Random thoughts: superhero headquarters

We take them for granted, but superhero headquarters are weird when you think about it.
They’re not essential, and in fact there are several heroes who lack one, but a superhero setting without ANY headquarters just feels wrong.

Surprisingly there are very few types of headquarters, and just naming them you can immediately understand each one was directly inspired by a specific case:
-The isolated fortress
-The cave
-The skyscraper
-The space station
-The mansion
Thinking about this got me wondering… are there notable unique cases?
And how would I rank them?

This is mostly based on how much the place is used to its full potential and on personal preference, but there are a few things that influence the ranking:
1) The longest uninterrupted use gets bonus points
2) If more than one superhero or more than one team has used it as headquarters, bonus points
3) If the place keeps getting rebuilt or re-introduced in reboots, bonus points
4) If the place is the direct inspiration for a type, bonus points
5) Only Marvel and DC places. They’re the ones I know the most, and the list is already too long.
6) Only one version of the place is analyzed. But later versions get a mention if needed.

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#30: the Arrowcave
Superhero: Green Arrow, Speedy
Uninterrupted first use: ~28 years (1941 to ~1969)
Type: cave

A leftover from Green Arrow trying his best to copy every single Batman gimmick he could find.
I’m not enough of a fan to be 100% sure when it was first dropped, but it was probably the time Oliver Queen lost his fortune.
This is at the very bottom because it’s embarrassingly unoriginal and doesn’t fit the character.
And honestly, it’s in the list only to bring up the funniest panels associated to the Arrowcave.

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#29: Krakoa
Superhero: X-Men
Uninterrupted first use: 5 years (2019 to 2024)
Type: ???

I don’t even know how I would even classify Krakoa. It was the main setting of the so-called “Krakoa era” of the X-Men… of which I’ve read very very little.
While there are some FASCINATING aspects for that era, it deviated way too much from the core X-Men identity. And it isolated them more than ever, being its own (living) country where non-mutant were not even granted access.

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#28: Pier Four
Superhero: Fantastic Four
Uninterrupted first use: 3 years (1997 to 2000)
Type: mansion ?

I hated this place. Moving the Fantastic Four out of their skyscraper made sense for plot reasons, but having them operating out of a pier felt random and the place was never used all that well.
The fact that I really don’t like most of the stories set in the period when this was the headquarters certainly didn’t help.

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#27: Avengers Mountain
Superhero: Avengers
Uninterrupted first use: 3 years (2018 to 2022)
Type: isolated fortress

Easily the weirdest headquarters the Avengers ever had: this was the corpse of a Celestial.
Yeah the Jason Aaron run got WEIRD. Not much to say about it since I couldn’t follow that run for long. Weirdly enough, not the only corpse in this list.

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#26: The Mount
Superhero: Hulk
Uninterrupted first use: 4 years (1991 to 1995)
Type: isolated fortress

It’s weird to think of the Hulk having a base of operations, but he’s had several periods where he regained his intelligence and wasn’t hunted down by the planet.
During the Peter David run, the so-called “Professor Hulk” worked with the organization called the Pantheon and even became its leader for a while. So I’d say that counts.
It didn’t directly inspire any others, and this period in the Hulk’s life is not referenced all that often… so the only reason it’s in this list at all is that I really, REALLY liked Peter David’s run and this period in particular.
Still, quite low on the ranking since only VERY specific incarnations of the Hulk need a base.

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#25: Talus
Superhero: Legion of Super-Heroes
Uninterrupted first use: 3 years (1991 to 1994)
Type: space station

We BARELY saw this one. The concept wasn’t bad at all… the Legion appropriated an old asteroid and rebuilt the existing structure into a new base… but it wasn’t used enough to be memorable.
Also, while the asteroid had made a prior appearance in the 70s… “Talus” is not a very memorable name, especially when the Legion already has characters with similar names: why didn’t they rename it to something better???

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#24: JSA Headquarters
Superhero: Justice Society of America
Uninterrupted first use: 36 years (1940 to 1976)
Type: mansion

 The original superhero headquarters! And quite possibly the most boring one of them all.
It’s just a house. I’m not the biggest JSA fan but I believe there’s nothing weird about it except maybe a lab or two.
Thanks to the large gaps in the JSA publishing history, however, it’s the longest uninterrupted first use because the team wouldn’t move into a new base until 1976.
If it wasn’t for the history associated with it, it would be even lower.

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#23: Secret Sanctuary
Superhero: Justice League of America, Doom Patrol, Young Justice, Justice Society
Uninterrupted first use: 10 years (1960 to 1970)
Type: cave

The original headquarters of the Justice League, built inside a mountain.
The name isn’t used all that often; you might recognize the name Happy Harbor because it’s the fictional place where the base is located.
Besides the meeting chamber with its round table, the rest feels quite generic… in fact I never found it to have any personality. At all.
Because of its historical importance it has acted as a temporary base for several other teams, and it does have a bit of nostalgic quality about it, but the JLA has had better headquarters.

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#22: Utopia
Superhero: X-Men
Uninterrupted first use: 8 years (2009 to 2017)
Type: isolated fortress

I read even less stories set in Utopia than in Krakoa, but at least it made more sense for the X-Men.
This was just an artificial island created from one of Magneto’s space bases and declared to be a sovereign nation. So there’s thought behind its existence besides “let’s give the heroes a place to hang out”, which is more than I can say about the Secret Sanctuary.

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#21: the Legion Clubhouse
Superhero: Legion of Super-Heroes, Legion of Substitute Heroes
Uninterrupted first use: 10 years (1958 to 1968)
Type: mansion ?

Heresy? Hear me out on this one.
Indescribably iconic for any Legion fan, but a holdover for when the team was just a bunch of teenagers paying homage to older times.
By the time the team had grown into a legitimate superhero team protecting a whole galaxy, it was time to leave it behind.

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#20: JLA Satellite
Superhero: Justice League of America
Uninterrupted first use: 15 years (1970 to 1985)
Type: space station

Without a doubt, the inspiration for all the other space-based headquarters in this list.
Nothing says that the DC heroes are more gods than humans than the fact the base of their main team is literally hovering about everybody’s head.
For any other team, it would feel incredibly arrogant… but for the Justice League it fits.
Although it does create the awkward contradiction of having street-level heroes who are also members of a team that has a space station.
Looking at you, Batman and Green Arrow.

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#19: Watchtower
Superhero: Justice League of America
Uninterrupted first use: 8 years (1997 to 2005)
Type: remote fortress

Located on the Moon, it’s basically a reinterpretation of the JLA Satellite but with a better view and better visuals.

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#18: Avengers Tower
Superhero: Avengers, Sentry, Spider-Man
Uninterrupted first use: 6 years (2005 to 2011)
Type: skyscraper

Starting out as Stark Tower, it also incorporated Sentry’s Watchtower on top of it for part of its history. Acting as the new headquarters of the Avengers, it was also technically the headquarters of Spider-Man when he joined the team.
Quite influential thanks to the MCU, but really this is just taking the Avengers and placing them in the type of headquarters that belongs to the Fantastic Four.
Still, being in New York City does not isolate the team as much as the JLA’s space bases, which I find it to be important for an Earth-based team.

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#17: Hydrobase
Superhero: Avengers
Uninterrupted first use: 2 years (1987 to 1989)
Type: isolated fortress

The place actually originated in Sub-Mariner stories and the Avengers had to relocate there for a while. It didn’t last long, as the place was wrecked during Acts of Vengeance, but it HAS resurfaced as Avengers Island, acting as headquarters of a different Avengers team.
I really liked the concept… the Avengers were basically kicked out of New York City because all the constant flying was deemed to dangerous… but it works FAR better as a secondary base.

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#16: The Carrier
Superhero: Authority
Uninterrupted first use: 6 years (1999 to 2005)
Type: space station

Yes technically it’s a spaceship, but it’s functionally used like a space station.
And while it originated on the Wildstorm universe, it’s technically DC now.
It inspired a couple of imitators… mostly the various Authority knockoffs/homages, notably DC’s own Elite.
It’s certainly unique: The Carrier was a city-sized fish-shaped sentient ship capable of navigating through alternate universes. Which is a description crazy enough to warrant a mention in the list.
But aside from giving the Authority a frankly broken advantage with its teleportation technology, it was barely used as a true headquarters.

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#15: Impossible City
Superhero: Avengers
Uninterrupted first use: 3 years (2023 to 2026)
Type: space station

At the time of this writing, the CURRENT headquarters of the Avengers.
As a city-sized sentient ship from an alternate future it might potentially have been inspired by the Authority’s Carrier, but unlike that ship the Impossible City has a very distinct personality.
In fact it simultaneously acts as the team’s base AND its butler AND its AI assistant.
I’m counting down the days until the team returns to Avengers Mansion, but I’ve liked how the Impossible City has been used so far.

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#14: X-Mansion
Superhero: X-Men, New Mutants
Uninterrupted first use: 19 years (1963 to 1982)
Type: mansion

It’s the inspiration for all “super-school” sub-type. While perfectly fine for its use, I’m not the biggest fan for several reasons.
It looks quite generic and it’s too far away from other superhero settings, isolating the X-Men from the rest of the Marvel Universe too much for their own good.

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#13: 4 Yancy Street
Superhero: Fantastic Four
Uninterrupted first use: 3 years (2018 to 2021)
Type: mansion

This is what Pier Four SHOULD have been in the hands of a better writer.
On the outside it’s a regular house, but it’s bigger on the inside to the point of having more space available than all the previous Fantastic Four headquarters.
The reason why it works better is that it takes full advantage of the new setting to explore the family side of the Fantastic Four, making them interact more directly with regular people than when they lived on top of a skyscraper.

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#12: Titans Tower
Superhero: Teen Titans, Titans Academy
Uninterrupted first use: 11 years (1980 to 1991)
Type: skyscraper

With ONE possible exception in this list, the most visually interesting skyscraper in this list.
And honestly, with modern architecture it’s not crazy enough to be implausible.
I don’t think it’s as tied to the identity of its team as others on this list, but if the Titans are not operating out of a T shaped building it feels wrong.

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#11: Knowhere
Superhero: Guardians of the Galaxy, Annihilators, Nova
Uninterrupted first use: 12 years (2007 to 2019)
Type: space station

At the time of its first appearance, probably the weirdest kind of headquarters… the severed head of a gigantic space god. Weirdly enough, NOT the only instance in this list.
It’s become the central hub of all of Marvel’s cosmic teams, relinquishing its spot only the handful of times it was thrown out of the regular space-time continuum.
I penalized the JLA for a space base, but for an exclusively space-based team this makes sense.

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#10: Avengers Compound
Superhero: West Coast Avengers, Avengers Academy
Uninterrupted first use: 9 years (1984 to 1993)
Type: mansion

The original base of the West Coast Avengers, later re-used by other incarnations of the team and more recently by the Avengers Academy.
It basically has all the positive traits of the Avengers Mansion, but with FAR fewer history… and since it’s in California, it’s not surrounded by lots of other interesting superhero places like the one in New York City.

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#9: Legion World
Superhero: Legion of Super-Heroes
Uninterrupted first use: 2 years (2002 to 2004)
Type: space station

This might possibly be the biggest headquarters in the entire list (the only contender is Knowhere), but that’s what happens when R.J.Brande puts his fortune behind you.
The size of a moon with habitats replicating the environment of every world of the United Planets, this was a quite literal manifestation of the Legion’s ideals and it brought the cosmic side of the team to its fullest potential.
I know several Legion fans don’t appreciate this run, or don’t like it when the Legion gets this big, but I love both.

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#8: Legion Headquarters
Superhero: Legion of Super-Heroes, Legion Academy
Uninterrupted first use: 16 years (1968 to 1984)
Type: skyscraper

Much bigger than most, if not all skyscrapers of this list. With little variations, this was the longest lasting headquarters of the Legion; while elements of the Clubhouse show up in various forms and adaptations, it set the tone.
From a design perspective, the original and the first Reboot ones are my favorites, but I don’t the Legion has ever had bad headquarters.
It’s still penalized from being any higher on the list due to no fault of its own: with the Legion being in another time from the rest of other heroes, there is no potential to interact with anyone else.

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#7: Hall of Justice
Superhero: Justice League of America
Uninterrupted first use: 4 years (2007 to 2011)
Type: mansion

Originating in the Super-Friends cartoon, it took a ridiculous amount of time before it was officially introduced in the main continuity.
It didn’t stay around for long before its first destruction, but it’s become a mainstay.
The influence is 100% thanks to the Super-Friends, but it still plays a major factor.

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#6: Fortress of Solitude
Superhero: Superman, Supergirl
Uninterrupted first use: 28 years (1958 to 1986)
Type: isolated fortress

The progenitor of this category (duh). While it did have some Golden Age precedent, it wasn’t properly established until the beginning of the Silver Age.
It’s an unusual form of headquarters in that Superman doesn’t typically operate from here, but several adventures originate or take place here. Plus Supergirl occasionally makes use of it too.
Major bonus points for how iconic and ubiquitous it is, since every Superman incarnation that lasts enough eventually gets its own Fortress.
And it’s a bit of a double-edged sword: you can’t have Superman spend TOO much time here without taking away too much of his humanity… but it’s SUCH a great storytelling engine!
I’m partial towards the first post-Crisis version (which lasted about 10 years), and honestly I’ve never really liked any of the versions that rely too heavily on the esthetic of the first 1978 Superman movie.

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#5: Batcave
Superhero: Batman, every Gotham City hero
Uninterrupted first use: 25 years (1944 to 1969)
Type: cave

While progenitors of the Batcave showed up as early as 1942, technically speaking its first true appearance is in the 1943 Batman movie serial and it wouldn’t be officially identified in the comics until Detective Comics #83.

You can’t think of Batman without thinking of the Batcave. Incredibly influential and iconic, and of course still central to the Batman mythos to this day…

…but it’s not always been the case!
Batman abandoned the Batcave in 1969 on Batman #217…

…and he wouldn’t return there until 1982.
So there were THIRTEEN YEARS where Batman was not operating out of the Batcave but out of Wayne Manor! Weird, isn’t it?

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#4: Avengers Mansion
Superhero: Avengers
Uninterrupted first use: 24 years (1963 to 1987)
Type: mansion (duh)

I’ve lost count of how many times the place has been destroyed, and the Avengers keep trying better place to use as headquarters. But they inevitably get back here.
And for good reason! Being in the middle of New York helps integrate them with the rest of the Marvel Universe, it sets up the tone as the team being part of the elite, plus it helps have both characters who live there (if they don’t have their own regular series) or they can just commute (everyone else).
I place it higher than the Fortress of Solitude because it doesn’t have drawbacks, and higher than the Batcave since it has a similarly long uninterrupted first run but without such a long absence.

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#3: Baxter Building
Superhero: Fantastic Four, Spider-Man
Uninterrupted first use: 24 years (1961 to 1985)
Type: skyscraper

The progenitor of the skyscraper type, being the headquarters of Marvel’s first family from their debut until Fantastic Four #278.
Rebuilt in 2001, it would be the main headquarters until 2015: with the Fantastic Four officially disbanding after Secret Wars, the building was acquired by the Parker Industries during the period when Marvel had no idea what to do with Spider-Man Peter Parker became the richest man in the world. After a few more shenanigans, the Baxter Building returned to being the headquarters of the Fantastic Four in 2021.
As influential and perfect for the Fantastic Four the place is, I’ve never really been a fan of its design… it’s honestly way too ordinary-looking to be the center of absurdity that it really is.
But it’s practically a member of the family, mourned by the team whenever it’s lost to an extent we don’t see for other headquarters. The fact that it’s also literally their home helps.

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#2: Four Freedoms Plaza
Superhero: Fantastic Four, Fantastic Force, Quasar, Thunderbolts
Uninterrupted first use: 11 years (1986 to 1997)
Type: skyscraper

I’m one of the four people on the planet who still thinks this is a superior headquarters to the Baxter Building. Not only its name is a direct reference to a famous FDR speech, but the four giant numbers on each side of the building make it FAR more recognizable than the Baxter Building ever was.
It was also the headquarters of more teams: the short-lived Fantastic Force operated from there, Quasar rented an office in the building (!!!), and the original Thunderbolts were gifted the place when the Fantastic Four were considered dead.

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#1: Sanctum Sanctorum
Superhero: Doctor Strange, Defenders, New Avengers
Uninterrupted first use: 30 years (1963 to 1993)
Type: mansion

A quintessential part of Doctor Strange, with A TON of lore surrounding it. Given its magic nature you don’t even need to stay consistent about it; in fact, it’s canon that the inside doesn’t always look the same way.
It’s also the traditional headquarters of the non-group The Defenders, and it briefly served as the headquarters of at least one incarnation of the Avengers.
It was technically destroyed (by Strange himself) in “Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #60”, but it didn’t take long to return.
It’s in several adaptations; even those that don’t directly feature Doctor Strange put it somewhere as an easter egg, thanks to its instantly recognizable window.
It has a personality of its own (quite possibly LITERALLY, given its nature), it’s the origin of countless stories and plots, plus unlike the Fortress of Solitude having Strange spend the majority of his time here doesn’t harm the character in the slightest.
It fits the character perfectly, there are no drawbacks, it has a very long first uninterrupted use AND multiple teams operated from here.