Anyway, it turns out the only way to stop them is to channel the entire Gotham City power grid through them, with leads Fabian Nicieza to drop this little bomb on us:
So...Gotham City is the fourth largest city in the U.S., at least in the DC Universe??Game. On.
We already know that DC geography is...somewhat different than our world. My pal Siskoid has had some fun recently discussing where they might be located, and having a contest to that effect, as well.
But that's just location. Today's question: just how big are the cities? Hmmmm...
1) Is New York City still the largest in the DC Universe? Or has Metropolis surpassed it? If so, how does the Big Apple feel about being #2?
2) What about Chicago and Los Angeles? Which one (if any) is bigger than Gotham City?
3) Given earthquakes, plagues, military blockades, and the everyday deaths caused by the Joker, Killer Croc, Black Mask, etc., it's pretty much amazing that Gotham still would have enough population to be as high as fourth. And seriously, why haven't the survivors moved away from there? Death wish?
Of course, that begs the question--before all the disasters, was Gotham higher? First place, even?
4) So, where did Coast City rank before, well, you know? Blüdhaven? Seriously, DC cities--unsafe places to live!
5) What about the other DC cities? Where does Fawcett City rank, or Midway, or Opal, or Star City, or...?
Have at it, minions. Show your work.
Is "largest" always a factor of population? Central City is obviously the biggest city in the universe when it comes to area.
ReplyDeleteIf I were to guess, I'd say golden golden Metropolis is #1, then New York, then L.A. Gotham bumps Chicago down to 5th.
What Siskoid said. I think. Does largest mean population or the actual size of the city. Presumably not the latter, as that goes to either Oklahoma City or Jacksonville. In the DCU, I would think Metropolis is much more contained than Gotham, which, in my mind, has many collar counties, much as Chicago does. In fact, Chicagoland now seems to encompass any county that surpasses a certain population. And it isn't Midway City, as Chicago is shown as destroyed in Final Crisis (I think it was in Dance). So, if counting the sprawl, which Metropolis doesn't seem to have (or mention in the books), I'd say NYC, LA, Central City, Gotham, Chicago, then Coast City (which I believe had 7 million inhabitants, but no big suburbs if it was near, say, Santa Barbara.)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I'm new to your blog, thanks to Siskoid's margin links. Nice work.
Siskoid--Most people, when referring to the "largest" city, are talking population, not square acreage. Of course, that doesn't mean Tim of Fabian N. aren't. But given the context--enough power to light up the 4th biggest city seems more germane to total population than area--I'm inclined to believe it's the number of people.
ReplyDeleteWayne--Welcome!!
The idea of it being fourth kinda bugged me cause I always figured it went Metropolis, Gotham, then New York in the DCU. Morrison made it seem that way in Seven Soldiers when New York had the nickname of the Cinderella City because it was overshadowed by its ugly stepsisters.
ReplyDeleteWell, CB, given that DC has seemed hellbent on completely ignoring everything from Seven Soldiers, it shouldn't surprise us that they're ignoring that little aside, too.
ReplyDeleteThen again, maybe Gotham had been above NYC, but earthquakes et al knocked it down. (On the other other hand, you would have thought that Gotham would have picked up a lot of the Bludhaven refugees, so that might have pushed them back up).
I also thought that Central City was the biggest. Opal City may not be the biggest, but it IS the prettiest.
ReplyDelete