Joker: Folie à Deux and The Penguin Place Gotham City in various US states

Updated, September 30, 5:50 p.m. PT: Where is Gotham City? While it is generally believed that Batman's hometown is located somewhere on the East Coast of the United States, the exact state in which Batman's hometown is located has varied over the years due to the various and often contradictory depictions in DC comics, films, television shows, and Videos controversial games.

“Gotham” was a nickname coined by author Washington Irving in 1807 to refer to New York City. Batman co-creator Bill Finger (not Bob Kane) is the one who named Batman's base of operations in Gotham City Batman #4 (1940), with Gotham City reportedly inspired by New York City, gangland Chicago and even London.

Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy used locations in Chicago, New York City and Pittsburgh for Gotham City, while other locations for Batman films over the years have included Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Liverpool and Glasgow. The 1960s Batman TV show was filmed in the sunny Los Angeles area, while the Joker films starring Joaquin Phoenix were filmed in New York and New Jersey. (The more fantastical Batman films by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher shot their Gotham scenes largely on stages.) All of these locations contributed to the varied and ever-changing appearance of Gotham City on screen, which only added to the ambiguity of the fictional city exact location in the real world.

Long time in the comics, Gotham City was believed to be located in the state of New Jersey. Comics writer Mark Gruenwald suggested that it was located in the Garden State, while various comics over the years also placed it or at least suggested that Gotham City was in New Jersey. It is there too the Gotham City of the Snyderverse located.

In the first episode of the HBO series The Penguin, Victor Aguilar's driver's license shows that Gotham is in New Jersey. However, the upcoming sequel Joker: Folie à Deux reveals that the Gotham that Arthur Fleck calls home is in a different state.

In the Todd Phillips-directed film, Arthur Fleck stands trial for the murders he committed in the original 2019 film. The case, led by Assistant District Attorney Harvey Dent, is called “The State of New York vs. Arthur Fleck.” License plates and other documents depicted in the film also indicate that Gotham is located in New York State.

IGN was able to get Phillips to comment on this choice of setting: “Well, Gotham will often be in New Jersey. It was discussed. “With no one at DC, it was discussed between us,” Phillips wrote to me this week. “We just went with the 'who are we kidding' idea. Also because it sounded strange: 'The State of New Jersey vs. Arthur Fleck'.”

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Learn more about the residents of Gotham City and find out what Arthur Fleck would think of Batman what Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga told IGN about Joker: Folie à Deux. And be sure to read ours Review of “The Penguin: Episode 2”. And Oral history of the TV series Gotham.

Correction: This report originally stated that the driver's license in The Penguin only said “Gotham, USA.” We regret the error.