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There’s a tie-in comic to the Brave & The Bold cartoon that explains Batman changed to blue because he was scaring people he was trying to save (in that case a kidnapped little girl) with the all black look, so the blue could still care the criminals but not the people he saves. I think the change was done in the Silver Age for a similar reason, to look more heroic to the kids reading the comic.
I don’t know what’s better: Batman looking awesome, the cute expression on the little girl’s face, or the baddie that looks like he’s soiled himself.
I’m admittedly biased because I grew up with the blue & grey but I do prefer that costume for similar reasons. The right treatment could make for a dull enough finish to not be reflective. He does look more heroic with the blue (the grey was part of his original costume in the Golden Age to make it easier for the readers to see) to me, but as you say, there might be times where black is better. What I find interesting is that Gaijin Goombah, another YT channel, suggested that Batman wore black because it worked better in the city at night, nothing that ninja wore blue because it actually worked better in the days before all the electric lights in the big city. So the opposite of your theory. I wonder if anyone actually tested Batman’s various colors to see what would work best?
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