Gallery: Batman's Wild Rides: How the Batmobile Went From Slick Car to 'Sports Tank'
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The Dark Knight has always taken two things with him into battle against Gotham's evildoers: his utility belt and a crippling, untreated familial trauma. And no matter what, he almost always responds to the Bat-Signal in some sort of awesome custom batride. Quick, reader: To the Batmobiles! __Above:__ *Detective Comics* No. 48 (1941) -------------------------------- Bob Kane's original design is pretty much just a red convertible, which seems ill-advised for a crime fighter. Still: sporty.
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*Batman* (1960s TV) ------------------- George Barris based this Batmobile on the Lincoln Futura. "You can hire people to convert an old-school Lincoln Continental into the Batmobile," *All-Star Batman and Robin* artist Jim Lee says. "I have been tempted."
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*The Dark Knight Returns* (1986 Comic) -------------------------------------- It's a tank, basically. "Previous Batmobiles were inspired by the original one by Bob Kane," Lee says. "But Frank Miller's more militaristic look really moved the mythology up."
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*Batman* (1989 Movie) --------------------- Like everything else in Tim Burton's live-action *Batman* film, this Anton Furst-designed car was overdone and dramatic—a cross between Luke Skywalker's landspeeder and the X-Men's Blackbird.
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*Batman* (1989 Movie) --------------------- Batman has to get places without becoming snarled in Gotham traffic. Furst designed this jet in the shape of the bat logo so it would look great flying in front of the moon. And then the Joker shoots it down.
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*Batman: The Animated Series* (1992 TV) --------------------------------------- One of the first post-Burton Batmobiles, Bruce Timm's design perfectly fit the cartoon's retro-noir aesthetic. Stripped down but still recognizable, it's an iconic ride.
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*All-Star Batman and Robin* (2005 Comic) ---------------------------------------- "Frank Miller placed the comic in a timeless setting," Lee says. "So I drew this as a sort of hopped-up Studebaker with LEDs and stuff to make it more modern."
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*The Dark Knight* (2008 Movie) ------------------------------ The Tumbler goes back to the tank motif with armor plating and machine guns. As designer Nathan Crowley puts it: "We needed an urban, high-speed sports tank."
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*Batman & Robin* (2009 Comic) ----------------------------- In this comic, Dick Grayson is Batman. Bruce Wayne's son is Robin. And those weren't writer Grant Morrison's only changes. The Dark Knight's radical new ride is this red-eyed flying shark by artist Frank Quitely.
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*The Dark Knight Rises* (2012 Movie) ------------------------------------ Director Chris Nolan told Crowley he wanted a flying sports tank. "But we can't do a Bat helicopter," Crowley says. "So we looked at the Osprey and the F-35 and the Harrier jump-jet." Nope. Not a car.
