Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Lois & Clark oi! where's metropolis?

I've been assuming all along that metropolis is LA. eh? i've seen info that hints that metro is right next to gotham, though, which i've also been assuming is basically new york city, but in the "visual guide" from batman begins, they mention gotham concomitantly with new york city. eh?

i vote it's LA! I sez lois and clark are in california!

Nonono. Metropolis is in Illinois. Check the maps, it's the only Metropolis in the US.

But, if you're talking about the DC Universe, which includes the show, then Metropolis has almost always, with the except of Smallville and one of the revisions<?>, been on the East Coast, somewhere around Delaware. Or is Gotham in Delaware... We've discussed it before, and had links, which you can find all in this topic .

In the two exceptions I mentioned, Metropolis has been fairly close to St. Louis, on the west side of the Mississippi. But it has never been on the West Coast.

humph. it's La-La land to me.

i thought it was in New York?

mmmmm..... ok. try this on.

since this is a fictional world we're dealing with, mention at the start of the story where you think the city/cities are, if it matters in your story.

yeah, most seem to think it's east coast.....hang on a sec. I was thinking about this this morning in bed before I got up. I *think* I know why i've got metro, calif stuck in my head. in one of the christopher reeve superman movies, I believe lex was buying up all of the property along a certain line in calif, and then he was going to somehow trigger a massive earthquake and have the west sliver of calif pretty much sunk into the ocean, which would mean his relatively "cheap" middle-of-the-state purchases would now be rendered ocean-front property, and he could sell 'em at a tidy profit. am I remembering right? I saw that as a lil kid, naturally, so i think from this, metropolis was firmly plastered into my brain as california. eh?

New York is mentioned in the show, so it can't be. From MOSB:

LabRat

Reasons why it can't be on the southern west coast:

There is snow in Metropolis. You rarely get snow in California.

See other weather patterns mentioned in the show.

No talk of beach babes

They refer to nearby big cities, like New York.

The look of Metropolis is based on older cities. California does have beautiful older areas, but the eastern cost is of course older.

Here and there, Clark's flight path to the Kent's farmhouse from Metropolis is referred to and it match more of the 'eastern' as opposed to 'western' side of the US.

I sence more of an eastern 'culture'.

Ohhh, Clark with a summer tan *YUM*....hmmm he wouldn't get one would he? Nevermind. Drat.

(oh I know you can get a tan on the east coast. It isn't all dreary )

Definitely in the east coast..the weather is not so "Californian"...

From the Pilot:



Andreia

And not that I'm entirely sure of it, but I do believe that Siegel and Shuster, who created Superman, lived in New York. Back in those days, in the 1930s, New York, not L A, was the city of tomorrow!

Ann

Metropolis is kind of a double of New York, located (is this fanon?) in the state of New Troy. It's <i>not</i> New York, but seems to resemble it closely. Likewise for Gotham, which seems to be common is publications around and about New York.

Of course Metropolis isn't really really New York, just like the world of Superman isn't the real world, either. But more to the point, Metropolis represents certain aspects of New York - New York as seen through a shiny bright rather 1930-ish looking-glass, as it were. Remember that Siegel and Shuster created their dream city in the 1930s, when Empire State Building had just become the building that touched the sky and the original King Kong movie put the modernistic glory of New York on breathtaking display in movie theaters all over the world. Consider the meaning of that word, metropolis, too. It means "big city". And no city on the Earth represented the idea of the "big city" as perfectly as New York did in the 1930s.

Siegel and Shuster siezed on the bright and futuristic aspects of New York, refined them and turned them into the building blocks of their dream-city, Metropolis, protected by the ultimate futuristic hero, Superman. Therefore Metropolis resembles New York more closely than it resembles any other city, but it is not New York. So if we could somehow enter the world of Superman, we would find that Metropolis probably co-exists with New York. And while New York might still be the Big Apple in this universe, it would nevertheless be very much second banana to Metropolis! But because Metropolis is a kind of futuristic dream version of New York, it would have very many traits in common with New York, such as the fact that it would be situated on the east coast of the United States, just like New York.

Ann

Seigal and Schuster met in high school in Cleveland, OH. So that means Metropolis must be based on Cleveland. . .

Just kidding.

I have absolutely never heard of it on the west coast. The somewhere south of NYC on the Atlantic Ocean makes sense.

Looking at it from the creater's view point, most of us in Cleveland don't particularly think of the west coast too often -- probably especially in Segal and Schuster's time. The easy coast, though, is a fairly easy drive away and I think most of us have been to NYC and other east coast metropoli at least once if not more. I would think they would have had a better frame of reference to create a city in the east somewhere . . . or even on a great lake -- Chicago, Toronto, Cleveland.

Anybody else think that Metropolis, according to that picture, looks an awful lot like it's located somewhere near Scranton, PA? Or is that just my imagination?

I was thinking PA as well from that map.

Cheryl

Siegel and Schuster were indeed from Cleveland, and the early strips did borrow from Cleveland for the look of Metropolis. Probably because that was the only big city the two teens were familiar with.

Metropolis evolved into an east coast city mainly because that was where the big cities were. The fact that all the major publishing houses, and large corporate headquarters were based in New York had a lot to do with it.

Metropolis was said to represent the more 'optomistic' side of New York, whereas Gotham was the darker version. In the early days of comic books they never considered using the names of real cities. Theirs was a fictional world that had fictional cities.

The Flash hailed from Central City, which most often was allied with St. Louis. At least until Keystone City became part of the same DC universe. Now one might consider those 'twin cities' to be Kansas City Mo, and Kansas City Ks.

Of course, Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) hailed from Coast City, which was the DC version of Los Angeles or San Francisco. Coast City was destroyed, but it got better.

Anyway, the main point is in the DC Universe, their fictional cities were never meant to actually 'be' a substitute for a real city, but they were reminiscient of a similar, corresponding city in our earth prime.

Tank (who wonders where Hobbs Bay is located in the Smallville version of Metropolis - which can be seen from a watertower in Smallville, Kansas)

Sileas happily contemplates her framed Forever "Wings" poster

Not that it counts for much , but most (if not all?) the skyline shots of Metropolis were of Chicago. Shame on them for using such recognizable stock footage!

Sara (who always thought Metropolis was meant to mirror New York City )

I liked the shots of Chicago.

I agree that Metropolis is most definitely on the east coast. I also thought it was NYC, but somewhere in Pennsylvania or Delaware makes just as much sense.

I know that in the Superman movies with Christopher Reeve most of the shots of Metropolis were NYC. I guess I never paid enough attention to notice that L&C used Chicago?

I've just checked out one of the stories which is eligible for the 2006 Kerth Awards, "Flying In the Fast Lane For A Day" by Chaabreh. In this story, Chaabreh is lucky enough to wake up inside the body of Lois Lane one morning, and to have Clark do all sorts of nice things to her and with her! And one of the things he does is take her flying. This is what Chaabreh-Lois sees when Clark is flying her over Metropolis:
Guess the argument is settled, huh? New York it is! Trust Chaabreh, she's the one who got to go flying over Metropolis with Clark!!!

Ann

I've just tried to duplicate that angle etc. with Google Earth and it looks more like New York to me, possibly a little inland of NYC though. Unfortunately Google Earth doesn't quite let you duplicate that angle and zoom in simultaneously so I'm not 100% sure.

I always thought Joe Schuster was Canadian! Wasn't he?

Anyway, I agree with Ann on the idea that metropolis was sort of a figurative New York, just because it was THE place at the time.

now see it look like around new york
like just say the outer part
One time they metion New Troy????

heh ive always thought Metropolis is New York
but they did mentioned New York (as a different state) in one of the episodes(TMOSB?)
i do have a question, kinda dumb though
i remember Clark saying something like,
"a little louder, i dont think they heard you in Gotham City"
is there a Gotham City or its just him being sarcastic?
thanks.

There's Gotham City... in the comic world.

From the Wikipedia :

And Metropolis:
Andreia

Ok seeing as were on the topic of geograhpy here theres one thing I've always been curious about. Metropolis is in the state New Troy right? And I remeber watching the cartoon Stotic Shock, also from the DC world I believe, and it was mentioned that they lived in Dekota. No north or south just Dekota. So does this mean DC wants us to believe that there's more than 50 states or are the states in the DC universe substituting some of the real ones?

New Troy was only a state on LnC. In the comics, New Troy is a borough of Metropolis (it is to Metropolis as Manhattan is to New York). As for Static Shock, Dakota is the city they live in, not the state.

thanks for the info Andreia.
great!
although wat i actually meant to ask was if there is Gotham City in Superman world or more precisely, Lois and Clark tv-world
because when Clark said to Lois
"a little louder, i dont think they heard you in Gotham City". i assumed that there is Gotham City in their world,(or maybe its just a sarcastic comment from Clark)
but that lead me to think that if there is Gotham then there is Batman, (really dumb isnt it?)
and i also know that Batman was mentioned in one of LnC episode, UltraWoman, right? and that lead me again to think that there are 2 heroes or maybe in LnC world Batman is like a fictional character.
i dont know. im reaching here, really
also Ambar hav a point there about having more than 50 states

It really depends on which universe you're looking at. For instance, for Lois & Clark, Metropolis exists in the state of New Troy. However, in the comic universe (which I believe Static Shock exists in), New Troy is a borough of Metropolis, such as Manhattan is a borough of New York City (and is actually analogous to Manhattan).

Searching around, I found this map (taken from the DC Universe atlas, possibly) which shows the location of Metropolis in Delaware. All 50 states show up when I look at the map.

Are there 50 or 51 states in the L&C universe? The world may never know.

Edit: heh. It's fun when we all post at once.

GaAh! that map got me more confused
youre right
It really depends on which universe you're looking at

ill stop now

gotham city is new jersey i have a hard time believing that.

gotham city is new jersey i have a hard time believing that.

In the Superman FILMS - Metropolis is New York. Of course I think it is left to interpretation in other areas (TV, comics, etc.) - but in the films, most certainly Metropolis = NYC. Don't believe me? How about the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Center making an appearance in the Reeve films (I still tear up when Supes and Lois fly by the twin towers). So to me, Metropolis has always been NYC. Just my thoughts.

To me Metropolis=New York too or it used too anyway. It always seemed to me from the movies that the skyline and the buildings where from New York but I just saw the Superman Returns movie and they do actually show Metropolis in Delaware.

oh btw thanx Karen for clearing up the state thing for me