Gotham City

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"Did you hear a scream?" "Hey, it's Gotham City. That's practically our theme song." — Terry McGinnis and Dana Tan[1]

Gotham City was a metropolis in New York State. It was the home of Batman, the world's greatest detective, and many of his allies and foes.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Gotham City In the Future 2 Locations 2.1 Districts 2.1.1 Future Gotham 2.2 Prisons 3 People 3.1 Local Superheroes 3.2 Politicians 4 Background 4.1 Gotham versus New York City 5 Sightings and References 5.1 Batman: The Animated Series 5.1.1 Feature Films 5.2 The New Batman Adventures 5.2.1 Feature film 5.3 Superman: The Animated Series 5.4 Batman Beyond 5.4.1 Feature Film 5.5 The Zeta Project 5.6 Static Shock 5.7 Gotham Girls 5.8 Justice League 5.9 Justice League Unlimited 6 Footnotes 7 External links

[edit] History

Gotham was founded in the late 1690's^[2] on the estuary of the Gotham River.^[3] Over the years, it grew in size, and its own University was founded in 1898.^[4] Because of its industrial and commercial growth, it had become a home to Wayne Enterprises. A dark city, Gotham was preyed on by organized crime, unscrupulous businesses, and corrupt officials. Now a city of 10 million inhabitants,^[5][6] much of its crime was fought by the ever vigilant Police Department, aided by the vigilante Batman and his friends.

[edit] Gotham City In the Future

In the 2040's, Gotham was very much changed. But while much had changed, many things remain the same, including crime, poverty, broken families, and corruption. Street gangs like the Jokerz and the T's prowled the streets, while the mayor was someone of questionable scruples.^[7]

[edit] Locations

[edit] Districts

• Bayside District: An area of mostly warehouses.^[8]
• Cork District: Formerly the site of a bottling plant, later urban renewal.^[9]
• Cranston Estates: A suburb in the mountains north of Gotham.^[10]
• Downtown Financial District^[11]
• Gotham Acres: Redevelopment and cheap housing.^[12]
• Gotham Estates: A suburb of Gotham City.^[13]
• Gotham Island^[14]
• Gotham Midtown^[14]
• Gotham Palisades: An area of casino's and entertainment.^[15]
• Lower East Side^[16]
• Market Lane District^[11]
• Mid River Island: An island in the Gotham River, home to a nuclear power plant.^[17]
• Paradise Meadows: Formerly a newly developed area, it was condemned after a toxic spill.^[18]
• Park Row^[19]
• Riverfront District^[20]
• Somerset District: A largely desolate area, home of Arkham Asylum.^[21]
• Southside Piers^[22]

[edit] Future Gotham

• Montrose District: An industrial part of New Gotham, home of Gotham Genetics.^[23]
• Old Town District: The collective name for those buildings that survived deep into the twenty-first century.^[24]

[edit] Prisons

• Arkham Asylum
• Gotham City Jail
• Gotham County Jail
• Gotham State Penitentiary
• Gotham Tombs^[25]
• Levitz Prison^[26]
• Stonegate Penitentiary^[27]

[edit] People

[edit] Local Superheroes

• Batman
• Nightwing
• Zatanna
• Batgirl
• Robin
• Etrigan
• The Creeper
• Batwoman
• The second Batman

[edit] Politicians

• Mayor:
  • Hamilton Hill
  • Elizabeth Styles
• Councilmen:
  • J. Carroll Corcoran^[28]
  • Councilman Frye^[12]
  • Councilman Green^[29]
  • Arthur Reeves^[30]
• District Attorney:
  • Harvey Dent
  • Janet Van Dorn
  • Sam Young

[edit] Background

[edit] Gotham versus New York City

Throughout the Batman mythos, Gotham has been assumed to be based on New York City, and in early comics, Batman's adventures actually took place in New York. It wasn't until approximately two years after Batman's comics debut that the name Gotham was used. Since the naming of Gotham City, DC has published comics taking place in New York City. In order to keep the two cities separate, in DC comics current continuity, Gotham is in New Jersey, north of Atlantic City.

In the DCAU, however, Gotham City and New York City originally seemed to be one in the same. Barbara Gordon, Dean Arbagast ^[31] and Yanni Stavros^[32] have addresses listed as "Gotham City, NY", the former two complete with Manhattan area code and zip code. The suburb Gotham Estates is placed in New York State,^[13] and a Statue of Liberty-like figure was seen in Gotham twice.^[33][34] A map showed Gotham to be on the exact same location as New York.^[35]

However, later episodes obscure the matter. Gotham is once placed in the fictitious Gotham State.^[36] The DCAU finale "Destroyer" was the first episode to acknowledge the existence of New York City alongside Gotham.^[37]

[edit] Sightings and References

Batman: The Animated Series Feature Films Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero The New Batman Adventures Feature film Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman Superman: The Animated Series "The Last Son of Krypton, Part III" (Mentioned Only) "Obsession" (Mentioned Only) "World's Finest, Part I" "Knight Time" Batman Beyond Feature Film Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker The Zeta Project "Shadows" "Absolute Zero" (Mentioned Only) Static Shock "Hard as Nails" "Future Shock" Gotham Girls Justice League "Secret Origins, Part I" "The Enemy Below" "Paradise Lost" "Fury" "Secret Society, Part II" "A Better World, Part II" "Starcrossed, Part II" "Starcrossed, Part III" Justice League Unlimited "This Little Piggy" "The Once and Future Thing Part One: Weird Western Tales" "The Once and Future Thing Part Two: Time, Warped" "Divided We Fall" (Mentioned Only) "Epilogue" "Shadow of the Hawk" "Dead Reckoning" (Mentioned Only) "Grudge Match"

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Gotham City at Wikipedia
• Gotham City at the DC Database Project