Dare Devil"s Hell"s Kitchen: Architecture as a reflection of personality

This is "Roof Piece" by artist Trisha Brown, photograph by Babette Mangolte. Roof Piece is a dance / performance art piece that takes place on numerous rooftops across New York and included improvised dance moves choreographed between numerous dancers. This took place in 1971. I am including this because of the New York roof architecture seen as glistening white roofs and massive water tower that dwarf the bodies. This is the New York that Daredevil lives in.

Daredevil is the alter ego of Matthew Murdock, he resides in the Hell's Kitchen district of NY. He was an ordinary man, like Bruce Wayne, who had bad things happen to him. He was blinded by a radioactive substance from an oncoming vehicle (the lack of sight increases the power of his remaining senses to super-human strengths). His Father is a Boxer who is murdered for refusing to throw a fight. This leads to Murdoch dedicating his life to revenge that murder.

Frank Miller, whom I mentioned earlier, worked on the Daredevil comic series in the 1970's and 1980's and he had a huge influence on how the comic has progressed. Hell's Kitchen started playing a larger role in the story and the character and place became much more sinister.

He creates this Hellish urban nightmare of a place. Crumbling buildings, Dingy Alleys, Graffiti soaked subway carriages and flickering lamp posts. Miller later goes on to illustrate Batman, using this model as a forerunner for his interpretation of Gotham.

Hells Kitchen as it exist today, is not the same as the Hells kitchen of the 70's and 80's as it has been constantly under going gentrification. It is also more commonly referred to as Clinton now, as the title "Hell's Kitchen" carries negative connotations.

Gotham: Architecture as a reflection of personality

This is Hugh Ferris. His work served as an inspiration for the fictional city of Gotham.

Hugh was a deliniator and architect who never really built any note-worthy buildings but according to a close colleague "influenced a generation of architects more than any other man".

He trained as an architect but early in his career became a exceptional draftsman for others, rather than designing his own work. Often his drawings were published to advertise projects or for competitions, making him well known and a highly sought after draftsman.

"Are not the inhabitants of most of our American cities continually glancing at the rising masses of office or apartment buildings whose thin coating of architectural confectionery disguises, but does not alter, the fact that they were fashioned to meet not so much the human needs of the occupants as the financial appetites of the property owners? Do we not traverse, in our daily walks, districts which are stupid and miscellaneous rather than logical or serene—and move, day long, through an absence of viewpoint, vista, axis, relation or plan? Such an environment silently but relentlessly impresses its qualities upon the human psyche." Hugh Ferriss

Above photos are from the book "Metropolis of Tomorrow".

The depiction of Gotham is unlike that of Metropolis. It is dark and foreboding. Rife with crime, grim, and urban decay. The majority of the action takes place in the evening hours.

Batman Writer Dennis O'neil stated "Batman's Gotham City is Manhattan below 14th Street at 11 past midnight on the coldest night in November". Frank Miller (Sin City) says "Metropolis is NY in the daytime, Gotham is NY at night"

The architecture, while depicted by different people through-out the years has bases on various real architectural periods and styles with exaggerated characteristics of Gothic, Art Deco, and Art Nouveau.

While many assume that Gotham is a NY analogue, with the name Gotham actually being a nick-name for NY dating back to the 19th century, some aspects of Gotham are based on Chicago. The history of corruption and organized crime, and the fact that Gotham, like Chicago, has alleyways, which are non-existent in NY.

The history of Batman is much different than that of Superman, where Superman is the mythological god-like being that fell from the heavens and tends to represent everything that is good, Batman is an ordinary man who as a child witnessed his parents murder and now fights crime in the name of revenge. Batman is a dark character and Gotham reflects that.

Metropolis: Architecture reflecting personality

This is Metropolis, home of Clark Kent, home of Superman. Metropolis is named after the 1926 Fritz Lang film Metropolis (a film set in a futuristic urban dystopia).

While the city has changed since it's inception, the aura and feel of the place has, for the most part, remained the same.

Superman first appeared in Action Comic #1 in the year 1938 and has been a resident of Metropolis ever since. He has remained an icon of unmatched image and purity, essentially becoming a Christ-like figure from another planet.

Metropolis is based on a city like Manhattan, although Chicago was said to be its first model. The city is nearly always seen in the daylight. While it is depicted as a word-class city, it also seems to be slightly bland, undefined, and even mundane at times, patiently waiting for something to happen.

It is shown to be a clean, warm, relatively safe, friendly, and even wealthy. Like New York it has a nickname - The Big Apricot.

New Troy is the largest borough in Metropolis. Resembling Manhattan, New Troy is a skyscraper island bustling with commerce and business. The concrete and steel canyons of the city rise to dizzying heights. "1930s architecture stretched like a rubber band" as said in the Art of Superman Returns book.

The Daily Planet Building is the most recognizable landmark in the Metropolis skyline. Located in "Planet Square," it is particularly known for the Daily Planet globe atop the building. Other prominent skyscrapers include the Emperor Building (a reference to the Empire State Building), the Newstime Building (home of the national Newstime magazine, an obvious reference to Newsweek and Time) which is secretly owned for several years by Lord Satanus posing as "Colin Thornton", and LexCorp Tower, headquarters for Lex Luthor's company.

Besides the Financial District, notable areas of New Troy include Chinatown, Little Bohemia (the arts capital of Metropolis), and Glenmorgan Square (one of a number of New Troy's counterparts to New York's Times Square).

Famous streets in New Troy include Fifth Avenue, Bessolo Boulevard, and Topaz Lane. The latter two are Metropolis' versions of Broadway in New York City. Bessolo Boulevard's name is derived from Adventures of Superman lead actor George Reeves' middle name. Other Metropolis boulevards in the New Troy borough are similarly named for other actors from that series and from its radio predecessor of the same name(e.g.: Coates, Larson, Collyer, etc.).

Other notable places (and their NYC inspirations) include Wireless City Movie Theater (Radio City Music Hall), the Halldorf Hotel (Waldorf Astoria), Lacey's Department Store (Macy's), Stacey's Department Store, and Spiffany's Jewelry Store (Tiffany's).

In northwestern New Troy is the impoverished and crime-infested neighborhood of Suicide Slum, best known for the 1940s adventures of the Guardian and his street urchin companions, the Newsboy Legion. Although the northwestern location is similar to the relationship of Harlem to midtown Manhattan, the neighborhood bears more physical and cultural resemblance to Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Ace o' Clubs is a bar owned by Bibbo Bibbowski in Suicide Slum.

The now-married Clark Kent and Lois Lane currently live in an apartment in New Troy, at 1938 Sullivan Lane (a tribute to the year Superman first appeared); Clark Kent's traditional apartment address of 344 Clinton St., Apt. #3B, was usually described as being located in midtown Metropolis.

Other boroughs and suburbs:

New Troy is separated from the suburban boroughs by the West River and Hobb's River. Midvale is a suburb of Metropolis, more well-known as the home of Supergirl and the site of the Midvale Orphanage. Bakerline is another borough of Metropolis. Located north of New Troy, Bakerline is the home of newspaper reporter Jimmy Olsen.

Other boroughs and suburban areas include Queensland Park, Hell's Gate, St. Martin's Island, Park Ridge, Metrodale, and Highville.

The previous paragraph was copied from Superman.wikia.com

While in the original Superman stories of Siegel and Shuster, Superman is portrayed as an aggressive and rough individual. This came to an end fairly early and since the late 1940's Superman has come to portray a strict moral code based on his mid-western upbringing.

In the rare occurrence that Metropolis is shown at night, it is well illuminated and not a place one would fear. A safe haven if anything.

Metropolis's mightiest skyscraper is variously referred to as the Emperor Building, the Metropolis State Building, the Monarch Building, the State Skyscraper, but whatever it is named it is the tallest building in Metropolis and the central figure in the skyline.

Clark Kent, Superman's alter ego, also has this boysout appeal about him. Described as the "mild-mannered reporter", he comes to symbolize the typical passive introvert. Metropolis starts to become a reflection of it's greatest inhabitant by taking on these personality traits; powerful yet mild-mannered.