The DC Universe can be a scary place. Sure, it has Superman and the rest of the Justice League out there protecting it, but there are all sorts of menaces that beset the ordinary people of the world from alien invaders to Intergang.
In particular, the cities of the DC's Earth Prime are scary violent places full of poverty, corruption, and supervillainy. Even the most prosperous and scientifically advanced metropolitan areas face serious threats to anyone living there, from having to pay the high cost of living in a futuristic technopolis to dealing with a deluge of ray gun-wielding baddies. These are the 10 most dangerous cities in the DC Universe.
10 Gotham
It should not surprise anyone to see Gotham at the top of this list. It's a city so dark and riddled with crime that it turned a sweet naive billionaire child into a brooding masked vigilante who haunts the nights in an insomniac frenzy of violence when he's not parkouring off sky scrapers.
This city's maximum security prison is so overcrowded they house the overflow of the most violent offenders in the legendary Arkham Asylum--a mental health facility that has abandoned treatment in favor of jailing Gotham's myriad supercriminals. Beyond all this, poverty, corruption, and urban decay are rampant.
9 Vanity
Vanity is a city that is probably best known as the home of the superhero Aztek, a major character in the 90s who was briefly part of the Justice League. Aztek moved to this city which had a mixture of supercriminals and organized crime for him to take on. There are also some staggeringly corrupt and incompetent people in positions of power.
If that was not bad enough, the presence of Aztek prompted someone to go to the city just to steal his helmet, killing innocents upon his arrival, while the Joker and Lex Luthor also decided to pay extra attention to the city and alter the course of events there.
8 Hub City
The home to the Question, Hub City is a place that seems forever stuck in the crime wave of the 70s and 80s. Its primary hero is an Objectivist whose very moral code is rooted in selfishness, which seems perfectly emblematic of how those in power in Hub City have reused to take care of the most vulnerable members of society.
From one administration to the next, organized crime directly controls the mayor's office, while police corruption and brutality are the norm. Cultists and assassins have also plagued the city, operating from the shadows. The real question is why so many people have stayed.
7 Metropolis
Metropolis is home of Superman, the Man of Tomorrow, and with all of the science fiction tech in the city, it is easy to see it as the City of Tomorrow. The glistening skyscrapers and clean streets promise a bright future while a Kryptonian sun god reinforces the virtues of truth, justice, and the American way with America-sized super strength and super hearing that is the envy of the NSA.
How is Metropolis dangerous then? Beyond the high price of living in this gentrified city, the place is regularly targeted by Zod, Doomsday, interdimensional imps, and anyone else with a grudge against the guy with a great big S. Also, there's a southside neighborhood called Suicide Slum. That name is more than enough proof that the City of Tomorrow hasn't dealt with all of yesterday's problems.
6 Star City
This is one of two areas Green Arrow has called home, the other one being Seattle. As a billionaire, Green Arrow grew up in the usual bubble of privilege that keeps the super rich from being even remotely in touch with the world around them. When he returned to the city after having been marooned on a desert island, the state of things in his home was so bad that he became a masked vigilante.
Beyond the original Star City, the city of Seattle was also rechristened as Star City after terrorists blew up a star-shaped hole in the city.
5 Coast City
This West Coast city is perhaps best known as the home of the first Earthling to join the Green Lantern Corps, Hal Jordan. That, or as the city that was obliterated by the space alien Mongul when Superman returned to life after being killed by Doomsday. Seven million people died that day.
Since its destruction, it has been rebuilt, while its most famous citizen has been resurrected. Like any city with a major superhero presence, villains have attacked it just to get at the costumed crusader, but overall, it seems to have been a pretty gentrified town since it was rebuilt.
4 Dakota City
This was originally the central location of the Milestone Comics Dakotaverse that was eventually absorbed into the larger DC Universe. Characters like the electric-powered wise-cracking hero Static (of Static Shock fame) and the alien superhero Icon live in this city. So do a large number of gangs.
A gang war known as the Big Bang is one of the defining moments of Dakota City's recent history. This brawl resulted in many of the participants gaining the exact sort of powers violent criminals almost certainly should not have. Furthermore, this city has been impacted by poverty and a lack of infrastructure comparable to its crime problem, which is saying a lot in a city where the OG's include a guy named Holocaust who can shoot fire from his hands.
3 Blüdhaven
It has been said that if Gotham is meant to be an allegory for New York City, then Blüdhaven is DC's equivalent to North Jersey. There's regular gang crime, supercrime, and lots of class tension with plenty of wealth and plenty of people lacking it. Blüdhaven also has a fair number of vigilantes who seem to mean well but are awfully kill-happy to be superheroes.
Batman's former protege Nightwing is the hero who is most associated with protecting this place. He even became a cop for a bit to dedicate his life to protecting people full-time. Unfortunately, Blüdhaven cops are only marginally better than those in Gotham.
2 Nanda Parbat
This is the only city on the list not in the United States, since most DC writers are based in the US and have given the world an Amerocentric design. Nanda Parbat is an ancient mystical city located in the Hindu Kush where monks live in religious contemplation.
The city is in a remote location so just getting there is incredibly perilous. It also has been attacked repeatedly by the League of Assassins, one of the deadliest groups of killers in the world. So, while street crime is nonexistent and supervillains aren't as bad as in other cities, its still not a place the average person will be safe.
1 Central City
Along with Keystone City, Central City is one of the Twin Cities that the Flash patrols as his home turf. As the place where Barry Allen lives, it has a fairly sizable police department (of which he is a member), but it also has an even larger criminal population, and a little bit of overlap between the two.
This city had a number of problems of its own, including the Rogues, a group of supervillains who have banded together, but since Flash showed up, it has gotten into the habit of being hit with invading time travelers, rampaging telepathic gorillas, and storms made of the Speed Force.