Batsuit

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The batsuit as depicted by Jim Lee in Batman #608

The Batsuit or Bat-Suit is the costume of the DC Comics superhero Batman. The suit consists of a scalloped cape, a bat-like cowl, a tight-fitting body suit emblazoned on the chest with the symbol of a bat, a pair of gloves, boots, and a yellow utility belt.

Origin and Development

Origin

While brooding in his study over how to be a more effective crime fighter, Bruce Wayne saw a bat crash through his window and perch on the bust of his father. Realizing that "criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot", Bruce adopts the persona of a bat in order to conceal his identity and strike fear into his adversaries. Subsequent origin tales have had Bruce terrified by bats as a child, and observing a bat costume worn by his father at a costume ball, but the primary impetus of his decision to adopt the bat persona has always been the incident of the bat crashing through the window of his study. It is as a result of this incident that the batsuit came into being.

Aesthetics

The primary colours of the suit itself have changed from black and grey in the 1930's and '40's to blue and grey in the Silver Age and back to black and grey in the 1980's and beyond. The bat symbol on the chest has alternated from a simple black bat to a bat design on a yellow ellipse. In The Dark Knight Returns it is revealed that the yellow ellipse design was deliberately meant as a target, attracting a potential gunman's aim to an easily armored part of the costume. Other elements, such as the utility belt and the length of the cowl's ears, have been changed by various artistic teams.

Cape

As different artists have taken over the responsibility of drawing the character, the details of the suit have changed considerably. The original incarnation of the cape was a wing-like structure inspired by drawings by Leonardo Da Vinci. This eventually evolved into a more cape-like design of varying length.

Gloves

In the earliest Batman stories of Detective Comics, the costume features a few curiosities before it evolved in to its more or less standard style. The first gloves were ordinary looking, and lacked any sort of scalloped fins or other stylings, and only came to the wrists. A few issues later the gloves became longer, and by 1940 the familiar fins were added to the gloves. On a curious sidenote, the second Batman adventure featured the character wearing no gloves at all. Another early curiosity was the cape, which at times seemed to attach to Batman's arms, giving it a more wing-like look.

Armour and Utility Belt

The batsuit has been repeatedly updated in order to reflect advances in technology. Originally the costume contained no protective armour, but with the advent of various forms of bulletproof materials like kevlar, the costume has been re-imagined with varying forms of bulletproof protection. The array of devices in the utility belt have also become more complex over time. The simple coiled rope and batarang scaling equipment became a rocket powered grapple gun, the cowl was updated with night-vision lenses and communication equipment, and a device to attract the bats from the Batcave was installed in the heel of one of the boots. The suit has also carried on different occasions a re-breather device, flash and gas grenades, lockpicks, a signalling device for the Batmobile, electronic surveillance equipment, a forensic kit for gathering crime scene evidence, a medical kit, and, in early incarnations, a pistol in a holster. On any occasion where Batman anticipates encountering Superman, he has also carried a kryptonite ring given to him by the Man of Steel as a weapon of last resort.

Variants

Variants of the batsuit have included designs created to defeat specific enemies like Mr. Freeze, as well as versions for use in space, underwater, and in fire rescue situations. The Dark Knight Returns featured an armored suit designed specifically to defeat Superman, while Kingdom Come featured a similar suit for combat operations against metahumans.

Jean-Paul Valley Batsuit

Jean-Paul Valley redesigned the batsuit during his tenure as Batman. Valley created an armored suit that contained more gadgets, including a batarang launcher and other, more lethal weapons. This suit has often been seen as a reaction to occasional fan criticism that the batsuit was not high-tech enough for the modern age. In the end, the suit became Valley's vulnerable point, as Bruce realized that his replacement had become too reliant upon the suit's gadgetry. In their final confrontation, Wayne, in his traditional bat costume, tricked Valley into discarding the armor. Upon seeing Wayne revealed in his batsuit under blinding daylight, Valley's fragile mind collapsed and he acknowledged Bruce Wayne as the true Batman.

Other appearances

Television

The Batman television series of the 1960's featured the blue and grey version of the batsuit with a noticeably shorter cape and tiny ears. In keeping with the campy nature of the series, the devices on the utility belt were often used as gags, with one of the most bizarre items being a thermos for storing alphabet soup. In one episode Bruce Wayne carried two capsules that when dropped in a glass of water became full-sized costumes for Batman and Robin, complete with utility belts. In the crossover episode featuring the Green Hornet, Britt Reed refers to Batman's costume as a "goofy purple cape".

Film

The Tim Burton films featured a completely black batsuit with heavy armor placed on the chest, forearms, and boots. This suit was notable for its introduction of the grapple gun that was later adopted by the comics, and for the construction of the cowl, which made it impossible for actor Michael Keaton to turn his head while wearing it.

The Batman films of Joel Schumacher are notorious among fandom for their addition of nipples to the Batman and Robin costumes. In the final film of the Schumacher series, Batman's utility belt is shown to include a credit card with the expiry date "Forever".

The costume in Batman Begins is given the most complete description ever seen in a Batman film. The suit is derived from Lucius Fox's Research and Development program, and is based on an advanced infantry armor system constructed from Nomex. The first layer of protection is an undersuit with built-in temperature regulators designed to keep the wearer at a comfortable temperature in almost any condition. The second layer of protection consists of armor built over the chest, calves, thighs, arms, and back. This armor can stop slashing weapons and can also deflect any bullet short of a straight shot impact. The utility belt is a modified climbing harness, containing a magnetic gas-powered grapple gun, an encryted cell-phone, batarangs, medical kit, and other equipment. Batman's cape is made of "memory fabric", a material which is like any other cloth, but becomes stiff when an electrical current is passed through it, allowing Batman to use it like a glider. When expanded, the cape provides additional lift during one of Batman's rooftop leaps. The gloves of this suit contain metal fins on the forearms for use as slashing and blocking weapons. This last innovation was derived from Bruce Wayne's experience as a pupil of Ra's Al Gul's organization.

Trivia

Christian Bale said of the Batsuit: "It's hot, dark, and sweaty and it gives me a headache." This line was so popular that the costumers on the film had it printed on their t-shirts.