Batman: Best Versions of Gotham City

Highlights

• Gotham City has been adapted numerous times across different forms of media, but retains recognizable artistic elements.
• Batman Beyond’s Neo Gotham is a futuristic take on the classic Gotham look, with a Blade Runner vibe.
• Batman: Arkham Knight features an impressive open world, with a neon-soaked gothic paradise and a beautifully apocalyptic atmosphere.

Gotham City is undoubtedly one of the most widely adapted fictional cities in modern literature. Never mind the variance of different versions that have appeared in the medium of comics alone, but in other media such as movies, TV shows, and games, it has been remade several times, though it is usually recognizable by a few universal artistic elements, no matter how much they are mixed around.

In much the same way that Metropolis is the perfect home for Superman, Gotham City is the perfect home for its principal hero The Dark Knight himself. Here are some of the best depictions of Gotham City across different forms of media.

6 Batman Beyond

Cyberpunk Neo-Noir

Batman Beyond’s Neo Gotham is defined by its futuristic take on the classic Gotham look from Batman: The Animated Series. It almost looks like Blade Runner if it were set in the DC universe, with its gargantuan Asian-infused architecture. The series takes place 50 years after The Animated Series, with Bruce Wayne now unable to take up the mantle of Batman due to age.

This leads to a young Terry McGinnis taking on the role as he navigates this new, high-tech world filled with new foes and old wounds.

5 Batman Begins

Claustrophobia and Rage

The most striking thing about Christopher Nolan’s initial depiction of Gotham City is just how filthy it is. Compared to the later films in The Dark Knight trilogy, which were mostly filmed on location in cities like New York, Pittsburg, and Chicago, Batman Begins was mostly shot on an elaborate sound stage meant to look like a real place.

The most visually unique aspect of this Gotham is undoubtedly the Narrows, a claustrophobic urban sprawl that shares more in common with the Walled City of Kowloon than any prior interpretation of the city. Bathed in furious reds and deep blacks much of the time, Batman Begins’ version of Gotham City is one of the best to ever see the big screen.

4 Batman: Arkham Knight

A Technical Culmination

Batman: Arkham Knight still features one of the most impressive-looking open worlds eight years after its initial release. This Gotham is a neon-soaked gothic paradise that arguably borrows quite a bit from Joel Schummacher’s take on the city from Batman Forever. The city is densely packed with stylized architecture that could only have been teased in the prior Arkham games.

While the city itself is awesome, what really impresses is the fear gas cloud that engulfs the city, plunging into a psychotic hell of the Scarecrow’s making. The effect of the gas ripples like an ocean of torment, suffocating the city streets and leaving the rooftops of Gotham’s tallest buildings as the only possible refuge. Neither before nor since has Gotham looked so beautifully apocalyptic.

3 The Burtonverse

It’s Time To Get Nuts

Tim Burton’s Batman film is the first on-screen depiction of Gotham City, and boy does it leave a lasting impression. The city was principally designed by Anton Furst, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Art Direction in 1989.

Inspired by German expressionism and film noir, this version of Gotham City leaned heavily on dark and brooding architecture as an outward representation of the titular character. Furst’s version of Gotham was so influential that nearly every iteration of it since has borrowed from it in some way.

2 Batman: The Animated Series

Depression Era Art Deco At Its Best

Coming off of the success of the Tim Burton films, Batman: The Animated Series took many of the same elements that Anton Furst used to create his version of Gotham City. What’s incredible about this animated Gotham is just how much it pops, despite literally being drawn on black paper. This gives the setting a dark and mature look, especially when it’s combined with the 1930s film noir aesthetic.

Some of the most recognizable Gotham City imagery comes from Batman: The animated series; omnipresent GCPD blimps and shadowy sky scrappers that touch a blood-red sky, each serving to create a moody atmosphere that has continued to stick with Batman fans for decades.

1 The Batman

Grunge Is Back In Style

The Gotham that appears in Matt Reeves’ The Batman is very much an amalgamation of past iterations. Like The Animated Series and Batman (1989), the city utilizes gothic art deco architecture and mixes it with the filthy utilitarianism of the Batman Begins version.

However, the 2022 film takes advantage of the digital age in a way none of the other adaptations do by illuminating the city with large Times Square-like signs and neon lights. This Gotham, like Anton Furst’s, is as much a character as Batman is, a victim of horrid injustice and nearly boiling over with rage. It is a grungy neo-noir dystopia that is ripe for further exploration.