The Dark Knight Rises The TDKR Batsuit Discussion Thread

[Gianakin_]

I hope so. The explainations are mostly not needed and quite boring. Batman Begins' pacing suffered greatly from it.

Really? It was one of the best parts of BB for me.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

You never know, Nolan may pull a Batpod and not explain it in TDKR. As the movies go by, Nolan explains less and less.

That worked very well. I remember when we first heard about how it was going to be revealed... most had instant images of horrid Transformers.

But it couldn't have worked better on screen.

 

[Lencho01]

I think this looks pretty amazing (except for the ears).

I posted a similar pic in the last thread...

http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=3054

I think JAK fixed it up perfectly...

 

[TheBatman072]

Instead of teh puzzle we get teh crease.

You guys crack me up.

 

[DoomsdayApex]

I got my money on a suit being made from a fictional element next or the newly discovered material on the periodic table.

A cloaking device with a limited window would be badass...

 

[EliteF50]

Instead of teh puzzle we get teh crease.

You guys crack me up.

I'll take creases in the suit over a rubber jigsaw puzzle any day.

 

[Ness]

Really? It was one of the best parts of BB for me.

Not to mention it was the beginning of Batman's legacy. It would only be fitting to show how his equipment works and where he got it. I'd be surprised if those kind of scenes weren't in the movie. Fit perfectly with the movie.

 

[Savage]

In b4 "James Bond uses a gun and kills people" argument.

Not to drag this up but this relates to the argument for a less armored (at least in appearance suit). The guy has baterangs, smoke bombs, and a plethora of tools in that belt of his. Plenty of ways to have scenes as exciting as those of Mr. Bond and still leave no casualties. Just saying, is all. My critique on Nolan's action sequences is for another thread though. Just felt I'd throw another vote in the less armor camp. Or at least less obvious. Superhero movies that aren't Blade tend to be pretty bland with the action and there needs to be someone creative enough to do that.

 

[TheBatman072]

I'll take creases in the suit over a rubber jigsaw puzzle any day.

Good for you.

 

[Saint]

I'll take creases in the suit over a rubber jigsaw puzzle any day.

It's really a matter of whether it looks like it's supposed to crease. I mean, nobody looks at a SWAT guy and says "OMG, SO MANY CREAsES, IS HORRIBLES," right? It's supposed to do that, because it's a real life garment.

Conversely, the approach to the rubber suits is weird: because they're supposed to be 1) sturdy armour and 2) be sculpted to look "heroic," they look absolutely ******ed when they bend and buckle and crease, because it doesn't look like equipment that was designed to do that. It just breaks the suspension of disbelief and remind the audience that they're looking at a costume.

A perfect example is Batman's neck in Batman Begins. The designers state they needed to design it in such a way that it wouldn't fold and crease when Batman turned his head--obviously because that giant, muscular sculpted neck would look ******ed if suddenly it was twisting and creasing everywhere. However, if you had a neckpiece that looked like real, functional equipment (and not like a scupted superhero neck) it wouldn't matter if it creased up, because that's what real materials do in the real world.

One of the major improvements with the TDK suit (regardless of the fact that the suit look pretty lame) was that most of the creasing, buckling, and folding looked like it was supposed to happen; it looked like real equipment that was designed to behave that way. The one exception was in the legs, where things still folded in ways that didn't look right, but fortunately it wasn't very noticeable.

Anyways, the point is this: creasing, bending, buckling and folding are all fine, so long as the design looking like the material should behave that way. I think one of the major problems with the Batman costumes (and superhero costumes in general) is that they're too artificial; a ridiculous amount of care is taken to ensure they always look perfect and always look heroic--and that's how you end up with silly things like the Batman Forever Male Stripper Edition Batman and the BB mega-neck and permanent chest-out hero posture. I don't find it convincing.

The image in question isn't something I'd like to see (too flimsy), but the fact that it looks and behaves like real material with creases is hardly the problem.

 

[Mr. Earle]

Good post Saint. I just like to comment on the BB neck. I dont remember it creasing much and like you said, its supposed to crease, its some kevlar material which although armoured has some flexibility to allow movement. In the same way i can accept the creases on his armpits, although they were a bit too big and distracting. In other words, i dont think the BB was supposed to be made out of stone, the unpainted version looked more like the Arkham Asylum suit, basically plates and durable flexible material all weaved into one. I know that Bale didnt wear the unpainted suit, it was just a prop, i'm just going with what Nolan showed us.

tl;dr i dont mind creasing either, even in rubber suits that are supposedly kevlar or what have you. Even real kevlar would crease otherwise Batman would be a statue.

I agree with the rest of the post.

 

[Chiroptera]

This. t:

 

[the dmg]

To go into a different aspect about the new suit, in BB the scallops on the gauntlets were used for defense, while in TDK, they were used for offense. In both movies, they were introduced early on and utilized to overcome both Ra's and Joker at the end of each film.

What do you think it's function will be this time around?

 

[brett66]

god, those enormous ears freak me out. I've never understood the batman donkey look.

 

[Chiroptera]

To go into a different aspect about the new suit, in BB the scallops on the gauntlets were used for defense, while in TDK, they were used for offense. In both movies, they were introduced early on and utilized to overcome both Ra's and Joker at the end of each film.

What do you think it's function will be this time around?

cheese grater.

 

[the dmg]

cheese grater.

Fox: "It'll sure top your pasta just fine."

 

[thedarks0ldier]

cheese grater.

Bane: I will break you...

Batman: I will grate you!

 

[JAK®]

Instead of teh puzzle we get teh crease.

You guys crack me up.

Fabric creases. It's realistic.

 

[JAK®]

The problems with the suit posted above have nothing to do with the fact that it is fabric based rather than rubber, which some people here would have you believe, but simple flaws in design. Here are my adjustments;

The cowl in the original looks ridiculous. While the TDK cowl also looks stupid, it looks less so. I decided to use it because it is more familiar to the anti-fabric camp, so maybe they will consider my points if there was something Nolan-based to comfort them.

The colours in the original were too high contrast. This is one of the things that must 'change' from comic to film. It's not really a change, colours on a drawn image are simply different from real life. The high contrast between the black and grey stops the image from being muddy in comics, but in real life it isn't necessary and takes the darkness away from the design. Adapt what is there in the comics to film. Don't be lazy and make it completely black.

I made the body shorter in my manip to try and get rid of the lankyness of the original. But there is only so much I could do. Batman looks like he is about 6'8 in the original image. You should focus on the costume design instead of who is wearing it.

This is not my ideal Batsuit for live action. There does need to be more protection than this. The materials used, while still being fabric, should be sturdier. There also needs to be a hint of armour underneath, like in the comics. However, my manip proves that a fabric based, comic accurate Batman doesn't look completely stupid in real life, even when factors such as these hold it back.

 

[craigdbfan]

Really like that. Wow there's something I really like about that.

Something like that would be so awesome. Hoping we'll see something along those lines for the next series.

 

[JAK®]

Doing that manip inspired me to do something I've always wanted to do, take the Arkham Asylum costume, make my own design adjustments and then make it look somewhat reminiscent of a real human being's body;

The edited cowl is the work of Mister Meddle.

 

[TheTrickster]

I like the previous suits, but i would like a more flowing cape. I think it was in Morrison's JLA series that the cut at the bottom of the cape which perfect.

 

[Mr. Earle]

I like the Arkham Asylum manip. Well done guys. The manip above it is good like its always been. I'd like to add a suggestion if you guys could oblige: Could you make cape and cowl into one? I think its time they used some CGI to achieve that look from the comics.

 

[DaRkVeNgeanCe]

Both manips are awesome, I dig em both too bad I still doubt well get anything like that in TDKR.

 

[Gianakin_]

The AA manip is good, but the first one is awful as a concept.