the batmobile has been many things over the past 80 years or so. it went from a regular '30s coupe (top up, it was batman; top down, it was bruce wayne), to an elongated, more bat-inspired version when the first was destroyed in the comics. it was a lincoln futura designed by george barris for the tv show. and then, 30 years or so ago, it became a purpose-built, high-tech, high-speed, high-finned custom deal. after that it became even more cartoonish for val kilmer, before christopher nolan took over for the dark knight trilogy where it became a militarized, armored, all-terrain transformer. zach snyder built upon that.
the new batmobile, which we recently got a look at, is more old school and seems to be based on an old dodge challenger or plymouth barracuda.
for the record, my favorite is the one from batman: the animated series.
warner bros. is streaming the hourlong batmobile documentary shown above (for free) that starts with the comics and winds its way through the tv show and big-budget movies. designers, directors, producers, and actors all give their thoughts on why it was such an iconic vehicle and what choices they made during design.
even if you're a casual fan of the series, you'll love it. and hard-core fans will certainly learn something new. for example, when tim burton's team was building the new car for michael keaton's portrayal, they forgot to put in a door, hence the jet fighter-like sliding canopy. same movie, the producers realized batman's ears wouldn't fit under the canopy, so a special bat mask, with slightly shorter ears, had to be used for those shots.
check it out above. robert pattinson's turn as the batman hits theaters in october 2021.
from: autoweek