Check out my sweet ride!
The “Futura” Batmobile from the 1960s show is the Batmobile I mostly think of, and most of that is nostalgia. I grew up with reruns of the 1960s Batman, both Saturday morning Batman cartoons (one in reruns, one when it aired on CBS), and Superfriends, all of which used that version as a base for their altered designs. It’s not the perfect Batmobile to me but it is my favorite.
Others may be more drawn to the Tim Burton or DCAU versions (although that changed between Fox Kids and Kids WB as well), and I do see why. However, I really have no interest in the tank versions or Matt Reeves’ “junk put together” versions, and the Schumacher Batmobiles are just ugly. The bat “wings” should be on the sides, not in the middle. Then you have comics and video games plus later cartoons all creating their own Batmobile. It is an iconic car even if has undergone almost as many updates as Tony Stark’s Iron Man armor (emphasis on “almost”).
Because my schedule this week was rather busy, although the plans today changed for various reasons, I need something to fill this space, so here’s one that’s been sitting in backlog, an officially produced Warner Brothers documentary on the various Batmobiles. It does acknowledge the comics but the focus is on the TV and movie versions. I’m surprised they did discuss the various cartoon versions, though I noticed it was only the WB owned shows, so no acknowledgement of the Filmation cartoons. Also, no love for the games, and while I understand why they didn’t go over more of the comic versions I would love to see a retrospective on those someday as the source material. Still, someone may find this interesting and I will have regular articles hopefully tomorrow and the rest of the week.
So what would I like to see in a Batmobile? First off, it needs to be fast to get to the crime in time or chase the baddies around the streets of Gotham City. I want it to be stealthy, but if you see it chasing you then you know Batman is coming for you while the people on the streets don’t think twice about it. It should have good bulletproofing and defensive weapons of some kind. Of course it needs to look cool to the readers, players, or audience. The Futura is the closest to me, but that’s why I said it wasn’t perfect. I also like the design used in Batwheels because it looks like they took ideas from the three most iconic versions. There’s even an episode where “Bam” works with the 60s Batmobile, voiced by clips of Adam West.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seyNpRtwylg&pp=ygUTQmF0d2hlZWxzIEJhdG1vYmlsZQ%3D%3D
What’s your favorite version of the Batmobile? One from the TV shows? The movies? The games? The original comics? Curious what you want to see in a Batmobile.
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