Where are the “real” locations of Metropolis, Gotham City, Hub City, etc., in the DC Universe?
Metropolis and Gotham City have been equated to *many* different real-world cities over the years; there is no one correct answer. (Even if there were, the current writers are under no duress to use it.) Hub City, from “The Question”, is a bit different; it is based on a combination of two cities in Illinois, one of which is definitely East St. Louis. Writer Denny O’Neil admitted this at one point, but no longer does so in order not to offend residents of the cities. Metropolis, as originally developed by Siegel and Shuster, was probably Cleveland, the “big city” with which they were most familiar. There are also possible early references to Toronto. Later, Superman’s home was moved to somewhere in the BosWash corridor on the U.S. East Coast. “Who’s Who in the Legion of Superheroes” showed a 30th century Metropolis, which stretched slightly beyond New York and Boston in either direction, and used those names explicitly in the description of Metropolis. John Byrne seemed to think it was
