Fans will argue long into the night about which live-action Batmobile can be called the best, which is understandable when the Dark Knight’s preferred mode of transport has seen numerous different interpretations that range from sleek and stylish to hulking and brutal.
The Batman is looking to straddle the line between both, with Robert Pattinson revealing that Bruce Wayne cobbled together his own set of wheels to give the vehicle a lived-in, tangible sense of realism, while the various trailers and promo spots we’ve seen have outlined that the Batmobile isn’t going to be shy when it comes to gadgets, either.
In an interview with Empire, director Matt Reeves cited another unlikely source of inspiration, namely the sentient and very murderous car from Stephen King’s 1983 novel Christine.
“[The Batmobile] has to make an appearance out of the shadows to intimidate, so I thought of it almost like Stephen King’s Christine. I liked the idea of the car itself as a horror figure, making an animalistic appearance to really scare the hell out of the people Batman is pursuing. There is absolutely a horror-genre aspect to this movie.”
Reeves coming right out and admitting The Batman has aspects and inspirations derived from horror, before citing a homicidal automobile as one of the biggest influences, is very exciting stuff. A horror-tinged superhero detective story with a serial killer on the loose and procedural trappings sounds awesome, and we can’t wait to see how it all turns out in March 2022.
