Boring Metropolis?

[NaVi]

Metropolis the city of tomorrow sounds impressive, until you read a comic and see that it is the city of today (boring). Metropolis would have to be a reflection of the future, but not only in small details but in a big way. If we believe that in a few years there will be flying cars, Metropolis already has them, policemen with iron man armor (not a special team, all the police), Metropolis already has them, Metropolis would have to be a decade or two ahead.

which is your metropolis.

[Odd Rödney]

If we believe that in a few years there will be flying cars, Metropolis already has them.

I don't believe we'll ever have flying cars. Like in the Jetsons or whatever. The closest thing is the humble helicopter. And it works just fine.

But you could put 'em in Metropolis I guess, comics are fun like that.

[Jon Clark]

They tried the future tech Metropolis during the Brainiac-13 era. It was underwhelming. Too many details for both writers and artists to keep track of.

Plus if the average Joe has tech a decade beyond ours, what do guys like Luthor have? The police have the tech of tomorrow, so the SWAT teams need the tech of the day after tomorrow and Steel needs the tech of next week.

[manwhohaseverything]

[FONT=Georgia][COLOR="#000080"]

I don't believe we'll ever have flying cars. Like in the Jetsons or whatever. The closest thing is the humble helicopter. And it works just fine.

Wish helicopters were cheap enough that everyone could buy them and easy enough to handle so that everyone could use them.

[Vakanai]

No, because then why doesn't every city have flying cars? It's too much, pushes it too far into sci-fi territory. It's literally the city of the future, meaning it somehow got time slipped to our now and by all rights the government and scientists should step in to confiscate and reverse engineer this stuff. Nah.

Instead it should be bleeding edge high tech, like if New York and Silicone Valley had a love child, but it shouldn't make Star City, Gotham, Central City, Midway City, etc. look like they're from a completely different era.

[Myskin]

Go as cyberpunk as possible.

[Restingvoice]

maybe make it so the best inventors are in Metropolis so you see more early experimental tech in the field, but they're still too expensive or too dangerous to be common. If there's a flying car going around let it only be Lexcorp who own it and they only have one

[NaVi]

No, because then why doesn't every city have flying cars? It's too much, pushes it too far into sci-fi territory. It's literally the city of the future, meaning it somehow got time slipped to our now and by all rights the government and scientists should step in to confiscate and reverse engineer this stuff. Nah.

Instead it should be bleeding edge high tech, like if New York and Silicone Valley had a love child, but it shouldn't make Star City, Gotham, Central City, Midway City, etc. look like they're from a completely different era.

for the same reason that batman is not iron man (he has armor to spare)

[Vordan]

We’ve had this discussion a couple times and I always enjoy talking about it, because yeah I do think Metropolis could be better than how it usually is. Here’s what “my” Metropolis would look like:
Rich areas:

To be rich in Metropolis is to be catered to like no other. This is the “Shining City On A Hill”, the envy of the world. If you only saw this area you’d think the city was a utopia, and that’s precisely how city officials want it. People here view Superman as an amusing anachronism, an oaf who keeps the riffraff out and upholds the status quo.

Middle areas:

I think the “retrofuture” look is where the middle class of Metropolis live. Comfortably enough but with a sense of underlying unease. After all “retrofuture” implies something that’s no longer up to date. What does their “actual” future look like? That’s their fear that Supes must confront. The people here are his strongest supporters.

Poor areas:

The poor areas of Metropolis should look post apocalyptic, like a bomb went off (and maybe it did!). These are where Metropolis Mega-Corps dump their unsuccessful experiments. It’s where black ops projects like Cadmus operate, abducting people off the street to be used for unethical means. The people here have very bitter feelings towards Superman, believing he’s failed them. This area is where Clark should start out living in, like he does in Morrison Action Comics and Wolfman’s Man & Superman. Eventually Clark rises to the middle class area but he’s painfully aware of how many people are still living in squalor.

Go as cyberpunk as possible.

This. Cyberpunk as a genre actually works really well with Superman, the building blocks are already there: An all-powerful megacorp that runs the City (Lexcorp), dying centers of traditional authority (Daily Planet), opulent wealth living alongside total squalor (Downtown/Suicide Slum). Add in a focus on immigration, which can tie in very well with Superman, and out of control technology and I think you could go a long way to giving Metropolis some character. I mean ultimately the question you have to answer is why is Superman in Metropolis instead of anywhere else? Why does that city need him? So there need to be threats and problems there only he can solve in order to show why there and not somewhere else.

No, because then why doesn't every city have flying cars? It's too much, pushes it too far into sci-fi territory. It's literally the city of the future, meaning it somehow got time slipped to our now and by all rights the government and scientists should step in to confiscate and reverse engineer this stuff. Nah.

Instead it should be bleeding edge high tech, like if New York and Silicone Valley had a love child, but it shouldn't make Star City, Gotham, Central City, Midway City, etc. look like they're from a completely different era.

Only the rich can afford it? DCU tech application already doesn’t make much sense. Batman apparently is able to build a private satellite in orbit with company funds which no one really minds. STAR Labs has teleportation devices. Lexcorp has mech suits. Really the world of the DCU shouldn’t resemble our world at all. Metropolis should definitely have some high sci-fi areas imo. You can’t hamstring the setting by saying it won’t fit with the rest of the DCU, it already doesn’t. The DCU is made up of various fiefdoms that don’t mesh perfectly together at all. Nobody cares, they just want an interesting story.

[Will Evans]

It needs futuristic architecture like Dubai or even surpasses Dubai.

[Vakanai]

for the same reason that batman is not iron man (he has armor to spare)

That could have been worded better. I have no clue what that means.

[Vakanai]

Only the rich can afford it? DCU tech application already doesn’t make much sense. Batman apparently is able to build a private satellite in orbit with company funds which no one really minds. STAR Labs has teleportation devices. Lexcorp has mech suits. Really the world of the DCU shouldn’t resemble our world at all. Metropolis should definitely have some high sci-fi areas imo. You can’t hamstring the setting by saying it won’t fit with the rest of the DCU, it already doesn’t. The DCU is made up of various fiefdoms that don’t mesh perfectly together at all. Nobody cares, they just want an interesting story.

There's rich people in other cities man. And flying cars isn't a little way into the future for rich people here, it's decades off. Basically it's asking for Metropolis to exist in the year 2100.

And yeah the DCU doesn't blend well, but you should still be able to believe that they all believably exist in the same century on the same planet.
At what point does Metropolis become the backdrop for the Legion of Superheroes?

[Flash Gordon]

Go as cyberpunk as possible.

100% go totally cyberpunk.

[Vordan]

There's rich people in other cities man. And flying cars isn't a little way into the future for rich people here, it's decades off. Basically it's asking for Metropolis to exist in the year 2100.

And yeah the DCU doesn't blend well, but you should still be able to believe that they all believably exist in the same century on the same planet.
At what point does Metropolis become the backdrop for the Legion of Superheroes?

And none of them have power armor or spaceships or moon bases like Lex and Bruce do. Why isn’t cloning widespread given that the DCU knows how to do it? How come there hasn’t been a resurgence in the worship of the pagan gods given Diana is living proof they exist? The DCU is similar to the real world because DC has logically plotted out why it wouldn’t be, but because they just plain ignore what the realistic fallout would be of the superhero setting.

I don’t think flying cars are ever coming, but so what? A man can fly because the sun is the right color. Batman can outpreptime Cthulhu when he’s in the JL, but can’t contain the Arkham Rogues. Superman can lift infinity in one book and struggle with an airplane in another. These types of inconsistencies are simply the price we pay for a shared universe. I’m fine with Metropolis being the most advanced city on the planet if it makes for a cooler setting, regardless of “why don’t other cities have that tech?” The number one concern is what makes the Superman setting more interesting, and frankly I don’t care if that means it doesn’t fit in as well with the larger setting, anymore than Batman writers care if Gotham does.

[Adekis]

Cyberpunk as a genre actually works really well with Superman, the building blocks are already there: An all-powerful megacorp that runs the City (Lexcorp), dying centers of traditional authority (Daily Planet), opulent wealth living alongside total squalor (Downtown/Suicide Slum). Add in a focus on immigration, which can tie in very well with Superman, and out of control technology and I think you could go a long way to giving Metropolis some character. I mean ultimately the question you have to answer is why is Superman in Metropolis instead of anywhere else? Why does that city need him? So there need to be threats and problems there only he can solve in order to show why there and not somewhere else.

Only the rich can afford it? DCU tech application already doesn’t make much sense. Batman apparently is able to build a private satellite in orbit with company funds which no one really minds. STAR Labs has teleportation devices. Lexcorp has mech suits. Really the world of the DCU shouldn’t resemble our world at all. Metropolis should definitely have some high sci-fi areas imo. You can’t hamstring the setting by saying it won’t fit with the rest of the DCU, it already doesn’t. The DCU is made up of various fiefdoms that don’t mesh perfectly together at all. Nobody cares, they just want an interesting story.

I agree with all of this.