Warning: The following feature contains SPOILERS for The Flash, season 6, episode 10, “Marathon.”
The first episode of The Flash following Crisis on Infinite Earths revealed a map of Earth-Prime and offered a glimpse at how much things have changed in the new Arrowverse. While the new map showed many familiar names, some of the locations seemed slightly different compared to the world of Earth-1.
Precise geography has never been a strong point of the Arrowverse. The Flash’s hometown of Central City, for instance, had a ZIP Code which suggested it was somewhere in Oklahoma. Yet the first episode of The Flash placed Central City 600 miles away from Star City, on the West Coast of the United States. To further confuse matters, Central City is said to have a population of 14 million people (almost twice as many people live in the real world New York City) yet is modeled on the modestly sized city of Portland, Oregon.
Given that, it’s no surprise that Cisco Ramon started to go a little crazy considering the sheer logistics of how multiple Earths were seemingly condensed into a single world and started charting how whole cities now existed where they hadn’t on Earth-1. Here’s a rundown of every location listed on Cisco’s map of Earth-Prime and what we know about them.
Fortress of Solitude
Located somewhere in the Arctic Circle, the Fortress of Solitude is a little piece of Krypton on Earth. The Fortress houses a powerful quantum computer, which contains data on millions of alien worlds and artificial intelligences based upon the personalities of the deceased elders of the House of El. It also contains an armory of dangerous weapons (many of alien origin) which Superman confiscated from his enemies.
Star City
The hometown of Oliver Queen and the setting of Arrow, Star City is perhaps the most drastically changed of all the key cities of Earth-Prime. Once an urban hellhole which seemed to suffer some sort of calamity every spring, Oliver Queen’s sacrifice during Crisis on Infinite Earths allowed the city to be reborn without the organized crime that plagued it for decades. Star City is located on the West Coast of the United States, close to where the real world city of Seattle stands.
National City
The setting of Supergirl was relocated into Southern California on Earth-Prime without anything from Earth-38 being lost. Indeed, National City seems to have gained several new residents, thanks to a wormhole centered upon Al’s Dive Bar that somehow saved some doppelgangers from other dimensions and pulled them into Earth-Prime. The ramifications of this have yet to be fully explored, beyond the fact that one of these doppelgangers is an evil version of Winn Schott who embraced the identity of his terrorist father and became a new Toyman.
Gotham City
Typically Gotham City has always been presumed to lie somewhere on the East Coast of the United States. However, according to Cisco’s map, the Gotham City of Earth-Prime is located on the western shores of Lake Michigan, somewhere between Chicago and Milwaukee. There is some sense to this, however, as some of Batwoman’s exterior scenes were shot in Chicago and many modern Batman writers have based their depictions of Gotham City and its organized crime on the real world gangsters of Chicago.
Happy Harbor
Located in Rhode Island, Happy Harbor housed the first secret hideout of the Justice League in the comics. The Secret Sanctuary later became a base of operations for their teen proteges in the Young Justice animated series. This is the first time Happy Harbor has been confirmed to exist in the Arrowverse.
Metropolis
The famed City of Tomorrow is located on the East Coast of the United States, somewhere south of Happy Harbor. Based on Cisco’s map, it seems likely that Metropolis, as in the comics, is located in the state of Delaware, facing northward onto Delaware Bay. The series finale of Arrow revealed that John Diggle and Lyla Michaels will be moving to Metropolis soon, though it is unknown if they will make an appearance in the upcoming Superman and Lois series.
Freeland
The setting of Black Lightning and hometown of Jefferson Pierce, Freeland is situated somewhere in the southeastern United States. Freeland seems to be located fairly close to Atlanta, Georgia, which makes sense as that is where the series is filmed. Previous episodes of Black Lightning also used real world Atlanta ZIP codes to represent addresses in Freeland.
Santa Prisca
In the DC Comics’ universe, Santa Prisca is a notorious island prison located in the Caribbean. It is best known as the birthplace of Bane. Santa Prisca was previous mentioned in one season 3 episode of Arrow, with Lyla Michaels being said to be busy with an ARGUS mission in Santa Prisca. According to Cisco’s map, Santa Prisca can be found off the coast of Venezuela, due east of Trinidad.
Corto Maltese
Located off the coast of Brazil, fairly close to Rio de Janeiro, Corto Maltese is another island nation notorious for its corruption. It was here that Malcolm Merlyn fled with Thea Queen at the end of Arrow season 2, in order to begin her training as an assassin. Corto Maltese was also said to be the site of a genocide arranged by John Corben; the mercenary who became the Kryptonite-powered cyborg Metallo.
San Monte
San Monte is another location that is new to the Arrowverse but an important piece of comic book history. Described as a “small South American republic,” San Monte was the site of a revolution that Clark Kent was sent to cover as a war correspondent in his very first appearance in Action Comics #1. The Arrowverse version of San Monte is located on the northwestern coast of South America, somewhere close to Columbia and Ecuador.
Zambesi
The home nation of Mari McCabe (a.k.a. Vixen), Zambesi is also home to six magical totems which control the forces of Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Spirit and Death. Much of Legends of Tomorrow season 3 was devoted to the hunt for the six Totems of Zambesi, which were needed to defeat the time demon Mallus. Zambesi is located in central Africa, though it shares its name with a real world river in eastern Africa that flows between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Tinasha
Located to the south of Zambesi, Tinasha is a fictional city located in the real world nation of the Democratic Republic of Congo. In the DC Comics’ universe, it is the hometown of the vigilante Batwing; one of many vigilantes inspired by Batman and funded through Batman Inc. There is no indication, however, that Batwing or some variation on Batman Inc. exists in the Arrowverse.
Gorilla City
Formerly located on Earth-2, Gorilla City was home to a race of sentient gorillas. It was conquered by the telepathic Grodd and used as a staging area to launch an invasion of Central City during The Flash season 3. Gorilla City is now located on the West Coast of Africa on Earth-Prime.
Qurac
Located between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, Qurac is one of many fictional Middle-Eastern nations created for the DC Comics’ universe. According to Felicity Smoak, it is home to the largest untapped oil field in the world. John Diggle and Lyla Michaels journeyed to Qurac in the Arrow season 7 episode “Brothers and Sisters” while on a mission for ARGUS.
Bialya
Another fictional Middle-Eastern nation originally created for the comics, Bialya is located in the northern part of the Middle East, situated between Turkey and Iran. Ruled by the supervillain Queen Bee in the reality of Young Justice, the country is often depicted as a haven for mercenaries and terrorists of all stripes. Roy Harper and John Diggle traveled to Bialya in the Arrow season 8 episode “Prochnost,” to steal the plutonium needed to power a pulse-wave generator.
Kasnia
Alternatively known as Kaznia, this nation was a key part of Supergirl’s season 4 storyline. Located in Eastern Europe and sharing a border with Russia, the government of Kasnia plotted with Lex Luthor to use a clone of Supergirl known as the Red Daughter to declare war on the United States. The Republic of Kasnia on Earth-1 was the setting of the Arrow season 3 episode “Suicidal Tendencies” and Oliver Queen journeyed there with Slade Wilson to help him find his estranged son in the Arrow season 6 episode “Deathstroke Returns.” It is currently unknown which version of the country was reborn on Earth-Prime.
Markovia
Markovia first appeared in the Arrowverse in the Arrow season 2 episode “Suicide Squad,” which introduced the titular team. Markovia took on a more prominent role in Black Lightning, where the nation engaged in a metahuman arms race with the United States, attempting to beat the USA to the punch in building an army of super-soldiers. Curiously, Cisco’s map shows Markovia being located in the middle of what would be western Russia in the real world. In the original DC Comics’ universe, Markovia was in Western Europe, located between France and Belgium.
Nanda Parbat
The home base of the League of Assassins in the Arrowverse, Cisco’s map has Nanda Parbat situated somewhere in the mountains forming the border between Nepal and Tibet. This is consistent with where the city was located in the original DC Comics’ universe. It should be noted, however, that the city in the comics was home to a peaceable order of monks rather than a clan of hired killers.
Tokyo
Located largely as a point of reference, there is no reason to believe that Tokyo is drastically different on Earth-Prime compared to its counterpart in the real world. However, Tokyo did play a major role in the Legends of Tomorrow season 4 episode “Tagumo Attacks!!!” The episode saw the Legends joining forces with Japanese filmmaker Ishiro Honda, who had fallen victim to a magical book that made his recurring nightmares of a giant monster destroying his city into a reality.
Lian Yu
“Lian Yu” may be Mandarin Chinese for “purgatory”, but for Green Arrow it was Hell on Earth. Located somewhere in the East China Sea between Japan and Taiwan, Oliver Queen spent the better part of five years stranded on Lian Yu, contending with terrorists, mad scientists and crazed magicians. The Flash, season 6, episode 10, “Marathon” also revealed that the island is a giant Wi-Fi dead-zone which not even STAR Labs’ satellites can penetrate.
Dinosaur Island
First appearing in Star Spangled War Stories #90 in 1960, Dinosaur Island was the site of what became known as The War That Time Forgot; an on-going feature involving groups of American and Japanese soldiers who became lost in time and continued to fight World War II on an unnamed South Pacific island where dinosaurs inexplicably still existed. This is the first time Dinosaur Island has been said to exist in the Arrowverse.
Kooey Kooey Kooey Island
First appearing in Justice League International Annual #3 in 1989, Kooey Kooey Kooey was a South Pacific Island that feared becoming another battleground in the Cold War between the United States and Russia. To prevent this, they offered up their island as a base of operations to Justice League International. Blue Beetle and Booster Gold took advantage of the situation to establish Club JLI; a tropical casino resort with a superhero theme.
Unfortunately, it turned out the island of Kooey Kooey Kooey was sentient and capable of moving itself whenever it wished. Club JLI failed to stay above water, physically or financially, and Beetle and Booster were stuck working as unpaid janitorial staff at the JLI’s embassies to pay back their embezzled funds. Curiously, Cisco’s map lists both Kooey Kooey and Kooey Kooey Island as separate locations in the Philippines, suggesting there may be more than one version of Kooey Kooey Kooey in the new Arrowverse or some dispute about the name. Hopefully a future episode of The Flash will clarify this point, because the idea of a sentient island is too crazy not to bring about.
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