#hear me out: Smallville and Metropolis are in Kansas. Gotham is in New Jersey.

[hollowsart]

everyone and their grandparents: if Metropolis was in the real world, it would be New York City. It's the only correct answer.

me: .....but consider: Kansas. Smallville being a small farm town in Kansas.. really pushing into the farmer and outsider feel for Clark while Metropolis is this big booming industrial city that has long forgotten its farming roots and is so far pushed into the "future" and expanding further that it feel so much more different, Clark would feel like a fish out of water to a more impactful degree.