Batsuit Comparison: The Dark Knight vs Batman Begins

Have you seen the new bat-pod?Pretty extreme, looks like part of the Tumbler! I like it.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/?track=leftnav-entertainment

I hate the suit. I really hope that's not the second suit that he puts on in the middle of the film. I wasn't expecting to see tights,but I was at least expecting to see the armor gray and black,if not all together a more cloth-like look that could still take a bullet and keep him safe from flames. The cape and cowl are good,even the utility belt looks okay,but the rest of the costume looks horrible-it looks like something Robo-Cop would wear. All I ask is that Batman's uniform be gray and black with a dark yellow/gold utility belt-I don't mind if it can stop a bullet and protect him from flames,I just want it to bear SOME resemblence to the comics and be a little easier to move in;more cloth-like. It would be cool if it looked similar to the Superman Return's Superman suit. While many people didn't like it I thought it looked good and was kinda glad to see a costume that didn't look like spandex and reverenced the comics so much-it looked cooler than tights. Maybe if JLA gets made Batman's costume will look better. Batman is my favorite comic book hero and has been since I was a little boy and it's sad that they can't make the costume look better than this.

Great subject and pics, Vic. Totally, I agree with you and the 3rd party. If there were a real Batman, the new suit would work for him best!

Adrian, yes I've seen the new Batcycle. I've updated my post regarding it with a pic here:

http://screenrant.com/archives/the-batcycle-from-the-dark-kni-784.html

Vic

Kel,

I hear what you're saying... it's always the most ardent fans who are the most critical and I'm not saying that's a BAD thing. For me, I'm just SO relieved at the job they did with the Iron Man armor for the upcoming film.

I do think that for a guy who does all his work at night, a black costume makes more sense so that he can fade into the shadows and again, I don't have a problem with the look of the design above. I really think that as movies attempt more realistic portrayals of superheroes it causes more compromises to be made on the big screen.

Actually the movie versions of superheroes are starting to influence comic books as well... Look at the "Ultimates" from Marvel: a whole lot of black leather clad superheroes in there. If you really think about it, the more reality they try to inject into the comics the sillier it seems that functioning superheroes would wear brightly colored skin tight costumes and capes. :-)

Vic

Hey Vic,my man,
Who's your favorite superhero? Mine's Batman as I mentioned above. Here's a list of my favorite comic book characters because I have nothing better to do FYI

#1.Batman
#2.Superman
#3.Iron Man & Captain America
#4.the Flash (Barry Allen) and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

And now on to my favorite teams:

#1.JLA (Superman,Batman,Flash BA,Green Lantern HJ,and Martian Manhunter)
#2.the classic Avengers (Cap,Iron Man,Thor,Ant-Man,and Wasp)
#3.Fantastic Four
#4.the original X-Men from the 1960's by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby,you know,the version we'll never see on the big screen

So Vic,tell me who some of your favorite comic book characters are,I'd like to hear some of them.

One of my favorite story-lines from the comics is "Knightfall", when Bane breaks Bat-man's back in a fight. Bruce goes to England for a few months to recover leaving the mantle of the Bat-man to Jean-Paul Valley, a.k.a. Azrael (VERY interesting story here... but don't want to deter from the main point). Valley has fought beside and trained with Bruce for several months so knows all the ins and outs, and wears the suit. Slowly, he modifes it, until it is SUPERBLY armored and enhanced, barely resembling the original bat-suit and goes back and defeats Bane.
Valley allows one of the major villans to die (don't remember who) and is slowly going insane (a side affect of his powers as Azrael), and starts to give Bat-man a bad name (ok, worse than usual).

I kinda liked Valley as the bats BECAUSE of the enhanced suit.

For those of you left in suspense, Bruce comes back and Valley refuses to relinquish the title of Bat-man and Bruce has to put his thing down and show him who is boss. Valley sees the error of his way and goes back to being Azrael: Agent of the Bat (working along side Robin and Batgirl on several occasions, although doesn't get along with Nightwing too much).

I hate the black leather costumes for superheroes.It's like someone's homerotic fantasy.
Ewwww.
I also don't like the Ultimate Marvel universe much. To me many of the great comic book characters they've taken and corrupted with the Ultimate U. Thank God most of our iconic characters were created over 40 years ago. The only Ultimate Marvel character I really like at all is Nick Fury.
And the Iron Man movie costume looks great,even though I like the classic Iron Man costume best.
Really Vic.sometimes it's a good thing to keep things the way they are in the comics,however "unrealistic" it seems,at least a little. Can you imagine an Iron Man costume that looks like black kevlar? Some of us have to remember what it was about superheroes that caught our eye in the first place;for most of us it was an escape from the dog days of summer and the fact that these were adventure stories,science fiction,a hero in a colorful costume righting wrongs in ways that no one else could.It wasn't realistic and we knew it.But it sounded realistic,like it might be possible and that's what made them so interesting,that's why many of us kept buying issue after issue. If you take away the things thst make superheroes fantastic,what do you have left? Nothing more than our predictable reality of realism.

Yeah, Azrael was kind of like The Punisher version of Batman, or "Batman Unleashed." :-)

Kel, anyone who reads this site regularly knows that Iron Man is my favorite superhero. :-) Beyond that it really all kind of blurs together. Although I don't pick up any of the monthly Batman titles, I really like him as a character, especially in the Frank Miller "The Dark Knight Returns" story. When I was a kid I loved The Flash and Spiderman.

You should check out the Iron Man forum here: http://www.advancediron.org/forums/ where we discuss not only Shellhead but also other superheroes. :-)

Vic

Kel, funny you should mention that - one of the things that bugs me about comics these days is that I think they're getting too "real." I think comics are for escapism, not to remind me of all the awful stuff going on in the world!

That's one of the reasons I'm enjoying the new Marvel title "Mighty Avengers"... it's old school superhero comics, and why I've dropped the dark and dreary "New Avengers."

Vic

As long as there are no bat nipples, I'm cool with it. ;)

And I like what they've done with the cowl to make it more articulate. I always hated how Batman used to have to turn his whole torso in order to turn his head. Always reminded me of a cheap action figure that couldn't turn its head or that maybe Batman was secretly wearing a back brace under the costume. I expect the physical performance will be enhanced by this change.

Yeah,Vic,really. I mean some of them guys today think they're writing War and peace. So Mighty Avengers is pretty good,eh? I haven't picked up an Avengers comic in a long time,mostly for the same reason you dropped New Avengers. I've currently been reading Paul Dini's Detective Comics and Geoff John's Action Comics,they're both pretty good. I read a lot of other titles too,but those 2 are my favorite currently. I rescently dropped JLA because Brad Meltzer has pretty much turned it to crap.I haven't really been reading too many Marvel titles lately,but I'll make an effort to pick up Mighty Avengers because you made it sound pretty good.

P.S. Vic,
I read the sight regularly and knew you liked Iron Man but did not know that he was your favorite character. My bad.

it took me a while to make an opinion about this suit - but now i think i dont like it. i understand that batman would have to have something useable / realistic - i get that he should be able to move his head a little better etc. i think it looks too robotic, like some kinda batman toy like "robo-batman now with kick-action" something like that.

why cant they just leave the old suit from the first movie?

is there a rule that you HAVE to change the suitfor everymovie?

"is there a rule that you HAVE to change the suitfor everymovie?"

LOL, you know it's funny... there DOES seem to be a rule like that, doesn't there? :-)

I think people should probably reserve judgement until seeing the suit in action on the big screen. Sometimes these things look better in action and within the context of the movie.

Vic

Correct me if I am wrong, but there are several movies in which the superhero uses the same costume.
Superman 1-4 (I imagine a sequal to Returns will also use the same suit)
X-Men 1-3
Fantastic 4 1-2
Spider-man 1-3 (Yeah, yeah.... the black suit, I know)

Off the top of my head, isn't bat-man's the only one that changes in every movie? Did Robin's even change from Forever to B&R?

Alcadyzaar,

I don't know about the Superman movies from the 80's but I'll bet that if you examine the costumes from the movies you listed there are a bunch of subtle changes to the design. I know they made changes to the Spidey costume in each movie, although they're not glaringly obvious.

But yeah, they do seem to mess with Batman's costume the most, don't they?

Vic

I'd fall into category #2. Always preferred the black suits over the grey tights, and aside from some glaringly notable exceptions (*cough* batnipples *cough*), the movie suits have always been pretty good (I miss the old Keaton-era emblem).

Sure the new one looks functional, and certainly cool in its own way, but it detracts from the sleek silhouette-creating design of previous versions. Plus, it's kind of a weird contrast having every square inch of him broken up like that, only to have the cowl remain entirely smooth. Makes it feel out-of-place.

Other than that, the better fit makes him seem a helluva lot slimmer, though that may just be the angle of the shot.

I reckon it's great, but if you think in a logical 'real world' manner, maybe the designers should have started with this type of design: a very basic, 'exposed' suit that does look more patched together from various sources than the 'Begins' version...then through the Applied Sciences Division etc he would have designed a more stylized, streamlined version as his reputation grows. Bale probably just said 'screw that rubber suit, man!' Who could blame him?
And as for the shooting bat gauntlets etc etc,don't worry; you guys all know that Nolan will probably produce the best comic book movie yet seen with this one.

I reckon it's great, but if you think in a logical 'real world' manner, maybe the designers should have started with this type of design: a very basic, 'exposed' suit that does look more patched together from various sources than the 'Begins' version...then through the Applied Sciences Division etc he would have designed a more stylized, streamlined version as his reputation grows. Bale probably just said 'screw that rubber suit, man!' Who could blame him?
And as for the shooting bat gauntlets etc etc,don't worry; you guys all know that Nolan will probably produce the best comic book movie yet seen with this one.

I thought two things when I saw the pic;

1. That this design looks more like a samurai suit of armor, which reflects the training that Wayne had with Ducard.
2. I have read that this suit replaces the first halfway through the flick, due to damage maybe?
If the Tumbler buys it as well, this outfit looks more suited to the Batpod, like a motocross set-up. Certainly the separate helmet/cowl leads me in that direction.
I think it would be cool if Bats had a different getup for different environments/activities anyway, so I'm all for it.
GO THE BAT!

Okay, not liking the second suit all that much. If they were going to go with segmented armor, couldn't they have gone with more of a Batman Returns look? I mean, he looks like RoboCop with a bat fetish. Plus, it gives me bad flashbacks to Batman on Ice, with Arnie and Clooney. Or Laurel and Hardy...whichever.

It looks horrible and I still hope they change it. It doesn't even have a bat symbol on it fer cry'n out loud!! This new suit will be one of the worst batsuits ever to grace the screen next to the bat-nippled suits from the Shumacher movies.

It DOES have a bat symbol on it, in fact it's very similar to the one from "Batman Begins" if you look closely.

Vic

"if you look closely."
.....Yeah,that's the problem. How close do you want to look for the damn thing?

Wow, I know it's pretty late to be commenting this post, but I read the site all the time and never commented.

As said by many other people, The Batman is my all-time favourite super hero, and since this post is about his costume, I won't rant about what they did with The Joker.

Moving on -- the more recent posts mentioned his symbol and that is something I really protest against in these new movies. The Batman had the bright yellow on black for the reason that he wanted that to be the only thing people saw. In these new movies, I would never guess he were a "Bat-man" rather than just a guy in leather and a cape. The Batman is there, as said in the first movie, to be a symbol-- and they're just not emphasizing that. The cape and cowl in the new costume is definately more flexible, but if it were as in the comics, that wouldn't be a problem. The Batman had the huge shoulder-to-shoulder cape to so that his black cape could cover him when he needed to be concealed, that's how he got away with the grey suit. When he wanted to be seen, he was; when he didn't, he wasn't.

Hope my post wasn't too late,

Reverend

Rev,

Your post isn't too late and your points are well taken. You should comment more often! :-)

Vic

Hey,that's right,Reverend! When Bats wants to be seen,he's seen,when he doesn't,he's not. I liked that you mentioned that he conceals himself in his cape if he doesn't want people seeing his yellow and gray costume,that's one thing that I think I forgot to mention. LOL

Worst mistake the movies have made is going away from the oval, bat on yellow emblem. Quite frankly, when I think of Superheroes, two things come to mind, Superman's red and yellow shield and Batman's yellow shield. I am not even a great Batman fan and it is still the second thing which I think of.

The new bat suit to me seems more practical. If someone decided to be Batman in real life this suit would work. It has increased range of movement for his head, increased plating where it would be needed. Mostly around joints like the shoulders, elbows, knees...etc, and padding in the abdomen and chest. The ridges in the abdomen could allow for airflow so the wearer wouldn’t over heat and still give protection. My gripe on the suit though would be retractable fins...they came in handy when dealing with a sword in the first movie, why keep them hidden. As mentioned in a previous post, Batman is known for having a really long and wide cape.
It’s some of the best camouflage he has and also slows him down when he jumps down from high places lessening the damage to his knees and hips. I agree as far as the symbol, it should be noticeable and easy for all to see and know. Criminals fear the symbol and the general silhouette Batman has when they see him up close and from a far. It’s a big improvement, but they still have a way to go...and as far as the Joker, I wish they would have had Mark Hamill in that role just because he can do the voice better than anyone. Heath Ledger just seems out of place being he’s been in more chick movies than I can count...maybe they can dub his voice with Mark Hamill’s and then it wouldn’t be so bad.

I personally like the costume. It's lines are good. The rest of the costume is just detail, its not important. But it makes the costume seem more 'interesting'. You have to remember that someone was paid to design this costume so it's no suprise that the costume is very 'busy'. If you just glance at it you know it's batman but at the same time it's got lots of detail for people that like to pay more attention. You also have to remember that this is his secondary suit in the film. And as past films have proved these are usually more extravagant. It looks specifically designed to go hand in hand with the batpod don't you think? The helmet type cowl, the shorter cape? The armour plate segments look very similar to the protective armour rally bike drivers wear. Also the boots look specifically designed to bike riding. Has anyone wondered what his initial costume in the film will be? Will it be the suit from the first film? And if it is have they made any improvements to it? He is still wearing the same utility belt in the second picture so it might be that he wears his old costume in the film... which isn't a bad thing because I think they do tend to change the costume alot without making any vast improvements to it.

The new bat suit looks better in the ne footage pics then this. This shows a barley look at it in real acion it looks better

The new bat suit looks better in the ne footage pics then this. This shows a barley look at it in real acion it looks better

No offence to people who don't like the suit.. Your stupid. They do the best they can an I think they did a great job for what we can do. This movie is supposed to be a lil mo realistic and put it short the comic was too fantasy. Don't get me wrong I love the comics but if you want batman to wear spandex then you make it. tell you what if you can make a spandez suit stop a bullet even i'll give ya 100$. Retards.

So you think the movie suits could stop bullets? They're plastic,man!! And just as "fantasy" as the comix suit. So,you say you're a reader of the batcomics,eh? Well,riddle me this:if you're a lover of the Batman comics,then how come you didn't know that the comix suit is NOT spandex,and that it IS bullet proof,fire proof,and shock proof? Hmm? It ain't tights,either,chum. It's a flexible bullet proof vest like substance,they just draw it skintight,but then,everything in comix is drawn skintight.

Oh,and how is telling people who don't like the suit that they're stupid not going to offend them?

"They do the best they can do.." umm..what? They're NOT doing the "best" they can do,they're doing the "best" they WANT to do. If they really wanted to do their best to please fans and honor the comic books,then Batman would be sportin' his classic black and gray look,now wouldn't he? You people seem to think that if the suit's color scheme matches the comics that it's no longer bullet proof and etc.

The movie suits STILL suck,and I'll bet you,given the proper resources,that I COULD make a better batsuit.

And the batsuit from the comix is just as realistic,if not more,as any other superhero's costume. They don't change Superman and Spider-Man's costumes when they translate comix to film,so why Batman's?

KEL-
You approached this all wrong. Let me show you...

Dear Nachiste Seavey-
Please do not throw words like "Stupid" and "retards" around, when you are probably guilty of such a lack of intellegence.

"Your stupid" should be "You're stupid"
"lil mo" I won't even go there.
"Spandez" Please.
"100$" Oh, you mean $100.

Trying to read on your level gives me a headache. I was always told "if you don't have something nice to say, say it to yourself".

Thanks.

Alca,

Thank you for taking care of the comment for me. That was going to be my approach exactly.

And just because you begin a sentence with "no offence"[sic] does NOT give you permission to insult people directly afterwards.

Vic

LOL! Alca,dude,you pretty much summed up everything I wanted to say! Thanx,I wish I'd have wrote that.

I'm STILL laughing from reading that,Alcadyzaar! Good form,old man!

I'd have written that is what I should have wrote.

I can spell,you know:)

Doh! Not spell,write! WRITE! Screwed up again,sorry guys.

Wasn't this page about Batman? You guys sound like the Joker's goons in the TV show...they talked a load of hooey as well!
Talk about the movie, man!

Thank God Batman can finally, FINALLY move his head around, it's been bothering me (and everyone else) since the Keaton era. The new design is defiantly a step up from the previous costume, though I think his gloves are still not attached to his "wrist armor" (like in the comics) but you don't really notice it, not like in the previous costume....it was terrible. And the reduced mask size sure makes the ears look a lot better but at some angles the mask still looks too big. But what can you do, they're going for a "real world" Batman.

Hopefully this costume upgrade will help Christian Bale play a better Batman, it was a bit overdone in some scenes (interogation scene). Remember Bruce Wayne is the real disguise, "Batman" is Wayne's true self.

Yeah, the inability to turn your head is not a plus in hand to hand combat, is it? :-)

Of course you still have the peripheral vision issue and the fact that it's about impossible to hear through the cowl.

Vic

Looks AMAZING!

I actually like the very original bat-suit from the 40s. The original didn't have the bright yellow oval on the chest. That was a concoction of the 1960s writers/editors trying to make him look less threatening and more appealing for children. I haven't read a newer Batman comic, but I hope they've gone back to the original black and gray suit. Also, for those who think gray with black doesn't fade into the dark, think again. the two colors break up the silhouette and make it more difficult to be spotted. This is the same reasoning behind military camouflage. Anyways, between the two pictures I'd have to go with the "Begins" suit but maybe adding the cowl from the second.

WOO HOO!!! Finally!! SOMEONE who agrees with me! You're absolutely right,Nate,I totally agree with EVERYTHING you said,especially the part about the camouflage. Hopefully we'll be able to see the comix style suit in JLA. Most the time people who don't know much about the Batman comix attack the gray and black batsuit. You should get a standing ovation,man! BTW,the current batsuit is black and gray,much like the batsuit from the 1940's you were talkin' about. Kudos to ya,my brother! fight the power!

Came across this post looking for a comparison of the two suits. Let me start off by saying I am no near as much a batman fan as most here. Though he has climbed up the ranks and one of my favs. But in all honesty weather the suit is black and gray does not matter. It is a matter of what works in the real world. The armored look words and face it we don't have technology that can make cevlar(sp) spandex type clothing. So to have a spandex type suit and say it is cevlar(sp) bullet proof, fire proof. etc etc would really streach the imagination. Yes I know that the suit in the movies is not bullet proof but the design make it believabe that it is bullet proof. That it can protect his body from hard falls and hits. Like football players and the equipment they wear. Most of the impact you believe is absorbed by the armor and not his gut. Also the symbol lets face it anyone would remember that a guy in a costume just beat the crap out of you. Not that he had a yellow symbol. That is the last thing on any criminals mind. I personally love the new costume, and the fact that he can no move his head side to side is the greatest thing about it. He also looks more confortable and not so inflated like the previous old ones. As some pointed above they made the costume to look less intimidating for the kids. His new costume would scare the crap out of anyone. For example the spider man movies. Now as I watched them I often wondered that Peter Parker is not indestrcutable. So how did he survive getting thrown through a wall, heck how does he in general every bone in his body should shatter. Unless I missed some vital info as to why he can survive this. Heck with the new costume you can believe that some of the impact is taken away versus tights that make you think. Yeah he fealt that and he shouldn't get back up.

Ed,

Whether the suit is black and gray may not matter to you and other movie fans,but it matters to me and many other Batman fans and comix purists very much.

The suit from the comix wasn't "spandex" and is just as realistic if not more than the movie suits.

The movie suits are bulletproof,fire proof,and shock proof to a degree,like the comix style suit.

Spider-Man has enhanced durability,so it doesn't matter whether he wears tights or not. he doesn't need any armor or anything. That'd be stupid and wouldn't be respectful of the character,like the Batman movie suits.

It's quite strange, at some level I fall into all 3 camps you have mentioned.

Camp 1: Yes would be nice to keep the costume classic, but how far back do you have to go for it to be classic. I remember when Bruce Wayne returned after knightfall in the early 90's, he had an all black costume, and always had a much darker costume in the 'Shadow of the Bat' comics (which incidentally the new movies appear to be more inspired by). So if this era counts as classic then the current costume does sort of fit.

Camp 2: Think the execution of the Costume is too busy, and
Camp 3: Think the costume reflects a real-world concept.

At some level these agree with both of these, I love the plating idea, but some of it is too defined, thus tending to look busy. However it also give the edginess (if that's a real word) and fear factor that the character needs, maybe the plates could be more interlocking or not quite so separated in places. This would make it less busy and still allow for the mobility.

Totally agree that it's good they've finally allowed neck movement with the cowl.

Finally, and slightly off subject, the pictures I've seen for the Joker look awesome, and have really capture the psychopathic schizophrenia with the makeup this time.

Andy,

What the heck are you doing commenting on the internet? Your opinions are WAY to balanced and reasonable! ;-)

You make excellent points all around, and yeah, The Joker looks creepy as hell. So much so that I'm afraid I won't be bringing my 11 year old daughter to see "The Dark Knight" although she loved "Batman Begins."

Vic

Meant to say, I like the fact the Bat's costume is evolving from movie to movie. Like you said Vic, he need the armour plating, unlike Superman (or as Batman puts it, Big Boy Scout in Tights), and with the x-men etc, he has no super powers and it to all intents and purposes nothing more than a tollerated vigilante (or not so tollerated at times) therefore his costume needs to adapt and grow and technology evolves and adapts.

Equally so, going from one non superhuman to another, IronMan, love the costume for the movie though a little confused by the trailer with Tony Stark being portraid as a heartless arms dealer to begin with. Don't remember that being part of his origin, unless this is his post Onslaught origin; have to admit I gave up with Marvel when they re-merged the two universes they had quite nicely split with the Onslaught story. But hey, that's in the past. Don't quite understand why they have to dick around with the origins for the Marvel movies though.

The batsuit doesn't need the clunky,plastic looking movie armor in order to be "realistic". He's not Iron Man,save the armor and suit accesories for him. The batsuit is fine the way it's always been in the comics.

[KEL said "The batsuit is fine the way it's always been in the comics"]

What you mean single unflexible peices of armour plating like it has been for the last 20 or so years?

Unflexible? Ummm.....what? Have you even seen the batsuit from the comix? It's VERY flexible,almost like regular cloth it's so flexible. And it's protective too,like a bullet proof vest.

Admittedly have read them much in the last 5 years; however read them for around 20 years prior to that. But remember the bat not being crushed in Cataclysm because the "suits armour plating protected me".

And with the darker version redesign of the suit after knightfall and Dick Grayson taking on the mantle for a view months, the fabric type coating was kept on top of the plating to allow movement at the joints, in the same way as the chain mail is used for the new movie, however indications in the comics were that the costume was made of fewer and larger plates than have been designed for the movie.

Also in the comics you have a lot more artistic licence as to what the suit can do and how it moves because it is drawn as opposed to being live action. The plating has been incorporated into the batsuit at some level since at least the first Tim Burton movie, which is also part of why Bane didn't use a frontal assault on the Bat as he new it would be too much hard work for him and instead wore him down first so the exhaustion would reduce the effect of the body armour to a minimum.

In the original origin story there was not much time devoted to Stark pre-Iron Man, but the gist was that he was an arms manufacturer with a lifestyle similar to that of Hugh Hefner.

So not exactly the kind of guy a girl would like to bring home to meet her parents. :-)

Vic

While I would prefer the more comics style suit I can deal with what they give us. Just once though I would like to seem them come up with a mask that really works. These are the worst so far. The ears are way too far back and the cowl opening for his face too small. Really ruins the whole thing for me.

Kel

No I am not a purist, And you miss the point, would I like the costom to be more a fabric and not the way it is in the movies NO. The movies are taking a fantasy and making it more realistic. He could not wear a suit like the one they made for spider man and superman and make it seem realistic. Batman is only human, he can't take near the amount of punishment that they take. Besides I know his costume in the comics isn't spandex. It is cevlar which I believe is a thin armor plating. IT hard to make it seem like that in real life. VS drawing it in a comic book.

also I add this here.

It was a basic convention of comic books at the time of Batman's creation that black needed a highlight color (usually blue) in order to show detail and give the illusion of three-dimensionality. Over time, the initial blue highlight spread out over the previously black cape and cowl to become the dominant color. Thus artists renditions depict the costume as black and gray or blue and gray. The bat symbol on the chest has alternated from a simple black bat to a bat design on a yellow ellipse. The yellow ellipse was introduced in 1964 as part of the "New Look" Batman stories, and was meant to be a connection to the Bat-Signal. In Batman: The Dark Knight Returns it is revealed that the yellow ellipse design was deliberately meant as a target, attracting a potential gunman's aim to the heavily armored chestpiece, and away from Batman's unarmored face. Other elements, such as the utility belt and the length of the cowl's ears, have been changed by various artistic teams.
The Batsuit has been repeatedly updated in order to reflect advances in technology. Originally the costume contained no protective armor, since the creative talent felt that it made Batman seem too powerful to see him shrug off bullet hits. However, the real world advent of various forms of personal protective materials like Kevlar and the realization that being shot while wearing such protection still should be avoided, has led to the costume being re-imagined with varying forms of bulletproof protection. Despite the armor, Batman almost always evades gunfire and is very rarely actually shot
Kane himself, in his 1989 autobiography, detailed Finger's contributions to Batman creation:

“ One day I called Bill and said, 'I have a new character called the Bat-Man and I've made some crude, elementary sketches I'd like you to look at'. He came over and I showed him the drawings. At the time, I only had a small domino mask, like the one Robin later wore, on Batman's face. Bill said, 'Why not make him look more like a bat and put a hood on him, and take the eyeballs out and just put slits for eyes to make him look more mysterious?' At this point, the Bat-Man wore a red union suit; the wings, trunks, and mask were black. I thought that red and black would be a good combination. Bill said that the costume was too bright: 'Color it dark gray to make it look more ominous'. The cape looked like two stiff bat wings attached to his arms. As Bill and I talked, we realized that these wings would get cumbersome when Bat-Man was in action, and changed them into a cape, scalloped to look like bat wings when he was fighting or swinging down on a rope. Also, he didn't have any gloves on, and we added them so that he wouldn't leave fingerprints.[9]

The above is a quote strait from the horses mouth. The batsuit was originally colled red and black, changed to black and blue to make him more ominous not comoflouge (sp) Als that the bat suit is armor as I have been saying it is kevlar not fabric. It is hard to depiect a kevlar laced fabric suit in real life and make it seem like it can take a bullet. Let alone be semi tear resistant. Also the orinial batman did not have the yellow behind the batsymbol on his chest. Check it out if I am wrong. Oh this is not mine was doing some reasearch on Batman.

Hey Ed,great job on the research. Although I already were aware of all those things, I always apreciate it when people check out the source before leaving a comment. And I especially apreciate your observation about how the black areas on the batsuit were subtley changed to blue/navy overtime,something I have always noticed but no one else seemed to. And in some of his first appearances,Batman wore a bullet proof vest. Never did I say the creators chose black and gray because it was camoflouge,I only said that those colors (or shades) on the costume caused the suit to be camoflauge.
Ultimately,I just want the suit in the movies to be as respectful of the comix as they can (like Superman's and Spider-Man's movie suits)without being cheesy. I personally don't mind the armor,I just want it to be more flexible looking and I want the shirt and pants areas to be gray and I want the cape,cowl,gloves,leotard and boots to be black. Whether or not the suit's bat symbol (emblom) has the yellowish ellipse around it is not a big deal to me,I just want the armor/suit to be black and gray on the areas it's supposed to be. The gray areas shouldn't be a real light gray,but a darker midnight style gray,so that from far away or in the dark you won't be able to tell whether he's got gray on the suit or not. It should just be there,the producers can come up with whatever excuse for it they want. It would please me and a lot of other Batman fans and comic book die hards.

I always have a slight problem with the movie batsuit being compared to the Iron Man movie suit. As the IM movie suit is based and looks very similar to IM's suit in the current IM comic books,and the Batman movie suits look nothing like the current Batman comic book suit.

The only thing that I really like about TDK movie's new batsuit is the cowl. It looks much better than the BB suit's cowl. The BB cowl had such a freaking huge and stupid looking neck whenever Bats would tilt his head down,besides looking too plastic. The cowl should never look plastic/rubberish,hopefully the new cowl will look better on screen. I personally liked the cowl worn by Michael Keaton in the 1989 Batman film best so far,with the one he wore in Batman Returns second as my second fave. I still think they need to look less rubbery/plastic and more cloth like/authentic and comfortable.

I actually just watched some behind the scenes footage of the Dark Knight with Al Broker (is his name right?) on a talk show via superherohype.com. They posted a video of Al's set visit there. The suit looks better than the one worn in Batman Begins,IMO,even tho I still have problems with it.

Thanks, I try not to say anything unless I get my facts staight. But your arguments are valid as to why you would like to see it more like the comixs. Everyone else does seem to keep a close relationship with their comic counterparts. I just think that since the bat suit is supposed to be like a kevlar type of armor. It may be hard to potray it as being both armor and a fabric type at the same time. So they just opted for it to be more of armor then anything else.

Me I am just happy he can move his head from side to side. It was hard for me to think he could effectivly fight with out being able to swivel his head. I also like the sleek look, it looks more flexible and like he can do more damage. I am sure that somone designed a suit to be more like the comix but for some reason they may have chose to go for the more armor type suit. And who knows maybe in the third that is what he will have. It seems like they are giving him a reason as to why everything he gets it evolves to make him a better crime fighter. They may have the next suit designed to look like the one in the comics who knows.

I realize the last post hasn't been for a couple weeks now, but I was just directed here when looking for pics concerning The Dark Knight. I'm not really sure which group I fall in, because I think they change the Batman costume too often, but then again, it makes sense if the storyline requires a new suit...it's been rumored that the Batmobile is blown up at some point, hence the Batpod. I've even read that Wayne is initially reluctant about the changes (both costume and to the Batpod) but quickly adapts. I can't tell you where I read this info because I was really bored at work today so I was just clicking around looking at random info about the movie.

Does the new suit remind anyone of the Master Chief Spartan armor from the Halo series? That's the first thing that came to mind when I saw it. Maybe they'll use this as a base model for the Halo movie that's being planned.

Anyways, I think the new suit looks good, and as many have said, I'm so glad he'll be able to turn his head to talk/look at someone without having to move his shoulders with it...that always made me laugh a little inside.

Also, we have to remember that although we may all die-hard Batman fans, the movie has to appeal to the masses, who are unfortunately not die-hard fans. So the armor has to make sense to the mass audience, not just to those of us who follow the details of the Batman storylines. It's just basic marketing, and even though it can hold back a potentially fantastic fan-oriented movie, it's needed if the movie will make the big money that they are aiming for. As much as it sucks to say this, in the end, the only thing that corporate studios use to determine a movie's success is the number of digits following a dollar sign, not how well it was made.

I'm from "camp 2" but I think the Batman Begins suit was pretty efficent in looking like a funtional protective garment without being too "suit-of-armor"-y. My one fault with it was the head which he really couldn't turn from side to side very well at all. They fixed this problem with the Dark Knight suit but then went a tiny bit overboard on the "Over armoured" concept. So my ideal suit would basicly be the BB suit with the DK head.

the costume in dark knight is a much needed improvement over batman begins. dark knight looked way too bulky for him to move and way too heavy for him to glide on cloth. the new one look smaller but the mask still looks messed up small jaw line that makes the head look to big, not to mention it all looked like it was made out of playdoe, the old cowl had peoblems with the turning of the neck but it looked alot more iconic, dangerous, and inhuman rather than a bloke who fell into a vat of rubber and was created by blue peter.

A Few Points.

1. The Dark Knight. This suit looks like a suit of armour to me, and rightly it should. The suit is a visual reference to the title and themes of this movie, while at the same time providing a far more practical and realistic crime fighting suit in keping with the real world style of these movies.

2. Of all the batsuits this seems the best, he looks far more dangerous in this one. You're no longer safe if you're standing beside the guy, he can turn his head to see you. He can move.

3.Also this suit seems far more comfortable than any of the previous vesions a huge bonus for the actor and stunt men.

4. Faithfullness to source material. Black cape, Black cowl, black gloves (inc. Gauntlets) and black boots. Yellow utility belt.

All in all they design crew acomplished alot with this suit.

Note to comics purists: Bob Kane didn't seem to mind the fact that the batsuit in the first Batman movie was all black (nor did he grumble about the yellow crest either and that wasn't in his original design)and I think if anyone should have a right to grumble it'd be him. He understood that the different media called for different approaches. I never understand purists. I feel they just limit their scope on things.

Bob Kane never complained much about ANY Batman related product,he was always very happy that his character was so popular and being noticed.

Kinda like Stan Lee.....

More or less my point exactly, only in far fewer words. Well done. That's exactly the way the fans should see it and keep personal character preferences just that, and not get annoyed if someone elses are different.

Wait now don't anybody get me wrong, I love the grey suit from the comics and I'd have nothing against a movie featuring it at all, so long as it would be true to the story the movie's trying to tell.

Well.....when you're a creator of something you're usually flattered that someone is doing SOMETHING with your character and probably won't complain so not to be seen as ungrateful. If you're a fan it's a little different. I think fans should complain when a producer or someone does something that goes against the hero's character or is in direct violation of the status quo of the comic book continuity of the character. If they get those things right than anything else should be secondary if mentioned at all.

Yeah,I too love the black and grey suit from the comix and personally would LOVE to see something similar on film someday,it doesn't have to be tights but it doesn't have to be plastic/rubber either,when adapting a Batman comix style suit it shouldn't be "Adam West VS Tim Burton",there are many different types of material that the costume makers can use,if you've ever seen one of the catalogues that they order their materials from then you know that there are hundreds of material options,not just Peter Pan tights or black rubber.

Anyway.

I agree with your comment. Thank you for being polite. :-)

Having read through nearly all these comments and replies I find it kind of ironic to think that, in the popular mind of the next few years, the Batsuits of these films are probably going to become the 'classic' and the iconic suits for the majority of people. Think about it: How many people will see the next film(s) and compare this to the amount of people who read the comics regularly. To most people the grey and black, or blue and black, 'tights' and bright yellow bat emblem of the comics, cartoons and earlier films will seem crass or ridiculous in the way some people seem to see the new Dark Knight suit.

My own feelings? I think the picture of Batman in The Dark Knight is more threatening than BB. I think it's that you can't see his eyes yet he seems to be looking at you... I feel the knuckle dusters attached to the gloves are a nice touch and obviously the head mobility can only be counted as a good thing. I haven't seen enough footage of the new film to really say how well this will work in the film so it could turn out badly. We'll all just have to wait and see.

The one thing I will say for the fans who think the films should stick closer to the comic books is that in the comic books, Batman was more of creature than in the film incarnations. In 'Batman' and 'Batman Forever' it came across as a man in a suit. I think Bale does well as Batman in Begins and seems to get across the anger etc of the character. But the Batman in all film incarnations doesn't quite hit the level of creature you get in some of the comics and cartoons. I mean that Batman is able to dodge bullets and disappear/reappear without much in the way of an explanation which is a sad thing to lose in the films.

Iron Man has been mentioned once or twice before and I think that in comparing the way the IM film uses the suit of the comics to BB and TDK overlooks that fact that both films are trying to get across the personalities of the heroes. IM can stay close to the comics because Stark is a playboy and the flashy colours of the IM suit work. BB and TDK are a reflection of Bruce who has lost everything and immersed himself in fear and terror. And how many people were/are afraid of the dark?