Superman, Spider-Man and Batman in NYC

You could easily do a full article just on superhero movies, which frequently call on the city’s tall buildings and forgotten alleys for atmosphere. But we’ll just pull out a few favorite locales from some of the more beloved flicks. The first, Christopher Reeve’s Superman, uses Midtown East's Daily News Building as the office for the Daily Planet. You can still admire the art deco styling on and above the awning and enter the lobby to check out the giant globe. Spider-Man 2, the best of the Tobey Maguire trilogy, finds Peter Parker delivering pies from Joe's Pizza, a West Village institution. The location shown in the film, on the corner of Bleecker and Carmine, has moved a few doors down, on Carmine closer to Sixth Avenue. In his Spider-Man guise, he sits atop the Chrysler Building in a moment of nighttime reflection. Mary Jane runs away from her impending nuptials at Riverside Church, which sports the world’s largest carillon bell ever cast. And Peter Parker hails from Forest Hills, Queens. In The Dark Knight Rises, definitely a darker vision for older kids, Wayne Enterprises is headquartered at Trump Tower; while there's little of note about the building’s architecture, the interior atrium, with its waterfall and opulent marble and brass, is a sight to behold. An armed heist takes place at the New York Stock Exchange as well as a chase scene on Wall Street and the neighboring canyons of Lower Manhattan.
Fun fact: These days, Clark Kent would have a tough time finding a place to change in our fair city. According to sources, only a handful of outdoor phone booths remain in Manhattan (and a few indoor ones).