Highlights
- Hub City, a den of crime and corruption, is one of the worst places to live in the DC Universe.
- Dakota City is plagued by poverty, systemic issues, and superpowered villains.
- Coast City has been destroyed and reconstructed multiple times, making it susceptible to attacks and undead citizens.
Fiction is full of idyllic towns, lively cities, and utopias, but the beauty of comics comes from the imagination and what-if scenarios, much like the many cities of DC Comics. In fact, some places within the DC Comics multiverse would spell a bad time to live, even if renting is cheap. It’s just never worth living near a homicidal clown and a vigilante who dresses like a bat.
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These fascinating places in DC Comics may sound like the most interesting, but ‘interesting’ doesn’t just mean relatively happy places like Metropolis or Opal City. Even with superheroes flying about, these cities are the worst places in the DC Universe to live in.
7 Hub City
Illinois, USA
- First Appearance: Blue Beetle Vol 5 #1 (1967).
- Universes: Earth-Four, New Earth, Prime Earth, Arrowverse.
- Key Residents: The Question.
Comic book universes can be convoluted, to say the least. The idyllic Fawcett City only became part of the DC Universe when Shazam/Captain Marvel was incorporated into DC Comics. The same is true of Charlton Comics’ heroes when they were acquired by the company in 1982. Instead of letting them be used for Alan Moore’s classic graphic novel Watchmen, DC introduced them into their universe in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Post-Crisis, the home of ex-Charlton hero The Question (Vic Sage), Hub City, became a den of crime and corruption that could rival Gotham City. Its mobsters essentially ran the city either indirectly by buying off politicians or directly by taking up its seats. Luckily, most of its rot has been alleviated by the Question’s efforts, and it’s largely escaped the notice of the big supervillains. Its visitors may get mugged, but they’re less likely to have a bad day with the Joker.
6 Dakota City
Midwest USA
- First Appearance: Hardware #1 (1993).
- Universes: Dakotaverse, DCAU, New Earth, Prime Earth, Earth-16, Earth-M.
- Key Residents: Static, Icon, The Blood Syndicate, Hardware.
Not every formerly separate universe came from separate companies. Founded by Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, Derek T. Dingle and the late Dwayne McDuffie, Milestone Media was an imprint of DC set up to produce more diverse heroes. Most of them would be based in Dakota City, which would lead to Milestone’s world becoming known as the Dakotaverse.
The city had a gang problem that the police tried to subdue with tear gas laced with Quantum Juice. It killed most of the gangs (and the area’s residents), and left others with superpowers. Some of them became heroes, like the Blood Syndicate and Static (of Static Shock fame), and others became villains that added to the city’s problems. Even without them, its poverty and systemic issues need more than heroism to fix.
5 Coast City
California, USA
- First Appearance: Showcase #22 (1959).
- Universes: Earth-One, New Earth, Prime Earth, Arrowverse, DCEU.
- Key Residents: Green Lantern, Star Sapphire.
Superman’s home city of Metropolis is simultaneously one of the safest and the most dangerous cities to be in because, while the Man of Steel can stop petty crime in a blink, he also attracts giant alien threats like Brainiac and Darkseid. Still, the city usually bounced back from these attacks. Coast City, the home of Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), wasn’t so lucky.
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With the help of Cyborg Superman, Mongul destroyed the city, killed all 7 million of its citizens, and turned it into his own personal War World. Its destruction drove Hal Jordan to try and recreate it, turning him into the supervillain Parallax. But its proper reconstruction was slow, and they left the area as a ghost town for years. Even after it is rebuilt, it’s susceptible to attack from the Sinestro Corps, and its own undead citizens.
4 Nanda Parbat
Hindu Kush, Central Asia
- First Appearance: Strange Adventures #216 (1969).
- Universes: Earth-One, New Earth, Prime Earth, DCAU, Arrowverse.
- Key Residents: Deadman, Rama Kushna.
But not even the most isolated places can avoid destruction. Nanda Parbat, formerly Nishapur, was practically DC’s equivalent of Shangri-La, a Himalayan utopia where time runs differently. A decade in Nanda Parbat is worth only a few days in the real world, so visitors can live within its borders for a very long time without aging. Not that there’s much to do there, as it’s largely a religious commune for Rama Kushna and her monks.
However, that doesn’t mean it’s safe. The city has been attacked multiple times by the League of Assassins, requiring the aid of Deadman and Batman to repel them. The Witching Hour saw Hecate banish Rama Kushna, destroy the whole city, and rebuild it as the Great Necropolis, overseen by her Ultrapsychopomp. So, as utopian as it once was, it’s not immune to corruption or destruction.
3 Shiruta
Kahndaq, Sinai Peninsula
- First Appearance: Hawkman Vol 4 #19 (2003).
- Universes: New Earth, Prime Earth, DCEU.
- Key Residents: Black Adam, Isis, Osiris.
Named after Black Adam’s first wife, Shiruta is the capital city of Kahndaq, one of the oldest nations in the DC Universe. The country itself has a checkered history, from its destruction at the hands of the evil Ahk-ton to the sudden and violent deposing of its modern-day dictator Asim Muhunnad by Black Adam and Atom-Smasher. So, Shiruta was never bound to be peaceful for long.
In its best times, it’s a rather liberal, Middle Eastern city. Beyond that, it’s subject to attacks by supervillains like Eclipse, or from the Four Horsemen of Apokolips. Plus, the lives of anyone within Kahndaq’s borders depend on staying on Black Adam’s good side. Without the more benevolent Isis tempering him, he’s liable to turn Shiruta into a Draconian nightmare, where he’ll personally execute anyone who falls on the wrong side of his laws.
2 Gotham City
Gotham County, New Jersey, USA
- First Appearance: Batman #4 (1940).
- Universes: Earth-One, Earth-Two, New Earth, Prime Earth, Earth-16, Tomorrowverse, Burtonverse, Arrowverse, DCAU, Arkhamverse, and more.
- Key Residents: Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, The Joker, Catwoman, Two-Face, etc.
Chances are that most people already know why Gotham City is one of the worst places in the DC Universe to live in. Before Batman started his campaign against crime, the city was infested with muggers, robbers, organized crime families, and more. Even when he got going, these criminals were replaced with supervillains who made up for the drop in petty crime with more lethal plots like bomb-laden toys or city-wide gas attacks.
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The League of Assassins would rather destroy the place entirely to wipe out all of its villains and rebuild it from the ground up in their image. Yet Batman sees its incremental amounts of progress as a sign that Gotham can be a better place on its own. Though sadly, outside separate set timelines, it never will. That would mean it would no longer need Batman, and Batman will likely never end.
1 Blüdhaven
New Jersey, USA
- First Appearance: Nightwing Vol 2 #1 (1996).
- Universes: Earth-Two, New Earth, Prime Earth.
- Key Residents: Nightwing, Arsenal.
Still, it could be worse. People could be in Blüdhaven, a city designed to outdo New Jersey and its rougher cities. Crime of all levels runs rife through its streets because its politicians are more interested in making glad-hand deals with each other. Stopping crime in the city would essentially stop their gravy train, so they have to keep Blüdhaven terrible to stay rich.
At its best, the city is a slightly worse Gotham with only Nightwing and visiting Bat Family members keeping it afloat. At worst, it’s a magnet for supervillain attacks. It was destroyed by Chemo, turned into a walled-off, open-air prison where its different factions tore into each other, overtaken by Brother Eye’s OMAC cyborgs, and turned into Darkseid’s Earth base. The message is clear: stay away from Blüdhaven.
