The Dark Knight channels Chris Evans' Knives Out look in an upcoming variant cover depicting a ludicrous new outfit that Batman still somehow manages to make cool. The art will appear on select issues of Batman #120, coming to comic retailers February 1 from Joshua Williamson, Karl Kerschl, Jorge Molina, and Tomeu Morey. The issue itself will see Batman tangle with new villain Abyss and deal with Lex Luthor's control of Batman Inc. - Bruce's former international team which has since fallen under the sway of Superman's nemesis. Of course, variant covers exist to have a little fun, and while the issue's regular cover features an imposing Abyss, the variant from Dan Hipp goes in a decidedly different direction.
Dan Hipp is a cartoonist and comic artist known to TV fans as the art director of Teen Titans GO! A recent slew of art sees Hipp's comedic instincts take hold, with characters like Moon Knight and Joker depicted in odd new costumes packed with Easter egg references. While Hipp's The Joker 2021 Annual variant cover sees the Clown Prince of Crime festooned with buttons in the likenesses of Gotham's heroes and villains, his Moon Knight art sees Marc Spector adopt an outfit packed with references to Oscar Isaac, who will soon play the brutal vigilante in Disney+'s Moon Knight.
The upcoming Batman #120 cover - recently shared on Twitter by Joshua Williamson - sees Batman clad in a thick cardigan, with its pattern dedicated to referencing longtime love interest Catwoman, aka Selina Kyle, whose many costumes are also homaged in a series of buttons down the garment's front. Bruce holds a Mr. Freeze-inspired smoothie and regards what seems to be Selina with large novelty sunglasses worn over his usual cowl. Band-aids and bandages show this version of Bruce is no less hardcore for his ridiculous outfit, and despite the unusual levity of his costume, he still manages to conjure memories of Chris Evans' Knives Out character Hugh "Ransom" Drysdale - another disaffected child of wealth, whose sweater sparked memetic appreciation from fans.
It's a ludicrous costume for the Dark Knight, and arguably takes the top spot as his most unusual to date. Of course, that's a difficult feat, given the competition includes Bruce's Zur-En-Arrh persona (an alien Batman later retconned to be an emergency personality Bruce created for if his mind were ever compromised), and the rainbow batsuits from Detective Comics #241. But even these suits were designed for combat, whereas Bruce's new cardigan seems to be incredibly impractical, despite the fact that a great deal of work must have gone into this tribute to his favorite cat burglar (likely at the hands of long-suffering butler Alfred Pennyworth.)
No comic hero can afford to throw stones when it comes to silly costumes, but Dan Hipp's Catwoman-themed cardigan takes the cake as the weirdest outfit Batman has been willing to show off yet, even if he still somehow manages to make it seem cool.
Source: Joshua Williamson