Architecture Dissertation, The Cinematography of Architecture : Superheroes in New York

Liew Pei Chi (Hannah) 201755156 AB120 Cultural Studies University of Strathclyde Daviid Charles Reat

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Figure 1 : Djekova.info. (2018). Superhero Background Vector.

LIST OF CONTENTS • Abstract • Declaration • Acknowledgement • Introduction Aims and objectives Methodology •

Chapter 1 | Architecture & Metropolis Metropolis & Gotham City Batman vs Superman

•

Chapter 2 | Into the Superheroes DC & Marvels Origin of Superheroes Comparison of super-cities

•

Chapter 3 | New York, the Super City Delirious New York Day & Night

•

Literature reviews

•

Case Studies The Avengers (2012) Justice League (2018) Spiderman: Homecoming (2017)

• Conclusion • Bibliography

ABSTRACT

University University of of Strathclyde Strathclyde || Cultural Cultural Studies Studies AB420 AB420 || Liew Liew Pei Pei Chi Chi (( Hannah) Hannah)

ABSTRACT If you have been paying attention to the current climate, this is the age of superhero. Everyone is so fascinate about men swinging across the skyscrapers to save the world. The stunning visual scenes are produced with the help of the latest technology which actually brings a big impact to the audience. DC Comics and Marvels playing the main role in creating this superheroes trend. The authors and writers are dedicated to create superhero characters who lived in realistic places and applied their psychology knowledge into our relationship to superheroes which superheroes’ psychological nature reflects the heroic side of human nature.

Does NYC became the favourite supercity because of skyscrapers? Not to forget there are cities around the world like Shanghai, Toronto, London, Los Angeles etc. that have the similar characteristic as a global city too. Why it has to be in New York?

This paper sets out to study criteria for New York as the Super-city and what are the elements that makes NYC different from other cities. Looking into how the comic artists created the fictional cities like Gotham City and Metropolis by using NYC as the model. Nevertheless, the multiple versions of NYC are presented through computer generated movie scenes and the cause for the Have you wonder why superheroes like city to have a superhero. Last but not least, we Spiderman, The Avengers, Dark Knight, will study how cinematic productions reflect the Superman, X-men, and Fantastic Four etc. are not only the buildings but also the cultures of all cast and originated from New York? New NYC in the movies.

York City is not only the model for Superman’s Metropolis but also for Batman’s Gotham. Nevertheless, character like Peter Parker lived in NYC neighbourhood. “New York City is the largest city and the largest metropolitan area, by population in the United States.” 1 Why is the largest city in U.S its need for a superhero? NYC often acts as a backdrop or even character in the movies, the cinematic effects in every movie bring out the different version of NYC and it shows how New York is supporting the storyline.

1 Marvel Database. (2017). New York City. .

Acknowledgement

University of of Strathclyde Strathclyde || Cultural Cultural Studies Studies AB420 AB420 || Liew Liew Pei Pei Chi Chi (( Hannah) Hannah) University

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge the privilege of being able to tackle such an interesting topic which I’m really passionate in my year 4 dissertation paper. Knowing that there are less university in the country would allow to write such unconventional topic. I’m glad that I have to the chance to explore Architecture in the other way.

I’m always into film since young under my dad’s influence, but this is the first time that I’m able to explore both of my favourite, Architecture from the film’s perspective under the professional supervision. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Mr.David Reat. I’m so grateful to have the unreserved commitment from David throughout all the guidance for the year. David has been really helpful and supportive along with my progress to finish this paper. I couldn’t think of any better candidate other than David as he is the expert in field of Science Fiction Architecture which is closely related to my dissertation topic.

Besides that, I would like to thank Ms.Jacqueline Lister for the clear instructions in the course module and the marking scheme. The lecture classes that have been organised by Jac is very informative which it guides me when I’m lost.

Lastly, I would like to thank my peers that have been very supportive all this while as they often encourage me while I’m stuck because this is actually my first academic dissertation. We used to help each other out by correcting some silly grammar mistakes and having some brainstorming session together. In a nut shell, I’m really glad that I could finish the dissertation under all the positives peoples and unlimited supports.

introduction

University University of of Strathclyde Strathclyde || Cultural Cultural Studies Studies AB420 AB420 || Liew Liew Pei Pei Chi Chi (( Hannah) Hannah)

INTRODUCTION Aims and Objectives This paper sets out to study about the famous New York City. The main idea will be the criteria for New York to be a Super-city and what is the relationship between the Superheroes & the city. NYC has been around since the early 1664 (Homberger, 2005) and it became the most popular city in United States. Besides, New York has its own elements and characteristics that able to stand out in comparison with the other cities around the world. These elements could be interrelated to the criteria for NYC as the model for the fictional cities of Gotham and Metropolis.

Nevertheless, the aims to study the relationships between the origin of superheroes and the connections with NYC. Let’s have a thought about it, what will happen if we put Peter Parker in Los Angeles? How Manhattan serves the Stark tower? With the help of the technologies like CGI and VFX, the directors are able to generate a scenes of superheroes saving the world and NYC as the backdrop of all the smashing and cracking. Looking into how the computer generated movie scenes bring out the different feelings of the metropolis and how cinematic productions brings out not only the buildings but also the cultures of NYC. Lastly, looking into how the multiple versions of NYC are suitable for different superheroes movies

The reviews and comments from the online will be evaluate while this chapter will end with the study of concerns in the both cities that have led to the invention or creations of superheroes.

Analysis and anatomical investigation of the hometown of superheroes and the relationship between the characters and their hometown.

Comparison of NYC with other mega cities like Los Angeles, Toronto, Vancouver and San Francisco etc. through some analytic, Figure ground maps, the skyline of metropolis, architecture, infrastructure, scale and built environment etc. will be study and identify for every cities.

Lastly we will look into the history of NYC, the evolution of NYC throughout the years until it turned into a global city. Furthermore, a several superheroes movies will be analyse by collaging the snapshot of scenes together, visualising the scenes help to analyse the movies in a more efficient way. We can investigate the mood that the director wish to bring out and how it affect human emotions by comparing the collages.

Moreover, in order to analyse the criteria for NYC to be the best city for superheroes, the elements of NYC in the movie will be carry out to investigate how NYC is telling the stories and how the city acts as a character in the movie. The day and night version of the New York City will be compared in order to visualise the different sides of the city from different perspective. Last but Methodology not least, the case studies for other superheroes This paper examines the relationship between movies like The Avengers, Justice League and New York and superheroes. Firstly, we will look Spiderman will be analysed as this few movies into the history of the two famous fictional cities are actually cast in NYC/ fictional cities.

Metropolis and Gotham City and compare it from the different perspectives of superheroes. The first chapter investigate the two cities by comparing with maps, diagrams and photo collages, it will be easier to identify the similarities and differences between them. Besides, the comparison between map of NYC and Metropolis will be carried out too.

CHAPTER 1

University University of of Strathclyde Strathclyde || Cultural Cultural Studies Studies AB420 AB420 || Liew Liew Pei Pei Chi Chi (( Hannah) Hannah)

Chapter 1 | Architecture & Metropolis

Chapter 1 | Architecture & Metropolis

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Figure 2: Photo collage by author

Figure 1 ; Batmangothamcity.net. (2018). Metropolis Maps. [online] Available at: http://batmangothamcity.net/a-map-of-suFigure 3; Batmangothamcity.net. (2018). Metropolis Maps.

Chapter 1 | Architecture & Metropolis

Chapter 1 | Architecture & Metropolis A tale of two cities

The City Of Tomorrow

According to the dictionary, Metropolis is the capital or chief city of a country or region / a very large and busy city. But for a superhero fans, it is much more than an ordinary city. It is a gorgeous city that have crimes and aliens while it protects by superheroes. This chapter investigate the two megacities from the superheroes perspective, where Metropolis, the city of tomorrow for superman and Gotham city, the home for Batman. “Superman has faith that humanity will tend toward goodness if you give it trust and hope; Batman lacks that faith and believes the world only gets in line if you grab it by the throat and never let go. The former spends his contemplative moments hoping for the best; the latter spends those moments vigilantly preparing for the worst.” 2 The icons have been created for both superheroes that have opposite characteristic as well as the cities that they are living in.

“While the basic setup may be similar, fans know that there’s a world of difference between the cities of Metropolis and Gotham, suggesting that Metropolis will likely have a considerably different tone than Gotham,” (DC announcement).

“Metropolis is New York in the daytime; Gotham City is New York at night.” – Frank Miller

Figure 4: Snapshot of NYC from google map.

2 Riesman, A. (n.d.). What We Talk About When We Talk About Batman and Superman Politics, mostly. And American empire vulture.

Metropolis is one of the largest and wealthiest city in the world that created by the co-creator and artist of superman, Joe Shuster. At the early stage of the comic, he moulded the skyline of metropolis according after Toronto. However, the mood and building environment of the metropolis has been greatly influenced by New York City after that. The best part in Metropolis that I appreciate most is the radiant sunlight that shine onto the public spaces of the city, the city couldn’t be sharper and shiny. Metropolis has a nickname of ‘City of Tomorrow’ and it is famous for its forward looking and optimistic spirit. It is the hometown of the Clarke Kent and under his surveillance until his death in Superman: Man of Steel. Moreover, It is a huge cultural centre and highly advanced in technology while the location is varies depends on the stories. In the comics, Metropolis is shown as being in the northeast region, probably in New York State. In some versions, Metropolis even takes the place of New York City. In Superman: The Movie, and subsequent films, so do NYC. I believe that Metropolis are closely connect to NYC as the creators tried to shape metropolis into a more complex city like New York. Figure 3 is the snapshot of NYC from google map, the form of Metropolis is very similar with the current NYC as well as the infrastructure like the bridges that connecting to the city.

Figure 1 is a series snapshots that have collected from the movie Superman: Man of Steel. From the observations, it shows that the colour tone is brighter and clear, it gives a more positive feelings towards the city. People in Metropolis love Superman while the people in Gotham City is afraid of Batman. Nevertheless, the collage that collected from the Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice are in a darker tone, it is shown in the movie as a city that full with crimes while the built environment is dark and wet.

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Figure 5: Photo collage by author

Figure 6 ; Batmangothamcity.net. (2018). Metropolis Maps.

Chapter 1 | Architecture & Metropolis

Gotham City ‘Batman’s Gotham City is Manhattan below Fourteenth Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November’ – By the writer and editor of Batman, Dennis O’Neil. 3 “I’m not particularly fond of Gotham. It’s like someone built a nightmare out of metal and stone.” (Superman).

If Metropolis is the home of Superman, then Gotham City is the home for Batman. Gotham City is known that moulded after NYC too but with exaggerate architectural elements in style.

Gotham has varies architectural appearance throughout the years while currently it has portrayed as a city with mix of Art Deco, Neo Gothic and Post-modern styling. It has always been a big city with sky scrapers, high reaching spires and iconic statuary. Batman’s adventures were said to happen in New York before Gotham is created. Gotham City’s atmosphere is in a darker tone if compare to Metropolis, it is a foreboding place rife with crime, grime and corruption. In my own observation, in comparison of the two cities, Gotham actually provides a more generic urban backdrop against which grandiose rhetorical flourishes compel spectacular scenes of confrontation. However, Gotham’s dark passages and anonymous urban canyons are the trademark for transgression: the streets of Gotham are full with crimes against property while the life and limb are threaten.

3 Maher, J. (2016). The Chrysler Building History and Photography - New York’s Art Deco Jewel. New York Fine Art Photography and Portraiture Services.

In the narratives Gotham is populated by nameless crime bosses and thugs but not the famous supervillains, those petty criminals are responsible for the death of little Bruce Wayne’s parents in the origin story. Besides, social inequities are much lower if compare to Metropolis, for instance poverty, poor living conditions and inadequate education, corruption and the absence of opportunity. However, the atmosphere was in a lighter tone in the comic on the 50’s & 60’s and it became grittier in the 70’s.

Gotham is under the protection not only from Batman but also superheroes like Robin and Cat women from criminally insane supervillians, gangs, and mobs that litter its street.

The hand drawn maps in Figure 3 & 6 showing the ideal form of the Gotham City. It was drawn by a cartographer Eliot R.Brown and it was only defined until 1998 although Batman has guarded Gotham for the past 75 years. “The DC Comics editors made it clear that Gotham City was an idealized version of Manhattan.” He said. Brown was grown up in New York and he used all his knowledge of the city on the planning of the fictional cities. He is has designed some familiar neighbourhoods, parks like central park, civic buildings, landmarks, monuments and infrastructure too. From years to years, we notice that numerous bridges and tunnels are designed to be dynamited by the U.S. government in Brown’s final hand-annotated map of Gotham City, as well as a few forgotten steam tunnels that might be useful in the fighting for crime fighting or it could be the hiding spot for the criminals.

Brown didn’t just design the city; he designed an implicit history that writers are still exploring.

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Figure 7: Lussier, G. (2014). Rumor: Three More Characters Will Appear as Batman v Superman Villains.

Chapter 1 | Architecture & Metropolis

BATMAN VS SUPERMAN What does Superman represents in the movie?

• The immigrant or the alien in American so ciety • The importance of upholding a societal moral code where he respect the laws over personal justice • The value of small-town values and upbringing in the big city • Superman argues that “mild-mannered” people have their own power beneath the surface.

What does Batman represents in the movie?

• Batman represents human ability, he proves any person a “superhero” with hard work and discipline.

• Batman shows us the wealth is power in itself.

• Batman argues for the power of scientific ingenuity and reasoning over brute strength.

• Batman argues the importance of following a personal moral code (personal justice over laws), but argues that these are not in conflict.

Gotham City and Metropolis are not only the backdrop that support the movie but it has become the battleground for the two superheroes to fight against each other and as well as fighting against ‘doomsday’ together.

Have you ever come across your mind why the great cities like Metropolis and Gotham city need superheroes? These cities are so well-developed and it should be an Utopia for everyone who wanted to live under the protection of Superheroes. However, there are people like Lex Luther who wanted to bring Metropolis to another level by producing a powerful and yet dangerous weapon. The tone in Gotham city is slightly darker than Metropolis but it has dark and wet streets with crime, gangster and corruption.

The Joker was explicitly identifies with anarchy, first by his actions and then by his discourse.

His deeds were based upon lawlessness and disorder. His way of protesting the order is terroristic and his only aim is to cause harm for the sake of his entertainment.

‘Im not particularly fond of Gotham. It’s like someone built a nightmare out of metal and The invention of superheroes are to protect the people in these cities from the erstwhile vigilanstone’ – Superman. tes. Besides, as we can see from the movies, In the movie of Batman vs Superman : Dawn the cities are very much depend on the superof justice, Metropolis and Gotham City are twin heroes on the safety aspect and superheroes cities where just located near to each other and are the only saviour to save them from corruption only separated by nothing more than a bay be- include the invasion of aliens. tween them. DC comics surprise us, the fans, when we discovered that the two super-cities are actually neighbours although they have different style and protect by two superheroes. Batman has been carrying out his own brand of justice, ‘bat vigilante’ for years while Metropolis is a more positive city and Superman wasn’t only protect the people in Metropolis but all around the world.

In Dawn of Justice,

CHAPTER 2

University University of of Strathclyde Strathclyde || Cultural Cultural Studies Studies AB420 AB420 || Liew Liew Pei Pei Chi Chi (( Hannah) Hannah)

Chapter 2 | Into the Superhero

Chapter 2 | Into the Superheroes

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Figure 8: Screen Rant. (2018). 20 Savage Memes That Show The Justice League Is Better Than The Avengers

Chapter 2 | Into the Superhero

Chapter 2 | Into the Superheroes

DC & Marvels Both Marvel and DC are the two top the superhero comic book industry in the 21st century, not only for the popularity but also in terms of media production and financial success. DC and Marvel are targeting different markets and the genre of the movies are slightly different, the two have rivalled one another in various forms of media and fandom for decades.

Figure 8 is the first of many memes to notice this difference in the two production companies which I found it quite relevant to my topic. The die-hard comic book fans actually realised and have suspected for a long time is reinforced in their respective cinematic universes; Marvel and DC tell superhero stories with radically different tones.

So far we notice that the MCU has usually produced light, less serious, adventurous kind of atmosphere aimed toward younger audiences.

For instance like Superman: Homecoming is a very good example, where we can see clear blue sky, friendly neighbourhood in the movie.

Besides, Deadpool is more to entertainment purpose. Furthermore, the themes for Marvel are usually less magic, more sci-fi where the characters usually have one significant power On the other hand, DC Comics a subsidiary of they are known for (X-Men, Hulk, etc.) and Time Warner, as one of the largest companies majority of the superheroes have powers. Only in American comic book and related media some are there on skill. (eg. Black Widow, publishing. DC is responsible for such famous Hawkeye, etc.) characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman On the other hand, DC Comics and its characters and their teammates in the Justice League. The are often known for being dark, serious, and initials “DC” were originally an abbreviation for brooding; the most famous example of this is Detective Comics, and later the official name. 5 the Batman. Warner Bros has their decentralized model, allowed more genre specific, mature films, often resulting in a darker, overall, color palette. If the DCEU continues in their director driven style, resisting the collective production of the MCU films, future movies will allow for more expression and varied storytelling. Each DC movie has been different from the last, so, thankfully for the Justice League, fans can expect a fresh take next time around. 6 Nevertheless, the themes for DC are more magic, as well as Sci-fi.

The superheroes like Superman will have superpowers and the characters have a combinations or a variety of superpowers. Alternately, most of the Superheroes have no powers as all, and are more dependent on skill. (eg. Batman, Green 4 World Collectors Net. (2018). Marvel Comics History and Marvel Arrow, etc.)

Marvel Comics is owned and published by Marvel Entertainment, the subsidiary division of The Walt Disney Company. It is currently headquartered in New York City. Marvel’s best-known comics’ titles include Fantastic Four, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Daredevil, Thor, Captain America, and X-Men. Most of Marvel’s fictional characters reside in the Marvel Universe. 4

Comics Background 5 World Collectors Net. (2018). DC Comics History and DC Comic Background..

6 Screen Rant. (2018). 20 Savage Memes That Show The Justice League Is Better Than The Avengers

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Figure 9: Map by Casey, C. (2014).

Chapter 2 | Into the Superhero

The origins of Superhero The map above shows the roots of your favourite superheroes, there are superheroes in all over the world but you can see the proportion of superheroes that are originated from New York City is much higher if compare to the other countries and cities. For instance, Superheroes like Captain America, Ant Man, Iron man, Spiderman, Iron Fist, Nova, Nick Fury, Storm and etc. This chapter analyse the features of New York City and how it serve the superheroes in the movies.

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Figure 10: Photo collage by author

Chapter 2 | Into the Superhero

The built environment in NYC The photo collage on the left shows the few features of NYC that we can often notice from the movies, for example like the dark tunnel, the infrastructure, the Manhattan Bridge, Central Park, abandoned factories and skyscrapers. New York is a city that rich in cultural activities, it has the tallest building in the world to the artsy brooklyn neighbourhood . The diversity of buildings and facilities often become the urban backdrop in the movie scenes which it also offers various type of background to enhance the storyline. NYC is so famous for not only Superheroe movies are because it is handy where you can get everything you need, the directors are able to get from glamourous background to the doggy effec within a city.

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Figure 11 Photo collage by author

Figure 12: Photographed by Slaya (2014) from https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/50510/

Chapter 2 | Into the Superhero

Comparison of super-cities

Cityscape

Marvels and DC comics have created a lot of characters even I have lost count, the famous and not-so-famous ones. It all come from different country, Wolverine and Deadpool are originated from Canada, Black Widow is from Russia, Blade and Spiderwomen are from London, Shehulk and Mr.Fantastic are from California. However, from my observations, Marvels are down to earth in that aspect, we see New York City and Washington, D.C. threatened and destroyed but not some fantasy cities beside Asgard. In contrast, Superheroes in DC protect the fictional cities, Superman and Batman is the best example for it. This allow the characters to exist a little further from reality. Every city has its own story, this chapter study the comparison among the mega cities in the real world and get some brief ideas on their characteristics.

Based on the comparison of skyline above, you can clearly see that the building height in London is the lowest while Moscow has higher density than New York but NYC has the largest area of buildings among the cities. NYC become the big playground for the comic artists who love to go big. For instance, the effect for big explosion scene will be more impressive to see the large area of tall buildings to be destroy. Besides, the invasion of aliens often march with huge ships and large amounts of armies, the bigger scale of NYC will be more suitable for the war between human and aliens.

From the figure ground collage, you can see that only New York is designed in perfect grid system, the size of every land lot are the same which is it rectangular. On the other hand, the other cities tend to be more permeable as you can see there are smaller roads that allow accessibility.

In my opinion, the grid system actually allow Superhero like Spiderman to swing between the skyscrapers easier. Thus, New York City has a more suitable setting for Spiderman if compare to other cities

Figure 13: Man of Steel Images. (2018).

Figure 14: Vancouver geography and landmarks (2013) from http://vancouvergeographyandlandmarks. blogspot.co.uk

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Figure 15: Photo collage by author

Chapter 2 | Into the Superhero

Scale and Density

Upcoming comic book movies

The study of scale and density for the megacities are studied through the photos collage on the left where you can see the 6 images of the skyline or bid eye views for the cities. San Francisco and Los Angeles are two very beautiful cities but the capacity of skyscrapers are lower if compare to NYC. The superhero movies often require a huge city for all kind of fighting with the vigilantes or for alien invasion. Next, we will look into two famous cities which are Toronto and London.

Toronto and London have more diversity of buildings as you can see bridges and the city centre are actually surrounded by rivers. The down side of the city is the density of buildings are much lower if compare to NYC where it couldn’t support superhero like Spiderman to swing in between or across the city. The third comparison is between Vancouver and New York. Vancouver, a bustling west coast seaport in British Columbia, is among Canada’s densest, most ethnically diverse cities. A popular filming location, it’s surrounded by mountains, and also has thriving art, theatre and music scenes. 7 15 The setting and build environment of this city is similar to NYC despite from the area of the city which is 115km² and 789km² for NYC. The tremendous difference of the data have shown the scale of the two cities where NYC have the most suitable setting for superhero casting.

There are a lot of comic book superheroes onscreen these days. And between Marvel and DC there are filmic fights going down offscreen, too — so which studio has it right?

Figure 16: Akhtar, I. and Petrakovitz, C. (2018).

7 Nihpodcast.blogspot.co.uk. (2016). Vancouver Blogging. [online] Available at: http://nihpodcast.blogspot.co.uk/ [Accessed 6 Mar. 2018].

Figure 15 shows the upcoming comic book movies for up to year 2020 where the highlighted movies will be cast in NYC. As you can see, NYC is the most popular city for Superheroes movies if we observe from the trend. This percentage actually proves NYC as the best Supercity for the directors and audiences.

CHAPTER 3

University University of of Strathclyde Strathclyde || Cultural Cultural Studies Studies AB420 AB420 || Liew Liew Pei Pei Chi Chi (( Hannah) Hannah)

Chapter 3 | New York, the Super-City

Chapter 3 | New York, the Super-City

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Figure 17: Image from Then And Now: 20 Skylines From Around The World (2014) from https://blazepress.com

Chapter 3 | New York, the Super-City

Chapter 3 | New York, the Super City Delirious New York New York City is the most popular and it has the highest density among the cities in United States and it is commonly known as the centre hub for superheroes, this is simply because the artists and writers back in the day are usually live in NYC or grown up there. Furthermore, people tend to go NYC to have seek for a career in the medium. Besides, the architectural landmarks, politics, personalities, and etc. were all much easier to write/illustrate locally. It will be more interesting if the writers create a story interacting with all these aspects of NYC lifestyle.

Try to imagine if there is a superheroes living in my neighbourhood and how cool it will be.

However, It has changed throughout the years as today‘s artist/writer can live in anywhere and their lifestyle are varies. Hence, you see more heroes living outside of Manhattan then you did 20-30 years ago. Superheroes like Peter Parker (Spider-Man), Avengers headquarters, and the fictional cities like Metropolis & Gotham are moulded after NYC.

8 www.therichest.com. (2018). the-10-most-photographed-cities-inthe-world

Figure 16 shows the development of NYC from then till now, it is the major city in United States and it shows the diversity in a city. Apart from the familiar feelings that the writers wanted to create, NYC has various type of buildings to suit the needs of the cinematic productions.

Will the superheroes still exist without NYC? What makes the NYC the best supercity for superheroes?

In my opinion, NYC as the Top most photographed city in the world 8 for a reason. The built environment in NYC is mostly glass and metal cladding to suit the function of high rise buildings and it creates a glamorous feelings from the camera of the photographer. No doubt that the relationship between Superheroes and NYC are closely connected but it doesn’t mean that it can’t survive without the presence of each other. Spiderman can still swing across the city like Toronto or London but the outcome effect will be less stunning as neither of the other city have a large playground that full with skyscrapers to allow Spiderman to dance in between.

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Figure 18: Photo collage by author

Chapter 3 | New York, the Super-City

Day and night “Metropolis is New York by day and Gotham is the same city at night.” 9 The photo collage on the left show the day and night scene of the city through different movies.

Man of Steel and Spiderman: Homecoming represent the day time of the NYC while The Dark Knight and Dawn of Justice represent the night time of the city. These fictional cities are created under the great influence of NYC. For example, The Metropolis in Man of Steel are create with the similar setting with NYC before they added the two important buildings which represent the good and bad characters, which is the Daily Planet, the office for Clark Kent and Luthor Corp, the company for Lex Luthor. The mood for buildings in the city are bright and grey tone to contrast with the two iconic buildings.

NYC are present in a huge scale in Spiderman: Homecoming, the scene is taken from a very tall building but yet unable to see the boundaries of the city. The built environment in Homecoming is vibrant yet modern. From the observation in the photo, we can clearly notice the Chrysler building, the top 1 in 10 favourite New York towers 10 which it is located in Manhattan.

9 www.therichest.com. (2018). the-10-most-photographed-cities-inthe-world/.

10 Maher, J. (2016). The Chrysler Building History and Photography - New York’s Art Deco Jewel. New York Fine Art Photography and Portraiture Services.

11 Medium. (2017). Madrid and New York: The Cities That Never Sleep – Delegation of the European Union to the United States – Medium.

The night scene in Dark Knight is mysterious and bustling, the whole Gotham City is so dark but it is actually very happening on the ground as we can judge from the street lighting and the lighting in the buildings. The city that never sleeps 11 is rooted in the hustle and bustle of the city, which seems to go on 24/7. There are lots of afterhours clubs that don’t really get going until after midnight. Moreover, the NYC subway runs 24 hours a day, though much less frequently after hours, it will seem as though there is activity at all hours of the day. On the other hand, NYC become the battleground in Dawn of Justice, Batman and Superman are fighting each other and smashed the buildings into ashes. NYC is present like a garbage heap in the photo but you can still buildings from very far. The day and night environment in these movies are different from each other but they are actually the same city after all. In conclusion, the city is present differently is to suit the story line and the theme of the film. For instance like fighting scene, the busy Gotham City, Spiderman to swing across the city and etc. The multiple versions of the one city can be shown and it’s able to become a brand new backdrop with the help of cinematic productions.

case study

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Case Study

This chapter investigates few example of the superheroes movies that cast in NYC or the fictional city, Gotham City and Metropolis. These examples shows perfectly how the directors make good use of the diversity of the cities for a better story telling.

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Figure 19: Photo collage by author

Case Study

The Avengers (2012) The Avengers started with Black Widow is kidnapped but actually she was trying to get useful information in a factory. In order to make the atmosphere creepy, the factory look abandoned, the lighting in this scene is dark and the colour tone of the dressing is in black too. Moreover, there are guns as props to give the sense to the audience to believe that black widow is kidnapped. Stark tower has to stand out from the other buildings in NYC to fit in as the head quarter for the billionaire, Tony Stark’s assets. The impressive factor in this scene is the Stark tower actually is the tallest & shiniest among the sky scrapers, NYC has set off and the lighting is focused on the Stark tower to give the glamorous effect. The comparison below show that the Stark tower will be harder to stand out during the day time due to the diversity of building in New York while it can be done easily during the night time by controlling the lighting.

The fighting scenes in the movie always love to go big, to maximise the smashing effect and show how the aliens destroying the city with the large flying creature around the skyscraper. The scale and quantity of the superheroes are smaller if compare to the aliens but we know that they can always make to the success because the audience will expect happy ending. Besides from that, the director of The Avengers wanted to transit the message of the bad guys will always suffer from the consequences of what they did.

The movie ends at Central Park, where Loki is locked by Thor. The colour scheme in this scene are similar with the original colour and without adding much effect. The superheroes were present and they have dressed according to their status and style. The reason that they chose central park is because it has a empty square that allows Thor and Loki to leave the Earth with the big chemical reaction that produced by the powerful tesseract. Happy ending.

In conclusion, from the abandoned factory, the outstanding Stark Tower, the war between aliens and superheroes in the city to the send-off Loki at the Central Park. It is all cast in NYC where it acts like a huge film studios with different scenes set up. The variations of buildings are able to fulfil the rich story lines while NYC have various characteristic that suit other genre of movies too. For instance like Sex in the City (Romance), C.H.U.D (Horror),The day after tomorrow (Disaster), Men in Black (Action) and etc.

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Figure 20: Photo collage by author

Case Study

Justice League (2018) The second case study is Justice League. This movie shows where Superman and Batman come together to fight as a team. This chapter is to investigate how the day and night superheroes agreed to stand side by side and the effect of the combined two great fictional cities, Gotham City and Metropolis.

The highlighted parts are showing the reunion of Clark Kent and Mary Jane in the plaza with the Superman statue which I believe it is The Metropolis. My speculation become more convincing after I’ve combine the images that I snap for Gotham City as it is so obvious that The Metropolis has a lighter, more positive and peace colour palette. The tall and compacted First and foremost, this movie is connected with buildings in the city have the similar setting with Dawn of Justice and it started with everyone Gotham to act as a developed city. is mourning for Superman’s dead, include Batman. Batman is so guilty because he blame The last snapshot shows the aliens have built a himself because Kent Clark were sacrificed to large shield to protect their nest where we can save Gotham City. The first screenshot shows judge from the scale of the flying jet. The scale is Batman is trying to convince Flash to join him to so huge where it has the similar strategy with the fight against the alien invasion. They are talking alien invasion in Man of Steel. DC aim to target in Flash’s home where it looks like an abandoned the younger audiences who loves to go big & go factory. The second and third screenshots show wild. The last scene has a pink tone where it is the fighting scenes of Batman and his team with so different from the previous grey tone. the aliens in a tunnel. The tunnel is so huge and it looks creepy. Furthermore, they’ve came In conclusion, I like the way the director to to realised they can’t fight without Superman combine the two characters and the effects and Batman wanted to revive Superman in the are well balanced. The idea of Gotham City and Kryptonian ship, which is the fourth snapshot. All Metropolis are located to next to each other but of the scenes above are took place in Gotham the director have decided to preserved the original City where you can see the tone is darker and images of the two cities helped the audiences to the background looks more shabby. differentiate easily without confusion. The colour palette has changed from black to grey and end with pink to create the hierarchy of the storyline.

This will allow the movie for more expression and varies storytelling.

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Figure 21: Photo collage by author

Case Study

Spider-man: Homecoming (2017) The film opens with the salvage worker Adrian Toomes his co-workers are working on taking apart of the remains after the Civil war by gathering any useful materials or substances they can get their hands on. The scene after the action of Chitauri looks messy and we can see the remains objects are huge. Soon enough, a women came down from the van from the U.S. Department of Damage Control has given the orders to shut down this operation while all the findings will me confiscate immediately. Toomes was very unhappy because he has invested a lot of money into this project and it has to be stopped.

He try to phone Ned and tell him about the power core that he is hiding in his backpack because the core will explode after it exposes to the radiation but the message is failed to get it through. The cores is then exploded but Peter managed to save everyone of them.

Furthermore, Peter tracks the villains on the ferry but backfires occurs and the Ferry has spilt into half because the weapon is unstable. Peter try to hold on as much as he can by his webbing but it is not strong enough and the Ferry continues splitting. Iron Man and his little drones show up in the very critical moment and they manage to put the Ferry back together and everyone on Peter Parker happened to be recruit by Tony the Ferry is cheering because everyone is safe.

Stark after Peter helped him during the events The eighth screenshot shows the Ironman and of “Civil War�. Peter continues to be a normal Spiderman are talking on the roof top of the student at Midtown High School. While he will go building and we can see NYC as the backdrop around the city as Spider-Man to help people in and the scale of the buildings are massive and Queens Neighbourhood and fight crime if neces- dense. sarily after school. Peter refers this Spidey work as the Stark internship to everyone include Mary The last three screenshots show the fight Jane. Peter is helping in the neighbourhood and between Toomes and Spiderman on the plane. reporting to his supervisor Happy Hogan in the They have destroyed the turbines while they are fighting and cause the plane crush on Coney second and third screenshots.

Island. Spiderman manage to manoeuvre the The fourth and fifth screenshots show Peter plane away from the city and crash it on a beach. absent in the whole decathlon competition in From my observation, a large area is needed for Washington D.C and his team then heads over the plane to crash and it has caused everything to the Washington Monument right after the to become ashes. competition ends.

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Figure 22: Screenshots from Spiderman; Homecoming (2017)

Case Study

This is the scene where Peter was supposed to join the party in Liz’s house but end up he is going after the villains and he couldn’t swing because there are no buildings in the driving range and he has to run while it actually slow him down in the chase. Tall and dense buildings are a very important factor for Spiderman to be quick and save the city as he always need supports to move around.

In conclusion, the overall tone of Spiderman: Homecoming is light, bright, adventurous and entertaining. The difference is quite obvious if you compare to Justice League but it has a similar setting with Avengers. This is because Spiderman and Avengers are belongs to Marvel while Justice League is produce by DC. The two production company has their own style in bringing out the story that is happening in New York. I would say each of the style is good as long as it allows the story to be more expressive.

literature review

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Literature Review

LITERATURE REVIEW

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

The making of film

Sister Cities

The making of film will provide a better understanding of the spatial experiences and ideas that are trapped in 2 dimension. You will have different visual experiences when the characters in the comic book start walking and fighting.

The layers of spaces will be more obvious from 3 dimension as well as the potentials of architecture inside the movies are easier to be explore. Architecture building and spaces that represented through films scenes are studied by the directors which it must carry a reason behind why it is presented in this way. The storyline will be livelier if the characters are able to move and it will be more impressive than reading 2D from the comic book. The theory applies when we study a space or a building, the client will able to understand and dissect the spaces without any extra explaining if you show them a walk through videos. It’s like giving your client a realistic preview from 360° views and what it will be like walking around/through the building.

Metropolis and Gotham have the similar characteristic which is the buildings are dense and skyscrapers can be seen all around the city. The only different is the atmosphere in Gotham are darker and wet at night. The skyline in NYC are tall and straight, while the design of the buildings are modern and the materials are mostly cladding with glass. This will create a very elegant and futuristic characteristic for NYC which actually suitable for superheroes like Ironman, The Avengers and Batman.

The superheroes

The potentials in New York There are a lot elements in this big city like shadowy tunnels, huge crowds, suspension bridges and skyscrapers that make NYC the best backdrop for different genres of movies. These potentials actually attract more writers, editors and directors to draw their characters or cast their movies in this city, why go small if you can go big? A lot of ideas and dreams can be done in NYC due to its diversification, explorations are all you need to do.

We’re living in a golden age of comic book where more and more characters are making their way to the movies than ever before. Superheroes fans are all over the world and people even count down to the showing date in the cinema, queue for premier show and etc. There are reasons why people admire superheroes, because they are powerful but kind. They help the human kind and do well, this triggers the heroic spirit in every human where most of us wanted to be like them.

We hope we can do things that normal human can’t do, it is like a privilege for being a hero.

Most of the superheroes can fly in the sky where I admire the freedom that they got and it must be wonderful to able to travel to anywhere you want. These heroes represent the great justice and constantly telling us to be good, they often come out to the streets after they are disappointed by the local law enforcement.I think that’s the reason for people crazy over superheroes because from deep down we want to be like them, we wish we have the skills to protect the person we love and the abilities to do what we think is right.

Literature Review

LITERATURE REVIEW The common ideology Every fans in the wold is fighting for their favourite Superheroes as the most powerful or inspiring character. No matter how different between Batman and Superman, we couldn’t deny that they have the similar moral code by making the world a better place in their own ways. It is hard to stick by even the greatest heroes: Superman does not kill because he has a gift although his powers are so advanced, he can find ways around killing his opponents no matter how bad their path of distraction. He is a true boy-scout, Superman continuously states this common motto to people is that his powers do not put him above the law; he is not judge, jury, or executioner. In reality, Superman shows why work the death penalty isn’t the only way to deal with a criminal or terrorist, we often kill the enemies before they can hurt more innocent people, but Superman doesn’t think so, he symbolizes how we can find better alternatives to deal with enemies if we are willing to find it.

On the other hand, we do not overlook Batman’s ability because he is a human. Batman has his own principle, he does not kill the criminals because he think that he is no better than the enemies he takes down if he did. He may threaten criminals to the point that would go insane and in need of therapy, but killing criminals would be crossing the line. For instance, Batman have put Lex Luthor into the jail even though he was upset with the death of Superman. Batman is basically crazy, yet he is just trying to save Gotham from the vigilantes; it would be a disaster if he had the insanity level of The Joker.

Perhaps many would think Batman and Superman are seen as weak for not taking lives but I do not agree with them. This is because the major concerned for them are the safety of the citizens, it doesn’t have to be necessarily bloodthirsty, but one couldn’t stop violence with violence. This is a cycle. There is only so many times Superman can put villains into prison, and Arkham Asylum feels like a revolving door for psychopaths. However, it sounds so ironic that the citizens demand the world peace by asking the superheroes to kill all the enemies that threaten their way of living, just like what the criminals did to them.

We can see where their ideologies stand while the relationship of Batman and Superman’s are varies from artist to artish. For instance, there is the World Finest comics back in the 50’s, in which Batman and Superman would team up to stop crime. There is also the comic book Batman Superman: Public Enemies, where Batman and Superman are hunted by all their super-hero comrades, under orders by President Luthor.

They both work together and their camaraderie shows they have a well-established friendship.

(A.Hatch, 2015) In contrast, there are also large amount of stories on the market with the storyline that the two of them are fighting with each other.

The reflection of the society The film are originated for recording the historical period from time to time and provide a memory bank that reflects the changes in urban life.

The story in film(s) often reflects the reality of the society even the world that we are living in today. The definition of criminals are those who are against the dominant ideology and pose a threat to the society. Superheroes are then created to bring hope to the corruption in the current contemporary world.

conclusion

University University of of Strathclyde Strathclyde || Cultural Cultural Studies Studies AB420 AB420 || Liew Liew Pei Pei Chi Chi (( Hannah) Hannah)

Conclusion

CONCLUSION After having a brief study on superheroes and New York, I do believe that the greater NYC definitely act as a very important role in the film, NYC can be the character, backdrop as well as a battle ground in the film. It acts as a very important criteria in the movie as it would help the story to be more expressive. For example, the flows of the storyline in Spiderman would be different if Peter Parker doesn’t live in a neighbourhood in NYC because none of the other megacities have such a huge playground for him to jump around.

However, the fighting scenes of Ironman will be less impressive if it is not in NYC as we couldn’t see him flying on top of the city with his iron suit.

Apart from that, I do not agree that the existence of superheroes will be affected if it were not drawn in NYC, it could be other city but probably the cinematic effect and the significant of the city will not be so strong. The connections between superheroes and NYC are interrelated to each other’s performance, Superheroes will able to do their best in NYC it actually give publicity to know NYC more. Thus, NYC are the most suitable super-city for the superheroes.

reference

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

REFERENCE

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Annotated Bibliography • Marvel Database. (2017). New York City. Chapter: History [online] Available at: http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/New_York_City [Accessed 31 Oct. 2017].

New York City is the largest city and largest metropolitan area, by population, in the United States.

It is a global city and also an international centre for politics, theatre and etc. There are many landmarks in NYC like Empire State Building and The World Trade Centre. On the other hand New York City is also a superhero hub. The headquarters of Fantastic Four and Avengers are located within the city too.

• Gutierrez, P. (2010). Why So Many Superheroes Are Drawn to New York. [online] City Room. Available at: https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/08/why-so-many-superheroesare-drawn-to-new-york/ [Accessed 31 Oct. 2017].

In this big city, there are a lot of elements and spots like the bridge, tunnels and towers as a perfect incubator and backdrop for all kind of movies. Even beyond its physical architecture, NYC also provided a perfect setting for superhero exploits.

• Terri meyer, b. (n.d.). Architecture and film : experiential realities and dystopic futures. [online] 9, pp.1-3. Available at:http://tboake.com/pdf/boake_arch_film_colour.pdf.

Architecture will be easier to understand if it is present in 3 dimensional because ideas and spaces will often trapped in 2 dimensional media. Besides, the quality and the layers of the spaces will be easier to dissect in 3D, it helps in analysing the relationship between architectural spaces and film.

• Hayner, C. (2016). ‘Batman v Superman’: Are Metropolis and Gotham City really that close?. [online] Screener. Available at: http://screenertv.com/movies/batman-v-superman-where-are-metropolis-gotham-city-located/ [Accessed 3 Jan. 2018].

Metropolis and Gotham City are twin cities where just located near to each other and only separated by nothing more than a bay between them. Superman and Batman are working together against the bad guy in this movie. Wonder Woman appeared in this movie and show the darker & dirtier side of her.

• Superman Wiki. (2016). Metropolis. [online] Available at: http://superman.wikia.com/wiki/ Metropolis [Accessed 3 Jan. 2018].

Metropolis is a huge cultural centre and highly advanced in technology while the location is varies depends on the stories. Batman has been carrying out his own brand of justice, ‘bat vigilante’ for years while Metropolis is a more positive city and he wasn’t only protect the people in Metropolis but all around the world.

Reference

• Comic Vine. (2017). Gotham City (Location) - Comic Vine. [online] Available at: https:// comicvine.gamespot.com/gotham-city/4020-23611/ [Accessed 3 Jan. 2018].

Gotham has varies architectural appearance throughout the years while currently it has portrayed as a city with mix of Art Deco, Neo Gothic and Post-modern styling. It has always been a big city with sky scrapers, high reaching spires and iconic statuary.

• Batman Wiki. (2018). Gotham City. [online] Available at: http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Gotham_City [Accessed 3 Jan. 2018].

Gotham City is the home for Batman. Gotham City is known that moulded after NYC too but with exaggerate architectural elements in style. This article is saying about the history, geography and some details of Gotham.

• Comic Vine. (2012). Do all Marvel Superheroes live in Newyork? - Gen. Discussion - Comic Vine. [online] Available at: https://comicvine.gamespot.com/forums/gen-discussion-1/do-all-marvel-superheroes-live-in-newyork-608745/ [Accessed 3 Jan. 2018].

It’s a forum that allow discussion among the people where I found a very interesting points about why writers often draw New York as the home country of superheroes. That is because most of the writers/artists were originated from NYC or they came NYC for job opportunities. They tend to draw the characters into the familiar cities and it will be interesting if the stories actually interact with real life.

• lifesansbldgs, F. (2014). The Cartographer Who Mapped Out Gotham City. [online] Smithsonian.

Available at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/cartographer-gotham-city-180951594/ [Accessed 4 Jan. 2018].

The progress sketch drawings from the artist and illustrator of Gotham city, Eliot R.Brown. Gotham city were defined in 1998 in preparation for the “No Man’s Land Story” and Brown is the cartographer. ‘Gotham city is actually the ideal version of Manhattan’ where he tried to put Brooklyn and Manhattan into a nice layout. He included a lot of building elements of NYC into the layout, for example like the parks, civic buildings, monuments, familiar neighbourhood and etc.

• Casey, C. (2014). Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. [online] Sploid.gizmodo.com. Available at: https://sploid.gizmodo.com/heres-a-map-showing-where-in-the-world-marvel-superhero-1596797162 [Accessed 4 Jan. 2018].

There is a map in the page that shows the roots of your favourite superheroes where you can see that most of the Superheroes are originated from NYC. Superheroes like Captain America, Ant Man, Iron man, Spiderman, Iron Fist, Nova, Nick Fury, Storm and etc.

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

• Vincent G., K. (1971). Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. [online] Joshuamosley.com. Available at: http://joshuamosley.com/UPenn/readings/Kling_ArchitectAsFilmMaker.pdf [Accessed 4 Jan. 2018].

Vincent G.Kling & Associates were trying to create a walk through video back at year 1971 where the technology was not so advance back then. They think that 3D walk through video could give a clearer ideas to the client about their design concept. They made the whole video like a film with the help of ex-Disney cameraman, N.Paul Kenworthy and William Latady. It allows the client to decide the spaces and requirements of his projects.

• Homberger, Eric (2005). The Historical Atlas of New York City: A Visual Celebration of 400 Years of New York City’s History. Owl Books. p. 34.

The second edition of Historical Atlas of New York City, takes us through four hundred years of Gotham’s rich past, describing the crucial events as the city’s initial settlement of 270 people in thirty log houses. A fascinating chronicle of the life of a metropolis, it also provides a vivid and unique perspective on the nation’s cultural capital.

• Uricchio, W. (2018). The Batman’s Gotham City™: Story, Ideology, Performance. [online] Web.mit.edu. Available at: http://web.mit.edu/uricchio/Public/pdfs/pdfs/bat%20gotham%20final. pdf [Accessed 27 Feb. 2018].

This paper investigate the ideology of the Gotham city in different perspective for instance the author tried to locate Gotham City, the narrative of the city, and the performance of the city.

• Bal, Z. and Dikencik, M. (2013). The Dark Knight and the Ideology Behind. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 82, pp.580-584.

Entertainment itself is political because evaluating any kind of entertainment without considering the ideological context that is created within can cause false interpretations. Cinema is the kind of entertainment that is the topic of this paper. Briefly defined, cinema is the artistic enterprise that utilizes the moving images, it is a visual media that reflects reality, tells stories using realistic fiction or fantastic elements.

• Hatch, A. (2015). Batman and Superman: Comparing Two Iconic Superheroes | The Artifice. [online] The-artifice.com. Available at: https://the-artifice.com/batman-and-superman-comparing-two-iconic-superheroes/ [Accessed 5 Mar. 2018].

The title of this article is Batman and Superman: Comparing Two Iconic Superheroes and the author compared this two superheroes from their ideologies, the similarities between them and the analysis of The Dark Knight and Kingdom Come. The similarities between Batman and Superman are very interesting where the author actually pointed out the two heroes do not kill their enemies but they always find an alternative ways to defeat them.

Reference

• IMDb. (2017). Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). [online] Available at: http://www.imdb. com/title/tt2250912/plotsummary [Accessed 6 Mar. 2018] Peter Parker is thrilled by the experience with the Avengers and he finally returns home after the Civil war, where he lives with his Aunt May, under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark.

Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine as a high school student and he is distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. Everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened when the Vulture emerges as a new villain.  

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)

Figure References • Figure 1 : Djekova.info. (2018). Superhero Background Vector.

• Figure 2: Photo collage by author Figure 1 ; Batmangothamcity.net. (2018).

• Figure 3: Batmangothamcity.net. (2018). Metropolis Maps.

• Figure 4: Snapshot of NYC from google map.

• Figure 5: Photo collage by author • Figure 6; Batmangothamcity.net. (2018). Metropolis Maps.

• Figure 7: Lussier, G. (2014). Rumor: Three More Characters Will Appear as Batman v Superman Villains.

• Figure 8: Screen Rant. (2018). 20 Savage Memes That Show The Justice League Is Better Than The Avengers • Figure 9: Map by Casey, C. (2014).

• Figure10: Photo collage by author • Figure 11 Photo collage by author • Figure 12: Photographed by Slaya (2014) from https://sdelanounas.ru/blogs/50510/ • Figure 13: Man of Steel Images. (2018).

• Figure 14: Vancouver geography and landmarks (2013) from http://vancouvergeographyandlandmarks.blogspot.co.uk • Figure 15: Photo collage by author • Figure 16: Akhtar, I. and Petrakovitz, C. (2018).

• Figure 17: Image from Then And Now: 20 Skylines From Around The World (2014) • Figure 18: Photo collage by author • Figure 19: Photo collage by author • Figure 20: Photo collage by author • Figure 21: Photo collage by author • Figure 22: Screenshots from Spiderman; Homecoming (2017)

Film Reference : • • • • •

Superman : Man of Steel. (2013). [film] DC Comic Batman : The Dark Knight. (2008). [film] DC Comic Batman vs Superman : Dawn of Justice. (2016). [film] DC Comic Spiderman : homecoming. (2017). [film] Marvel.

The Avengers. (2012). [film] Marvel.

University of Strathclyde | Cultural Studies AB420 | Liew Pei Chi ( Hannah)