Batman: Every version of Gotham City ranked from worst to best

6. The Dark Knight Trilogy

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy is widely regarded as one of the – if not the – greatest adaptations of a comic book superhero of all time. It’s hard to argue with that sentiment because each one of the three movies are brilliant in their own right, each offering up their own important chapter of Nolan’s overarching story.

Gotham City is a huge part of that story, especially in the first movie (Batman Begins), as Bruce is sickened by the levels of crime that take place in it. From Carmine Falcone’s grip on the city to the overflowing criminal activity in The Narrows, there was crime and corruption everywhere. That, and the unique inclusion of the monorail, helped set up an amazing premise for an amazing movie.

Nolan is renowned for his realism, so the next two movies of his saga (The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises) were more grounded in tone. Gotham felt like less of a character, because it just looked like any normal city (it was filmed in Chicago) but that added a great deal to the story. It was beneficial to the films’ more grounded nature, highlighting that even though Gotham looked beautiful on the outside, it was anything but on the inside. The more time we spent in it, the more audiences discovered that. And that is a pretty darn effective strategy.