Batman, A History

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Costume

Batman's costume incorporates the imagery of a bat in order to frighten criminals.[95][96][97] The details of the Batman costume change repeatedly through various stories and media, but the most distinctive elements remain consistent: a scallop-hem cape, a cowl covering most of the face featuring a pair of batlike ears, and a stylized bat emblem on the chest, plus the ever-present utility belt. The costumes' colors are traditionally blue and grey,[96][98][99][100] although this colorization arose due to the way comic book art is colored.[96] Finger and Kane conceptualized Batman as having a black cape and cowl and grey suit, but conventions in coloring called for black to be highlighted with blue.[96] This coloring has been claimed by Larry Ford, in Place, Power, Situation, and Spectacle: A Geography of Film, to be a reversion of conventional color-coding symbolism, which sees "bad guys" wearing dark colors.[101] Batman's gloves typically feature three scallops that protrude from long, gauntlet-like cuffs, although in his earliest appearances he wore short, plain gloves without the scallops. A yellow ellipse around the bat logo on the character's chest was added in 1964, and became the hero's trademark symbol, akin to the red and yellow "S" symbol of Superman.[102] The overall look of the character, particularly the length of the cowl's ears and of the cape, varies greatly depending on the artist. Dennis O'Neil said, "We now say that Batman has two hundred suits hanging in the Batcave so they don't have to look the same . . . Everybody loves to draw Batman, and everybody wants to put their own spin on it."[103]

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Equipment

Batman utilizes a large arsenal of specialized gadgets in his war against crime, the designs of which usually share a bat motif. Batman historian Les Daniels credits Gardner Fox with creating the concept of Batman's arsenal with the introduction of the utility belt in Detective Comics #29 (July 1939) and the first bat-themed weapons the batarang and the "Batgyro" in Detective Comics #31 and #32 (September; October, 1939).[16] Batman's primary vehicle is the Batmobile, which is usually depicted as an imposing black car with large tailfins that suggest a bat's wings. Batman's other vehicles include the Batplane (aka the Batwing), Batboat, Bat-Sub, and Batcycle.

In proper practice, the "bat" prefix (as in batmobile or batarang) is rarely used by Batman himself when referring to his equipment, particularly after some portrayals (primarily the 1960s Batman live-action television show and the Super Friends animated series) stretched the practice to campy proportions. The 1960s television series Batman has an arsenal that includes such "bat-" names as the bat-computer, bat-scanner, bat-radar, bat-cuffs, bat-pontoons, bat-drinking water dispenser, bat-camera with polarized bat-filter, bat-shark repellent bat-spray, and bat-rope. The storyline "A Death in the Family" suggests that given Batman's grim nature, he is unlikely to have adopted the "bat" prefix on his own.

Batman keeps most of his field equipment in a utility belt. Over the years it is shown to contain a virtually limitless variety of crime fighting tools. Different versions of the belt have these items stored in either pouches or hard cylinders attached evenly around it.

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The 1966 television Batmobile was built by George Barris from a Lincoln Futura concept car.

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Bat-Signal

When Batman is needed, the Gotham City police activate a searchlight with a bat-shaped insignia over the lens called the Bat-signal which shines into the night sky, creating a bat-symbol on a passing cloud which can be seen from any point in Gotham. The origin of the signal varies, depending on the continuity and medium.

In various incarnations, most notably the 1960s Batman TV series, Commissioner Gordon also has a dedicated phone line, dubbed the Bat-Phone, connected to a bright red telephone (in the TV series) which sits on a wooden base and has a transparent cake cover on top. The line connects directly to Batman's residence, Wayne Manor, specifically both to a similar phone sitting on the desk in Bruce Wayne's study and the extension phone in the Batcave.

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Batcave

The Batcave is Batman's secret headquarters, consisting of a series of subterranean caves beneath his mansion, Wayne Manor. It serves as his command center for both local and global surveillance, as well as housing his vehicles and equipment for his war on crime. It also is a storeroom for Batman's memorabilia. In both the comic Batman: Shadow of the Bat (issue #45) and the 2005 film Batman Begins, the cave is said to have been part of the Underground Railroad. Of the heroes and villains who see the Batcave, few know where it is located.

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Batman's current costume, as shown in the Hush story arc. Art by Jim Lee.
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Detective Comics #27 (May, 1939)
Created by Bob Kane
In story information
Type Costume
Element of stories featuring Batman

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Batsuit

The Batsuit (or Bat-Suit) is the costume of the fictional character appearing in DC Comics as a superhero, Batman. Though the suit has been drawn many different ways by different artists, and the stories themselves have described Batman as modifying the details of his costume from time to time, it is most often depicted as consisting of a scalloped cape, a bat-like cowl, a pair of gloves, boots, a yellow utility belt, and dark briefs over a tight-fitting body suit with the image of a bat emblazoned on the chest.

Batman wears this costume both to conceal his identity, and to frighten criminals. Most versions of the Batsuit incorporate some form of body armor, and often night-vision, gas filters, and other aids to combat effectiveness or protection. All versions of the outfit incorporate a utility belt containing a variety of crimefighting equipment.

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Origin

While brooding in his study over how to be a more effective crime fighter, Bruce Wayne saw a bat come through his window (in the earliest Detective Comics portrayal simply flying in an open window, in Post-Crisis continuity such as Batman: Year One, dramatically crashing through the glass) and perch on the bust of his father. Realizing that "criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot," Bruce adopts the persona of a bat in order to conceal his identity and strike fear into his adversaries. Subsequent origin tales have had Bruce terrified by bats as a child, and observing a bat costume worn by his father at a costume ball, but the primary impetus of his decision to adopt the bat persona has always been the incident of the bat coming in the window of his study. It is as a result of this incident that the batsuit was developed.

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Color scheme

It was a basic convention of comic books at the time of Batman's creation that black needed a highlight color (usually blue) in order to show detail and give the illusion of three-dimensionality. Over time, the initial blue highlight spread out over the previously black cape and cowl to become the dominant color. Thus artists renditions depict the costume as black and gray or blue and gray. During the 1990s following Bruce Wayne's return to costume after the events of the Knights End storyline, he utilized an all black costume that incorporated some armor advancements that Jean-Paul Valley had created. The bat symbol on the chest has also alternated from a simple black bat to a bat design on a yellow ellipse. The yellow ellipse was introduced in 1964 as part of the "New Look" Batman stories as a way to copyright the symbol, and was meant to be a connection to the Bat-Signal[citation needed]. In Batman: The Dark Knight Returns it is revealed that the yellow ellipse design was deliberately meant as a target, attracting a potential gunman's aim to the heavily armored chestpiece, and away from Batman's unarmored face. While TDKR is not considered DC "Canon," a subsequent issue of Shadow of the Bat re-established the concept. Other elements, such as the utility belt and the length of the cowl's ears, have been changed by various artistic teams.

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Basic suit

The basic foundation of the Batsuit is a tight-fitting bodysuit, similar to many superheroes. In early depictions, contrasting briefs are worn over a unitard, similar to the garb of early 20th century circus performers. Batman #1 revealed that there is a ballistic vest sewn into the costume. In modern depictions, the briefs are integrated into the main costume, so that section of the costume constitutes only a seam and color change from the rest of the suit. The bodysuit has varied in color and style as depicted by different artists: grey tights with dark blue briefs, light blue tights etc.

The Post-Crisis version of the bodysuit is not constructed from simple fabric, but from Kevlar thread and carbon nanotube fibers[citation needed]. This imparts it with a unique sheen and makes it heavily resistant to tearing. In addition, the suit also is constructed with a full body electric shock delivery system[citation needed], which is also layered into the suit's fabric. The basic version of the Batsuit is insulated against electricity and is mildly fire resistant. Batman utilizes many different body armor designs, some of which are constructed into his Batsuits, and others which are separate. In its most basic version, the suit is bulletproof around the upper torso and back and can withstand a point blank range blast from a 12-gauge shotgun. Other versions are entirely bullet proof to small arms fire, and have advanced flexible armor plating made from Carbon composites and lightweight metal polymers.

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Cape

As different artists have taken over the responsibility of drawing the character, the details of the suit have changed considerably. The original incarnation of the cape was a wing-like structure inspired by drawings by Leonardo Da Vinci[1]. This eventually evolved into a more cape-like design of varying length. Some artists draw the cape with protrusions on the shoulders, likely representing the "thumb" part of a bat's wing, though this is not a consistent addition. The cape is occasionally depicted as bulletproof.[1] The cape varies according to the current writer, sometimes being depicted as bulletproof and fire resistant, and other times being nothing more than simple fabric that tears easily and sustains constant damage and is continuously replaced. For example, in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Robin's Reckoning", Batman fell through a floor heavily compromised by machine-gun fire and landed badly, hurting his leg. He ripped up his cape and used some pieces of broken wood to make an impromptu ankle splint.

The cape has also incorporated Nomex fire-resistant/retardant material (as demonstrated in the film Batman Forever and the Knightfall novelization by Denny O'Neil) and a Kevlar weave to slow the impact of bullets. The cape ends also contain lead weight tips that prevent the cape from getting tangled or blowing in his face in windy conditions[citation needed]. The weights can also be used for offensive purposes, like striking an enemy by whipping the cape around. This device was expanded in The Dark Knight Strikes Again where the ends of the cape contained razor-sharp blades which Batman used to slice through several corrupt government officials. In the 2005 film Batman Begins, the cape was also used as a sort of hang glider; when an electric current was applied to the cape, the shape-memory fibers aligned into a semi-rigid form resembling a bat's wings, allowing Batman to glide over the streets and rooftops of Gotham. A more primitive version of this hang-glider concept was presented in Batman Returns, in which a harness folds out of the cape to make it a rigid wing-like structure, then folds back when the wearer rolls forward on the ground after landing. In the show Justice League Batman ejected from the Batplane with his cape acting as a parachute using a harness.

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Gloves

In the earliest Batman stories of Detective Comics, the costume featured a few curiosities before it evolved in to its more or less standard style. The first gloves were purple in color, ordinary looking, and lacked any sort of scalloped fins or other stylings, and only came to the wrists. The second Batman adventure depicted the character wearing no gloves at all. A few issues later the gloves became longer, and by 1940 the familiar fins were added (in early stories, these pieces originally resembled miniature, scalloped bat wings, but eventually became three simple triangular fins). In some later incarnations, the scallops are attached to a separated bracer worn below the glove around the wrist. In Batman Begins these bracers are part of the costume of the ninja sect Wayne trained with, painted black - this set are hard enough to slice Ra's al Ghul's sword into many pieces. Traditionally, the scallops serve a defensive purpose and are used to defend against bladed weapons, such as swords or knives. Additionally, the gloves have been specially treated to be both shock-proof as well as radiation-resistant.[citation needed] The glove designs that incorporate fingertip blades[citation needed] also have joint armor-reinforcement in the glove, from the wrists and knuckles to the fingers. He also has electrical shockers in the fingertips of his gloves, which are used to control the structure of his cape. Additionally, Batman hides a few pieces of his arsenal in his gloves, such as a lock pick.[2]

In The Dark Knight, Batman's new, lighter suit has separate bracers that have a double row of retractable fins, which can also be fired off to act like flechettes.

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Armor

The Batsuit has been repeatedly updated in order to reflect advances in technology. Originally the costume contained no protective armor, since the creative talent felt that it made Batman seem too powerful to see him shrug off bullet hits. However, the real world advent of various forms of personal protective materials like Kevlar and the realization that being shot while wearing such protection still should be avoided, has led to the costume being re-imagined with varying forms of bulletproof protection which employs the aforementioned use of the suit's chest symbol to lure shots at the armor's strongest point. Despite the armor, Batman almost always evades gunfire and is very rarely actually shot. Although the suit often included a neck-brace and other preventative bracing, after recovering from his spinal cord injury (the result of Bane's attack), Batman reinforced the armor with a material to dampen shocks and impact, along with a spinal brace, to protect him from such abuse.

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A revised incarnation of the "New Look" Batman costume by Neal Adams.

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Cowl

In addition to concealing his features and contributing to his imposing appearance, Batman's cowl has sometimes served other purposes. Occasionally, the cowl is depicted as having defense mechanisms such as electric shock or stun gas in order to prevent unauthorized removal (as shown in The Dark Knight and Justice League of America #24).[3][4] In Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne mail orders the materials to build the cowl through a maze of untraceable shell companies. To avoid suspicion, Wayne orders very large quantities of 10,000, each part sent to different location, and under different aliases. Because some meta-human criminals have the power to see through solid objects, Batman also lines the cowl with lead to protect his identity.[5] The cowl also contains shifting lenses that identifies suspect's identities, as well as their weak points (through medical records), while simultaneously avoiding the possibility of eye identification. The cowl has special visions, like infrared vision (heat sensors), night vision, and ultraviolet vision.[6] Also, in The Dark Knight, Batman uses a sonar concept (via Cellphone) introduced by Lucius Fox. This technology is utilized by using echolocation to triangulate objects via cell phones. It is implied that Oracle manages his cowl's computer. Recently (in Detective Comics #838), it's been revealed that Batman also has an echolocation system in the cowl. In Batman: The Animated Series, Batman wears a special motorcycle helmet when riding his Batcycle that is molded with bat ears to accommodate his cowl's ears.