The BATSUIT Thread

[Blind Bat]

I didn't say that. I defended the oval in another comment.

Oh ok my bad.

 

[The Shape]

The perspective that "Oh its Batman the whole premise is ridiculous might as well say **** it and just put x ridiculous idea into the film anyway " doesn't sit well with me at all.

You wanna know what we get when creators try to take the character seriously? The Nolan trilogy, The Dark Knight Returns, Long Halloween, Joker, etc.
And what do we get when they say "lol **** it man dressed as a bat let's do whatever"? Batman and Robin.

For whatever reason, the character just works better when you try to take it as seriously as possible despite the initial ridiculous concept. I swear, with that mentality we'd have never gotten past the 60s show.

This has nothing to do with being ridiculous or trying to take the character seriously. it's not about saying "let's do whatever". This is Batman. We're talking about a simple design choice that has often been depicted on this character over the years. The classic yellow oval doesn't suddenly turn Batman into the 60s show.

If Nolan's Batsuit had a variation of the Batsymbol on it, it wouldn't have made those films any more or less serious/ridiculous. The oval isn't even a campy or fantastical element compared to many other things in those films.

What you're saying makes no sense. It's okay to just admit that you don't personally like the classic oval. You're certainly not alone, I'm sure.

 

[Invader Joker]

This has nothing to do with being ridiculous or trying to take the character seriously. it's not about saying "let's do whatever". This is Batman. We're talking about a simple design choice that has often been depicted on this character over the years. The classic yellow oval doesn't suddenly turn Batman into the 60s show.

If Nolan's Batsuit had a variation of the Batsymbol on it, it wouldn't have made those films any more or less serious/ridiculous. The oval isn't even a campy or fantastical element compared to many other things in those films.

What you're saying makes no sense. It's okay to just admit that you don't personally like the classic oval. You're certainly not alone, I'm sure.

I don't mind the yellow oval, I explained why in another comment. I just dislike the argument of "Since this is a man that dresses like a bat we shouldn't take it seriously at all".

 

[Infinity9999x]

Not really. Nolan and the Arkham games justified the cape EXTREMELY well. And the only reason it's impractical is because people can grab it; if you make it so that it electrocutes the thug when they touch it or something like that, then that solves that problem in a way that makes sense.

I'm not against the oval, I just think that justifying it by using the "lol man dressed as a bat" argument is incredibly condescending.

Imagine if the rest of the film was approached with that same mentality.

Director for a Batman film? "Pff who cares man dressed like a bat choose whatever director let's not take it seriously"
Actor to play Batman? "Pff who cares man dressed like a bat it's not like we need a talented actor for it"
Cinematogapher? "Pff who cares man dressed like a bat people don't even notice that stuff."

We'd all be pissed off about it, but suddenly when it comes to justifying certain cherry picked things suddenly it's okay to be dismissive about the whole character and say he's essentially a joke or something to justify some corny detail like the blue, or the oval, or a 12 year old Robin. As much as I've gone on and on against the blue, I at least appreciate the justification that navy blue is better for hiding in the dark.

Here's a justification the oval that isn't condescending: Part of the idea of Batman is to be a symbol to people. Criminals are not really going to see the symbol when he's in the dark beating them into oblivion (although I'd still say don't make the oval too bright) or when he's picking them one by one. However, when Batman approaches a civilian, someone that he's trying to save, they're going to see the symbol pretty clearly and they're going to remember it.

They gave it a purpose, but still didn’t address that fact that if you actually tried to fight a group of people with a large cape around your neck, you would easily be overpowered because, yes it’s incredibly easy to grab and chuck you off balance. Yeah, you can try to explain away that with saying it has some sort of shock sensors, but then you go down the rabbit hole of trying to justify an inherently unrealistic element with realism, and that’s a never ending nitpick hole. It people who grab it. Okay, how does it differentiate between a grab and a snag? How hard of a grab triggers it? If Batman is wet, say it’s raining, would he get shocked? Etc.

Again, the original point is that there’s a middle ground between what you displayed. Yes, we don’t want to just hand wave and go “it’s all unrealistic, who cares.” That’s lazy. What you can do though, is make sure the elements of the costume fit with the style and world of the story. BTAS takes itself very seriously, and so did the Burton movies, but they didn’t bother to explain the logic of the suit because their world has more fantasy elements in it. Nolan’s series took on just enough “explanation” for the suit for us to not think about it too hard, and for it to fit in a seemingly more realistic world. Really, the Nolan movies we’re still very unrealistic, but they gave enough illusion of realism for us to accept it.

The oval is an easy thing to include because it doesn’t exist outside the already outlandish concept of a Batsuit.

 

[Invader Joker]

They gave it a purpose, but still didn’t address that fact that if you actually tried to fight a group of people with a large cape around your neck, you would easily be overpowered because, yes it’s incredibly easy to grab and chuck you off balance. Yeah, you can try to explain away that with saying it has some sort of shock sensors, but then you go down the rabbit hole of trying to justify an inherently unrealistic element with realism, and that’s a never ending nitpick hole. It people who grab it. Okay, how does it differentiate between a grab and a snag? How hard of a grab triggers it? If Batman is wet, say it’s raining, would he get shocked? Etc.

You don't have to literally stop and explain everything; just enough so that the audience gets a general idea and fills in the blanks themselves. Just have a thug be shocked upon grabbing it (like how in TDK the thug was shocked upon grabbing Batman's mask) and that's it, you can answer the other questions yourself.

 

[Boy Scout]

You don’t need to explain **** about the costume and the audience won’t care. Everyone knows what Batman generally looks like and accepts that he’s had different looks over the years that all have a chance of being represented on screen.

 

[TheGuy]

 

[Infinity9999x]

You don't have to literally stop and explain everything; just enough so that the audience gets a general idea and fills in the blanks themselves. Just have a thug be shocked upon grabbing it (like how in TDK the thug was shocked upon grabbing Batman's mask) and that's it, you can answer the other questions yourself.

Exactly. It seems like it gives an answer, enough that the audience doesn’t focus too much. If they do, they’d realize that a shock response cape is just as silly as the cape itself, but you give the illusion of a justification.

The need for these justifications all depend on the tone of the story, as I said above. If Reeves goes with a TLH inspired story, it’s unlikely he’ll need to include any kind of justifications for the suits, as that story features a zombie with super strength. The world is more fantastical and the audience will accept that it’s not a story that would need justifications for elements of the bat suit.

 

[Invader Joker]

Exactly. It seems like it gives an answer, enough that the audience doesn’t focus too much. If they do, they’d realize that a shock response cape is just as silly as the cape itself, but you give the illusion of a justification.

The need for these justifications all depend on the tone of the story, as I said above. If Reeves goes with a TLH inspired story, it’s unlikely he’ll need to include any kind of justifications for the suits, as that story features a zombie with super strength. The world is more fantastical and the audience will accept that it’s not a story that would need justifications for elements of the bat suit.

Something like seeing thugs get shocked upon grabbing the cape, seeing Batman covering himself with the cape against bullets, things like that are enough to justify the existence of that part of the suit without needing to stop and give exposition about it.

Same can apply with any other element of the suit really. Show, don't tell. And I don't necessarily think that a shock response cape that is only triggered when someone other than their owner touches it is entirely illogical? I may be wrong, but with the technology that exists nowadays I'm sure one could be developed, it'd be expensive as hell and take a lot of engineering, but it could probably be made. I can believe it existing in a world like Batman's.

There are ways to make the suit make sense that are both badass and logical; like I've always said, you can have your cake and eat it too.

 

[Infinity9999x]

Something like seeing thugs get shocked upon grabbing the cape, seeing Batman covering himself with the cape against bullets, things like that are enough to justify the existence of that part of the suit without needing to stop and give exposition about it.

Same can apply with any other element of the suit really. Show, don't tell. And I don't necessarily think that a shock response cape that is only triggered when someone other than their owner touches it is entirely illogical? I may be wrong, but with the technology that exists nowadays I'm sure one could be developed, it'd be expensive as hell and take a lot of engineering, but it could probably be made. I can believe it existing in a world like Batman's.

There are ways to make the suit make sense that are both badass and logical; like I've always said, you can have your cake and eat it too.

The suit will never be logical, because the things that make it a Batsuit make it inherently illogical. If you can make an electro shock cape...you would just not make a cape and put those resources to something not inherently dangerous. If the cape can deflect bullets, you’d just put that fabric on your body, etc.

The suit is never and will never be logical. What we can do is apply a very thin sheen of something that seems logical, that gives us a reason for why something is there. It will always be thin, because there is no justifiable reason why someone would logically have certain elements to make up the Batsuit. But that’s okay, it’s part of the medium and part of the accepted suspension of disbelief. Which, again, is established by the tone of the story you’re telling.

All of this circles back to the simple fact that we would need to reason to justify or make the yellow oval logical, because it’s no more or less logical than the other fantastical parts of the costume. Personally I prefer the black bat, just a stylistic thing, but in terms of in-world “logic”, the oval needs no justification.

 

[Invader Joker]

The suit will never be logical, because the things that make it a Batsuit make it inherently illogical. If you can make an electro shock cape...you would just not make a cape and put those resources to something not inherently dangerous. If the cape can deflect bullets, you’d just put that fabric on your body, etc.

The suit is never and will never be logical. What we can do is apply a very thin sheen of something that seems logical, that gives us a reason for why something is there. It will always be thin, because there is no justifiable reason why someone would logically have certain elements to make up the Batsuit. But that’s okay, it’s part of the medium and part of the accepted suspension of disbelief. Which, again, is established by the tone of the story you’re telling.

All of this circles back to the simple fact that we would need to reason to justify or make the yellow oval logical, because it’s no more or less logical than the other fantastical parts of the costume. Personally I prefer the black bat, just a stylistic thing, but in terms of in-world “logic”, the oval needs no justification.

I guess I see it more of a character thing because you kinda have to look at the batsuit through Bruce Wayne's eyes. Everything that's in the suit is there for a reason he decided for it to be there. So a yellow oval would at least need some justification from Bruce's PoV.

 

[BatsAndNights]

You could just have him use it in combat to disorientate as well as use it to glide. I feel like the electric cape part would be a little...too specific. It's a bit of cloth hanging on his shoulders, it'd be too easily to accidentally give Gordon or even Alfred a shock, I feel. The two main uses of the cape the comics tend to use is to glide, to hide his body and to disorientate in combat. So just show all three, people get the picture.

 

[merlinus]

Just my 2cents worth.
IMHO the body suit should be a dark charcoal grey. The cowl, cape, gloves, boots, and briefs (if any) should be midnight blue. The bat symbol and utility belt should be a straight matte black.
This way in the shadows it will appear mostly blackish, in the light you'll be able to see the colour differentiation thereby keeping both camps satisfied if not totally happy.
I'd be interested in all your views of course.

 

[Infinity9999x]

I guess I see it more of a character thing because you kinda have to look at the batsuit through Bruce Wayne's eyes. Everything that's in the suit is there for a reason he decided for it to be there. So a yellow oval would at least need some justification from Bruce's PoV.

Not really, because any reason you try to give will fall apart under a minute of actual analysis, because at the end of the day, the suit itself is not logical. The reason the suit is there is because it looks stylistically cool. And that’s what Batman looks like. That’s the reason. Again, we can apply a thin film of “logic” but any of those explanations will crumble under just a bit of thought, because the suit is inherently fantastical.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

View attachment 29945

Putting the debate aside for a second, the costume designer for the batsuit just "liked" this concept on Instagram.

Love this.

 

[Invader Joker]

Not really, because any reason you try to give will fall apart under a minute of actual analysis, because at the end of the day, the suit itself is not logical. The reason the suit is there is because it looks stylistically cool. And that’s what Batman looks like. That’s the reason. Again, we can apply a thin film of “logic” but any of those explanations will crumble under just a bit of thought, because the suit is inherently fantastical.

I don't even mean justify it in a realistic way. Just in one that makes sense within the story.

 

[Boy Scout]

It can make sense. Batman, within the universe, is a brand. Having the symbol stand out with the oval burns the symbol into criminals’ minds, and provides inspiration for the signal.

 

[Invader Joker]

It can make sense. Batman, within the universe, is a brand. Having the symbol stand out with the oval burns the symbol into criminals’ minds, and provides inspiration for the signal.

Yeah that's what I said in another post. I don't mind the oval at all.

 

[Boy Scout]

Yeah that's what I said in another post. I don't mind the oval at all.

Didn’t say you did. I was giving a justification for it within the context of a Batman story.

 

[Invader Joker]

Didn’t say you did. I was giving a justification for it within the context of a Batman story.

I meant that in an earlier post I also said that same argument:

Here's a justification the oval that isn't condescending: Part of the idea of Batman is to be a symbol to people. Criminals are not really going to see the symbol when he's in the dark beating them into oblivion (although I'd still say don't make the oval too bright) or when he's picking them one by one. However, when Batman approaches a civilian, someone that he's trying to save, they're going to see the symbol pretty clearly and they're going to remember it.

So we're in agreement here

 

[Eddie Dean]

 

[WatchProtect]

I don't imagine it'll be THIS west inspired but as someone who's not even all that big a fan of this particular cowl. I actually really like how that looks

 

[Boy Scout]

Not horrible. Not great, but not horrible.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

His other works are definitely better.

 

[FatRobin]

Blue/grey looks really cool here: