Topeka predates Kansas City by a few years. Heck, Kansas City, Missouri predates the state of Kansas.
Why do Marvel stories take place exclusively in NYC?
- Thread starter Gotham Central
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New York City isn't the capital of New York.. Nor is Jersey City the Capital of New Jersey.
I used to own a DCU Atlas, which was part of the role playing game.
Capitols are not chosen because of 21st century concerns, but 19th century concerns and earlier.
Not only should I expect Metropolis to the the Capitol of which ever state it rests in, but I expect that that State should also be called Metropolis, which begs the question, are there 51 states in the DCU or has an existing state been lost or rebranded into Metropolis.
Capitols are not chosen because of 21st century concerns, but 19th century concerns and earlier.
Not only should I expect Metropolis to the the Capitol of which ever state it rests in, but I expect that that State should also be called Metropolis, which begs the question, are there 51 states in the DCU or has an existing state been lost or rebranded into Metropolis.
I prefer the fictional cities of DC. I know Marvel fans say they like seeing a "real" city of New York. But its really not like our New York at all. There are fictional business and buildings. Superheros and alien invasion. So at a certain point a very different history as well. All it really has in common is the basic geography.
Yeah, in fact only 17 state capitals are the largest cities in their state.
Arizona (Phoenix)
Arkansas (Little Rock)
Colorado (Denver)
Georgia (Atlanta)
Hawaii (Honolulu)
Idaho (Boise)
Indiana (Indianapolis)
Iowa (Des Moines)
Massachusetts (Boston)
Ohio (Columbus)
Oklahoma (Oklahoma City)
Rhode Island (Providence)
South Carolina (Columbia)
Utah (Salt Lake City)
West Virginia (Charleston)
Wyoming (Cheyenne)
Arkansas (Little Rock)
Colorado (Denver)
Georgia (Atlanta)
Hawaii (Honolulu)
Idaho (Boise)
Indiana (Indianapolis)
Iowa (Des Moines)
Massachusetts (Boston)
Ohio (Columbus)
Oklahoma (Oklahoma City)
Rhode Island (Providence)
South Carolina (Columbia)
Utah (Salt Lake City)
West Virginia (Charleston)
Wyoming (Cheyenne)
Hmm I never really thought about it but I wonder what the reason for this is? I know originally the Congress of the United States met in Philadelphia and New York before Washington DC was created. Did locating the Capitol separate from a major popular center cause of presidence?
... Well, I'd kind of like to see that.
As for why the most populous city isn't the capital. Why would those two things need to be connected? The most populous city in our union isn't the country's capital.
It just happens to be whatever city they select for whatever reasons.
Hank Pym has Miniaturized replacements prepared to be launched on top of the rubble of any decimated city at a moments notice and expanded to full size.
The instantaneous rebuiltion (yes, not a typo.) of Coast City is another one of Geoff Johns unforgivable sins.
The instantaneous rebuiltion (yes, not a typo.) of Coast City is another one of Geoff Johns unforgivable sins.
The word you want (meaning status, prestige, stamp of approval) is cachet, pronounced "cashay." Because of confusion over French pronunciation, Americans tend to mix it up with cache, pronounced "cash," meaning a hiding place. There is no such word as "caché" with an accent.
A lot of folks, provided it's a good story.
And, so I gather, Daredevil's Hell's Kitchen is still a hotbed of crime even though the real neighborhood has been thoroughly gentrified.
Still, it's fun to tie the fiction into the real world, to walk down a Manhattan street and imagine you're immersed in this universe where Spider-Man could swing by overhead or you could see the Fantasticar take off from the roof of the Baxter Building. Okay, if you really lived there, the constant supervillain and alien attacks would put a damper on your enthusiasm, but it's fun to fantasize about. I know that when I wrote my Spidey novel, it was fun to map the action onto the real city, to walk around the streets where it happened or look down on them from the Empire State Building and figure out exactly how Spidey would get from one place to another.
Verisimilitude is not about being like reality. It's about creating a feeling that evokes reality, that has enough reality in it that it feels convincing and allows the reader to suspend disbelief.
That's still less than half of my off-the-top-of-my-head list, which proves my point. (And, like I said, Captain America hasn't been in New York in his mag since Marvel Now started)
The majority of the books out there take place nowhere near NYC these days.
Just the basics who are pretty much tied to New York, Spidey, DD, FF, and Avengers.
The point is the heroes are based in NYC, even though their adventure can take them elsewhere. Cap isn't going to be in Dimension Z forever. While Savage Wolverine takes place in the Savage Land, Wolverine is also in New York as a member of the X-Men and the Avengers. (His frequent flyer miles must be off the charts). Space based book like Nova and the GotG wouldn't make sense placed in NYC. So they wouldn't really count any more than a Howling Commandos book or a Rawhide Kid book would.
Of course there will be superhero characters in the MU who are not NYC based. The Hulk has been in the Southwest for decades. As I mentioned before, Daredevil spent some time in San Francisco. The X-Men and the Avengers have spent time on the West Coast. Various plotlines will take the heroes out of NYC too. The Kree-Skrull war took place in space, on the Kree and Skrull home worlds and at Cape Canaveral in Florida as well as Avengers mansion in NYC.
I don't know if there's any thing thing we can point to, there's probably a couple different reasons. Geographic convenience perhaps (probably the case for Harrisburg, PA) would be a major one, or one of the historically largest cities that ended up being eclipsed by another?
Spider-Man makes a comment in Age of Ultron #2 along the lines of "7000 superheros in New York City and this is all that's left?"
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