Why would people even live in Gotham?

[Liquid]

How many times have criminals taken over the city? Bane took over in Knightfall. The entire city fell in No Man's Land (is it still canon for New 52), and the Court of Owls attacked the city after Batman challenged them. And currently Joker is ripping the city apart in Endgame. At this point the military should have a constant presence in Gotham just in case a supervillain starts a war again.

The GCPD are a joke. Like, when have they done anything?

[William300]

He's def been around for more than 5 years, I mean, he fit in, what, 5 robins in that timeframe?

4 Robins (two of which he had time to raise to adulthood, one is a teen the other is ten), 1 maybe 2 Batgirls (I'm still confused about that), theres no way to fit that into just 5 years, raising both Dick and Todd alone would take up around 5 years.

[GrandKaiser]

well technically the New 52 Batman hasn't been active for that long, only 5 or so years (I don't buy that he's only bee active that long, but that's what they say).

That 5 years thing is bull. I don't buy it.

For me, it's Zero Year---five years---Justice League: Origin----five more years---Court of Owls.

[superduperman]

A lot of people can't afford to move. And crime is usually the most prevalent in the poorest parts of a city. Maybe Gotham is like Detroit only larger. From what I remember, Bruce's parents were killed in what was the most upscale neighborhood but after their deaths, it started going downhill. If you have a few more affluent families running the city and most people who live there are poor, the corruption and crime makes sense. Gotham probably has a very small middle class. This allows the cycle to continue for generations. The suburbs probably aren't nearly as bad. The high crime rate really doesn't surprise me. The fact that Arkham is still operating despite how many times it's inmates keep escaping does, however.

[William300]

A lot of people can't afford to move. And crime is usually the most prevalent in the poorest parts of a city. Maybe Gotham is like Detroit only larger. From what I remember, Bruce's parents were killed in what was the most upscale neighborhood but after their deaths, it started going downhill. If you have a few more affluent families running the city and most people who live there are poor, the corruption and crime makes sense. Gotham probably has a very small middle class. This allows the cycle to continue for generations. The suburbs probably aren't nearly as bad. The high crime rate really doesn't surprise me. The fact that Arkham is still operating despite how many times it's inmates keep escaping does, however.

yea but they were all evacuated during No Man's Land, why would they go back when the city was already ruins and would need to rebuild, I mean most of them would have already lost everything, might as well start over in a city not populated by homicidal maniacs and violent vigilantes.

[superduperman]

yea but they were all evacuated during No Man's Land, why would they go back when the city was already ruins and would need to rebuild, I mean most of them would have already lost everything, might as well start over in a city not populated by homicidal maniacs and violent vigilantes.

But did No Man's Land happen in the New52? Have they said? Some people stay where they are because they have some emotional attachment to it or because they are worried they wouldn't be able to find another job somewhere else. A low paying job that is guaranteed is still better than searching somewhere else with no guarantee. Not every decision that people make is thought out or is based on logic. Sort of like the people who refuse to leave an area just before a hurricane hits because they've always lived there.

[son of booyah]

Rent's gotta be cheap

[Kingcrimsonprog]

Its not as if, if everyone moved, that the criminals wouldnt move too... it'd be the same problem just a few miles down the road, or spread across a few cities.

[Flash Gordon]

Why do people live in New York ?

Lol New York is the safest big city in America. It's beautiful.

[Kid A]

In theory, I think Gotham is meant to be an important and rich city like New York, but in practice it ends up being a pos town like Detroit because there's no other way to explain what goes on there.

Though at least Gotham has the excuse of being its own city, and not New York to explain the differences. On the other hand, Marvel's NYC is hilariously outdated.

[Flash Gordon]

In theory, I think Gotham is meant to be an important and rich city like New York, but in practice it ends up being a pos town like Detroit because there's no other way to explain what goes on there.

Though at least Gotham has the excuse of being its own city, and not New York to explain the differences. On the other hand, Marvel's NYC is hilariously outdated.

Lol yeah, as much as I dug the DAREDEVIL show...Hell's Kitchen doesn't exist anymore. Clinton is a really expensive area.

Anyway, yeah, I always imagine Gotham just being a really old city. Lots of poor Detroit-areas but also lots of old world money. Kind of a Jersey feel to it, if that makes sense.

Metropolis, on the other hand, would be an even bigger version of New York.

[jules]

My guess is that it's because Gotham is a major port and an industrial centre. There are jobs, and that outweighs some of the worries about the crazy villains. Plus there'll be people with family ties and longstanding roots there. And anybody with any real money lives in the suburbs and just commutes into central Gotham for work.

They did make a point of saying, during the whole plague/plague/earthquake/no man's land phase that the population of Gotham had dropped considerably in the past few years. Maybe it fluctuates similarly in the New 52, but they just haven't hung a lampshade on it.

[blackbolt396]

Lol New York is the safest big city in America. It's beautiful.

Not in 1987.

[Kid A]

New York might not have been as safe in the 80s, but it wasn't so bad that there's any question to why people lived there. Especially if you avoided Hell's Kitchen and Harlem.

Comparing it to Gotham, where the danger goes beyond logic and reality just doesn't make sense.

[jump]

Paul Dini has an interesting theory which I wont do justice in my description, Gotham's wealthy sees the supervillains as an artistic draw to enrich the cities culture kinds like the yuppie's living in warehouse districts stereotype and the poor people are just too poor to move away.