Is Metropolis in Delaware? The 9 Best Fictional Comic Book City Locations

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We often take fictional comic book city locations in comic books for granted, as if they are real. Places like Metropolis, Gotham City, Smallville, or Wakanda are so mainstream in popular culture that we pretend like they are real places. However, they are really not what we think they are. Most fictional comic book cities have surprising real-life locations as inspiration.

Did you know that Metropolis is technically in Delaware? Did you know that Gotham City, while originally a mirror of New York City, was later retconned to be in New Jersey? I bet your idea of these fictional comic book city locales seems very different now. 

Here are the in-universe locations, and real-life inspirations, of 9 fictional comic book cities.

1. Metropolis

According to DC Comics, Metropolis is actually located in Delaware, near Delaware Bay. The exact location changes according to eras and creative teams, but Delaware was the first inspiration for Metropolis. Most comic book fans usually see Metropolis as a New York City stand-in. However, Delaware is probably more appropriate for the down-home and humble country spirit of Superman compared to New York City.

2. Dakota City

Milestone Media, with a distribution deal agreement with DC Comics, made its debut in 1993. The company was founded to showcase Black comic book characters in an era when almost all major and leading comic book characters were white. Milestone characters like Hardware, Static, Icon, and Blood Syndicate would make their debuts, amongst others. The fictional comic book city of Dakota, where all the Milestone heroes reside, gets its real-life inspiration from Detroit.

3. Gotham

Believe it or not, the fictional comic book city of Gotham is meant to be a major city in New Jersey. When I think of Gotham, I just don’t think of New Jersey, but here we are. Gotham was meant to be a New York City inspirational stand-in from the beginning. However, someone made the choice to situate Gotham as a major metropolitan hub about 20 miles south of the Jersey Shore. 

4. Wakanda

Wakanda is actually located near real-life African countries and locales. In the Marvel Universe, this fictional comic book city is located north of real-life Lake Turkana in East Africa. Wakanda is a city-state landlocked enclave inspired by the Kingdom of Lesotho for the MCU version. It is surrounded by Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda. 

The capital city is Birnin Zana. Depending on other comic books or retcons, Wakanda could also be near present-day Rwanda or the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

5. Vathlo Island

In Superman #234, from 1971, the concept of Vathlo Island, segregation, and Black Kryptonians made their comic book debuts. Vathlo Islanders were intelligent and scientifically advanced, but were not part of greater Kryptonian society at the time. Instead of a fictional comic book city, Vathlo Island is kind of like Australia in isolation, with the technology and brilliance of Wakanda, but full of Aborigines. Vathlo Islanders only appeared in a few scant panels of the era. 

6. Latveria

In the Marvel Universe, Latveria, the home country of Dr. Doom, is located in Eastern Europe. As a small fictional comic book city-state. It is surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains and landlocked between Hungary, Romania, and Serbia. The capital is Doomstadt. Doom is an authoritarian monarch, so whatever he says is law.

Doctor Doom: Books of Doom is a 156-page paperback. It collects all six issues of the 2006 comic book series. It features the retelling of Doom’s origin and upbringing in Latveria. Buy it now for $16 on Amazon.

7. Smallville

Everyone knows that baby Kal-El left Krypton as a baby in a rocket and would crash land in a field in Smallville. After being taken in by the Kents, Kal-El grew up to adopt the conservative, Midwest ideals of his parents and was given the name Clark. Smallville is in Kansas; however, some comic book creative teams have put it somewhere near Delaware, too.

Smallville’s location in Kansas became iconic in the 1978 film and in John Byrne’s redefining 1986 Superman comic, Man of Steel. 

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8. Central City

The Silver Age Flash, Barry Allen, has more exposure with modern comic book fans. This is especially true due to Grant Gustin’s and Ezra Miller’s live-action portrayals, as well as video and cartoon adaptations. The Flash’s hometown, and fictional comic book city, Central City, is in Missouri. 

9. Coast City

Coast City is the fictional comic book city home base of Green Lantern Hal Jordan. In 1993, Coast City was destroyed by the supervillain Mongul. Mogul would wipe the city off the map and slaughter over 7 million people. Hal Jordan would go insane with grief and try to reanimate Coast City as energy constructs with the power of his ring. Coast City is in California, just south of Santa Barbara. 

Fictional Comic Book City Locations

Comic book creators commit to world-building so well and realistically that we know Bruce Wayne’s parents died in Crime Alley in Gotham. Or, that Clark Kent grew up in Smallville and then moved to the big city of Metropolis to find his life’s calling.

The real-life locations and inspirations for these fictional works don’t matter as much as how these stories inspire readers. Gotham was once destroyed by an earthquake. Lateveria once went to war with Wakanada. Aquaman’s Atlantis once went to war with Wonder Woman’s Themyscira.

It is a great time to be a comic book fan. Fictitious cities seem to be just as real as the characters. All that you have to do as a fan is to just keep reading your favorite comic book stories.

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Allen Francis is a full-time writer, prolific comic book investor and author of The Casual’s Guide: Why You Should Get Into Comic Book Investing.  Allen holds a BA degree from Marymount Manhattan College and has decades of experience in comic investing and personal finance.  Before becoming a writer Allen was an academic advisor, librarian, and college adjunct for many years.  Allen now focuses on comic book reviews, collectible investments, and helping others collect and enjoy comics.