Batman: Every Live-Action Gotham City Ranked Worst To Best

8. Joker

Batman Forever Gotham City
Warner Bros.

Prior to, and after, its release in 2019, Todd Phillips' Joker was compared to Martin Scorsese offerings such as Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy. While that is indeed a fair comparison in some regards, that also makes Gotham City feel not very, well, Gotham City-like.

Joker's Gotham could well have Travis Bickle parading around in his yellow cab, but this grim, sleezy city doesn't feel all that Batman-esque. Of course, the movie is set at a time when the Dark Knight is merely a young child and at a time before the outrageous capes 'n' tights villains of DC Comics were running roughshod.

On the picture's commentary track, director Phillips even states outright that 1981 New York City was the inspiration for his Gotham City. This very much works for those Taxi Driver vibes, but the end result is a Gotham that doesn't feel particularly familiar. Then again, the original mantra was that Joker was a standalone film that had nothing to do with Batman and absolutely would not be getting a sequel.

Here we are, though, with Joker 2 currently in tentative development. If and when that sequel does arrive, here's hoping that Gotham gets an upgrade to be more in tune with what we know and love from this most infamous of cities.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.