New York City/MU


New York City
Continuity:	Marvel Universe
Aliases:	New York; NYC
Category:	City
Planet:	Earth
Continent:	North America
Country:	United States of America
State:	New York
Points of interest:	Ryker's Island
1st appearance:	Marvel Comics #1

New York City is a major metropolitan city located in the U.S. state of New York. This version of New York City is the one featured in comic books published by Marvel Comics in reality often referred to as the "Marvel Universe". The landscape and history of Marvel's New York City is the same as that of the real world, but there are also many historical elements, as well as characters, that are of course exclusive to the internal reality of the comic books. New York City is divided into five boroughs, each with their own neighborhoods. They are the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. A large majority of characters from the Marvel Universe are based out of NYC, as is the parent office of Marvel Comics itself. As such, Marvel's New York has a rich and colorful dynamic overlaid upon it's normal patina.

History[]

In the Golden Age era, New York became quite prominent in ushering in the first costumed super-powered beings into the world. Professor Phineas T. Horton created the world's first android, the original Human Torch. Shortly after the 1939 World's Fair, New Yorkers paid witness to the city's first major superhuman battle as the distraught Atlantean youth, Namor, the Sub-Mariner declared war on the surface world and chose New York as his battleground. The fight between the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner painted an image of the city skyline that no one would ever forget. Fortunately, the two would declare a truce between one another, and even become colleagues in the war-time Invaders.

In the modern era, the superhero renaissance began with one hapless science-loving youth - Peter Parker. Born in the Forest Hills neighborhood in Queens, Peter Parker was given enhanced physical traits due to a bite from a radioactive spider and has since become a city-wide fixture known as the Amazing Spider-Man. ^[1] Due to the bad and extremely biased publicity leveled against Spider-Man by J. Jonah Jameson of the Daily Bugle, the general populace of New York have often found Spider-Man to be a menace; no better than the supervillains he fought against. Many more however, having witnessed or even encountered the wallcrawler themselves, recognize him for the true hero that he is.

Whereas many New Yorkers turned a baleful eye towards Spider-Man, they welcome with open arms America's first family - the Fantastic Four. Scientist Reed Richards, his best friend Ben Grimm, his girlfriend Susan Storm and Sue's teenage brother Johnny were given tremendous powers due to exposure from cosmic rays. They beame known as Mister Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, The Thing and the second Human Torch. ^[2] The members of the Fantastic Four became celebrities of the superhero jet set in New York - owing largely to not only their deeds, but also because of their public identity. Despite this, one can still find the occasional New Yorker who might shiver in fear at the presence of everybody's favorite blue-eyed Thing.

With the emergence of heroes such as Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, it wasn't long before other costumed adventurers began making their presence in New York. Industrialist Tony Stark - owner and CEO of Stark Industries gathered together a group of heroes including Ant-Man, the Wasp and Thor to stop the rampaging monster known as the Hulk, who was being mind-controlled by Thor's evil half-brother, Loki. ^[3] At the conclusion of this adventure, the heroes decided to band together as the Avengers, though the Hulk left immediately afterwards. The Avengers quickly rose to the ranks of becoming America's premiere superhero team, notably after recruiting their most patriotic team member - the recently rejuvinated World War II hero Captain America. ^[4]

Modern events[]

Man-Thing in NYC — Man-Thing does not ♥ NY!

As a result of Cul Borson's Fear Wave, panic spread like wildfire across the city. This wave of fear prompted the empathic response stimuli of the Man-Thing, which drove him into an uncontrollable rage. As the old saying goes, "Whatever knows fear burns at the touch of the Man-Thing". There was much burning to be had. After roasting two innocent lovers on a park bench, the Man-Thing's actions drew the attention of Howard the Duck. Howard contacted She-Hulk and Nighthawk for aid in stopping the Man-Thing. While pooling their resources together, another monster found itself the target of extreme panic in Manhattan - the Frankenstein Monster. Saving the Monster from the NYPD, the other heroes banded together with him as the Fearsome Four. ^[5]

The Bronx[]

Brooklyn[]

Manhattan[]

Alley: The Alley is a network of tunnels that run beneath the sewers of New York City. This was the home and base of operations of the Morlocks. It has been refurbished and renovated many times over the years so that a complete layout of the Alley has never accurately been mapped. The X-Men first discovered The Alley after descending through the Manhattan sewers in search of their missing teammate, Angel. They found the Alley where his abductor, Callisto, had taken him in preparation of of a bizarre arranged marriage. Mister Sinister staged a massive attack against the Morlocks using a team of super-powered clones called the Marauders. He employed the services of a young thief from New Orleans named Remy LeBeau, who led the Marauders to the Morlock tunnels. ^[6] The Marauders began indiscriminately slaughtering as many Morlocks as they could find. A man known as Mikhail Rasputin, the brother of X-Men member Peter Rasputin, became a problem when a recent trauma caused him to go insane and embroil himself in a fight with the X-Men. At this time, Rasputin was forced to cause a flood that swept through The Alley putting many Morlock lives at risk. Not wishing to see them come to any harm, Mikhail used his powers to open dimensional rifts and shunted a group of Morlocks into a new realm.

Avengers Tower: The Avengers Tower was also the corporate headquarters of the Maria Stark Foundation. When the Avengers were retooled under the banner of the New Avengers, they began using the upper penthouse of the skyscraper as their headquarters. They maintained this HQ during the super-hero Civil War, World War Hulk and the Secret Invasion. For a time, Peter Parker, his Aunt May and wife Mary Jane Watson were living at the tower after their home was burned down. ^[7]

Baxter Building: Located at East 42nd Street and Madison Avenue, the Baxter Building is one of the city's most infamous landmarks. The 35-story highrise super-structure is the home and base of operations of the Fantastic Four. For several years, the building has also been known as Four Freedoms Plaza. More than any other locale in New York, the Baxter Building has seen a large number of battles between the FF and various empowered superhumans and aliens.

Casa Tindolini: Casa Tindolini is a hair salon owned and operated by Milo Tindolini. Susan Richards often had her hair done there. During one appointment, the salon was attacked by an earth elemental, who smashed out the front window in an effort to get to her. ^[8]

IBM building: The IBM building was an uncompleted skyscraper in Manhattan. The Shi'ar criminal Deathbird used as a front for constructing her own private starship. When she was forced to flee following a battle with the X-Men, she launched the craft, destroying the building.

Jane Foster's apartment: For a time, Jane Foster lived in an apartment in Midtown. Thor frequently visited her, and even the Warriors Three would spend some moments of relaxation at her place, eating McDonalds take-out and watching old Errol Flynn movies. (Thor 246)

Nelson & Murdock: Nelson & Murdock is a law firm founded by Foggy Nelson and Matt Murdock. They gained particular notoriety in New York City for it's penchant in representating clients in the superhero community. In the early days of the firm, Matt and Foggy's secretary was Karen Page. Foggy's mother, Rosalind Sharpe, later took control of the firm, much to the chagrin of both partners.

Parvenue Towers: Located in midtown Manhattan, this was the skyscraper office building of casino owner Ronald Parvenue. Parvenue aligned himself with Lady Deathstrike in order to track down Wolverine and they had a meeting in his office wherein Parvenue told her how he had tracked him to Canada. ^[9]

Peter and Harry's apartment: Peter Parker and Harry Osborn were roommates together during the time that they attended Empire State University. Though they were the best of friends, living together provided its own unique brand of challenges. As Harry was unaware of Peter's dual identity as Spider-Man, Pete had to be very careful to monitor his comings and goings and to make sure that he didn't leave a spare mask lying around. There has been more than one occasion when Harry nearly walked in on Peter while he was changing in or out of costume. Other problems that presented themselves involved two instances where Harry had problems with drugs. During this time, he became belligerent and non-responsive and Peter often had to keep a close eye on his friend to prevent him falling deep into addiction.

Peter and Mary Jane's brownstone: Peter Parker and Mary Jane lived in a top-floor brownstone apartment during the time that they were married. Peter liked the place because of it's skylight, which afforded him easy egress for when he needed to swing away as Spider-Man. However, there were three young female tenants who often enjoyed sunbathing on the roof, which made things difficult for Peter at times.

Rand Corporation: The Rand Corporation, formerly known as Rand-Meachum, Inc., was a company founded by Wendell Rand and Harold Meachum. Meachum took control of the company, after he conspired to have his business partner and their family murdered on a trip to the Himalayas. Wendell's son, Danny Rand, survived however, and spent the next several years in the mythical city of K'un-L'un. When he became an adult, Danny Rand return to his father's company's corporate offices to exact his revenge.

Reiss Armories: Reiss Armores was a business in New York City, New York that was founded by a man named Reiss. Reiss used the armory to supply Frank Castle with his arsenal to aid him in his crusade against crime as the Punisher. The Punisher went to Reiss Armores only to find that his friend had been murdered. Spider-Man happened to be at the scene, which made him look guilty and a fight broke out between them. The true murderer was the Jackal. (Amazing Spider-Man 129)

Waldorf Towers Apartment Complex: The Waldorf Towers Apartment Complex is located in midtown Manhattan. For a time, the Black Widow lived here and occupied the penthouse on the 50th floor. On one occasion, agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. attempted to sanction her by breaking into her home through the skylight, but she easily defeated them. ^[10]

Queens[]

Acme warehouse: The Acme warehouse is an old abandoned building. The burglar responsible for murdering Ben Parker fled here to escape from the police. Ben's nephew, Peter Parker, having only recently donned the red and blue garb of Spider-Man tracked the burglar down and arrested him. (Amazing Fantasy 15)

Forest Hills: Forest Hills is a neighborhood in Queens. It is the home of the Parker family, which originally included Ben Parker, May Reilly Parker and Peter Parker. The Parkers' neighbor was Anna May Watson, aunt of Peter's future wife, Mary Jane Watson.

Midtown High School: Midtown High School was where Peter Parker went to school. Other classmates who attended school at this time included Flash Thompson, Liz Allan, Sally Avril and Seymour O'Reilly.

Parker residence: The Parker residence was the home of Ben and May Parker and their nephew, Peter. The home was built sometime in the 1930s and was a temporary safe house for a ganster named Dutch Mallone before he was apprehended by treasury agent Elliot Ness. When Peter Parker was fifteen-years-old, a burglar broke into the house and murdered Ben Parker. Years later, May Parker turned her home into a boarding house. Nathan Lubensky stayed there for some time.

Long Island[]

Osborn Industries: This is the company founded by the Osborn family. It is here that Norman Osborn developed his Goblin Glider and pumpkin bomb technology. Osborn Industries owned the science hall where Peter Parker was first bitten by a radioactive spider that gave him his super-powers.

Unspecified locales[]

Cord Manufacturing: Cord Manufacturing was a business firm founded by Drexel Cord and based out of New York. Drexel used some of the funding from Cord Manufacturing to finance the reconstruction of a castle laboratory located some miles away. Cord created the Demolisher robot, which he believed was strong enough to destroy even Iron Man. After Drexel died, the company was inherited by his daughter, Janice Cord, who kept the business running until her own untimely demise some months later. ^[11]^[12]

Westhaven Nuclear Generating Research Station: The Westhaven Nuclear Generating Research Station was located along the bank of the Hudson River. The supervillain known as Firefly set the facility ablaze and members of the NYFD were unable to contain the fire without the use of chemical bombs. Firefly fought up against Nova at this time who flew into him and dragged him out of the building. ^[13]

Residents[]

Not all individuals listed her were necessarily born in New York City, but they did take up residence at some point.

Teams[]

Organizations[]

Hellfire Club
Morlocks

References[]

[1] Amazing Fantasy 15

[2] Fantastic Four 1

[3] Avengers 1

[4] Avengers 4

[5] Fear Itself: Fearsome Four 1

[6] Uncanny X-Men 350

[7] Amazing Spider-Man 519

[8] Fantastic Four 232

[9] Wolverine Vol 2 76

[10] Marvel Fanfare 10

[11] Iron Man 2

[12] Iron Man 22

[13] Nova 10

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]