The Batman’s Gotham Masterfully Blends Burton’s And Nolan’s Worlds

Out of every iteration to date, the version of Gotham City seen in The Batman might just be the best yet, and it achieves that by combining the best attributes of Tim Burton’s and Christopher Nolan’s worlds. When it comes to adapting “local” superheroes to the big screen, one of the most important things to do is make sure the setting is as much a character as the heroes themselves. No superhero better represents this need than Batman and his stomping grounds of Gotham City.

Gotham is quite possibly the single most famous fictional city in comic book history, with only Superman’s Metropolis being able to really compete. One could argue, though, that Metropolis benefits largely from Gotham’s fame as it’s often regarded as the antithesis to Gotham. Gotham, meanwhile, tends to stand on its own, no doubt helped by the Burton Batman films and the modern age of comics going well out of their way to give the city as much personality as possible.

While it may be difficult to argue that every subsequent adaptation of Gotham has gotten better, two particular versions stand out as essentially definitive – the aforementioned Tim Burton version and the drastically different Christopher Nolan version. As these two iterations of Batman effectively defined their respective generations, The Batman quite possibly is where the adaptation of Gotham peaks. It does so by essentially replicating the things that made those two previous versions work.

How Batman (1989) And TAS Do Gotham with Style

1989’s Batman captivated audiences with its atmospheric and stylistic approach to telling its story. While a good portion of this can be attributed to Danny Elfman’s score, it can’t be said enough exactly how significant a role Burton’s vision of Gotham played in this. In fact, it was so impactful that Batman: The Animated Series – almost universally seen as the best adaptation of the Dark Knight to this day – used it as the template for its Gotham. Both versions play on the city’s name, bringing a dark, gothic style to the city. Batman: The Animated Series takes this even further by applying an Art Deco style to that aesthetic in a move that works almost too well.

This Gotham is entirely about presentation. It’s a point that’s even further emphasized by the handling of time. Both the Burton films and the animated series take place in what’s essentially modern times, relative to when they came out. Despite this, the aesthetic of their Gotham visually makes everything appear older. Not just the buildings, but the way people dress and speak, the vehicles, even certain aspects of society that are absolutely from a bygone era. This Gotham, on a presentation level, exists in some manner of time bubble that seems to be somewhere between The Roaring 20s and the WWII-era 1940s, harking back to the time period of when superhero comics first came onto the scene, with Batman making his debut in Detective Comics #27 (1939). It’s a style that works and definitely results in perhaps the most visually memorable Gotham City ever placed on screen.

How the Dark Knight Trilogy Brings Gotham To Life With Dark Realism

If the Burton movies and Batman: The Animated Series were all-in on style, then the Nolan trilogy is all-in on substance. Nolan famously took the opposite approach and decided to instead focus on a more realistic Batman. A more realistic Batman, however, necessitates a more realistic Gotham City. That’s what the audience got when Batman Begins came to theaters in 2005. Gone is the high concept style of prior iterations. Gotham has always been loosely based on Chicago and/or New York. Taking this to its logical conclusion, the Nolan trilogy was primarily filmed in Chicago. This has the effect of creating a city that feels real because it is real. This Gotham feels familiar and like it’s a place that could easily exist in the real world because real-world locations were used without much else.

This version of Gotham also takes the approach of playing up the darker, seedier aspects of the city in a way that really emphasizes the corruption and criminal element. It particularly brings the organized crime world to life in a way that feels particularly raw and shows the kind of uphill battle that Batman faces. Taking down costumed freaks like himself isn’t the difficult part. Opportunistic Batman villains like the Scarecrow aren’t a problem. The difficult part is fixing the systemic problems within the city that allow crime there to be such a seemingly ever-present force. It’s this exact angle that helps the Gotham City of the Nolan trilogy separate itself from the previous versions and be plenty memorable in its own right.

The Batman Marries Style With Realism

Since either of these versions, there have been stylistic attempts and there have been realistic attempts. However, it’s The Batman that finally takes the approach of merging those two styles into one. It might seem, on its face, like this is a fool’s errand. While no doubt difficult, The Batman balances it perfectly by choosing exactly where to apply each of the two directions. This version of Gotham isn’t quite as abundantly stylistic as the Burton or animated series versions, but the style is there. It has exactly the same way of depicting a Gotham that seems to exist in some kind of time pocket, with an older aesthetic and more modern technology at times. In other places, however, this time pocket seems not to exist at all.

On that note, this version of Gotham arguably depicts corruption and the element of organized crime even better than the Nolan trilogy did. It makes Gotham’s underworld not just significant, but storied. There’s a deeply thought-out history to it all that takes unraveling. The stranglehold that the mob has over this particular version of Gotham is shown to be extremely firm and runs incredibly deep.

How The Batman’s Fusion Of Both Gives It The Best Gotham Yet

It’s where the combination of the two methods clash that makes The Batman’s violent version of Gotham really special because it’s something that’s sneakily woven right into the narrative. One of the most significant themes throughout the movie is that of wealth and class. The city is portrayed as modern, yes, but also very stylized–except for the parts that aren’t. It’s the parts that aren’t so stylized that help sell the whole thing. While the surface level of Gotham that audiences are treated to is all given that classic aesthetic (albeit a toned-down version), Gotham’s underbelly, the “lower class” areas, aren’t. They’re all treated as fully modernized, but also run down–just as it often happens in real life.

The elegant, throwback style is used to signify the “Haves” of Gotham. The less stylized aspects are used to depict the “Have Nots” and those trod over by the criminal element. The gangsters of the film might speak like old-school mafiosos, but they aren’t all running around in well-pressed suits and fedoras, firing off Tommy-guns as they would have been in Batman: The Animated Series. By absolute contrast, powerful people and wealthy people throughout the city tend to have that older look in how they dress.

Overall, The Batman‘s fusion of the two best styles of Gotham helps to make this version of the Dark Knight’s stomping grounds memorable on more than a visual level or an atmospheric level. It makes the city even more compelling on a thematic, narrative level. The success of The Batman means a sequel is basically guaranteed. What more of this new Gotham audiences can expect to see is an unknown, but it’s entirely possible it’ll continue to grow along with the Caped Crusader defending it.