Comic book writer Grant Morrison said it best: “[Every bat-suit is] completely different” – sometimes insanely different – “but they’re all instantly recognizable as [the-bat-suit].”
Unlike Superman, who has more or less been wearing the same blue and red strongman since Action Comics #1 in 1938, Batman just keeps changing his appearance every few years to keep up with the times. Basically, he’s the Madonna of superheroes.
Which is why I created this Batman infographic — to keep track of every single “significant” bat-suit across all mediums (which excludes a grand majority of the bat-suits featured in non-canonical comic books, in case you were wondering).
In part, what makes Batman such an excellent comic book/movie/television/video game/theatrical character is his unique ability to comfortably exist inside of just about every kind of story. He can fight gods. He can play superhero. He can be the world’s greatest detective or just solve petty street crimes. Whether the story is gritty, ridiculous, or brimming with science-fiction – or in the case of Grant Morrison’s work on the character, all of the above – Batman is always capable of thriving creatively.
Batman’s neverending bat-suit wardrobe is a symptom of that. He can wear just about any sort of outfit, for any sort of story or scenario, and still be the most popular superhero in existence. He’s just that good, man.
Check it out below – and CLICK TO ENLARGE:
Do you have a particular favorite bat-suit, Screen Ranters? A particular least favorite? Let us known in the comments.
Follow me on Twitter @benandrewmoore.
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Nice. That was great!
Favorite is still The Animated Series. The show was pretty awesome too.
Awesome infographic, though I would’ve liked to have seen Russian Batman from Red Son added in (it’s a Superman comic, but Batman is featured in a rather different way). Rocks all the same!
Red Son was an Else-Worlds story. These appear to be in-continuity suits only.
Standing O…this was incredible!
BAT-NIPPLES!
Bat-Bulge
LMFAO
Hahah
Great detail (and comments).
Nice job!
As an English teacher, I like the “Adam West Batman” the best!
Screenrant has really pulled out all the stops. This is insanely cool.
Thanks, Mike!
Ben, this is some of your finest work. Screenrant.com is lucky to have you and should commission you to do many more of these.
Very cool. To me the ‘Batman Returns’ suit is the best, but all of them sans nips are dope.
Lol all the Batmans have a O_o look on thier face.
Very good work though it does a great job of proving Grant Morrison wrong lol every Batman costume is not very different. In fact 99% are the exact same costume with new colors or slightly modified symbol. Batmsn’s costume has only had a major change two tiems really.
Great job putting this together!
Would have liked to see either Emerald Knight or Yellow Lantern Batman…pretty important turning points in the DC mythos.
Haha, what? You mean for the two seconds he “wore” them?
yeah I know he didn’t have them for that long but the image of it was pretty awesome, seeing Batman really transform from such a classic look.
Favorite has to be animated series for sure!
The Bat suit from Batman returns and The Nolan`s triology are my favorites lol GREAT JOB SCREENRANT!!!!!!!!!!!
My dislikes:
1. Yellow background of the logo. I always thought it being campy for dark-shaded Bat-suit. Anything, even if slightly, colored in extreme red/yellow or any other shining colors defeats the purpose of ‘Stealth’ in the Bat-suit. By that standards, ‘Batman of Zur-En-Arr’ and ‘Azrael-Batman’ are simply horrendous.
2. The oblique nature of ears (Again too campy).
3. Visibility of undies (Plain embarrassing).
Taking these into consideration my favorites are: Nolan’s Bat-suits, Batman Live (Theater) and the New-52 Batman.
The New Adventures is still my favorite
The best ten minutes I’ve spent on this website (and it’s one of my favourite sites). Brilliant.
Thanks!
my fav version is definitely the new batman adventures bat suit, gets the balance of black and grey right with a good bat symbol, though the arkham city bat suit is pretty dope
Awesome…my favorite is the “Silver Age” Batman
@ Greenknight333
All the heroes i enjoyed most in their comics i liked the most would be during the “Silver Age” aswell.
Nice article. Below would be my favorites.
1.From Comics= Modern Age Batman Comic Books, 80′s/90′s.
2.Animation= Batman from 90′s Batman:TAS. Costume from Justice League/JLU coming in as 2nd.
3.Films= Costume from Batman Returns & costume from Batman Begins coming in as 2nd.
Id like to note i do like Batman’s costume from Batman Beyond & what is’s capable of. And I liked the costumes he wears in the two video games i think with some work, they could be great costumes on film. Not to mention I liked Catwoman’s costume from the newest game & would like to see her wearing that kind of costume when she appears on film again.
@ Ben Moore
You should write a article like this one about every hero in the future. Again it’s a nice one!
^That would be awesome…
I’d love to see an Iron Man infographic at some point as well.
It would be great if we got to decide what was best Robin, Batgirl,Nightwing costumes to share opinions. Even though Robin & Batgirl been on film that was poorly done.
I do love Batman’s costumes (and I actually really like the New 52 costume that Jim Lee’s drawing for JL).
Anyway…
But I don’t think Batman’s costume is the most iconic costume of all time (surely that privilege has to go to Superman, no? – and IMO, Captain America’s costume is also a little more iconic than Bat’s)
IMO, Batman’s really more about the gadgets, tech, martial arts, etc – and not so much about the type of material his pants is made out of
Still, this was an awesome read (thanks Ben) and I, like all the fellow Batman fans out there, look forward to seeing even more awesome Batsuits in the times to come.
@ TheAvenger
Too bad Superman’s costume isn’t so iconic now imo. I agree about Captain America’s being iconic as much as Superman’s.
Well, here’s the thing — while I think Superman and Batman are equally iconic in terms of historical significance (despite the fact that Superman came first), the fact of the matter is that Batman is the more popular, and Batman has been adapted more frequently (and successfully) into other mediums. Do children know Superman the way they know Batman? I don’t think so, honestly. In my opinion, that gives him the edge.
As for Captain America, a character I love, before last year, he wasn’t even a household name. He’s been adapted much less frequently, and much less successfully (before last year, and even then, it was no Dark Knight). His comics almost never sell as well as Batman’s. Really, on the iconic front, it’s no contest.
Batman and Superman are really the most iconic figures because they’ve been a part of the American culture since the late ’30s and have had the most mainstream stay in the spotlight than any other character. Batman is definitely more popular with kids because he’s a superhero without superpowers. I’d say it’s close with a slight edge going to Batman over Superman.
I liked the infograph. Nice job, Ben!
Yeah… but I’m talking about ICONIC COSTUMES (not the popularity of the characters themselves).
While Superman and Cap has (basically) had the same costume for like 80 years, Batman’s costume has changed a lot over the years (that’s why Batman doesn’t really have an ICONIC COSTUME anymore – i.e. even though his costumes are very recognizable, there isn’t really ONE of them that’s iconic anymore – IMO)
But the way you’re using the word — “iconic” — means recognizable worldwide. So popularity (which was only part of what I was referring to; the other part being “how well known” Superman and Captain America’s suits are by everyone in the world, even the children) actually does come into play here.
My favorite is likely TAS Batman…I can remember running home from the school bus to make sure I was in front of the TV when it came on…that sweet theme song/opening sequence. Of course I learned to appreciate the character in depth over the years, but that was always the Batman I was most invested in…that and the JLI era one.
But yeah. This infographic was hella good. Ben Moore is a hairy god amongst men.
@ Dirk
Batman:TAS is my favorite adaption of the character whether it’s tv or film. I too hoped to make it home in time to watch it everytime. Shirley Walker’s score on the show is great, R.I.P Shirley Walker. It sounded like Danny Elfman’s scores of Burton’s films but taken up a notch that was made it different of-course. To this day i say to myself Tim Burton must of done more than one thing right with his Batman films if such a great show like Batman:TAS was partly inspired by the films.
Kevin Conroy is voice of Batman imo. One could only imagine what it would be like if he was the character in a live-action role.
You should do a Spider-man one!
I agree. That would be a great next project!
First time responder. Great site Vic and great work Ben. more of this kind of stuff please.
Nice job, Ben. Do you think you could give Spider Man, Iron Man, or Wolverine a similar treatment next?