Batsuit

The Batsuit or Bat-Suit is the costume of the DC Comics superhero Batman.

Background

The batsuit costume may have been inspired by a Halloween "bat-suit" worn by Batman's father before his death, and was also certainly influenced by both Wayne's conviction that criminals are a "superstitious, cowardly lot" and his own fear of bats. The details of the Batman costume have changed repeatedly through the character's evolution, but the most distinctive elements have remained consistent: a dark scalloped hem cape, with a cowl covering most of Batman's face, with a pair of pointed ears suggesting those of a bat, and a stylized bat emblem on his chest. His gloves also typically feature three scallops that protrude from the sides of each glove, presumably depictive of bat's wings and for offensive and defensive purposes. In Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, these fins are portrayed as metal blades doubling as weapons, derivative of his training with Ra's Al Ghul's organization. The most noticeable costume variations include a "yellow elliptical" bat-emblem vs. no ellipse, lighter colors (medium blue and light gray) vs. darker (black and dark gray), a bulky utility belt vs. a streamlined belt, and a long-eared cowl vs. short-eared. The development of Kevlar, Spectra and other types of body armor has prompted some modern creators to make Batman's costume or parts of the costume bullet-proof. In Frank Miller's seminal work The Dark Knight Returns, Miller explains that the yellow ellipse is used to attract gunfire to Batman's chest, where his armor is heaviest.

When faced with difficult or vastly strong opponents (Frank Miller's Superman in The Dark Knight Returns, Alex Ross's gulag prisoners in Kingdom Come and the Predator in Batman vs. Predator), writers do not hesitate to arm Batman with a battle suit of armor. Merchandising variants of his costume have exploited Batman's occasional need to fit him with a suit to match his challenge (ex: Batman's fire-proof suit against Firefly).

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. The costume is also occasionally seen with a holster, as Batman sometimes carried a pistol in those days.

It should be noted that recent stories (particularly the maxi-series Justice) Batman's glove fins are depicted as solid, able to block bladed weapons.

The cape, cowl, gloves and boots are usually coloured black or blue, the bat symbol black (sometimes within a yellow oval), the utility belt yellow, and the rest of the costume grey or black.