Batman, A History

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The Batsuit of Batman Forever, worn by Val Kilmer.

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Batman Forever

Director Joel Schumacher's films are notorious for their addition of rubber nipples to the Batman and Robin costumes, but much more subtle on Batgirl's costume (On the DVD commentary, Schumacher claimed they were inspired by statues of the Greek gods).

In Batman Forever (1995), the Batsuit is somewhat similar to the previous two films' costumes, except for the focus on a more anatomical design overall and a black utility belt instead of a yellow one. One notable feature of the costume is a button on the utility belt which causes a fireproof coating to excrete from and cover the cape, allowing Batman to wrap it around himself as a shield from extreme fires, and a more 3-D bat emblem on his chest. Also like in Batman Returns, Bruce has numerous spares which he keeps in a large dome-like structure in the Batcave of this film.[13] Dr. Chase Meridian, the film's love interest for Batman, mentions the appeal of Batman's suit as she runs her fingers across the chest section. After all of the regular Batsuits are destroyed by the Riddler, Bruce is forced to use a prototype "Sonar Suit", which is an iridescent silvery-black and more armor-like. This new Batsuit utilizes lenses that slide automatically over the cowl's eyeholes to display a sonar-generated image of Batman's surroundings to him, allowing him to see with more accuracy in extreme darkness or glare. The Batsuits in this film were created from a less dense mixture of foam rubber, which resulted in much lighter suits and allowed more flexibility for actor Val Kilmer and the various stunt players, while increasing durability. More than 100 Batman and Robin costumes were created to allow for the range of stunts, from underwater scenes to scenes involving fire and extreme fighting. The first Batsuit of Batman Forever was subsequently used by director Christopher Nolan when auditioning actors for the lead role in Batman Begins, and was worn by actors Christian Bale and Cillian Murphy among others.

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Batman & Robin

In the second and final Schumacher film, Batman & Robin (1997),[14] Batman produces a bat-credit card from his utility belt which has an expiration date of "Forever". This film also added pop-out ice skates to the costumes' boots. Another noticeable feature is the full blue 3-D Batman emblem on his chest. The new Batsuit, worn by actor George Clooney, was also noticeably bluer in tone, and a second, more silvery and elaborately detailed costume (supposedly an Arctic version of the suit) was worn during the film's finale against Mr. Freeze. Controversially, as in Batman Forever, the Batsuit of this film also features nipples.

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The Batsuit of Batman Begins, worn by Christian Bale.

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Batman Begins

The costume in Batman Begins (2005)[15] is given the most complete description ever seen in a Batman film and possibly the comic books. The suit is derived from Lucius Fox's Research and Development program, within Wayne Enterprises' Applied Sciences Division. It is described by Fox as a "Nomex survival suit" originally intended for advanced military use, but, with its $300,000 price tag, was considered to be too expensive for the United States Army and military in general. Based on an advanced infantry armor system constructed from Nomex, the first layer of protection is an undersuit with built-in temperature regulators designed to keep the wearer at a comfortable temperature in almost any condition. The second layer of protection consists of armor built over the chest, calves, thighs, arms, and back. This armor features a kevlar bi-weave that can stop slashing weapons and can also deflect any bullet short of a straight shot impact, and reinforced joints that allow maximum flexibility and mobility. The armor was then coated with a black latex material for camouflage and to dampen Bruce's heat signature, making him difficult to detect with night-vision equipment. Made of a graphite material, the cowl acts as a protective helmet. The cowl's Kevlar lining is supposed to be bulletproof. A manufacturing defect in the graphite used in the production of the first shipment of the cowl's components made its outer shell incapable of withstanding blunt trauma (a flaw Alfred demonstrates to Bruce Wayne using a sledgehammer). The second shipment (not shown) was supposed to fix this problem. An advanced eavesdropping device is concealed within the cowl's right ear and enables Batman to listen in on conversations from a distance.

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The utility belt is bronze in color and is a modified climbing harness, with magnetized impact-resistant pouches and canisters attached to the belt at ergonomic points for ease of reach. It carries a magnetic gas-powered grapple gun, an encrypted cell phone, Batarangs, a medical kit, smoke bombs, mini explosives, periscope, remote control for the Batmobile (the Tumbler), mini-cam, money, and other unspecified equipment. Batman removed the belt's shoulder and chest straps because they constricted his movements.

Batman's cape is made of "memory cloth," also developed by Lucius Fox. It is essentially flexible in its normal state, but becomes semi-rigid in a fixed form (Batman's wings in the movie) when an electric current is passed through it from the microcircuits in his right glove.

Bruce also adds metal gauntlets with scallops on the forearms, an innovation derived from his experience as a pupil of Ra's al Ghul's organization, the League of Shadows. Mainly used to block against knives or other stabbing weapons, Bruce managed to surprise Ra's by breaking the blade of his ninjaken in multiple places with the gauntlets.

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The left boot heel contains a high frequency sonic "sounder" which can summon bats. When used at a lower frequency the sound can cause people to have incapacitating headaches.

Prior to the latest upgrade to the Batsuit in the next film, Batman still used the original less flexible Nomex based suit. During a fight scene it is shown that he has hydraulic assistance that allows him to bend a gun barrel and tear through the sheet metal of a van while chasing after the Scarecrow. The last example shown of the modified Batsuit was when Batman jumped from a parking garage ledge, he landed directly on the van while moving at high speed and crushed its roof.

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The Batsuit of The Dark Knight, worn by Christian Bale.

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The Dark Knight

The Batsuit is changed in the next film The Dark Knight (2008), due to a dog bite on Batman's left arm at the beginning of the film. In this new design, the bodysuit is made of hardened kevlar plates on a titanium-dipped fiber and is broken into multiple pieces of armor over a more flexible bodysuit for greater mobility. As a trade-off, however, the flexible armor leaves Batman more vulnerable to injury from bullets or knives in favor of increased flexibility and lighter weight. The cowl of the Batsuit, which in previous film incarnations has been attached to the shoulder and neck, is now a separate component inspired by the design of motorcycle helmets, allowing the wearer to freely swivel and move his neck without moving the rest of his upper torso (by personal request of Bruce Wayne as 'it would make backing out of the driveway easier)' as was characteristic in all the previous cinematic versions of the Batsuit. Also, a strong electric current runs through it that prevents anyone except Bruce from removing it, further protecting his identity.[16]

In this Batsuit, the iconic blades on the sides of Batman's gauntlets are now retractable and are capable of firing outwards as projectiles.[16] The bat emblem is smaller than the one in Batman Begins and it is more similar to the Batman logo that has been associated with the rebooted film franchise.

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The suit again has an external 'memory cloth' cape, but, now has the ability to fold into a backpack shape as demonstrated during the free-base jump in Hong Kong. It is unclear in the film if once deployed, as a glider, it can return to this backpack shape automatically. According to costume designer Linda Hemming this backpack idea was developed, at the request of Nolan, as a fall back if the cape were to get caught up in the rear wheel of the Batpod in motion.

One notable modification was made to the utility belt; a charge-firing rifle, which allows Batman to fire timed explosive charges from considerable distances and can be folded into two halves to fit into his utility belt's compartment.

The Batsuit also has "sonar-vision", where signals emitted by mobile phones are converted into images in a similar way to sonar. This could be a metaphor for echolocation, which bats use to see. In order to view the images, white lenses fold down from Batman's cowl to cover his eyes. Aesthetically this gives Batman, for the first time on film, the 'white eyed' appearance he is always depicted with in the comic-books and various animated television series.

Interestingly, the aforementioned feature is similar to a function of the "sonar suit" in Batman Forever which also has a "sonar lens" feature. However, those lenses appear blue as shown in the film with some sort of a blank graph when folded down, rather than the glowing white as seen in The Dark Knight. Also, the lenses in Batman Forever and The Dark Knight seem to function along different principles. In The Dark Knight, the lenses' sonar feature depends on the signals given off by cell phones around the city, whereas in Batman Forever, the lenses' sonar feature works along an unexplained means.

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Bat-Signal

The Bat-Signal is a fictional distress signal device appearing in the various interpretations of the Batman mythos. It is a specially modified Klieg searchlight with a stylized symbol of a bat attached to the light so that it projects a large Bat emblem on the sky or buildings of Gotham City. In the stories, the signal is used by the Gotham City Police Department as a method of contacting and summoning Batman to their assistance in the event of a serious crisis and as a weapon of psychological intimidation to the numerous villains of Gotham City.

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The Gotham City Police Department with the Bat-Signal. Cover of Gotham Central #1. Art by Michael Lark.
Publication information
Publisher DC Comics
First appearance Detective Comics #60 (February, 1942)
In story information
Type Signal
Element of stories featuring Batman

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Origins

The origin of the signal varies between timeline and media. It made its first appearance in Detective Comics #60, February 1942. In the 1989 Batman film, Batman gave the signal to the police as a gift enabling them to call him when the city is in danger; in 2005's Batman Begins, then-detective James Gordon creates his own signal light, inspired by an incident when Batman strapped the defeated mobster Carmine Falcone to a large searchlight, which created a roughly bat-like image from the light's beam due to Falcone's tattered coat.

In the comic's post-Crisis continuity, the signal has many different origins. It was either introduced after the Batman's first encounter with the Joker in Batman: The Man Who Laughs; or during the "Prey" storyline in Legends of the Dark Knight. In Batman and the Mad Monk, Gordon initially used a pager, but during a meeting with Batman he threw it away, saying that he couldn't sneak around in the shadows like Batman and wanted a more above-board means of contacting him.

On Batman: The Animated Series, it was introduced in the episode "The Cape and Cowl Conspiracy". On The Batman, Gordon invented it to summon Batman in "Night in the City".

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Being used by others

Others have used the Bat-Signal for their own purposes.

In the "Lovers and Madmen" story arc from Batman Confidential, which retells the origin of the Joker and his first encounter with Batman, Batman sees the Bat-Signal and assumes Gordon is calling him to ask for his help. When he reaches the rooftop, however, he finds the Joker instead, forcing Batman into their first confrontation.

In Detective Comics #466 (1976), the villainous Signalman manages to trap the Batman inside the Bat-Signal device.

In Legends of the Dark Knight #6, a cadre of crime bosses projects the signal upside down in order to summon Batman to help them fight a killer they can't defeat.

In the Halloween special comic series, Haunted Knight, Scarecrow alters the Bat-Signal to notify Batman that he has kidnapped then-Captain Jim Gordon. By adding an orange bulb and painting "eyes" on the signal, he turns the beam into a stylized Jack-o'-lantern image (with the bat symbol forming the mouth beneath two eyes).

In Batman: Dark Victory, the Hangman sneaks onto the roof of Police Headquarters and turns the Bat-Signal on to lure then-recently appointed Commissioner James Gordon to the roof and try to kill him, but is thwarted when Two-Face cuts Gordon down.

Near the beginning of the No Man's Land story arc, a junior officer creates an improvised Bat-Signal out of spare parts. Gordon smashes it to pieces as he is angry that Batman hasn't shown up. Oracle also builds a small Bat-Signal to summon Batman to talk to her after having seen Huntress wearing a Batgirl costume.

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In the comic book series Gotham Central, the purpose of the Bat-Signal is further expanded upon; as Batman's existence is not officially recognized by the Gotham City authorities, the Bat-Signal is explained as a method of using the "urban legend" around Batman to terrify Gotham's criminal underworld. As official proven police interaction with the Bat-Signal and Batman himself can lead to cases against criminals arrested by Batman being dismissed, it is up to the civilian employees of the Gotham police department (including the Major Case Squad's civilian attache, Stacy) to operate the signal officially. Owing to the events in the "War Crimes" storyline, relations between Batman and the Gotham City Police Department under Commissioner Michael Akins are officially severed; the Bat-Signal is removed from the roof of Gotham Central. Needing Batman's help on an extraordinary case, Akins brings out a spare bat signal for a single use. This signal is a more sophisticated laser which paints a green bat symbol in the clouds and is apparently more visible. This version of the signal is donated by Kord Industries (see the Blue Beetle). The laser signal is said to have been unused because the city council deems it an "inappropriate gift." (The characters are notably unimpressed by the more high tech version.)

In the 52 series, The Question alters the traditional Bat-Signal to project a spray-painted question mark. In the One Year Later series, however, with the re-installation of James Gordon as commissioner, relations with Batman appear to have thawed; upon Batman's return from one year of self-imposed exile, the Bat-Signal (restored to the roof of police headquarters) is activated once again. The familiar sight of the Bat symbol in the sky prompts cheers from most of the citizens of Gotham.