The Joker's official location is Gotham City, a fictional metropolis in DC canon that is most often placed in New Jersey. On screen, the character's home is brought to life with real cities: the 2019 film Joker was shot largely in New York City and Newark, New Jersey, turning those streets into Gotham for the camera.
Joker Online: A Comprehensive Guide
What counts as the Joker's official location
DC does not give the Joker a real-world address. His official location is the fictional Gotham City, and his personal base of operations shifts depending on the story. The places most consistently tied to him are:
- Gotham City, the overall setting shared with Batman
- Arkham Asylum, where he is confined in many storylines
- The Ace Chemical plant, the site of the chemical vat accident that shaped his origin in several versions
- Crime Alley and the surrounding neighborhoods, the areas he uses as staging grounds
Because Gotham is fictional, any real location connected to the Joker is a production site, a theme park attraction, or a convention appearance rather than a canonical address.
Where the 2019 movie Joker was filmed
Production for Joker centered on New York City, which supplied the density and the period architecture the story needed. Newark, New Jersey handled a large share of the street-level work, including the now-famous staircase sequence in the Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx, which was shot in the Bronx but presented as a Gotham location.
Other areas that appear in the film include:
- Jersey City, New Jersey
- Yonkers and other parts of Westchester County, New York
- Various Brooklyn and Queens blocks used for exterior street shots
- Studio soundstages for Arkham interiors and the talk show set
None of these places are officially branded as the Joker's home. They are stand-ins chosen for their look, and the film credits them as such.
Where Joker: Folie a Deux was filmed
The sequel returned to the same production base, again using New York and New Jersey locations along with soundstage work. Los Angeles also appears in the mix for select sequences. Arkham Asylum plays a larger role in the second film, so a significant portion of the runtime takes place inside constructed interiors rather than on a recognizable street.
How to confirm a location is official
If you want to know whether a place is tied to the Joker in an official way, check the source:
- Look at the studio's own production notes for filming locations.
- Check DC's published material for canon geography such as Gotham City and Arkham Asylum.
- Treat fan maps and travel blogs as unofficial unless they cite the studio or DC.
That distinction matters, because a great many real places get called "the Joker's location" online when they were simply used for a day of shooting. The joker official location, in the strict sense, is Gotham City and nothing outside of it.
Gotham City in the wider DC map
DC has described Gotham as a New Jersey city across the water from Metropolis, which is usually placed in Delaware or New York. That geography explains the bridges, the industrial waterfront, and the dense older neighborhoods that filmmakers look for when they cast a real city as Gotham. It also explains why New York and Newark read as convincing substitutes on screen.