What's The Best Fictional New York City?

Can New York City be made better through a little fiction? Complex has listed off the top 50 coolest fictional cities, and unsurprisingly NYC-based cities pop up a few times in it. So which fake New York do you like best?

According to their ratings: Gotham City comes in at #2, followed by Hillwood (part Seattle, part Portland, and part NYC, featured in Hey Arnold!) at #47, Metropolis ("Metropolis is New York in the daytime; Gotham City is New York at night.") comes in at #41, and New New York (from Futurama) comes in at #24. What did they miss?

Fun facts: Did you know that New York has the most superheroes of all the cities? (And that Dr. Strange lived on Bleecker Street?!)

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on October 13, 2011 11:00 AM

Comments [rss]

Roark

The animated Gargoyles show was set in New York city, a lot of cool scenery in that show.

New New York though is easily the coolest vision of NYC though

newsbunny

Liberty City!

calcetines

Hey Arnold, hands down.

Spirit of 76

I never got a good feel for any of the various incarnations of Metropolis in comics, or for that matter the one in Superman Returns. Now, the Metropolis in Superman: The Movie was great, especially with Lex Luthor's lair under Grand Central.

AGWAGW

Coolest fictional city is Los Angeles. Best fictional suburb: Shermer, IL.

krinklecutfires

If you mean LA from Blade Runner, then yes, you are correct.

AGWAGW

Well, Blade Runner LA is awesome, no question, but I mean that Los Angeles as we currently know it, is a fictional city.

krinklecutfires

touché

Roncore

"New New York" in Futurama definitely gets my vote simply for the fact that Owls have replaced rats as the prominent gutter pest.

Len_Drexler

And finding an apartment is still a pain in the ass:

http://www.comedycentral.com/v...

Roncore

" Although we are technically we are in new jersey"

"not one place even remotely liveable"

Lennox Joslyn

::Geek hat on::

What about Marvel's New York? Just about every major character in Marvel comics calls NYC and its surrounding areas home.

Also, while Gotham and Metropolis were inspired by some aspects of NYC, neither is meant to be NYC. New York City does exist alongside Gotham and Metropolis in the DC Universe.

Why yes, I will be at the NY Comic Con this weekend. How could you tell?

RammyH

Marvel's NYC would be terrifying in reality. There's literally something like a dozen super-powered criminal attacks per day, not including the fact that it's constantly the invasion point for extraterrestial/extra dimensional beings.

The likelihood of accidental death by stray lightning bolt/debris/ray gun/falling building is very high.

DC's NYC is much mellower. Gotham too isn't too awful, except for "Joker on the Loose" times, as he's most likely to kill hundreds at a time if the mood strikes him. Otherwise its mostly corrupt cops and street hoods, a la real NYC.

jibbly

Correctamundo! Check out the big brain on Brad.

Also Metropolis IMO is more in spirit with Chicago. I think Dave Gibbons and Steve Rude had it right in 1990's World's Finest mini-series. Metropolis is seen as a gleaming new city in the mid-west while Gotham is seen as the dilapidated old city on the east coast.

You can thank Stan Lee for basing so many of Marvel's characters out of NYC.