List of locations in Batman: The Animated Series

The following is an overview of the various locations found in Batman: The Animated Series and the corresponding DC animated universe.

Arkham Asylum

In Batman: The Animated Series, Arkham has appeared frequently in the series. It is depicted as GeneRally dark and gloomy, and the cells are similar to those in the comics, being primarily closed via glass doors. Much of the rest of the asylum resembles a prison more than a mental hospital, however; in the episode "The Trial" , it is explained that all criminals apprehended by the Batman are sent to Arkham rather than jail (although it is shown that the Penguin goes to Blackgate, a regular jail, determining that he is sane and accountable for his crimes).

The TV show Justice League featured Arkham in a brief cameo during A Better World, Part 2 in an alternate dimension where a Fascist League has taken over the world and dispatches villains via execution or lobotomy. The asylum is run by a lobotomized version of the Joker, and staffed by other lobotomized batman villains, including Two-Face as the caretaker and Poison Ivy as the gardener, and is protected by robotic copies of Superman. The entire inmate population is lobotomized by the alternate Superman's heat vision (notably, Superman did not lobotomize the Ventriloquist, but instead did so to his doll, Scarface). The Joker, Two-Face and Poison Ivy are used in both Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League as the key inmates of the Asylum.

Axis Chemicals

Axis Chemicals/Ace Chemicals has appeared in the Batman animated series. In "The Man Who Killed Batman", Joker puts Sidney, the low-level thug who "killed Batman" is put into a crate and sends him into a vat of acid as somewhat of a "eulogy" to Batman. The Joker even acknowledges the plant as the place of his "accident" that made him "the happy soul he is today".

In "Batgirl Returns," Axis is name-dropped as a local chemical manufacturer by an informant called only "the chemist."

Later on in The New Batman Adventures, Jack Ryder is seen filming a live TV broadcast on the history of the Joker, when the Joker sends Ryder into acid. The plant eventually explodes, leaving Ryder to become the Creeper.

Batcave

In the Batman: TAS episode "Beware the Gray Ghost", the Batcave is revealed to be an exact replica of the lair used by the Gray Ghost, a fiction-within-fiction character and idol to Bruce Wayne. There's also an exhibit of a collection of the Gray Ghost merchandise Bruce Wayne has collected since childhood. The Batcave gets introduced in this series as a large underground cavern. Bats are seen flying freely in the cave, with large naturally elevated platforms on which his sidekick Robin practices his balance. Batman often utilises the Batcomputer, impressive technology during the time the series was produced (early to mid '90s), to research information on villains, from an anti-venom to Poison Ivy's plant poison to newspaper articles on the origin of Killer Croc. Batman's numerous crime-fighting vehicles are seen parked in an adjacent compartment to the Batcave, with an adjoining not-so-secret subterranean garage which stores Bruce Wayne's mammoth collection of vintage and luxury cars.

In the episode "Almost Got 'Im", Two-Face uses a giant penny in an attempt to either crush Batman or kill him from the impact, whichever side the giant coin landed on. Batman managed to free himself from the coin by slicing open the ropes. While telling the story of this to other Batman villains, Two-Face commented that Batman got to keep the giant coin. It is seen later in the series, in the Batcave. This story was later retconned as the official comic origin of the penny.

Several entrances to the cave are seen throughout the series. In early episodes, Batman is seen using an elevator that is accessed through a secret door hidden behind a bookcase. In later episodes, he is seen using the classic grandfather clock entrance from the comics. In certain episodes, the clock-entrance is opened by setting the hands of the clock the time Bruce's parents were killed (similar to certain comic book stories), while in Batman Beyond, Bruce is seen pulling a level from behind the face of the clock, to unlock the entrance.

The New Batman Adventures

In the 1998 episode "Mean Seasons" from The New Batman Adventures, Batman and Batgirl are forced to fight a giant mechanical T-Rex. The comic book tie-in to the Justice League Batman - Batman Adventures #12 - features a short called "The Hidden Display" which tells how a young [...] Grayson persuades Batman into keeping a robot T-Rex early on his career, which eventually leads to the Trophy Room of the Cave. Either one of these tales could be how the animated Batman obtained the dinosaur. An extensive training area allows Barbara Gordon to take on robots as part of her training.

Batman Beyond

This future Batcave of Batman Beyond includes not only replicas of Batman's most famous enemies (both as wax dummies and robot combat trainers), but also a display case with the many permutations of costumes of Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Batman himself. Other items which have been shown to be in the Cave include the Freeze Gun and helmet of Mr. Freeze, the puppet Scarface, a 'shrine' to Bruce Wayne's childhood TV hero, the Gray Ghost, and the costumes of Harley Quinn, Penguin, Riddler, Mad Hatter, Firefly, and Catwoman.

Justice League

In the Justice League animated series, the members of the League seek refuge in the Batcave during the Thanagarian invasion. Later, they also confront Hawkgirl in the cave, and use the Batcomputer to track her movements. When the Batcave comes under siege from the Thanagarians, one attempts to use Mr. Freeze's Freeze Gun on Superman; Superman repels the attack with a gust of wind, freezing the soldier. Flash also tips the infamous giant penny onto some of the attacking Thangarians ("Tails! I win!"). In a humorous scene, he also points to the T-Rex, stating "That's a giant dinosaur!", at which point Alfred states "And I thought Batman was the detective".

Blackgate Penitentiary

In Batman: The Animated Series, this prison is called Stonegate Penitentiary. It was built as A Plan by Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent to build a better, safer Gotham. Criminals like the Penguin, Poison Ivy (later deemed insane and relocated to Arkham Asylum), Bane, the Ventriloquist (briefly, he spent most of his time behind bars in Arkham), Clock King, Rupert Thorne, Roland Daggett, Sidney "The Squid" Debris, and Baby Doll were sentenced to Stonegate. In "I Am The Night", a gangster called Jimmy "Jazzman" Peake was imprisoned here to await trial since Gotham City Prison was full at the time.

Blüdhaven

Blüdhaven appears briefly in the Justice League Unlimited television series episode "Grudge Match" as the backdrop for a meta-human fighting match organized by Roulette in which female Leaguers under mind control (including Fire, Wonder Woman and Black Canary) fight it out. A signboard at the city's entrance says "Welcome to Blüdhaven". In the same scene, the silhouette of Nightwing appears in a cameo.

Gotham City

In the episode "Joker's Favor", a driver's license lists a Gotham area resident's hometown as "Gotham Estates, NY". This implies that Gotham City borders or is within the state of New York, and has suburbs (such as Gotham Estates) within commuting distance. In another episode, when Bruce Wayne leaves for England, it shows Gotham City located on New York's Long Island, clearly in the same location as Queens.

Another episode of The Animated Series however, implies that Gotham resides in a state of the same name; a prison workshop is shown stamping license plates that read "Gotham - The Dark Deco State" (as a reference to the artistic style of the series, this plate was intended as a gag). In addition, the episode "Harlequinade" states that Gotham City has a population of approximately 10 million people.

During the events of the direct-to-video film, Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero, a computer screen displaying Barbara Gordon's personal information shows Gotham City, NY, but also displays her area code as being 212 - a common Manhattan area code.

The series also has drawings which New Yorkers can easily recoginze as Times Square, Radio City Music Hall, the Statue of Liberty, and the Museum of Natural History. They refer to it as Gotham Square Garden but it is MSG. There is also a Statue Of Liberty, however, it has a shield and crown.

Batman Beyond

Batman Beyond envisions a Gotham City fifty years into the future, referred to as "Neo-Gotham". It has futuristic architecture which mixes Gothic and Asian influences, reminiscent of the film Akira, with elevated streets looping around buildings, replacing the Gothic architecture based on early 20th century American city.

Lazarus Pit

In Batman: The Animated Series, two Lazarus Pits appear in the two part episode "The Demon's Quest": one in Ra's al Ghul's mountain lair and another in his desert lair. The first is used to rejuvenate Ra's al Ghul after he falls ill, the second is shown as the stage in an apparent battle to the death between him and Batman where Ra's al Ghul appears to die after plunging into the pit afterwards.

In Superman: The Animated Series, a Lazarus Pit appears briefly in a flash back in the episode "The Demon Reborn".

In Batman Beyond, a Lazarus Pit appears in "Out of the Past". It is used to rejuvenate an elderly Bruce Wayne back to his prime. However, this all turns out to be a ruse by Ra's al Ghul to transfer his mind (which is currently in his daughter Talia, where he transferred himself after his last battle with Batman left him too badly injured for even the Pit to heal) into the now-youthful Bruce's body. In Batman Beyond's future, the process of using the Lazarus Pits has become much safer and, although the pit's restorative powers make Bruce's body more youthful, because of his age in the series he would require multiple doses for the effects to be long-lasting. That is why Bruce reverts back to his elderly state within about a week after using the pit.

Wayne Enterprises

In Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, Wayne Enterprises was run both by Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox. Attempts at taking over the company were made by rival companies, including Roland Daggett of Dagget Industries. After GothCorp's CEO Ferris Boyle was arrested, Wayne Enterprises helped keep GothCorp running without firing any employees. It once partnered with LexCorp for the development of cybernetic scouting drones, the Waynelexes, but Bruce terminated their contract after Lex Luthor created several large-scale military prototypes, violating the joint approval clause stipulated in their agreement, as well as his involvement in the Joker's rampage on Metropolis. Wayne Enterprises also hired Arnold Wesker after his release from Arkham Asylum.

In Batman Beyond, the elder Bruce Wayne defended against numerous hostile takeovers by shrewd industrialist Derek Powers of Powers Technology. However, sometime after Bruce retired as Batman, Powers succeeding in merging the two companies, creating Wayne-Powers Enterprises. Powers have used Wayne-Powers' resources for many illegal business transactions, include making biological weapons for rogue nations. After Derek Powers' criminal identity as Blight was revealed, his son Paxton took over as CEO. Paxton was soon arrested after attempting to [...] Bruce and for several major art thefts. Bruce then finally reclaimed the company as his own.

Wayne Manor

In Batman: The Animated Series, an address is given for Wayne Manor in the episode "The Demon's Quest" stating that it is located at 1007 Mountain Drive, Gotham. The design of the manor was similar to previous versions, but included many more art deco aspects, inside and outside. This version of the manor was built on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The unique shape of the main section's roof vaguely resembled the "ears" of the Batman symbol.