DC is famous for its fictional cities. Gotham, Metropolis, Central City, and so on have each become nearly as iconic as their resident heroes. Marvel, on the other hand, preferred to set things in more familiar locales. It used to pitch its stories as the world outside your window, after all. Marvel wanted its readers to walk down the street and imagine the heroes they read about swinging right above their heads. Given that the company and most publishing houses were based in New York City at the time, it only made sense to set their establishing titles in the Big Apple.
Of course, this inevitably led to a whole lot more than just the earliest heroes calling New York their home. Those foundational heroes made NYC the focal point of the superhero community. Nowadays, it seems like ninety percent of Marvel’s Earth-based superheroes live within one city’s limits. Obviously, that’s an exaggeration, but not by much. Sans the X-Men, most of Marvel’s big names call NYC their main base of operations. Today, we’re taking a look at five great heroes who don’t live in New York, even if they commute there every time there’s an event.
5) Cable
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
The X-Men’s number one dystopian-future time traveler doesn’t call New York his home, and for very good reasons. After the young Nathan was infected with a techno-organic virus, he was sent to a future where Apocalypse ruled, taken in by the Clan Askani. By his time, New York had long been eradicated and added to Apocalypse’s empire. Cable has traveled all over time and space to preserve the sanctity of the timeline and ensure that no darker future comes to pass.
4) Mister Immortal
Image courtesy of Marvel Comics.
Mister Immortal truly lives up to his name, being the one and only Homo Supreme, the ultimate evolution of humanity beyond even mutants. After discovering his immortality and failing to make it as a solo hero, he founded the Great Lakes Avengers, full of wannabe heroes who could definitely never cut it on their own. As the name implies, they don’t operate in NYC, but instead call Milwaukee, Wisconsin, their home. The Great Lakes Avengers might not be all that heroic, but they do have spunk, and if Mister Immortal’s destiny holds, he’s going to live till the very end of the Marvel Universe. All that time, and he still might not call New York his home.
3) Sunfire
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Shiro Yoshida is Japan’s number one hero. He was originally introduced as an antagonist to the X-Men in their early years, but his hatred of the West was curbed, and he grew to respect the mutant superhero team. While he started as a stubborn, righteous man, he overcame the blindness of his loyalty and became a hero dedicated to saving everyone. He did briefly live in New York when he joined the Avengers Unity Division, but for the most part, he operates exclusively in Japan, sans his time calling Krakoa a home, of course.
2) Beta Ray Bill
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Beta Ray Bill is a hero far from Earth, being born on Korbin in the Burning Galaxy. He was genetically enhanced to be his people’s protector, and upon meeting Thor, proved himself worthy of wielding Mjolnir. As the first to do this, Odin granted Bill Stormbreaker, a weapon that granted him similar might, and Bill became a protector of not just his home, but of all the realms. He did eventually call Earth his base of operations, though he settled in Canada instead of New York. Traditionally, Beta Ray Bill travels the galaxy, only returning to Asgard when he’s needed or wants a rest. He never stays in one place for long, instead answering whatever call for help he hears.
1) Ms. Marvel
Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
Kamala Khan has become a major player in the superhero community, and as such, moves around to wherever the action is. Still, she only has one home, and that is smack dab in Jersey City, New Jersey. Kamala made a name for herself by protecting Jersey City as nobody had before, and given that it was much less superheroically populated than NYC, she was their number one defender. Ms. Marvel has undergone countless changes in her rise to stardom, recently becoming a mutant hero and joining up with various X-Men groups, but her origin will always draw her back to Jersey City and her family there. She might go to other places, but her heart belongs at home.
Which non-NYC-based hero is your favorite? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!
