Batmobile

The Batmobile is a superhero car used by the DC Superhero, Batman.

History

Batman (1960s series), Batman: The Movie, Batman: The Return of the Caped Crusaders and Batman vs. Two-Face

This Batmobile from the 1966–1968 live action television show and its film

adaptation began life as a Ford concept car called the Lincoln Futura, built over a decade earlier in 1955. The body of the Futura was fabricated by Ghia of Italy, whose artisans hammered the car's panels over logs and tree stumps carved as forms to create the sleek manta ray-like car. In 1959, the Futura was featured sporting a fresh red paint job in the film It Started With A Kiss, starring Debbie Reynolds and Glenn Ford. In 1965, ABC-TV chose famed Hollywood customizer George Barris to design a "Batmobile" for their soon-to-go-into-production Batman show. Dean Jeffries worked on the design and initial fabrication for the Batmobile, using a 1959 Cadillac, but when the studio wanted the car faster than he could provide, he turned it back to George Barris. With only three weeks to finish, Barris decided that rather than build a car from scratch, it would be best to transform the Lincoln Futura (bought from Ford for $1.00) into the famous crime fighting vehicle of TV's caped crusader. Barris hired Bill Cushenberry to do the metal modifications to the car. When filming for the series began, several problems arose due to the age of the car: it overheated, the battery went dead, and the expensive Mickey Thompson tires kept blowing. By mid season, the engine and transmission were replaced with a Ford Galaxie. The most frequent visual influence of this car is that later Batmobiles usually have a rear rocket thruster that usually fires as the car makes a fast start.

Batman (1989 film) and Batman Returns

This was Batman's

primary mode of transportation. At first, Batman often simply referred to that Batmobile as "the car", and he later called it the Batmobile. The Batmobile was one of the most daunting components in Batman's vast arsenal, and he kept it stored in the Batcave when it was not in use.

Batman first used the Batmobile to rescue Vicki Vale from the Joker. After he parked it out front of the entrance Flugelheim Museum, Batman instructed Vicki to get into the vehicle as Joker's Joker Goons gave chase in their own cars. After it completely outmatched the Goons' and the GCPD for pure speed, the Batmobile was caught in a bottleneck, unfortunately. With the road blocked by a construction crew, Batman and Vicki abandoned the Batmobile and continued their escape. Eventually, Batman used a Communicator to call the Batmobile to him after he dispatched Joker's Goons.

In an attempt to kill Joker after the recollection that he was responsible for his parents' deaths, Batman used the Batmobile to lay siege to Axis Chemicals and effectively demolished the complex despite Joker's escape in his helicopter.

Three years later, Batman drove the Batmobile into battle against the Red Triangle Circus Gang. When Gotham City's central Christmas presentation was disrupted by an assault by the Red Triangle Gang, Batman entered the fray with the Batmobile, and systematically used the car's arsenal of abilities to deter the criminals from causing further damage.

The Batmobile later became the target of a scheme by the Penguin to frame Batman as a criminal. After he sabotaged the Batmobile while Batman rescued the Ice Princess from Catwoman, Penguin gained control of the Batmobile, and used it in a destructive joyride throughout the civilian-filled Gotham streets before Batman managed to deactivate the receiver of the control signal. When the Batmobile was freed from Cobblepot's control, the incident caused the desired effect; and the public labeled Batman as a criminal. To narrowly escape from the GCPD, Batman was forced to eject the vehicle's side panels and transformed the Batmobile into the Batmissile.

Even though Bruce later repaired and restored the Batmobile, he eventually quit actively using that Batmobile and used at least two more different models.

Batman: The Animated Series

This was Batman's second and first major hi-tech Batmobile. It was later phased out in favor of a sleek two passenger coupe.

It was designed, created and maintained by Earl Cooper and his daughter, this Batmobile was created when Batman turned to Earl after his first Batmobile became run down. Featuring all kinds of intricate details such as a turbine jet, grappling hook that deploys from the front, ejecting driver and passenger seats, on-board navigation and computer with video uplink, oil spillers and spiked wheels that deploy to do damage to an offender's car, the Batmobile is not only nice to look at but also deadly to go up against.

Batman Forever

This Batmobile was Batman's

primary mode of transportation. At first, Batman often simply referred to the Batmobile as "the car", and he later called it the Batmobile. The Batmobile was one of the most daunting components in Batman's vast arsenal, and he kept it stored in the Batcave when it was not in use.

After he replaced the previous Batmobile that he used in his battles against Joker and the Penguin, Batman took this model Batmobile out to confront Two-Face as he held up the Second National Bank of Gotham.

While he patrolled Gotham City's streets, Batman was ambushed by Two-Face and his thugs. While he escaped the initial attack, Two-Face's Thugs gave chase in their own cars until Batman turned down an alleyway and, using a grapple system that was built into the Batmobile, ascended the building walls; that allowed him to escape while Two-Face's Thugs crashed into the wall below.

Following Dick Grayson's discovery of the Batcave, Alfred was forced to inform Bruce of the theft of the Batmobile as Grayson had taken the car on a joy-ride through Gotham's streets. This resulted in a dangerous encounter with a Neon Gang who nearly overwhelmed Grayson after saving a young girl from them. As he was already in Gotham, Batman managed to quickly locate the car and frighten the gang away.

During Two-Face and the Riddler's attack on Wayne Manor, this Batmobile was destroyed along with a majority of the Batcave. A bag of green bat-shaped bombs were placed in the cockpit, resulting in massive damage to the vehicle.

Batman & Robin

This Batmobile was the third known model that was used by Batman. That model appeared to resemble the Batmobile in Batman: The Animated Series.

After the previous Batmobile was destroyed by the Riddler, Batman introduced that new Batmobile in the Batcave as it rose up from the turntable, just before he and Robin went on to face Mr. Freeze at the Gotham Museum of Art. Robin said that he wanted a car and added: "Chicks Dig The Car!". Batman then stated: "This is why Superman works alone". Before he left the Batcave with the Batmobile, Alfred reminded Batman to bring the vehicle back in one piece. On his way out of the tunnel with Robin alongside him in his Redbird, Batman received a video message from Commissioner Gordon about Freeze.

Later in the film while pursuing Freeze in his Freezemobile, the chase ended up on a giant statue. While riding down the arm towards the hand and fingers, Batman told Robin to pull back because he couldn't jump across the hand to the building, but Robin insisted that he could make it. In order to slow him down, Batman hacked into the Redbird's control codes of the motorcycle and ordered the engines to be disabled. Robin then stopped short of the fingers after the Redbird slowed down and the Batmobile made the jump into the air while Robin screamed in anger. While Freeze's Freezemobile landed on top of the building, Freeze shot his ice beam at the Batmobile and froze it. Batman was then able to eject himself from the Batmobile while the frozen car landed on top of the building in a thud. While Freeze laughed at that predicament, he then saw Batman flying toward him and Batman crashed into the windshield of the vehicle, apprehended Freeze, and stood over him victoriously.

Back at the Batcave, the Batmobile was revealed to be in pristine condition when Batman returned to the cave after he handed Freeze to the GCPD. The Batmobile was seen again alongside the Redbird when Batman and Robin arrived at Freeze's hideout at the Snowy Cones Ice Cream Factory after they heard about Freeze's escape from Arkham Asylum.

That Batmobile was the only one that wasn't destroyed during the film.

Batman Begins

The Tumbler was a vehicle that was used by Batman. It came complete with an array of weapons and gadgets.

When Bruce Wayne reestablished his connections to his father's company, Wayne Enterprises, Bruce met former board member Lucius Fox in the Applied Sciences Division. There, Bruce was able to acquire various gadgets for his soon-to-be alter ego known as Batman. One of them was the Tumbler, a prototype armored tank that was designed as a bridging vehicle for the military, which included weaponry and the ability to boost into a rampless jump. When Lucius asked Bruce his thoughts on the Tumbler, Bruce then simply asked if it came in black, which confirmed that he wanted it.

When Rachel Dawes needed saving at Arkham Asylum, Batman enlisted the help of GCPD Sgt. James Gordon, who carried her to where he met with Batman. Gordon then said he'd get his car, but Batman said that he brought his, to Gordon's brief bewilderment. Upon seeing Batman's car, Gordon then said: "I've got to get me one of those!" A car chase then ensued through the streets of Gotham City, where the Batmobile tried to elude police cars, until Batman was able to escape with Rachel to the Batcave where he then administered the antidote for Scarecrow's Fear Toxin to Rachel.

As the "Narrows" section of Gotham was covered in Fear Toxin, Batman arrived in the Batmobile in order to aid the police, who were engaged in battle with psychotic criminals who were set free from Arkham Asylum by the League of Shadows. Before he saved Rachel and confronted Ra's al Ghul, Batman left Gordon in control of the Batmobile in order to stop the elevated train that was used to transport the Microwave Emitter to Gotham's central water hub at Wayne Tower. Batman then battled Ra's, and then escaped just as Gordon toppled the elevated line by use of the Batmobile's missiles, which left Ra's to crash with the train to the ground.

Several months later, Batman parked the Tumbler, which was newly christened the "Batmobile", in a parking garage, where he remotely controlled it to fire at some cars in order to intimidate Scarecrow and a Russian mob before Batman himself appeared on the scene. Despite failing to stop the Russian mob from escaping, Batman successfully caught Scarecrow and a group of Batman Impersonators.

Wayne Enterprises Accountant Coleman Reese confronted Lucius about his designs of the Tumbler, remarked how it was of his design, and asked sardonically if Fox never noticed it tearing up the streets on the news.

Harvey Dent was being escorted across Gotham when the convoy was attacked by The Joker and his henchmen, who disabled all of the police vehicles except for the armored car that carried Dent. Batman then entered the fray with the Batmobile, and rammed a garbage truck that was driven by one of Joker's Henchmen via a head-on collision.

Batman then ran the Batmobile full-speed between Joker's truck and the armored car and received the brunt of an RPG that was fired by Joker from his RPG. After the Batmobile flipped violently on the side of the road, Batman then engaged its escape mechanism, which converted the Batmobile's left and right front tires into the Batpod before the rest of the vehicle self-destructed after Batman rode out.

When Bane and his henchmen detonated underneath Wayne Enterprises in order to gain access to the Applied Sciences Division, they made off with three Tumbler models that were left in storage. The Tumblers that Bane acquired were present in their original camouflaged color scheme and not in black, and also made use of armament that was not originally seen on the original prototype, which included a retractable dual-barreled cannon and a multiple-tube missile launcher that were both mounted on the vehicle's back.

Whether those weapons were absent on the first prototype or merely not used was unclear. The stolen Tumblers were later used to great effect in suppressing and intimidating the citizens and the GCPD of Gotham into inaction. One of the mounted cannons of a Tumbler was used by Bane to destroy the entrance to Blackgate Prison which then allowed the criminals to escape.

In the final battle, Talia al Ghul was transported via Tumbler to a truck that transported a Nuclear Bomb in an attempt to secure its detonation. Batman himself then engaged Talia's convoy of Tumblers from the air in The Bat, as one of the Tumblers fired several anti-air missiles in order to attack him, but was able to evade them and even lead a missile into a Tumbler with a direct hit.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

This Batmoblie is the key form of transportation used by Batman

in his war against crime. In this incarnation the Batmoblie has a unique application - a triple changer function which features The Batplane, The Batboat, Batcycle and an exoskeleton robotic Bat-Bot suit.

As a cutting piece of technology developed by Bruce Wayne's company Wayne Enterprises, the Batmobile was used by the Caped Crusader in his crime fighting career. Batman has used the Batmobile for so many years that it has become almost synonymous with the Dark Knight himself.

The Batmobile was first seen in its Batplane form during the episode "Terror on Dinosaur Island". The Batboat format appeared in "Journey to the Center of the Bat!" The actual car made its debut in "Day of the Dark Knight" while the Batcycle was first shown in "Enter the Outsiders". The Bat-Bot appeared in "Night Of The Huntress".

Batman: Arkham Asylum

This Batmobile was Batman's main mode of transport around Gotham City, and in his fight against the combined forces of his deadliest foes. He later took to using a more tank-like, off-road vehicle.

Though not actually used in the game itself, the Batmobile appeared in the Batcave under construction. When Bane attacked the Batcave, he destroyed the prototype to some degree, crushed Alfred Pennyworth under the wreckage, and nearly killed him.

In the opening of the game, Batman used the Batmobile to transport the Joker back to Arkham Island after he was caught at Gotham City Hall after his failed attempt to kill the Mayor. Batman parked the car in front of the Intensive Treatment Center. When the Joker began his siege of the asylum, he commanded Harley Quinn to destroy the car in order to prevent Batman from escaping back to Gotham. When the Batmoblie security protocol measures went off, Batman contacted Oracle to shut them down immediately due to the fact Harley had Commissioner Gordon as a hostage with her. Batman arrived on the scene and took down the remaining thugs around the Batmobile, before he found a pipe that was dropped by Gordon and gave him a trail to follow. Before he left the scene, Batman retrieved his Explosive Gel from the trunk of the Batmobile.

Following an encounter with Bane at the Medical Facility, Batman used the car's remote guidance system and caused it to crash into Bane and sent him and the car hurtling into the water of the asylum's docks. It could be assumed that either Batman had the Batmobile salvaged and repaired, or had a duplicate as it was later seen parked in the Batcave in Batman: Arkham City.

The Batmobile could be seen in the Batcave Challenge Map DLC.