With the release of The Dark Knight Rises, there has been some discussion of the structure and nature of Gotham City. Like the other cities in DC Comics (most notably Metropolis), Gotham City is fictional place, but comes equipped with numerous landmarks and even somewhat of a signature architectural style. Gotham City even has **imagined city maps.
Of course, these cities are stand-ins for real places. Gotham City is a thinly veiled version of New York City, though a skewed one. As one Batman writer described it: "Batman's Gotham City is Manhattan below Fourteenth Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November."
The locations of these cities though, is much more malleable. Metropolis, for example, has been placed in numerous locations, such as directly adjacent to New York City or at the southern end of Delaware Bay. So, I decided to explore the details of the hometown of another member of the Justice League: the Flash's Central City.
While Central City was initially placed in Ohio, it now seems to be firmly located on the border between Missouri and Kansas on the Missouri river. What else is there? Kansas City. A careful reading of maps seems to locate Central City (and its Keystone City, its sister city across the river) several miles northwest of Kansas City. But let's not linger on unnecessary details. Clearly, the twin cities of Central City and Keystone City are the two Kansas Cities, Kansas and Missouri. And we are proud to have the Flash live here.
Having the Flash as a resident is particularly appropriate given the recent Google Fiber project located in Kansas City, delivering super-fast internet speeds.
So, come superheroes to our fair city and explore. We don't have the urban density needed to allow a Spider-Man to thrive. But we can definitely handle the Flash. Our magnificent boulevards and parkways are particularly well-suited to his speeds. And given our proximity to meteorites, both real and imaginary, we'll need a champion to fight off the occasional extraterrestrial visitor.
Even Aquaman might want to move to the City of Fountains.
Top image:JD Hancock/Flickr/CC
