers in Burbank. "Batman and Robin" (1997) was filmed in California, Texas, Canada, Vermont and Austria. "Batman Begins" (2005) was filmed in London, Chicago, Iceland and Waukegan, IL. "The Dark Knight", (2008), the film depending most on exteriors, was filmed entirely on location in Chicago, including recognizable shots using the Sears Tower, the Trump Tower, LaSalle St. and Navy Pier (for the Joker's seemingly fatal joke involving the two boats). Based on the films, Chicago seems to have the best claim as Gotham City, followed by California and London.

Notable residents
Many comic book series and characters are set in Gotham. The most notable characters are Batman and Robin. 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 are also 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:

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.

Gotham sports

 * Baseball: The city's baseball team, the Gotham Goliaths, is a pun on the actual New York Giants/San Francisco Giants. Other proposed team names include the Gotham City Eagles (cross-town rivals as seen on Batman), the Gotham Knights (in Greg Rucka's novel Batman: No Man's Land, sometimes referred to as the Black Sox in Garth Ennis's Hitman), the Gotham Giants (The Daily Planet Guide to Gotham City), the Gotham Griffins, and the Gotham Monarchs (a Metropolis franchise that moved to the city after No Man's Land) . The comic based on The Batman, The Batman Strikes, calls Gotham's baseball team the Gotham Guardians.


 * Basketball: The Gotham Gators are the city's professional basketball team (as seen on The Batman). In the 52 (comic book) website, Gotham's basketball team is known as the Guardsmen (article Bring on the Thunder!). There is also a women's team known as the Gotham Valkyries (The Daily Planet Guide to Gotham City) or in other publications the Gotham Amazons.


 * American football: Gotham has two pro teams Gotham Razorbacks, and the Gotham Knights (as seen on Batman: The Animated Series Episode #024 - "Fear of Victory"). Gotham Goliaths and Gotham Wildcats have also been used as franchise names (The Daily Planet Guide to Gotham City).


 * Ice Hockey: The local ice hockey franchise is known as the Gotham Blades (The Daily Planet Guide to Gotham City).

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.

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, 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. In both movies skyline shots of Chicago were used as Gotham, suggesting Gotham could very well be a stand-in for Chicago, similar to Metropolis being analogous to New York City in Superman Returns.



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 walled city of Kowloon 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 outside of Gotham City, often in a rural or forested location. However, Batman Begins has it in the middle of Gotham City, located in the Narrows.



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, Aon Center, Two Prudential Plaza, NBC Tower, the Marina City towers, Navy Pier, 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 in The Dark Knight. In conversation with Harvey Dent, Bruce Wayne indicates that Wayne manor was located "outside" the Gotham City limits, in the Palisades, also the name for a region of Northern New Jersey across the Hudson from New York City.

Batman: The Animated Series
In a first season episode entitled "Joker's Favor", Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995) depicted a driver's license of a Gotham area resident, listing his 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 one episode, when Bruce Wayne leaves for England, it shows Gotham City located on New York's Long Island, clearly in the same location of Queens County.

Another episode of the same television show, however, implies that Gotham resides in a state of the same name. A prison workshop was shown stamping license plates that read "Gotham - The Dark Deco State" (as a reference to the artistic style of the series, this plate may have been intended to simply be one of the visual gags that were common on the program). In addition, the episode entitled "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

Batman Beyond
Batman Beyond envisions a Gotham City fifty years into the future. In it, a futuristic architecture which mixes Gothic and Asian influences, reminiscent of the film Akira, with elevated streets looping around buildings, has replaced 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.

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. 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 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.

Smallville
In the TV series Smallville, Gotham 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's friends mentions having to get back to Gotham.