There are a thousand possible explanations for why Batman started investing in high-end custom battle wagons. Maybe there was a period early in his career where he had to take public transit everywhere and got tired of showing up to fight the Riddler smelling like the bus, or maybe Bruce Wayne genuinely believes that bats are supposed to have cars. He gets hit in the head a lot.
Whatever the case, the world of pop culture is a better place for the 1939 decision to give the Dark Knight a set of wheels. The Batmobile is so much more than a car. It’s a vehicular barometer for the kind of Batman that the audience can expect. It’s a jet-powered time capsule, showcasing the aesthetic sensibilities of its time, and a way for artists and directors to flex on their predecessors. Let’s take a look at the better part of a century’s worth of bat-themed muscle cars and, once and for all, rank them.
10. Batman #5, 1941
The Batmobile that appeared in 1941’s Batman #5 wasn’t the first car that Batman tooled around town in, but it was the first one that you could reasonably call a Batmobile. Far from the factory-standard coupe that our hero had utilized up to this point, this was a factory-standard coupe with a fin on the back and a cutout of Batman’s face stapled to the hood.
Yes, it was a humble beginning to a long line of iconic cars, but it got the ball rolling. Aspects of this first real Batmobile still pop up in fresh iterations to this day. That’s staying power. That’s an icon you have to respect. What’s more, that’s a pretty funny car to imagine a brooding Bruce Wayne asking for. “Alfred, I need a vehicle that will strike fear into the hearts of cowardly and superstitious criminals. Glue my head to the front of a Lincoln Continental.”
9: Arkham Knight
Batman’s “I don’t kill” policy has always come with a sort of winking, “of course you don’t, buddy” attitude from mindful fans. Fun’s fun, and good intentions are a very fine thing, but you can only punch so many poor people in the head in a night before Alfred has to start greasing Gotham’s medical examiner’s palms to start fudging the “cause of death” section on a lot of documents.
All of which is to say that it’s remarkable – borderline unbelievable, really – that the Batman of Rocksteady’s Arkham series managed to design a Batmobile that could run full-speed into a group of scofflaw pedestrians without doing a lick of permanent damage. Topping out at 200-some-odd miles per hour, this bulletproof tank would electromagnetically propel anyone that it came into contact with, gingerly rocketing them to their rest 25 feet away on the gentle concrete, no harm done. Clunky? Gametime-padding? Sure, if your Batcup is half-empty. Some of us prefer to think of it as the ultimate expression of the Caped Crusader’s nonlethal lifestyle – unlikely, but fun as long as you don’t think about it.
8: The Dark Knight Returns
The Batmobile from The Dark Knight Returns is barely a Batmobile. The iconography is comparatively subtle, and it doesn’t give you the impression that it’s going anywhere in a hurry. It’s an extension of Frank Miller’s fascistic Bruce Wayne, designed to break up rioters and also, if need be, shoot Batman’s old coworker.
For all its imposing Metal Slug energy, the Batmobile of The Dark Knight Returns doesn’t last long. It can’t stop Superman. It can’t even slow him down all that much. For a second, though, you think it might – making you second guess whether or not Superman is about to get the snot beat out of him. If that’s not pure Batman, what is?
7: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Zack Snyder is a lot. He’s unstoppable and polarizing, like a juggernaut made out of pineapple on pizza. Whatever else you want to say about him, he’s also a guy with a killer eye for the stuff that makes men in Tapout shirts say “Nifty!” out loud in a movie theater.
Case in point: The Batmobile of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, a vehicle that got machine gun chocolate all over the Dark Knight trilogy Batmobile’s peanut butter. Effortlessly equal parts sleek and clunky, like a tank that swears its hair just looks like this when it gets out of bed, it’s not exactly the last word in nonlethal crime fighting. Still, it cuts a handsome figure until the Man of Steel peels it open like a can of fruit cocktail and politely asks Batman to stop being a dang murderer so much.
6: The Batman
The Batman of The Batman continues the noble tradition that Frank Miller first started with Batman: Year One, presenting himself as a Dark Knight that’s as grounded in reality as possible, and then daring audiences to not take him seriously. Young, angry, and desperately in need of a dance mom to remind him to smile when he’s doing Bruce Wayne stuff, this is a Batman that’s not done cooking. He doesn’t glide off of buildings yet, he plummets headlong into overpasses. He hasn’t figured out cork boards yet, so he permanently spray paints his parents’ floor when he’s figuring out clues.
And where most Batmen boast an ultra-expensive battle car, this one only has a pretty expensive battle car. It’s the sort of car that Max Rockatansky could get really upset about losing, a souped-up muscle car with an engine designed to annoy the neighbors. It might not be the first thing you think of when you imagine a Batmobile, but it is a vehicular movie monster tearing through flaming wreckage like a high-octane Frankenstein’s monster with eight cylinders under the hood. It is, empirically speaking, pretty dope.
5: Batman: The Animated Series
Splitting the difference between the neo gothic tendencies of the Tim Burton movies and the minimalist art deco designs of the Superman cartoons from the 1940s, Batman: The Animated Series gave its protagonist an iconic ride that looked like it was carved off of the side of the Chrysler building. Simple but elegant, uniquely designed but easily recreated, it defined what the Batmobile was supposed to be for a generation of young viewers. More than that, though, it was a utility player, with the first season episode “The Underdwellers” revealing that the car could not only hypnotize any children in the passenger seat, but also disguise itself as a dumpster. You have to wonder what the visit to Lucius Fox’s office was like on the day that Bruce Wayne asked for those features.
4: Batman Returns
It seems like cheating to include the Batmobiles from both 1989’s Batman and its follow up, Batman Returns, considering the outward similarities. When it comes right down to it, though, the version from Returns took what the original car established and added all of the necessary extras. Whether you need to flambé a carnie or jettison two-thirds of your car so you can drive down an alley, this is the hooptie that discerning Batmen prefer.
Bonus points: Batman never used this one to bomb a chemical factory like he did with the first one, and that shows growth and emotional maturity. This is the car of a more grown-up Batman.
3: Batman 1966
Batman has been around for close to a century and reimagined countless times. One version isn’t any more or less legitimate than another. If you like your Batman dark and brooding, more power to you. You’ve got plenty of options. If you want to see the Dark Knight going toe-to-toe with Vincent Price in a bald cap, there’s still only one place to go.
1966’s Batman was a work of mad genius, and the series’ Batmobile was, too. Powered by an atomic engine, slowed via parachute, decked out with G-rated James Bond-style gadgets, and never, ever illegally parked, it was a product of the time and sensibilities that created it. Classics are classics for a reason.
2: The Dark Knight trilogy
From a cynical perspective, the Tumbler never lived up to its potential. Introduced in 2005’s Batman Begins as a young Bruce Wayne’s starter-Batmobile, the implied promise seemed to be that the blossoming vigilante would build on the car, batting it up as time went on. He never really got around to that.
And that’s fine. The Tumbler — like any good Batmobile — was of its age: a Bush-era gas-guzzling Bat Hummer that you just know would wind up parked diagonally across two spaces if you ever saw it at Walmart. It was the first Batmobile that looked like it was about to punch you. Hard. Twice.
More than that, though, it gave audiences some of the most memorable superhero action scenes ever committed to film. If you were lucky enough to see The Dark Knight in a packed theater when it hit the big screen in 2008, you’ll remember the borderline-religious fervor that hit the crowd when Batman exploded out of the front of his car on a monster truck/motorcycle hybrid. The military didn’t mess around when it came to experimental bridge-building ATVs in those days.
1: Batman: Rebirth
No, you’re a nerd.
Taking the reins of a Batman story has to be a tough balancing act. You want to pay homage to what came before, but still stake your claim and leave your mark.
For a killer visual example of how to do that, check out 2016’s Batman #1, written by Tom King and illustrated by David Finch. Take in the design on that Batmobile. It’s got the long lines of the cars from ‘89 and The Animated Series, the clunky plating of the Tumbler era, and even the over-the-top Batman head hood ornament introduced back in the ‘40s. This thing’ll take you from zero to heartbreaking heroic self-sacrifice in less than six panels. When it races onto panel for its brief stint before being unceremoniously driven off the side of a bridge not long after, it is — at an almost platonic level — the Batmobile.
Published: Jul 23, 2023 11:01 pm