DCU Places, Planets and Dimensions

This list is being updated and is still under construction.

 

The DC Universe (or multiverse as the case may be) is a wild and diverse web of magical realms, secret bases and pocket dimensions. Take a look around and get familiar with the place. 

Arkham Asylum - Located just outside of Gotham City on a small island, Arkham specializes in containing extremely dangerous psychopaths and super-villains who actually suffer from mental instability. Over the decades, the asylum has occasionally been relocated into other facilities. A few years ago, the asylum was officially moved to an old mansion called "Mercy House", whose builder was insane and thus the house is composed of many clashing styles and architectures (which inevitably led to their being a few hidden passages and rooms within).

The current director is Jeremiah Arkham, descendant of the asylum's founder Amadeus Arkham, who created the hospital in memory of his mentally unstable mother. It is known that Amadeus became an inmate himself after killing his first patient Matt Hawkins, a man who had tortured and murdered Arkham's wife and daughter.

Unknown to Jeremiah and the public, the Batman has a small secret base (designated "Northwest Batcave") hidden beneath the grounds of Arkham, allowing him to enter and exit the asylum at his convenience and to keep a close watch on the inmates, some of whom have a nasty habit of escaping (particularly the Joker). Batman is also concerned that Jeremiah may, in his own way, be as mad as Amadeus was.

DC Comics writer Dennis O'Neil created Arkham Asylum and named it after Arkham, Massachusetts, the setting of a story by H.P. Lovecraft.

Atlantis - The nation of Atlantis was built on the focal point of Earth's magical energies. The people who lived there were homo magi (see the entry in Races and Organizations). The sorcerer Arion was primary protector of the Atlantean nation during ancient times. A cataclysm led much of the nation to be destroyed and so much of the homo magi left, while the cities of Poseidonis and Tritonis eventually sank beneath the waves.

The main cities of Atlantis lie at the bottom of the sea, protected by domes. The people of Poseidonis are humans who breathe water whereas the people of Tritonis are mer-men and mermaids. A well-known woman from Tritonis is Lori Lemaris, a mermaid who dated Superman when he was younger. The hero Aquaman has usually lived in Poseidonis.

Belle Reeve Prison - A federal penitentiary of the U.S. government that specializes in the containment of super-villains. It is housed in Louisiana nearby the Gulf of Mexico and is surrounded by swamp land. Prisoners from Belle Reeve are sometimes recruited into the government black ops team Task Force X (nicknamed the "Suicide Squad"), where they perform dangerous missions in exchange for reduced sentences (see DC Hero and Villain Teams).

Bludhaven - A neighbor of Gotham City, Bludhaven is basically what Gotham would've become if the Batman and Commissioner Jim Gordon had never been around to protect it and clean up its corruption. During the story Infinite Crisis, much of it was destroyed and laid waste. Dick Grayson (formerly Robin I, later Nightwing) made Bludhaven his home for years.

The Bottle City of Kandor - See Kandor further below.

Colu - A planet inhabited by green-skinned humanoids who are of a greater intelligence level than most humans. Coluans prize science above all else. Long ago, they created living computers that eventually took over and were afterward known as the Computer-Tyrants. The Computer-Tyrants were eventually overthrown themselves. To maximize space on their world, Coluans developed energy rays which could shrink cities, a technology the Coluan villain Brainiac later used to capture and imprison cities from many different worlds (such as Kandor).

Czarnia - Home planet of the Czarnian psychotic bounty hunter named Lobo. Lobo is the sole survivor of this world due to wiping out the rest of his people with a plague.

Daxam - A planet that became home to explorers from the planet Krypton. Due to a Kryptonian device called the Eradicator which was programmed to keep the planet's purity and prevent more inhabitants from wanting to expand to the stars, the Daxamites were genetically altered so that they would be highly allergic to lead. Direct exposure is fatal to a Daxamite.

Because their people were originally Kryptonian, they also develop a wide array of superhuman powers when exposed to the solar radiation of a yellow sun (Daxam itself orbits a red giant named Valor). Because of their high vulnerability to lead, Daxamites became very hermetic and xenophobic. The most famous Daxamite is Lar Gand, who's been called Mon-El, Valor or M'onel depending on which story you're reading.

The Dreaming - The dream reality that we all visit when we imagine and when we sleep. First created in Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, it is occasionally referenced by other characters in DC Comics. It is ruled by the Endless called Dream.

Fawcett City - A fictional city that is the home of Billy Batson AKA Captain Marvel. Fawcett City has maintained a strong art deco style architecture over the years, giving tourists a sense of nostalgia for "simpler times." In fact, during the 1950s, the being known as Ibis the Invincible cast a magic spell over the city, causing it to become "timeless" in its attitude. Although the spell was lifted in recent years, its citizens are still known for being laid back and old-fashioned and visitors to Fawcett City often feel that they have walked back into the 1940's or 50's.

Fortress of Solitude - This has been the name of several bases Superman has used over the years. The first was in the Arctic and could only be accessed through use of a giant arrow-shaped key that would open the massive and incredibly heavy door (so heavy that only someone with strength comparable to Superman could push it open). This place was  discarded after The Crisis On Infinite Earths. A few years later, another Fortress was built underneath the surface of Antarctica by a Kryptonian artificial intelligence known as the Eradicator. Superman kept this for a number of years, eventually building it up further so that it extended into a citadel above the ground. It was destroyed later and Superman, along with his friend John Henry Irons (Steel II), remade it into a mobile "tesseract fortress", the inside dimensions of which were larger than those of the outside (outside it just looked like a giant orb and you needed to know the correct puzzle-sequence to open it). This was later destroyed as well.

Finally, Superman made himself a new fortress in the Arctic, the original location. This new Fortress of Solitude was built with Kryptonian sunstone technology and so it looks as if it's constructed by massive crystals. Its design and origin was inspired by the Richard Donner Superman film starring Christopher Reeve.

Gateway City - A fictional city that's supposedly located in Northern California. Gateway City was originally depicted as the home of the Golden Age hero Mr. Terrific (Terry Sloane). In later years, it became the base of operations for the Spectre, the angel of vengeance. Years after that, Wonder Woman temporarily made her home in Gateway City. Cassie Sandsmark (Wonder Girl II) grew up in Gateway City and the hero Arrowette has been seen living there and attending one of its high schools.

Gotham City - A fictional city located on an island off the coast of New Jersey (according to certain RPG guides). Originally built around an asylum, much of its construction and real estate was financed by the Wayne family. It is the home of Wayne Enterprises and the Wayne Foundation. Gotham has been called a "damned" city by others due to the many tragedies that have struck it. Twice it has had to deal with an Ebola outbreak and once it was hit by a massive earthquake that led to the U.S. government declaring the city a "No Man's Land" for a full year. When the city began to rebuild, LexCorp and Wayne Enterprises offered much aid, leading it to a somewhat brighter and more modern-looking appearance in recent years.

During the Golden Age, Gotham was protected by Alan Scott, the first Earthman to be called Green Lantern. It's most famous guardian today is the Batman, though it is also currently watched over by Robin III, Batgirl II, the Spoiler and Catwoman. Arkham Asylum is located just outside of Gotham, on a small island.

The area of Gotham once known as Park Row has been called "Crime Alley" for years, following the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne which took place there. The two were considered Gotham City royalty and it's been said by some that their deaths at the hand of a simple mugger was the beginning of Gotham's return to being crime-ridden and corrupt.

 

Hall of Justice - The main HQ of the Justice League of America, the Hall of Justice is housed in Washington DC (and pictured above). The Hall has teleport access to the third and current JLA Watchtower, an orbital space-station constructed by the League. When the first two JLA Watchtowers were built on the moon, the main atrium of both was also referred to as the "Hall of Justice."

Kandor - Also known as the Bottle City of Kandor. As continuity stands, Superman has encountered two cities named Kandor. The first was a colony of various aliens from different worlds who had imprisoned in a bottle-like container that shifted them out-of-phase with reality. The city was itself said to be named after an old Kryptonian city. A sorcerer named Tolos kept this bottle city prisoner. A parasitic being, Tolos found it useful to keep so many potential host bodies within easy reach. Superman eventually took the bottle city from Tolos and brought it back to his Fortress of Solitude. This particular Kandor was later destroyed and the fate of its inhabitants are unknown.

Recently, Superman has discovered that the original city of Kandor still exists, having been stolen from Krypton some time before the planet's destruction. The villain Brainiac shrank the city down and placed it in a bottle-like container that allowed him to access its technology and information resources.

Krypton - Originally located in Sector 2813 (as the Green Lanterns chart the known universe). This planet orbited a red sun called Eldirao (from which the name of their god Rao derives) and was home to a race of humanoids who were thousands of years more advanced than Earth is today. When Kryptonians are exposed to the radiation of a yellow sun, their cells absorb and convert the solar energy, allowing them develop a vast array of powers. Krypton also had a very strong gravity, so often its inhabitants would have enhanced strength and resiliency when on planets with weaker gravity (such as Earth).

The majority of Krypton was highly xenophobic and the government did many things to prevent its people from spreading out among the stars and from having their culture "contaminated" by outside races. For instance, when a group of Kryptonian explorers settled on the planet Daxam, they were genetically altered so that they would now be lethally allergic to the simple substance of lead. Internal stresses eventually caused Krypton to blow up.

The only known survivors of Krypton are Superman (Kal-El/Clark Kent), his cousin Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), his dog Krypto, the citizens of Kandor, and several criminals who were exiled to the Phantom Zone before the planet's destruction (see Phantom Zone below).Kryptonians are most vulnerable to red solar radiation and kryptonite.

Maltus - The native planet of the Maltusians, a race of blue-skinned humanoids who developed near-immortality and vast powers over energy manipulation. The Maltusians later became the Guardians of the Universe, the Controllers and the Zamarons.

Mars - Known as Ma'aleca'andra to its inhabitants, Mars was once home to two races: the gentle Green Martians and the predatory White Martians (also known as Pale Martians). White Martians became a war-like race bent on conquest whereas the Green Martians became enamored with philosophy and science. Experimentation on early humanity by a tribe of White Martians led to the creation of metahumans (see the Glossary). The Greens had a police force known as the Martian Manhunters and this group inspired the Guardians of the Universe to create robot warriors under the same name. The Martian races also created two clone races (one red-skinned and one white-skinned) to operate their space stations orbiting the planet Saturn.

Eventually, a plague wiped out nearly all of the Martian race. The most famous survivor is J'onn J'onzz, who became the Earth hero called Martian Manhunter. Martians can shape-shift (which also allows intangibility and invisibility), possess telepathy, have great strength, speed and resiliency to injury, can fly and emit force beams from their eyes. Due to their worship of a Martian fire god (and due to tampering on their minds and bodies by the Guardians of the Universe, who felt they were too powerful), Martians all suffer from intense pyrophobia. In the presence of fire, they will often lose control of their bodies and powers, leaving them vulnerable.

Metropolis - A fictional city said to inhabit an island off the coast of Delaware (according to some RPG guides), founded by American settlers (one of whom was named Luthor).  A hub of technological development, thanks in no small part to S.T.A.R. Labs and the science division of LexCorp, Metropolis has often been hailed as the "City of Tomorrow." The city is home to the HQ offices of LexCorp are and the world-renowned newspaper The Daily Planet. Although most of the city has been hailed for its beauty, the area of Hobb's Bay is so run-down and poor that is has been nicknamed "Suicide Slum."

During the Golden Age, Metropolis was home to a vigilante named Guardian (AKA Jim Harper) and his adopted kids the Newsboy Legion. Its most famous champion today is Superman, who is sometimes called the Metropolis Marvel. The hero Black Lightning used to operate in Suicide Slum.

Midway City - A fictional mid-western city, not to be confused with the real-life Midway City in California. Though some writers have stated it's in Illinois, writer Bob Rozakis has said that it was located in Michigan, near Sault Ste. Marie, and this has been considered official by most. Midway City was the original home of the group known as the Doom Patrol and was also home to the Silver Age Hawkman and Hawkwoman.

Oa - A planet that many believe to be located in the central area of the universe. Oa is the home-base world of the Green Lantern Corps and their mentors, the near-immortal Guardians of the Universe. Oa is also where the Central Power Battery of the Green Lanterns is located, the main power source of all Green Lantern rings across the universe. The planet Oa was once destroyed following the events of Zero Hour, but was later rebuilt thanks to the efforts of the hero Kyle Rayner. Oa is a mostly desolate world, covered by deserts, ravines and mountains. There doesn't seem to be any native vegetation or life. Even the Guardians themselves who live there are not natives, as their people originally evolved and lived on the planet Maltus.

Opal City - A fictional city located in Maryland (as stated many times by the city's creator James Robinson). Built around the "Port of Souls" (founded by puritans in the 1770's), the town that later became a full city was home to many heroic figures. The western hero Brian "Scalphunter" Savage was sheriff in the late 19th century. His son Matt Savage became the World War I hero "Balloon Buster." In the late 19th century, the sometimes-villain known as the Shade made Opal his home and liked it so much he decided never to commit a crime there or allow it to come to harm.

In the 1940s, Ted Knight of Opal City became the first hero called Starman and would be succeeded by others, including his son Jack Knight. Because Opal had its greatest expansion during the 1930s, it, like Fawcett City, has a very strong art deco style to most of its architecture.

The Phantom Zone - A "twilight dimension" that the people of the planet Krypton used as a prison for its most dangerous criminals. It was discovered by Superman's father Jor-El, who proposed that temporary exile into the Phantom Zone would be a merciful alternative to Krypton's death penalty for its most dangerous criminals. Despite this merciful intention, inmates of the Zone have described it as a living death and a torturous existence.

In the Phantom Zone, a person has no physical form nor do they suffer the effects of time. They cannot interact even with other prisoners, as they have become phantom-like beings. They can sometimes perceive the physical universe around them but cannot affect it nor can they communicate with those who exist outside of the zone.

To exile or release a prisoner or item from the Phantom Zone, one must use a "Phantom Zone Projector", though occasionally there have been escapes without the use of this device. Several Kryptonian criminals still exist within the Zone, having been imprisoned there before the planet's destruction. Some of the most famous criminals who inhabit the Zone are General Zod and the Zone's first inmate Jax-Ur.

Years ago, the Daxamite hero Mon-El was exiled to the Zone as a means of suspended animation, in order to prevent his body from succumbing to lethal lead poisoning. He would not be released again until the 31st century.

Rann - A planet in Alpha Centauri's system lit by three suns, it is home to a humanoid race with technology over a century more advanced than Earth's. Their most famous creation is the Zeta beam. Zeta radiation can teleport someone across interstellar distances, but when the radiation wears off, the person is shunted back to his original location. The most famous hero of Rann is Adam Strange, an archaeologist from Earth who found himself brought to the planet many times and has made a career of using advanced weaponry and his own keen intellect to protect it from conquerors.

A recent war with the planet Thanagar has left Rann somewhat the worse for wear.

St. Roch - A fictional city located in Louisiana and neighboring New Orleans (not to be confused with St. Roch Avenue, which actually exists in New Orleans). Carter Hall, the Golden Age hero Hawkman, lives in St. Roch at the Stonechat Museum The city is said to have been established the same year that Louisiana was founded. St. Roch is also the original home of the spectral villain known as the Gentleman Ghost (back when he was alive) and was a temporary home for the 19th century western heroes Nighthawk and Cinnamon (who were actually Hawkman and Hawkgirl in a past life).

Sector 2814 - You'll see this referenced in various DC Comics and most often in Green Lantern stories. This is the sector of space that Earth and it's solar system occupies (the sector was designated by the Guardians of the Universe).

Star City - A fictional city that has moved locations due to different writers, but since the 1980's it's been said to be in Northern California (possibly nearby the San Francisco Bay). Oliver Queen AKA Green Arrow has usually made his home in Star City and the second Black Canary has lived there at times as well. Star City has also been home to the vigilante called Steelclaw (who was actually Mayor Thomas Bolt) and to Chase Lawler (one of the heroes who's called himself Manhunter). In recent times, the villain Dr. Light destroyed a third of the city in the "Amsterdam Avenue Disaster."

Tamaran - A planet that was home to a race of orange-skinned humanoids with green eyes. The Tamarans had a society built on the free expression of emotion and passion and so it bred many warriors. Tamaranian physiology constantly absorbs ultraviolet radiation and so a person from Tamaran can converts this energy to enable flight (as a side-effect, their flight path leaves a distinctive energy contrail in their wake).

Tamaran was destroyed later and its few survivors have scattered across the cosmos. The two most famous Tamaranians are the hero Koriand'r (called Starfire) and her sister Komand'r (often called Blackfire).

Thanagar - A planet with very little land-mass, the people of Thanagar are humanoids. The planet has an ore called Nth metal which allows one to tap into the unified field if they really know what they're doing. The easiest use of Nth metal is that it allows one to negate gravity, which causes an increase in strength and allowed the Thanagarians to fly after they developed proper wing harnesses.

A Thanagarian scout ship landed on Earth during the days of ancient Egypt and the ship and its Nth metal store were found by Prince Khu-fu Khataar, who would later become the first super-hero to be called Hawkman. The Thanagarian police force are often called Wingmen.

In recent years, Thanagarian became more and more a military society with little sympathy for others. An attempted invasion of Earth and a recent war with the planet Rann has made many people wary of them.

Ventura - A casino planet where aliens from across the cosmos come to play the odds.

 

The Watchtower - Originally created by the Justice League as a base on Earth's moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Using the highest levels of Earth science along with Martian technology, the base was both headquarters to the JLA and a monitoring station for the Earth below. It was destroyed by one of Lex Luthor's Injustice Gangs during Grant Morrison's JLA story "World War III" (not to be confused with the story of the same name that took place in the series 52).

A new Watchtower was built and then expanded on by the JLA, with greater facilities and equipment. It was later destroyed by Superboy-Prime (a twisted Superman from another universe) just before the events of Infinite Crisis. The current Watchtower is an orbital space station in geosynchronous orbit above the Earth (much like a satellite base the JLA had many years before). The Watchtower has teleport access to the Hall of Justice in Washinton D.C.