# Comic book cities and nations.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [September 8, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686 "2004-09-08T22:15:08Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 19\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/1 "2004-09-08T22:15:08Z")

</div>

Another thread - and my reading of some old comics - brought this to mind.

It seems to me that where DC has more fictional cities, Marvel has more fictional nations.

For nations, I can only think of two, offhand, in the DCU (Markovia and Abyssia), but three in Marvel - 4 if you stretch the definition of nation a little (Latvaria, Wakandia, Genova, and The Savage Land at a stretch.)

For cities, both have the fictional cities that exist in their fictional nations, but Marvel doesn’t have any fictional cities I can think of in real countries, whereas DC has a bunch in the US alone.

So…to the topic:

I’d like to try to come up with a listing of fictional places (on - or under - the Earth) for both companies, and whether each are countries or cities, in order to compare.

So…so far:

**Marvel**

_Countries:_

Latvaria  
Wakandia  
Genova  
The Savage Land  
Atlantis

_Cities:_

None save those in the countries above.

**DC**

_Countries_

Markovia  
Abyssia

_Cities:_

Metropolis  
Gotham  
Bludhaven  
Star City  
Coast City  
Central City  
Opal City  
Cities located in the above nations.

So, can anyone come up with more to fill the list out?

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**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/2 "2004-09-08T22:19:00Z")

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Oh, for the…how could I forget DC has an Atlantis, too. (And I LIKE Aquaman!!!)

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**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/3 "2004-09-08T22:23:23Z")

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Genova?

You mean Genosha?

DC has a lot of others - they’re not leaping to mind mostly, but the JLA/Avengers crossover lists a few more. Qurac would be a notable fictional DC country, too.

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**Author:** ![ussentinel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ce7236/32.png) [@ussentinel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ussentinel)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/4 "2004-09-08T22:38:31Z")

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Here’s a few I thought of:

**DC**

_Countries_  
Bialya  
Qurac  
Themyscira?

_Cities:_

Keystone City  
Hub City  
Fawcett City  
Houma, LA  
Gateway City  
Ivy Town  
Blue Valley, NE  
Happy Harbor  
Littleville, WY  
Four Heroes, ME (formerly Codsville, ME)  
Midway City  
Smallville  
Manchester, AL  
Leesburg  
Pittsdale

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/5 "2004-09-08T22:38:56Z")

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> [@CandidGamera](#):
>
> Genova?
> 
> You mean Genosha?

Yes I do. Been a long time since I read X-Men, and its name got mooshed in my brain.

_Adds Qurac to the list_

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**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/6 "2004-09-08T22:39:50Z")

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> [@CandidGamera](#):
>
> Genova?
> 
> You mean Genosha?

Nahh, surely [Genova](http://www.comune.genova.it/index.jsp)?

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**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/7 "2004-09-08T22:51:57Z")

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> [@ussentinel](#):
>
> Themyscira?
> 
> Fawcett City
> 
> Ivy Town
> 
> Smallville

d00d, how could I forget these? \>\_\< This is why I don’t make comprehensive lists much.

OK, current list:

**Marvel**

_Countries:_

Latvaria  
Wakandia  
Genosha  
The Savage Land  
Atlantis

_Cities:_

None save those in the countries above.

**DC**

_Countries_

Markovia  
Abyssia  
Atlantis  
Bialya  
Qurac  
Themyscira

_Cities:_

Metropolis  
Gotham  
Bludhaven  
Star City  
Coast City  
Central City  
Opal City  
Keystone City  
Hub City  
Fawcett City  
Houma, LA  
Gateway City  
Ivy Town  
Blue Valley, NE  
Happy Harbor  
Littleville, WY  
Four Heroes, ME (formerly Codsville, ME)  
Midway City  
Smallville  
Manchester, AL  
Leesburg  
Pittsdale  
Cities located in the above nations.

So, it doesn’t look like my theory is holding. Ah, well.

Sidenote - does anyone know which states the various fictional DC American cities are supposed to be in - other than the ones ussentinel listed, of course? (I’m doing some fanfic and want to nail down where the cities are supposed to be.)

Ones I know/believe to be the case:

Metropolis - Delaware  
Gotham and Bludhaven - New Jersey  
Coast City - California  
Smallville - Kansas  
Is Central City Kansas, too?

After that very small lot, I blank, completely.

I’m particularly interested in Star City and Opal City, but filling out the list would be good.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/8 "2004-09-08T23:15:29Z")

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> [@Tengu](#):
>
> I’m particularly interested in Star City and Opal City, but filling out the list would be good.

[This pre-Crisis story](http://superman.ws/tales2/comet/?page=5) (in fact, it’s one of the _last_ pre-Crisis stories), puts Star City somewhere in the vicinity of Boston.

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**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2004, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/9 "2004-09-08T23:41:59Z")

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DC

Gorilla City. (Home of the Intelligent Gorillas, obviously).

Doc Savage-  
Hidalgo.  
The Lost City Of The Valley of the Winds (home to the last surviving Mayan civilization).

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**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/10 "2004-09-09T00:05:32Z")

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> [@Tengu](#):
>
> I’m particularly interested in Star City and Opal City, but filling out the list would be good.

Like Springfield on The Simpsons, Opal City is impossible to connect to a real-life state, or an existing city. Its creator, Starman writer James Robinson, did this by design. Opal City seems to be on the mid-Atlantic seaboard, but is surrounded by sprawling plains (Turk County) and has “Old West”-esque origins, including being patrolled by the frontier lawman Brian Savage. There were also pirates in Opal even before that. In the ‘30s, Art Deco architecture sprang up, and there was plenty of European influence in an area slightly reminiscent of New Orleans’ Franch Quarter.

When pressed, Robinson said Opal City is “like Baltimore, only funkier.”

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/11 "2004-09-09T00:16:39Z")

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C’mon, folks, I realize that it’s tough to transliterate from Latverian script, but the standard Marvel lettering usage since Stan Lee was in short pants has been Latv **e** ria, with an E in the middle.

Sheesh!! Have you no respect for cultural traditions? :dubious:

> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#):
>
> Like Springfield on The Simpsons, Opal City is impossible to connect to a real-life state, or an existing city. Its creator, Starman writer James Robinson, did this by design. Opal City seems to be on the mid-Atlantic seaboard, but is surrounded by sprawling plains (Turk County) and has “Old West”-esque origins, including being patrolled by the frontier lawman Brian Savage. There were also pirates in Opal even before that. In the ‘30s, Art Deco architecture sprang up, and there was plenty of European influence in an area slightly reminiscent of New Orleans’ Franch Quarter.
> 
> When pressed, Robinson said Opal City is “like Baltimore, only funkier.”

Well, it’s obviously the third city on any list of comic-book-universe cities! 😉

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/12 "2004-09-09T00:37:43Z")

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> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#):
>
> DC
> 
> Gorilla City. (Home of the Intelligent Gorillas, obviously).

Nyargh…another one I should have known (Please, Grodd, don’t kill me!)…

This is getting embarrassing.

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**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/13 "2004-09-09T02:00:08Z")

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Count Vertigo was royalty from Vlatvia(I could be wrong about the name) which was decimated by the former incarnation of the Spectre.

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**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/14 "2004-09-09T02:55:29Z")

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[Marvel Atlas Project](http://www.aub.dk/~henckel/map.html)

[Atlas of the DC Universe](http://www.karridian.net/dcatlas.html)

Ranchoth  
(Killjoy Extraordinaire.)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/15 "2004-09-09T02:56:03Z")

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> [@Mockingbird](#):
>
> Count Vertigo was royalty from Vlatvia(I could be wrong about the name) which was decimated by the former incarnation of the Spectre.

Quick search suggests Vlatava.

Updated list:

Hmm…to count Gorilla City as a City or a Country…it’s a nation state…briefly recognised by the UN… Will count it as a Country, though that hurts my theory more. Oh, my poor theory…

**Marvel**

_Countries:_

Latvaria  
Wakandia  
Genosha  
The Savage Land  
Atlantis

_Cities:_

None save those in the countries above.

**DC**

_Countries:_

Markovia  
Abyssia  
Atlantis  
Bialya  
Qurac  
Themyscira  
Vlatava  
Gorilla City

_Cities:_

Metropolis  
Gotham  
Bludhaven  
Star City, Massecheussettes  
Coast City  
Central City  
Opal City  
Keystone City  
Hub City  
Fawcett City  
Houma, LA  
Gateway City  
Ivy Town  
Blue Valley, NE  
Happy Harbor  
Littleville, WY  
Four Heroes, ME (formerly Codsville, ME)  
Midway City  
Smallville  
Manchester, AL  
Leesburg  
Pittsdale  
Cities located in the above nations.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/16 "2004-09-09T03:05:50Z")

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> [@Ranchoth](#):
>
> [Atlas of the DC Universe](http://www.karridian.net/dcatlas.html)

w00t! That helps my fanficcies!

> [@](#):
>
> (Killjoy Extraordinaire.)

Hey, you completed the list in one fell swoop!

On the other hand, some of the information in the DC one is wrong, unless there’ve been retcons I missed. (Prince Brion Markov (Geo-Force) is referred to as Barin is one I spotted right off. Might be others.)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/17 "2004-09-09T11:36:18Z")

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> [@Tengu](#):
>
> Quick search suggests Vlatava.
> 
> Updated list:
> 
> Hmm…to count Gorilla City as a City or a Country…it’s a nation state…briefly recognised by the UN… Will count it as a Country, though that hurts my theory more. Oh, my poor theory…

Call it a “city-state”.

Like ancient Greece.

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**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/18 "2004-09-09T16:01:06Z")

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Haven’t checked the link but there’s also Silver Sable’s homeland of Symkaria in Marvel.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comic-book-cities-and-nations/263686/19 "2004-09-09T18:52:31Z")

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Howzabout Kooey-Kooey-Kooey?