The History of the Batmobile

May 24, 2005 11:04 AM

The History of the Batmobile "Batman first appeared in May of 1939 in Detective Comics #27, and although the first true Batmobile did not appear for another two years, it has become one of the Dark Knight's best known weapons." (via)
posted by boymilo (12 comments total)

Fantastic post. Thanks.
posted by sveskemus at 11:43 AM on May 24, 2005

The Tumbler? oh you wouldn't be interested in that...

Excellent.
posted by jazon at 11:57 AM on May 24, 2005

Oh so neat. I love that in the early serials the difference between the Batmobile and Bruce Wayne's normal car was top up vs. top down.
posted by PhatLobley at 11:58 AM on May 24, 2005

Rubber bullets. Honest.
posted by keswick at 12:05 PM on May 24, 2005 [1 favorite]

I have to say I really hate the "tumbler" batmobile. I saw it at E3 last week and even in person it looks awful. It's ugly and boxy, and seems more like a sherman tank than the sleek sexy batmobiles we're used to.

I appreciate that it's more like Frank Miller's batmobile from The Dark Knight Returns, and I love Frank Miller's stories but I've never really warmed up to his artwork.

The pinnacle of the batmobile is this one from the 1989 movie starring one of the best bat men ever, Michael Keaton.
posted by splatta at 12:30 PM on May 24, 2005

splatta
I think the idea behind using the admittedly-hideous Tumbler design is that it's closer to a real military vehicle, something Waynetech would make.
posted by Sangermaine at 12:45 PM on May 24, 2005

the BaTSUV on display at e3 (e3! woo!) has a terrible design flaw -- there's no front axle. The wheels are supported solely by metal strut dealies. I bet real world driving, let alone BatDriving, would see them torque out of alignment or snap off real fast.
posted by boo_radley at 3:37 PM on May 24, 2005

I was looking at that and i think the reason the meta strut dealies are so it can transform. None of us have seen the movie, and it might be that the vehicle transforms into something else.
posted by splatta at 4:52 PM on May 24, 2005

I like how Batman is all about low profile, sticking to the shadows, etc. yet drives this garish car with the Bat logo all over it.
I mean even an idiot notices a black, blue and yellow customed out DeTomaso Pantera.
At least the Shadow had a cab drive him around.
posted by Smedleyman at 5:02 PM on May 24, 2005

I think splatta has the right of it. The Anton Furst design is the apotheosis of the Batmobile.
posted by MrBadExample at 10:09 PM on May 24, 2005

We still don't know how many times did the Batmobile catch a flat.
posted by jonp72 at 10:31 PM on May 24, 2005

I think the rougher design serves as reinforcement of the plot. It's precisely the kind of strictly utilitarian form that a young, angry Batman would slap together just to have something working.

Concerns about driving some slick wheels that can be used to pick up chicks--simply take a back seat.
posted by catachresoid at 10:23 AM on May 25, 2005