Worst Cities To Live In

Highlights

• Some cities in the Marvel Universe, like Benson and Pleasant Hill, are not ideal for permanent settlement due to constant threats of villain attacks and bad living conditions.
• Knowhere, a city in the M21 Galaxy, may seem ideal for researchers, but its frequent conflicts and distance from assistance make it extremely dangerous.
• Cities like Doomstadt and Madripoor suffer from oppressive dictatorships and high crime rates, making them unpleasant places to live.

With Marvel Comics containing just as many supervillains as there are superheroes, places all over the Marvel Universe are likely experiencing villain attacks that good-natured superheroes are more than willing to stop. While these encounters can pave the way for excellent stories that Marvel fans enjoy, the constant threats of experiencing villain attacks can make certain locations in Marvel Comics rather unideal for permanent settlement.

Granted, superheroes and other heroic teams are likely on standby to help civilians harassed and attacked by supervillains. However, despite the presence of superheroes and aid in Marvel Comics, civilians living in the Marvel Universe are not advised to live in certain locations, be it due to the presence of villains, bad living conditions, and other constant dangers.

10 Benson

Home To Black Creatures Of The Dark Mists

Despite being an unimposing city in Arizona, Benson has a much darker connection to forces unknown in some stories of Marvel Comics. In one of the adventures of the Fantastic Four, it’s discovered that the city is home to creatures known only as the Black Creatures of the Dark Mists. Every ten thousand years, these creatures would appear among the townsfolk to “bring out” their inner darkness, with not many of Benson’s citizens being able to handle the psychic strain of such a revelation.

It’s revealed that the citizens of Benson are still “tested” by these creatures, forcing many citizens to leave and never return. While Benson hasn’t explored as often in recent times, the fact that these Black Creatures can appear every few millennia means there’s no guarantee that generations within a family would even be safe in its borders, making it quite the unsafe environment.

9 Pleasant Hill

A City For Prisoners, Unaware That They’re Prisoners

The area of Pleasant Hill is known for its cleanliness, orderliness, and, most importantly, the lack of crime. However, what makes it such an unideal place to live in is due to its nature: Pleasant Hill is in fact a supervillain prison created with the reality-warping abilities of Kobik, a Cosmic Cube with a physical manifestation. When a supervillain is captured by S.H.I.E.L.D., Kobik alters their appearance and memory, transforming them into mild-mannered versions of themselves to exist in the city as “productive” members of society.

Aside from mind-wiped criminals, around 40 civilian support staffers live inside Pleasant Hill to help accommodate newcomers. Despite living in a potentially crime-free community under the protection and employ of SHIELD, incidents involving the likes of Baron Zemo regaining their memories and wreaking havoc means there’s always a constant threat of prisoners going haywire during their stay.

8 Knowhere

An Abode For Researchers Of The Unknown

The recognizable gigantic skull of Knowhere separates the city from the rest of the extraterrestrial settlements, with its origins revealing that Knowhere’s skull shape was indeed due to its nature. When the dark god Knull created the Necrosword and used it to sever the head of a Celestial, its decaying head became the base of his operations. Soon, the various technological wonders in Knowhere made it into the abode of scientists hoping to explore the vast reaches of the galaxy and places beyond it.

Unfortunately, Knowhere frequently found itself in the middle of conflicts between various groups. While the Nova Corps and the Guardians of the Galaxy were its staunchest defenders, some villains who used Knowhere as their headquarters also included Thanos, Hela, and the Black Order. While galactic adventurers may find Knowhere as an ideal place for experiments, its distance from any remote assistance makes it extremely dangerous.

7 Doomstadt

Home To Castle Doom, The Physicality Of His Dictatorship

Victor von Doom’s dictatorship in Latveria is best seen through his seat of Castle Doom which overlooks the Kingdom’s capital, Doomstadt. Ruled by Doctor Doom with an iron fist, Doomstadt and by extension, Latveria is a dictatorship with its citizens molded to worship Doom. The nation is known to host many patents related to Doctor Doom’s technological genius, offer state-sponsored education, and is even diplomatic enough to become a member of the United Nations.

While the supervillain’s genius intellect and pride allowed the Kingdom of Latveria to prosper regardless of its iteration in the Marvel Multiverse, the fact remains that its citizens have little right to explore opinions outside Doctor Doom’s purview. Citizens living in Doomstadt remain oppressed by Doctor Doom’s dictatorship, but the villain’s proven effective (if not, pragmatic) leadership has stunned critics. Among Marvel Comics’ worst cities, Latveria is likely the most tolerable.

6 Madripoor

Chaotic City Often Ruled By Criminals

Rising to prominence in X-Men comics, the city of Madripoor in the Southeast Asian island of the same name is unfortunately nowhere near a prominent stature. While its proximity to trade routes had created a budding history with trade and piracy, its position also transformed it into a hotspot for modern-day black market trading. Moreover, the lack of criminal extradition treaties made Madripoor a popular haven for criminals.

Due to these factors, leadership in Madripoor often transitioned from one criminal enterprise to the next, ranging from Viper of HYDRA to even the more anti-mutant variants of the Hellfire Club.

While its architecture and climate are modeled after nations in Southeast Asia, Madripoor suffers from an immediate economic divide. Known as a city of the “very rich and the very poor,” Madripoor maintains a status quo bordering corruption.

5 Bagalia City

The World’s Underground Criminal Capital

The underground Bagalia City and its place within the nation of Bagalia was once a contested territory among supervillains. Originally created by the evil Life Model Decoy of S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury known as Max Fury, Bagalia became the headquarters of the Masters of Evil while becoming a safe haven for Marvel Comics’ many criminals.

On top of a tumultuous present involving supervillain factions fighting over the underground colony’s ownership, its popularity among villains transformed it into less of an attractive city and more of a gigantic red-light district. If the country’s nickname Red Light Nation is any indication, living in Bagalia City seems to be more of a worst-case scenario than a viable option.

4 Atlantis

Underwater And Frequently Under Attack

Once thought to be a myth, Atlantis is the underwater home to the sea-dwelling Atlanteans ruled by Namor the Submariner. While previously a glorious empire, an invasion from the Deviant Empire and a subsequent nuclear attack by the Celestials plunged the empire into the sea. This Great Cataclysm forced its inhabitants to stay hidden in an advanced city-state that became a shadow of its former self, only to be “rediscovered” by the world when Namor announced its existence and autonomy.

Unfortunately, Namor’s struggles with international diplomacy and the interests of villains had constantly put Atlantis and its citizens in danger. The sea-dwellers often had to be relocated to new versions of Atlantis due to various incidents: villain attacks, fatal above-ground resurfaces, and total annihilation. Perhaps only through the city’s technological advancements and its people’s pride do various Atlantis’ and New Atlantis’ remain standing today.

3 Asgard

The Nexus Of The Nine Realms

The City of Asgard as attached to Asgard is known for its proximity to the Rainbow Bridge and access to Earth, but pockets of portals to other Realms also gave Asgard a reputation of being somewhat of a nexus to other Realms. Unfortunately, despite the relative strength of the Asgardians and their possession of advanced technology, Thor and the Norse Gods’ relationships with powerful beings always put the city in danger.

When Thor recreated Asgard outside Oklahoma City after Ragnarok, the Void destroyed it during the events of Siege. When Tony Stark promised to rebuild Asgard into the “improved” Asgardia, threats forced its relocation as a planetoid near the Moon before being moved to Saturn. Even then, the threat of the Mangog led to Asgardia’s destruction. While Odin recreated the city in their native realm once more, the city’s track record of being casually destroyed leaves much to be desired for its regular citizens.

2 Hammer Bay

The Paradoxical Mutant Eden, Hell On Earth

While Genosha remained uninhabited through much of humanity’s history, the Republic of Genosha was one of the richest in the world with Hammer Bay as its capital city. Unfortunately, much of its wealth is built upon mutant slavery, courtesy of labor from “mutates” who were mutants stripped of their free will. The discovery of Genosha’s usage of slave labor resulted in international outrage, particularly from Magneto and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

After turbulent conflicts, the United Nations eventually handed Genosha to Magneto after the latter demanded a mutant-only nation. Unfortunately, Magneto’s dream of a mutant-only nation would be crushed by Cassandra Nova, whose Wild Sentinels kill almost everyone on the island. This act of genocide would plunge Genosha into a state of constant warfare. Visiting Hammer Bay usually portrayed a city in ruins, or struggling neighborhoods that were shadows of their old selves.

1 Chronopolis

Even Time Travel Can’t Save The City From Nefarious Forces

Kang the Conqueror created the Chronopolis in Wisconsin while using his alias Victor Timely, hoping to create a new base of operations from which to plan his vengeance against the Avengers who recently defeated him. Unfortunately for Kang, schemes across storylines plotted by the Council of Kangs and Ravonna Renslayer of Carelius eventually resulted in Chronopolis imploding upon itself, leading to its destruction. Its unfortunate fate aside, Kang led the Chronopolis at its height with an iron fist.

Despite its appearance as a domed city, the Chronopolis exists across timelines, with sections of the city representing timelines he’s conquered or in the process of conquering, while also encompassing the entirety of the Earth in that timeline. Only select hidden portals inside these sections allow travel inside the city itself, essentially trapping its denizens in a Kang-ruled timeline among a collection of timelines. Even outside the Chronopolis’s destruction, its sections being ruled by Kang and constantly threatened by his other selves can make living inside the city extremely dangerous, even if city sections are as large as the Earth itself.

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