Are Gotham City and Metropolis both versions of New York City, or is

[hedgehog]

Metropolis Chicago?

[Broken_Hero]

1. Gotham is close to Chicago

Metropolis is close to New York, if you take a look at Bruce Waynes tags in the last batman trilogy, you will notice Illinois plates. I don't think either city replaces the other entirely, but I do believe both cities helped fashion Gotham/Metropolis. Also, there is a Chicago, and New York in the DC universe.

[The Philosopher]

2. In the comics

They are both based on New York, using different aspects of the city. I think the early Batman stories were located in New York City before relocating to Gotham.

[hedgehog]

3. I was curious as to whether these are two views of a single city,

one view much darker than the other, or views of two cities, one of which lends itself better to a dark view.

[WCGreen]

4. Gotham is an old nickname for NYC...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006010403918

Gotham was first used in reference to New York City by Washington Irving in the satirical piece Salmagundi (1807). Gotham was at that point already known to refer to a place with "foolish inhabitants." Somehow the name stuck to NYC, even though it had originally been a nickname for Nottinghamshire (a village in England where, apparently, wise men acted as fools in order to avoid paying for the king's upkeep).

[Broken_Hero]

5. I learn something new every day, nt

[Codeine]

6. Artistically both are New York, but DC officially places Gotham in Jersey.

Or they did in the DC Universe Atlas thingamabob, anyway.

But yeah, the reality was well-expressed by Frank Miller -- "Metropolis is New York in the daytime; Gotham City is New York at night." NYC has always had a noir side and a glitzy side, and the Metropolis/Gotham dichotomy is a very effective way of expressing the difference.