The Dark Knight Rises The TDKR Batsuit Discussion Thread

[Savage]

reading this makes me thank the skies for nolan... its chumps like you that allow for the trash that joel put out... going for looks over anything else... trying to sell em toyS!

It's not looks over anything else. Comic books are a visual medium. As are movies. If Batman doesn't look cool then what's the point of even putting him in a bat-gettup? Might as well draw characters with realistic muscles and women with almost flat chests (Have you SEEN what female athletes look like?). Realism is great but don't sacrifice the fantasy element. If you're going to dress someone up like a bat, make them look awesome.

 

[Dark Knight]

Solid writing, perhaps. Great, meh. For me it's too far in the opposite direction in the same way Miller took Batman too far into violence. That being said, TDKR (the real TDKR and not this 'Rises' blunder) IS great and as such gains some measure of deference. The truth is somewhere in the middle and I simply do not buy that a man would choose to dress himself in a preposterous costume and put his life at risk in ways that could only be described as indicative of suicidal tendencies because he felt grateful for having been spared. Now he may have come to that epiphany in later life and I don't have any particular problem with that sort of revisionist approach, but gratefulness is not the sort of thing that drives one to such extreme action. Anger is. And the first action of anger is rage. And rage seeks vengeance. And the need for vengeance is satisfied only when it is achieved or when after seeking vengeance for so long one comes at last to question the purpose of it.

This is just one of the many reasons the Batman character is so great. His characterization and the trauma of what happened to him as a child has so much depth and can branch out into anywhere really.

 

[JAK®]

reading this makes me thank the skies for nolan... its chumps like you that allow for the trash that joel put out... going for looks over anything else... trying to sell em toyS!

Reading this makes me hate Nolan, it's chumps like you who have forgotten why we love these characters in the first place.

 

[BatBat]

I understand the need for body armor but it doesn't HAVE to look like body armor. What's wrong with him having armor under a pull over suit? And grey body armor is too unrealistic? Heck with too much realism. I wanna see "BATMAN" on the big screen. Not some robocop looking dude with pointy ears. If you wanna make the grey is too unrealistic argument then so is that gaudy yellow emblem.

 

[Godzilla2014]

I understand the need for body armor but it doesn't HAVE to look like body armor. What's wrong with him having armor under a pull over suit? And grey body armor is too unrealistic? Heck with too much realism. I wanna see "BATMAN" on the big screen. Not some robocop looking dude with pointy ears. If you wanna make the grey is too unrealistic argument then so is that gaudy yellow emblem.

The problem I have with the idea of the pull over suit is this: Why? Why would Batman add an extra layer to his costume unless it adds protection or something useful? I doubt that Batman is really concerned about hiding his body armor. In the real world, cloth removes muscle definition, so the comic book outfit doesn't translate to live-action very easily. As I said before, I am not against adding gray if it works, but we should not expect it to look like the usual comic book costume. They did get rid of the "gaudy yellow emblem", if you are referring to the ellipse.

 

[Stelze]

Reading this makes me hate Nolan, it's chumps like you who have forgotten why we love these characters in the first place.

So you love Batman because he's... black and gray?
And wears trunks?

 

[JAK®]

The problem I have with the idea of the pull over suit is this: Why? Why would Batman add an extra layer to his costume unless it adds protection or something useful?

Aesthetics. Same reason why he chose to look like a bat.

 

[JAK®]

So you love Batman because he's... black and gray?
And wears trunks?

No, I love superheroes like Batman because the world they live in is different from ours, and their costumes are a part of that.

 

[BatBat]

The problem I have with the idea of the pull over suit is this: Why? Why would Batman add an extra layer to his costume unless it adds protection or something useful? They did get rid of the "gaudy yellow emblem", if you are referring to the ellipse.

An extra layer of thin Kevlar could add some protection. Another way to help explain a new look is regaining the fearful image he created in BB but lost TDK. Making his costume look more organic and convincing could help him regain that element of fear that he lost in TDK.
I don't hate the ellipse emblem. I just don't think it serves any purpose on the suit. The only reason it was there in the first place was to mark Julius Schwartz's editorial debut on the book. It wasn't explained as a "target" until Miller's The Dark Knight Returns. Even he dropped that emblem halfway through the book to give Batman a darker look.

 

[Godzilla2014]

Aesthetics. Same reason why he chose to look like a bat.

Bruce, at least this incarnation of him, doesn't seem to be concerned too much about the aesthetics of his bat-suit so long as it is practical and the reason he chose to look like a bat is because he uses it as a symbol to induce fear in the criminals he fights. I don't see how a fabric over-suit will help him to that end. I'm not saying that it is automatically going look like Adam West's costume, but it would be pretty hard to make it not look like a leotard, which would be counterproductive to Batman's goal of inducing fear in the hearts of criminals.

 

[Lando81]

Reading this makes me hate Nolan, it's chumps like you who have forgotten why we love these characters in the first place.

Reading this makes me think you're both acting like *****ebags

 

[JAK®]

Bruce, at least this incarnation of him, doesn't seem to be concerned too much about the aesthetics of his bat-suit so long as it is practical and the reason he chose to look like a bat is because he uses it as a symbol to induce fear in the criminals he fights. I don't see how a fabric over-suit will help him to that end. I'm not saying that it is automatically going look like Adam West's costume, but it would be pretty hard to make it not look like a leotard, which would be counterproductive to Batman's goal of inducing fear in the hearts of criminals.

Nah, I don't buy it, since there are multiple manips that prove it could look good.

 

[Godzilla2014]

Nah, I don't buy it, since there are multiple manips that prove it could look good.

I haven't seen to many manips of a pure cloth costume, so would you mind showing me?

 

[JAK®]

I haven't seen to many manips of a pure cloth costume, so would you mind showing me?

Pure cloth? I thought we were talking about cloth over armour. But whatever, I'll indulge.

 

[Godzilla2014]

Pure cloth? I thought we were talking about cloth over armour. But whatever, I'll indulge.

By pure cloth, I meant a fabric without external hard armor pieces. Sorry for the confusion.

As for the manip, it looks good, but a real fabric may not reflect light like that, and details (to interest the eye) are hard to do on black fabric.

 

[Llama_Shepherd]

If Bruce was really concerned about functionality over aestheitic, he would wear a dark blue cape/costume to blend with the night sky and a grey/silver cape/costume to blend with the urban environment. Black makes him stand out like a silhouette everywhere except the closing scenes of TDK where it actually once looks useful.

 

[redhawk23]

Aesthetics. Same reason why he chose to look like a bat.

have you considered that the movie suit is black for the same reason, that the people who make the films just like the way it looks? Or even in universe, given that there are arguements that grey actually works better at night than black, and that one of the worlds greatest tactical minds would know this, that Batman goes with the black because he likes it?

"Does it come in black?"

 

[Godzilla2014]

If Bruce was really concerned about functionality over aestheitic, he would wear a dark blue cape/costume to blend with the night sky and a grey/silver cape/costume to blend with the urban environment. Black makes him stand out like a silhouette everywhere except the closing scenes of TDK where it actually once looks useful.

If you are advocating blue and gray, I say hell no. I think it was a mistake to color Batman blue. Blue and gray would only make him stand out anywhere. There's a reason why our soldiers wear a single camouflage pattern: So that everything blends into environment at the same time.

 

[moe]

Reading this makes me hate Nolan, it's chumps like you who have forgotten why we love these characters in the first place.

how about allowing for different interpertation of the source material... you don't see shakespear fans get all anal about people interperting the material in a different way... but god forbid batman puts on kevlar plates... and how is he going to put on an armor suit that is covered in cloth??

 

[mrbrownie]

HAHAHAHA. NO. Bale is a tad above 6 ft, it's just that a lot of the time he's surrounded by even taller actors like Michael Caine (6 ft 1) and Morgan Freeman (6 ft 2).

True, my mistake:
"...damn! Bale sure appears really short in TDK***!"

 

[TheBat812]

Pure cloth? I thought we were talking about cloth over armour. But whatever, I'll indulge.

Rugman?

 

[BatBat]

I wholeheartedly agree with the argument against the blue/gray. And I have to argue against the short ears as well. I'm sick of DC trying to turn everything batman into a Jim Lee clone. Lee's Batman was pretty disappointing considering his older works.

 

[Llama_Shepherd]

If you are advocating blue and gray, I say hell no. I think it was a mistake to color Batman blue. Blue and gray would only make him stand out anywhere. There's a reason why our soldiers wear a single camouflage pattern: So that everything blends into environment at the same time.

No, I personally want Bane's manip for the suit. But the LOA are based on South East Asian Ninjas, who wore blue, not black as widely percieved. I was just trying to point out the flaw in the functionality over aesthetic argument. But isn't it weird how you do end up with a suit similar the retro look?

 

[mrbrownie]

The problem I have with the idea of the pull over suit is this: Why? Why would Batman add an extra layer to his costume unless it adds protection or something useful? I doubt that Batman is really concerned about hiding his body armor. In the real world, cloth removes muscle definition, so the comic book outfit doesn't translate to live-action very easily. As I said before, I am not against adding gray if it works, but we should not expect it to look like the usual comic book costume. They did get rid of the "gaudy yellow emblem", if you are referring to the ellipse.

If we're talking TDK context, easy, to hide the openings on the plates.
And, didn't Spider-man looked with enough muscle definition in Raimi's movies?

 

[mrbrownie]

how about allowing for different interpertation of the source material... you don't see shakespear fans get all anal about people interperting the material in a different way... but god forbid batman puts on kevlar plates... and how is he going to put on an armor suit that is covered in cloth??

Really? I really pictured literature and theater enthusiasts getting bothered by changes in Shakespeare's or other classical literature. I'm not being sarcastic by the way.
And there's been occasions in the comics where Batman is acknowledged as wearing kevlar under his tights.
I mean, my only aesthetic complaints with TDK's suit are sometimes-pencil-looking-but-awesome-design-neck (I love how it looks when it doesn't look thin.) and puzzle-legs.