The BATSUIT Thread

I thought it looked great in the daytime. This shot in particular is an all-timer for me.

 

I... loooove this look. The Adam West-ness of the whole thing is so strong here. I hope the next suit moves closer to the concept art... I'm great with rubber/plastic bodysuits, but metal just doesn't work for me with Batman, be it here or AK, Injustice etc.

It was designed to be seen in greater light... and those scenes may have been set in winter, but they were shot in summer, so cold weather's not exactly a factor. The mouth thing must've just been something about the nose on that cowl.

Oh and as for differences in the TDK/R suits, they shaved down the back of the cowl and thickened up the neck a bit.

Hell yeah. Same with the shot of him walking through the smoke.

 

With proper lighting it can look fine. It was kinda hideous back then and it is still kinda hideous now. A shame because the Begins suit is one of my favorite Batsuits.

 

Full disclosure-- always loved these things in the Schumacher movies and never got the hate.

 

What did they change in Rises? I never really noticed a difference.
I’m in the camp that thinks the TDK suit is a little ugly and wish they had kept the Begins suit, or at least more aspects of it.
That being said, there are some really good shots of the TDK suit. All about the lighting, especially for that suit.
I particularly loved it in this scene.

 

Even if I think the gauntlets could eventually be streamlined a bit, I also don't want to see The Batman costume changing. Especially not in a more high-tech direction...

No, instead of having a new costume in the next movie like every other franchise, I'd like to see the same costume kept and appearing more and more worn out.
The ending of that first movie makes it clear that Batman is headed for a war for Gotham, so I think that might be a good way to visually signify that fight.
Right at the begining of the sequel, I want to see lots of bullet holes in the chest plate, new stitching on the cowl, and even better, I want the cape so torn down that it makes the famous scallops.

 

Eh, I know it's all subjective, but this is one of those things where I'm just like....my brain simply doesn't register it that way at all. "Hideous", "trash"... such a strong words, haha. That's fine, I'm not knocking the opinion but I just don't feel that way about it. It just looks like a cool, more tactical Bat-suit to me. I love the Begins suit too, don't get me wrong, but I think both have their own great qualities and I think the TDK/R suit fits those movies as well as BB's fits that movie. The armor plates/ 'knight' motif aspect of it in particular.

People act like it's just generally accepted that the suit is bad, when I am fairly certain this isn't a thought that is anywhere near the radar of someone not deeply entrenched in Batman fandom. I'd bet good money that it is probably one of the more popular suits if you were to poll the masses and casual fans. And yes, that totally would have a lot to do with the association of the popular films it was in, but so what? Heck, it came in no. 1 in IGN's recent ranking of the Bat-suits (not that I care what IGN says about much of anything). Point being, it's an opinion that I think sometimes gets talked about as if it's the common consensus, when I don't think it is.

 

I'm one of the few who actually loves TDK suit more than Begins, but I can see why people dislike it so much. It's very different from all previous suits, being much more tactical. The thing is, this tactical aspect was better executed by Reeves.

 

Totally fair, I guess for me it's two different flavors of tactical though. TB is the Lee Bermejo, homemade tactical type of thing, while TDK is the Lucius Fox-made, more militaristic vibe. Even if on some level it's still in the vein of previous 'rubber suit' Bat-suits, from a suspension of disbelief standpoint it still feels like it's in the same family as the BB suit to me and something that you couldn't just put together without Bruce Wayne's resources.

Like Kevin Smith said, Pattinson IS wearin' hockey pads, haha. At least it feels more that way to me. And, yes before anyone jumps on me for this, I know TB suit has Wayne-tech in it which accounts for how it's able to take the insane amount of gunfire that it does. Just talking about the overall look of it.

Like everything though, I really think different elements belong to the different versions. I don't think you could've just placed TB's suit into TDK, even though there are some similarities. The overall feeling the suits evoke is specific to the various visions, IMO. For each incarnation, dating back to West, honestly.

 

The TDK suit was the first major evolutionary step forward in design since Burton. It was the first to introduce fabric into the suit and the first to break apart the body armor into more movable pieces so that, among other things, the actor in it could finally move their neck. This seems quaint now but it was a big deal in 2008, and I think it can be appreciated on those grounds even if you don't dig how it actually looks.

 

Completely agreed. That is exactly how I felt when I watched The Dark Knight last week. It is such a great Batman movie, but Batman looks horrible in it. It's not like the action choreography really used the added mobility anyways. Reminds me of Craig's ridiculous skinny suits in Skyfall. Great movies that utterly botch the iconic looks of their heroes.

Sadly, the Begins suit also looks pretty bad in The Dark Knight. I don't know if it is because they reused suits made for Begins and they had degraded in the meantime or no longer fit Bale right due to his leaner physique, but the Begins cowl often look like a pale imitation of its former self:

For me, the TDK suit looks good here and in some other shots because the cinematography hides most of its details and therefore its flaws. The strong overhead lighting helps hide the Batbra, and the shadows are well placed to hide most of the Lego legs and excess detail around the neck and abs.

The big problem for me is that every shot like this where it looks good, there are many more where it looks meh or bad.

I totally get that and agree. My idea in that regard, that probably other posters are sick of hearing, is that they should approach upgrades to this Batsuit like Indy's classic outfit (and its minor changes in the original Indiana Jones trilogy) or Aragorn's costume in the LOTR trilogy. Keep the core costume the same, but add some upgrades or accessories in a piecemeal fashion and only for story or character reasons. To use the Aragorn example, Aragorn's core costume is the same throughout the trilogy, but he gains some accessories or other items over the story that tell the story of his adventures and character development without fundamentally changing his costume. In Fellowship, he replace his ratty cloak with the Elvish cloak from Lothlorien. After Boromir's death, he wears his fallen friend's vambraces in his memory. In Two Towers, he adds a new chainmail undershirt under his existing duster, braces, cloak, etc. in order to have more protection as the war and danger escalates. In The Return of the King, he adds Anduril as his weapon in acceptance of destiny as king.

I feel like they could take a very similar approach to Battinson's already gorgeous suit. Give him new more heavily armoured vambraces with functional blades for added combat funcitionality, or a new scalloped cape when he upgrades his wingsuit into a more traditional glider cape. Maybe give him a new utility belt as he adds new, more sophisticated gadgets to his arsenal. Etc.

Those short of changes would keep the bulk of the costume the same while allowing for upgrades to show that this Batman is maturing and becoming more sophisticated.

 

Batman fans tend to be way harsh on it IMO and blow it way out of proportion. Is it a bit over-designed? Arguably, but it still totally works in the context of the films, in variety of lighting scenarios. I think some fans want to see the suit treated like this holy thing, where Batman appears mythical in every single frame, at all times. For me, the TDK suit works precisely because there are some shots where it just looks functional/tactical. It is less "creature of the night" overall- but Nolan/Wally knew capture it in just the right way to make it really sing in selective moments, giving those moments even greater impact IMO. It strikes a great silhouette, and I think even the design of it popped nicely in high contrast scenarios.

*shrug*

 

i couldn't disagree more. this looks so out of place for me.

 

BatLobster, please, I didn't call the suit trash! I respect that it has it's fans, but for me it has never quite worked. I think it looks ugly and it's best when you can't actually see much of it. One of it's biggest sins for me is how it diminishes the Bat emblem and hides it into that V shape that also creates the "Batbra" optical illusion

Regarding the poll...I don't care about that much to be honest. I mean, I understand why it would win a poll conducted outside of these boards because everything TDK trilogy is still seen as the gold standard for live action Batman. I don't believe that general audiences obsess too much about the Batsuit the way we do, and to them it probably looks fine. And that's okay. I care more about the opinion of the people here, like yours, even if we disagree regarding the TDK/R Batsuit.

 

I agree with this. I'm sure Bale appreciated it

 

You didn't, @Boom did (and he's perfectly entitled to that opinion!). Just commenting on the general attitude people seem to have towards it here, that's all. It's nothing new but I've just never understood it. All good! I get that people have strong opinions on it and I'm in the minority.

 

I can't fathom thinking the TDK/R suit looks messy and the TB one doesn't.

The TDK/R one is all the one material, the patterns are consistent over each body part, the colour is too, and the black hides details etc... it's very consistent and flows aesthetically. The TB suit is a mix of different materials (leather, metalic, fabric and maybe some rubber/plastic) with strapping and exposed gadgets/weapons on show, the silver colour brings out the details more... the whole thing is deliberately disjointed.

Which brings me to my next point... "the TB suit is what the TDK/R suit was trying to be"... They might both be doing segmented armour and pushing for the illusion of realism, but TDK/R's is if an obsessed billionaire had access to a company that produces military grade prototypes on the downlow and modified himself, and TB's is if an obsessed billionaire had access to military grade equipment and kit-bashed it all together himself.

Same thing with their cars.

Apples and oranges.

 

Love that scene, by the way. Probably my favorite Batman scene of the whole trilogy.

I'm not 100% sure they changed anything, but it looked much better in Rises to me. In TDK, for whatever reason, it didn't look as black, the cowl looked way oversized and too much like a helmet, the neck too slim, the nose more beak-like, the cape seemed farther back almost completely off his shoulders and the material itself looked cheaper.

Could just be how it was shot, and like I said before, Bale being so lean might've contributed, but to my eye it looked leaps and bounds better in Rises.

Yeah, again, Bale was too slim. The cowl looked like it was barely fitting his face anymore.

Exactly, hoping for the same thing with the Batmobile also. I just never liked the trend of every new movie necessitates a new suit. I understand for toys and such but building on what he already has makes perfect sense for this world.

Kinda agree and disagree here. I think Reeves absolutely saw the TDK and thought he could probably execute that style of Batman better while adding his own flair to it. And IMO he has.

On the same token, part of that vision is, to your point, making this Bruce almost totally autonomous as opposed to Bale's Bruce who got everything from Fox. Looking back on it, while appreciative of Fox's inclusion, it did for Wayne as a character what Stark did for Peter Parker. Just by virtue of that, Pattinsons' version seems more intelligent, the detective stuff notwithstanding.

 

They definitely made subtle changes to the DK suit in Rises. The bobble head phenomenon was gone and the suit photographed so much better.

 

Like I said on the last page, they said they shaved down the back of the cowl and thickened the neck. That's why every time you see a screenshot of the "bobble head" it's from a few shots TDK and not TDKR.

 

I think it's worth mentioning that Moon Knight has animated eyes in the show, so you can add him to the growing list.

One day Batman will join this list. Maybe in the next reboot

 

I love TDK/TDKR suit.

The closest I can say to a suit I dislike is the snow suit from Batman & Robin, it's not overall bad, just some of the white parts look unnecessary if the plan was to make it insulated against the icy cold.

 

And Moon Knight in the show, for the most part, looks like a cartoon/CGI character.

 

Yes, the dude who is the Avatar of a Moon God in fact has animated eyes (which they also have to remove anytime he has to show an emotion other than shock)

That doesn't automatically mean it'd work with Batman lmao