Gotham City, Kansas- Another geographic retcon

[dave73085]

I know Smallville's not the same as the comics and movies, etc., but it still bugged me just a little when Tori said that she can see Gotham from her office.

It's already weird enough to me that Metropolis is in Kansas, since having one of the most important cities in the country would significantly elevate Kansas' national status (even though BowWow called Kansas "strictly flyover territory" in Fallout). Nothing against real-world Kansas, of course.

Now we are told that Gotham City is in Kansas, too. In previous incarnations, the gimmick has been that Metropolis represents New York City during the day, and Gotham is NYC at night. Both of them have almost always been shown on the US eastern seaboard. In Superman: The Movie, apparently AlMiles favorite canon source, Metropolis actually took the place of NYC, with the Statue of Liberty and the Twin Towers.

Gotham has usually been shown to be close to Metropolis, so I guess I can buy it...I just think it was a mistake to put Metropolis in Kansas in the first place, rather than in the NY area.

So now the two most prominent cities in the DCU, with the two top superheroes, are both in Kansas. And somehow they both have major waterfronts in a landlocked state. :rolleyes:

Did anyone else notice this? Thoughts?

[10-5-4-9]

I think what Linda meant was she had a fairly high-up office, not that she could literally see Gotham.

[MidgardDragon]

It was a metaphor! Chloe's office is probably not literally below sea-level either, but no one seems to be posting that "geographic error." Linda was just trying to convey that she is in an office in a highrise whereas Chloe's in the basement.

[dave73085]

Originally posted by 10-5-4-9
I think what Linda meant was she had a fairly high-up office, not that she could literally see Gotham.

Well, traditionally, Metropolis and Gotham are very close to each other, which promotes Supes/Bats interaction. I guess her comment really just made me realize that a consequence of bringing Metropolis to KS would be bringing Gotham there too.


Originally posted by MidgardDragon
It was a metaphor! Chloe's office is probably not literally below sea-level either, but no one seems to be posting that "geographic error." Linda was just trying to convey that she is in an office in a highrise whereas Chloe's in the basement.

I'm not saying it was an error...just it's weird to me to think of Gotham City being in Kansas or nearby, which it probably is now in the Smallville universe. I agree it's probably hyperbole, but it would probably be over the top even for Tori to refer to a city that is all the way across the country, rather than a neighboring one.


Still, in a lot of depictions, Gotham and Metropolis are right across a bay from each other, so it's not unreasonable to think that a highrise building in one city might not be able to see the other. Especially considering the views of Metropolis from a windmill in earlier seasons of the show.


Sorry if I was overthinking it, the writers probably just wanted to drop a DC name again. :)

[MidgardDragon]

I'm not saying it was an error...just it's weird to me to think of Gotham City being in Kansas or nearby, which it probably is now in the Smallville universe. I agree it's probably hyperbole, but it would probably be over the top even for Tori to refer to a city that is all the way across the country, rather than a neighboring one.

I don't find it strange at all. Gotham and Metropolis are the "big two" cities in the DCU from my understanding. She was using hyperbole to illustrate the point. How is it not clear that she's using hyperbole, we know Chloe's office isn't literally below sea level, so it only makes sense that the rest of her comment was exaggerated, right?

Think of it like someone in New York saying, "My office is so high, I can see all the way to L.A." We'd know they were exagerrating, but their point would still be clear, right? And since L.A. is a very popular city, it wouldn't be an out-of-place reference.

[dave73085]

Originally posted by MidgardDragon
I don't find it strange at all. Gotham and Metropolis are the "big two" cities in the DCU from my understanding. She was using hyperbole to illustrate the point. How is it not clear that she's using hyperbole, we know Chloe's office isn't literally below sea level, so it only makes sense that the rest of her comment was exaggerated, right?



Arguably, if Metropolis is in the Midwest, Gotham, should be too, going with previous incarnations that put them close together, two sides of the same coin, etc.
Especially since New York and LA exist normally in Smallville, as we saw in the riots.
But I will concede that Tori's comment doesn't have to mean that Gotham is a fairly nearby city, even though that was how I interpreted it (in the context of them typically being neighbor cities). Thanks for the feedback. I meant to put a question mark at the end of this thread name ha.

Oh well, it's not like TPTB care that much about their fake geography anyhow, considering Metropolis used to be 3 hours away and now Smallville seems more like a suburb of it.

[Supermau]

Yeah, I took the Gotham reference to be an exaggeration, as one poster referenced using NYC and LA to make the point.

But I do agree with you, I totally dislike the fact that Metropolis is in Kansas. There's no good reason for this, other than to make going back and forth between Smallville and Metropolis easier for the characters.

[boywithbluehanger]

Originally posted by Supermau
But I do agree with you, I totally dislike the fact that Metropolis is in Kansas. There's no good reason for this, other than to make going back and forth between Smallville and Metropolis easier for the characters.

Isn't that a good enough reason for Metropolis to be in Kansas?

The characters frequently travel to both places on a regular basis...it makes sense to me.

I do however think its odd that AlMiles allowed Metropolis to be surrounded by a massive lake.

[Son of Kal-El20]

I like that it's in Kansas. Why should every superhero tale take place in NY?

[HalJordan4184]

They don't all take place in New York. In fact, in the DCU, New York City exists, and Metropolis is it's entirely own seperate city. Hal Jordan used to patrol Coast City in California, Batman Gotham City, which is considered to be in southern New Jersey, Clark Metropolis whioch is put somewhere near Delaware, Kyle Rayner was in NYC, and a ton of other people all over the country.

However, Metropolis being near Smallville makes no sense. The point of Metropolis being on the coast, was that it was a major departure from the type of life Clark was used to. He grew up in a small town, with NO big city influence. That's hard to pull off when you spend half your life in the big city.