Geography and History

Metropolis is often considered the most prosperous and technologically advanced city in America and possibly the world. It is one of the largest cities in the US and rivals New York and Gotham City for dominance on the East Coast. It was discovered in 1542 by the Italian navigator Vincenzo Gnanatti and later settled by the Dutch in 1653. The magnificent natural harbor led to the settlement quickly prospering and becoming a major player in the revolutionary war. The city grew around the Hobs Bay and the West River as six different communities until in 1896 they were amalgamated into the modern city of Metropolis.

Metropolis was a major industrial player much like Gotham, but was able to diversify into finance and service industries. Metropolis steadily grew and maintained a comparatively low crime rate not prompting the rise of as many costumed heroes during the second world war as other cities. The heart of Metropolis is the central island of New Troy which contains Suicide Slum, Centennial Park and the Central Business District (which is home to the world famous Daily Planet and Lexcorp buildings). Along the mainland banks of the Hob's river is Park Ridge, Bakerline and Oakline, while along the mainland banks of the West River are Queensland Park, North Bridge and the original Old City. Situated between New Troy and Queensland Park in the West River is Stryker's Island, a maximum security facility interment centre).

Metropolis became the city it is today under the control of one man, Lex Luthor. He grew up in Metropolis and rumor has it that he killed his parents. With the life insurance money he began a company that would one day become Lexcorp. Lexcorp either directly or indirectly employees two thirds of the Metropolis workforce, it has a stake in almost every major Metropolis company and owns many outright via a smoke screen of dummy companies and holdings. Lexcorp's financial effect on Metropolis cannot be under estimated, for many years Luthor was able to run the city as a de facto ruler, his endorsement would choose the mayor. He chose which rules he followed and nobody could do a thing about it.

Luthor was knocked off his perch by the arrival of Superman in Metropolis. Superman created a buzz in the city and Metropolis quickly became known as the home of Superman. He eclipsed Luthor as the most influential man in Metropolis and Luthor became his eternal enemy because of it. Shortly afterwards Superman arrested Luthor on charges of reckless endangerment, but his lawyers had the charges thrown out. Since then Luthor has waged a covert battle with Superman using Metropolis as his battle ground and arsenal.

Superman's appearance prompted the local crime gangs to come together as Intergang and also prompted a rise in "meta-crimes", supervillains flocking to the city to try their hand at the Man of Steel. To cope with this changing crime scene Metropolis became the first to set up a Special Crimes Unit (SCU). As well as Superman Metropolis is home to a score of non-powered and low level metahumans including at different times, Gangbuster I, Black Lightning, Thorn II, Alpha Centurion, Scorn and the Guardian. It has also been home to a number of "Team Superman" including Supergirl and Steel III.

Recently the Brainiac 13 virus transformed Metropolis into a city of the future as its stronghold from which to take control of the Earth. It was defeated by Superman and Luthor, but made a deal with Luthor - the exchange of his daughter for the technical details of the city.

Glossary

Roman Marcus Aelius was called the Lion of Rome by Emperor Hadrian. He was the most successful warrior in Rome so when an alien race, the Virmiru, arrived and offered to exchange representatives he was the one chosen. Schooled in combat and the use of Virmiru technology he returned to Earth two thousand years later to take up his pace as Earths protector. Upon entry into Earth's atmosphere he encountered Superman and Lois Lane. While he had never met them they remembered him from a different timeline where he called himself Alpha Centurion. Taking the name he took up his place as one of Earth's defenders.

For a time Alpha Centurion worked with Lex Corp while it was being controlled by Contessa and helped set up an extension of the Team Luthor group. He departed from them when their dishonorable intentions were revealed. Moving to Washington he discovered the truth about his Virmiru that they were using him as a scout for their own invasion force. This forced him to break off contact with them and prepare for their arrival. Since then he had fought along side Earths heroes against the Sun Eater and as part of the Superman Rescue Squad. In both cases his starship the Pax Romana has proved a valuable assist.

The blind daughter of columnist Dirk Armstrong. She befriended Scorn when he escaped from the Bottle City of Kandor. They have become good friends despite her father's initial hatred/fear of Scorn. He has repeatedly saved her life and has even taken her back to visit Kandor. There she revealed the identity of Hank Henshaw (aka Cyborg II) who was trying to win use the City as a base for his plans.

A conservative columnist for the Daily Planet. His was out spoken of the chaos that Superman caused during his recent transformation. His blind daughter, Ashbury, is currently dating Scorn.

A short-order restaurant run by Mr. Balducci where Clark Kent worked in order to pay his way through University in Metropolis. Other employees included the waitress Ruby Carson.

Bibbo was a prize fight boxer back during the old days and may have even fought Ted Grant (Wildcat). Following his career in boxing he became a Longshoreman in Metropolis's Suicide Slum. He became known on by the criminal element and to the police as a regular of a number of bars and something of a tough guy. When he first encountered Superman he assumed that it was just some joker in a costume and punched him. Surprised to find somebody actually tougher than he was Bibbo became an instant covert and a Superman fan. A few years ago Bibbo discovered a wining lottery ticket on the street and used the winnings to buy his favorite bar called the Ace Oculus. Since then the place has become something of a "safe house" and venue for the less seedy elements of Suicide Slum. Regulars include all of Bibbo's pals (on the house of course), Professor Hamilton, Jimmy Olsen, the odd Daily Planet reporter and even Superman himself has dropped by.

A waitress as Balducci's Restaurant in Metropolis where Clark Kent worked after his world tour. He acknowledges that it was she who transformed a "farm body into a city dweller." She is now married to Ed (who was introduced to her by Clark) and has two children Carolyn and Dru.

A large centrally located park in Metropolis. It serves the same sort of function that Central Park does in New York. The Park is also the site for the famous statue of Superman that temporally served as his tomb.

The saving of the experimental NASA space plane at the Metropolis 250th anniversary celebrations was the first public appearance of a pre-Superman Clark Kent. Lois Lane was a civilian observer on the flight.

The Daily Planet is THE major paper in Metropolis with it's international edition being the most widely read English-language newspaper in Europe. It was founded in 1775 with a weekly Our Planet periodical and moved into it's present offices in 1938 with its distinctive rooftop planet emblem. The paper was owned by the Lex Corp. conglomerate before being bought out by an international group put together by Perry White. The only condition imposed by the new buyers was that White had to serve as Managing Editor, a position he has held continuously since then except for the occasional illness (at one stage leading reporter Clark Kent took over the reigns).

The staff are almost as famous as the paper itself with husband and wife team of Lois Lane and Clark Kent heading the roster. Newer talent such as photographer (and former TV reporter) Jimmy Olsen and reporter Ron Troupe have added to the great paper. A slump in newspaper sales during the last decade have resulted in a number of other staff being hired including Catherine Grant (their Hollywood columnist who would go onto a TV career), Dirk Armstrong (a conservative columnist) and Simone D'Neige (who was brought in the publishers against the wishes of Perry White to add a more populist angle to the paper).

The Daily Star is one of the premier newspapers in Metropolis and is a competitor with the Daily Planet. The Earth-Two Superman worked for the Daily Star rather than the Daily Planet.

A French journalist, she taught the young Clark Kent how to make contacts. She was brought onto the Daily Planet's staff to increase circulation after a slump in readership by the publishers. The Managing Editor Perry White is often a loggerheads with her attempts to inject a more sensational and populist angle into what he regards as his newspaper.

Morgan Edge was the owner of GBS in Metropolis and one of the country's most powerful media magnets before he got involved with the Apokolips controlled incarnation of Intergang. He was the father of Cat Grant's son, Adam, via a brief affair. Edge was deposed from control of GBS when his crimes were revealed by Superman. While in prison he wrote a tell-all book about his crimes and Grant. He later escaped and tried to create a circle of villains to take revenge on Superman.

Jose Delgado was an inner city teacher working with disadvantaged children in the Suicide Slum area. His stands against the city's gangs brought him to the attention of Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane. Together they began to unearth evidence that Lex Luthor was behind a violent up turn in gang violence. Delgado began to fight back by adopting the costumed identity of Gangbuster, however he was severally injured in one incident and required a special cybernetic spine implant to walk. After further run-ins with both Lex Corp and the Metropolis PD and a failed romance with television reporter Cat Grant, Gangbuster left Metropolis. Delgado is now mobile but sometimes pops up to assist other heroes.

Cat Grant began as a Hollywood reporter for GBS before becoming a reporter for the Daily Planet. While there she had a brief romance with Clark Kent. More recently she returned to television and has risen to a position of power in GBS. Her son, Adam (the result of a brief affair with Morgan Edge), was murdered by the Toyman.

Professor Hamilton is Metropolis' foremost independent scientist and unofficial science/technology advisor to Superman. He is a wizard with cutting edge and alien technologies and is the world's leading expert in Kryptonian technology being the only scientist ever to have visited the Fortress of Solitude. Eccentric and forgetful at best, he first encountered Superman when he used several gadgets to highlight his treatment by Lexcorp. He was later released into Superman's custody and the two have become friends. After an injury to his arm it was replaced by a robotic arm of his own design which he constantly changed and updates.

Superman's appearance in Metropolis hit the organized crime families forcing them to band together. This initial pact was usurped by Ugly Mannheim with help from Apokolips. As Intergang the unified cartels restructured along the lines of a major corporation and became a major power in Metropolis behind Superman and Lex Luthor. Supreme control of Intergang rested with Morgan Edge until he and a significant fraction of the organization was compromised by a series of investigative pieces in the Daily Planet by Clark Kent and Lois Lane (using information from Cat Grant). In the wake of its defeat Apokolips withdrew its support from Intergang leaving a power vacuum. It then reformed under the control of Boss Moxie who quickly found that he only operated with Luthor's permission.

Sister of Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane. Lucy was an air hostess for LexAir until a terrorist threw a batch of chemicals in her face blinding her. Lucy moved in with her sister and tried to adapt to being blind. Unknown to her and Lois the chemicals had been part of a batch that was used in a plan by Luthor to clone Superman which had accidentally created the first Bizarro. The destruction of the Bizarro resulted in a shower of white powder that some how restored Lucy's vision. Since then Lucy returned to her job as an air hostess. For a few years Lucy dated Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen, but she is currently involved with Olsen's colleague Ron Troupe and the two are expecting their first child.

An online news service that temporally replaced the Daily Planet.

Newstime is a weekly news magazine published out of Metropolis. It is owned by the human alter ego of the Demon Satanus. Clark Kent was temporally its editor.

Science and Technology Advanced Research Laboratories. Formed when a number of smaller labs amalgamated STAR today is the world's leading independent research company. They have facilities all around the world and specialize in frontier research while preferring to lease they discovers to third parties rather and develop applications themselves. They have their own modest space program and are the worlds leaders in teleportation technology, a field that they had developed in conjunction with the Justice League.

Maggie Sawyer came to Metropolis from Star City to set up the Special Crimes Unit shortly after Superman first appeared. Her tough no nonsense attitude to her work has made her enemies of the underworld and Lexcorp alike. She was promoted to Inspector in the wake of the death of Superman. She is currently in a relation ship with female reporter Toby Raines.

Scorn is actually Ceritak of Kandor City. His father was the city's puppet ruler controlled by Tolos. When he saw Superman bridge the interdimensional barrier between the city and Earth he escaped and made his way to Metropolis. His fearsome appearance and powerful abilities caused the media to dub him Scorn. He quickly became friends with Ashbury Armstrong and has developed a reputation as something of a party animal. He has recently disappeared.

The first SCU unit was set up be Metropolis PD after the appearance of Superman and the rise of Intergang. With access to the finest assault technology and rapid response units the SCU is designed to handle violent super-criminal and is more than a match for most threats. The Metropolis SCU headed by Inspectors Margaret Sawyer and Dan Turpin and works closely with the cities metahuman protectors including Superman. Following Metropolis's led other states set up their own SCU's including Superboy's old home of Hawaii.

A down market area of Metropolis. The old Hob's area backs onto the docking area and is home to a large immigrant population. It is the area of Metropolis that has the highest crime rates but also the lowest property prices. It is the location for Professor Hamilton's lab and to Bibbo's Bar.

Rose Forrest has a split personality. It first manifested itself when she saw her police detective father's body being dragged out of the Metropolis's Hob's River. Her more dominant, violent side, took over and used a costume from an abandoned costume shop (which she had discovered as a youth) to become the vigilante called the Thorn. She fought the family that had killed her father, the 100. By day she was Rose with no knowledge of her other self and by night she was Thorn. Rose has become a creative director for McClellan and Johnson while Thorn stills pursues the 100, now in the guise of the 1000.

Troupe was taken on at the Daily Planet to fill the shoes of Clark Kent while he was missing after the death of Superman. After Clark returned Troupe remained at the planet and became one of its leading reporters. He is currently expecting a child with Lucy Lane.

Inspector Dan Turpin is one of the longest serving members of the Metropolis Police Department. He was involved in the first cases resulting from the appearance of Superman and became a founding member of the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit. Dan Turpin was also responsible for the investigation into activities of the New Gods Orion and Lightray in Metropolis.