Batman's weapons and gadgets in the Burton era

[The Laughing Fish]

I couldn't find any thread on the forum talking about the gadgets used in the Burton movies, so I thought why not compile a complete list here? I'm going  to list all items in order according to when see them on screen per each film. Some will include screenshots from the concept art book for B89 and elsewhere, so here we go.

#1 Batarang v1 – The only time we see the first version of the weapon on screen is during the rooftop scene of B89. Attached with a cable, Batman uses it to stop one of crooks from escaping. Its wings are wrapped around the base of the gadget before it opens, and once thrown, the Batarang magnetically attaches to the crook's foot. Usually, cable-laced Batarangs are used to help Batman climb on a building or swing around Gotham City, but this is the only time in Warner Butchers' filmography where he uses it to trap a criminal.






#2 Speargun aka Grapple gun – By far, the most significant gadget that Burton had not only introduced in the movies but the entire Batman mythos. The speargun was used to not only latch onto high distances to lift Batman from one height to another; he used it as a weapon to disarm and injure crooks.





The most interesting detail about the grapple gun is it would slide around Batman's utility belt before he would attach one part of it, as we can see in the alley scene.



According to this video clip below, from one of the behind-the-scenes videos for B89, the speargun could've been used to fire tranquiliser darts, but it never happened in the film.

The speargun did have one limit in B89. When Batman and Vicki tried to escape from the Joker goons, their weight couldn't lift them any further, so Batman had to compromise himself to let Vicki get away from danger. But in BR, Batman was able to use the hook of the speargun to pull a chunk of a wall and knock out the Red Triangle Gang clown from behind. Either the wall was poorly structured, or Batman had upgraded the strength of the speargun.

#3 Gauntlet - I read somewhere the line launcher was introduced in Batman Returns, but I think that's wrong. Here, the gadget works with the joints opening up sideways and shoots grapple darts from one end to another.








#4 Batmobile communicator - In B89, Batman spoke with this communication device to command the Batmobile to perform certain functions i.e. activate or deactivate the shields and stop driving. Off screen, he would've used the device to communicate to the Batmobile what to do during the attack on Axis Chemicals. He never used this device in BR, however.






#5 Arm extension - This is a strange piece of weaponry, in a rather strange action moment. When Batman climbed to the top of the Gotham Cathedral, he gets attacked by a somersaulting Joker goon who has two knives attached to his feet. Batman defends himself by raising his hand, and a piece of metal ejects right out of his wrist and a patch of Taser snaps, which strikes the goon right in the nuts and electrocutes him!







#6 Smoke capsules - Nothing too unique about these gadgets, other than the fact they quickly disperse as soon as they're thrown on the ground. Very effective for Batman to make his escape from dangerous situations.



Here below is what the smoke capsules look like.





#7 Bola gun – This was the weapon that got the Joker killed, as two bolas fire as soon as Batman pulls the trigger, and they immediately tie the Joker's foot to that gargoyle.






#8 Batarang v2 – This is a high-tech version of the weapon we see in BR. The wings extends right out, and the base of the gadget has controls to activate a homing signal. The arrows Batman presses tells the Batarang which direction it needs to fly towards after identifying the number of threats nearby, and strikes all of them at once.








#9 Acid capsule – A gadget Batman uses to throw at Catwoman while dangling from her whip near the end of their first confrontation. Needed a good shake before it could be potent.





Not only did it sting and eat through the Catsuit, the acid capsule appeared to have left behind a serious skin condition, possibly a scar, as you can see when Bruce exposes Selina's arm while they were getting a little intimate with each other at Wayne Manor.






#10 Line launcher – It's not as flashy as the Gauntlet from B89, but an effective gadget Batman uses to glide from place to place.



Notice in the last confrontation with Catwoman and Max Shreck, Batman is connected with a rope lock holding the back of his neck as he glides inside the Penguin's lair.






#11 Glowing red button device – Batman arms himself with this buzzing device in an attempt to scare off Cobblepot, after he and Alfred changed the kamikaze penguins' coorindates back the Arctic World hideout. Penguin snatches the button and presses it which not only causes the destruction of his lair, but alerts the bats hiding in the Batboat and attacks him; resulting in his demise.






By my count, those are the eleven gadgets used in both Burton Batman movies. It might be the most amount out of all live action movies to date, excluding the 1960s TV show. B89 being the movie with the most resourceful amount of gadgets used to date.

There are a couple of weapons, though, that were never used in B89. They were featured in the behind-the-scenes documentary for the film, and they can be seen, albeit barely, during the scene where Alfred gives Bruce the police files reporting his parents' murders.





These are the three weapons in question were:

The Ninja wheel - A shuriken weapon that could've been used in combat. It must've been another prop he bought in Japan. 






Handset & tracer - I can't find any info on what these gadgets are supposed to do. My only guess is they're supposed to be working together as some sort of tracking device?






Time bomb - Another prop that was never used. Unless it was hidden inside the Batmobile's shield hubcap that dropped and exploded in that explosive Axis Chemicals scene?






If there are any unused gadgets I haven't mentioned, please post them here.

[thecolorsblend]

Something I guess I never noticed before was how many gadgets relate to swinging around. Four by my count (which includes batarang v1). Clearly, this Batman anticipated circumstances where he might need to swing in somewhere by surprise or else swing out of somewhere in a swift escape.

I do consider the line launcher from BR to be the next generation of the gauntlet from B89. Their functions are so similar to one another that it's hard for me to see it any other way.

Batarang v2 has potential as another swing device. We don't see it used that way but if Batman wanted the batarang to move in a specific flight pattern to wrap itself around something, he could use that function to swing into or out of someplace. Of all the weapons he uses in BR, batarang v2 has arguably the highest number of possible applications.

[Catwoman]

Oh, those wonderful toys.

Thanks for putting this together. Loved the still pics then the GIF of the gadget in action.

[The Laughing Fish]

I neglected to mention one more detail about speargun's additional attachments in B89. As I mentioned before, the speargun could be taken apart, but it could also be armed with larger, triangular-shaped hooks that could grapple onto a larger surface way better than the single hook Batman often used. Which is what we saw when Batman fired the larger hooks to save himself and Vicki at the end of the movie.

I do consider the line launcher from BR to be the next generation of the gauntlet from B89. Their functions are so similar to one another that it's hard for me to see it any other way.

I agree. In terms of design, the Gauntlet looks cool, but I can only imagine it must be uncomfortable to hold. As it says in that screenshot from the official art book, the ring has to wrap around Batman's arm to support his grip. But it seems it needs to be fitted in a certain angle so it doesn't touch the glove's bat-blades. This is how Keaton holds the gadget in one of those Herb Ritts photos.



It's all make-believe of course, but to carry the Gauntlet and those gadgets around that utility belt would've made things clunky and uneasy for Batman. The more compact line launcher would be easier to carry.

I only have one question: was there a logistical reason why they designed the Gauntlet, other than for show? If you have a look at that stunt of Batman and Vicki's escape, the ring would've given the actor some support to keep the body still, while moving across towards lower ground level. Never mind the fact the height between both floors of the musuem was quite small. Compare that to how the use of the line launcher is edited in BR. When Batman arrives to meet the captured Ice Princess, it is instantly cut to next frame of him landing without us seeing him going from one rooftop to another, and how he suddenly had a rope lock stuck above his head as he swings downwards in the final scene with Catwoman and Shreck. This leads me to believe the editing was done this way because the line launching stunt was too dangerous to film just by holding the gadget by hand without additional support. It might've been a delicate stunt to pull off without cutting some corners, I suppose.

By the way, I did some digging to see if there were any more unused gadgets, and it appears there is another one for B89. On the 1989batman.com blog site, there are a few screenshots of this strange looking object appearing in an official photo album magazine from Japan. But for some reason, this gadget never appeared in any other promotional material for the movie.







Source: http://www.1989batman.com/2014/11/special-feature-batman-1989-production.html

A fan reckons it could be a gas mask, but nobody is able to confirm it. I don't understand Japanese, but I tried to jot down the writing printed underneath that  gadget on that first screenshot and got it to translate on Google. Unfortunately, the translation referred to the smoke capsules instead. Trying to translate thatwas tedious enough as it was, so I'm not going to bother with the rest.

But I'm inclined to believe that guess is correct. Perhaps there was a planned sequence where Batman had to wear the gas mask at one stage, once the Joker had contaminated the air with Smylex during the parade scene? Who knows.

Oh, those wonderful toys.

Thanks for putting this together. Loved the still pics then the GIF of the gadget in action.

[The Laughing Fish]

I found a few quotes from B89's art department explaining the process behind creating the Batarang, and making it as practical as possible.

Terry Ackland-Snow, art director: "We did a rough design sketch of what was required, and then it got handed over to the special effects supervisor, John Evans, who made all the gadgets. We were working on it all together at the same time, giving Tim Burton exactly what he wanted Batman to have. [The batarang] was based on trying to fit the symbol of Batman — the idea was to have everything Batmobile-looking, the wings, that sort of thing. All the gadgets echoed each other."

John Evans, special effects supervisor: "I think we made about a dozen. We made some with fiberglass and some with polished aluminum. Anton [Furst]'s team had done all the designs, so he gave us the designs, and we took it from there. It was a simple thing to do. We just had to get the balance right so it could fly through the air."

https://thechive.com/2017/07/20/some-of-the-greatest-movie-props-and-the-interesting-stories-behind-them-27-photos/

^Those statements are corroborated in the DVD Special Features video discussing the props for the movie.

[BatmanFurst]

So the line launcher did actually originate from the 89 film and not the comics?

[thecolorsblend]

So the line launcher did actually originate from the 89 film and not the comics?

I think it's a matter of perspective. The first time I can remember Batman using some type of launcher for his line is TDKR when Batman chose the wrong building the intercept Two Face. Of course, that launcher was basically a modified rifle.

The gauntlet thingie from B89 is the first of its kind I can remember seeing in any Batman-related thing. A while later (1990 or 91?), comic book Batman adopted a much simpler launcher that was shaped kind of like a small flashlight, fired a line into a building, Batman swung from it, retracted the line, fired it again, wash, rinse, repeat. I don't remember the comic book launcher being a thing before Breyfogle started drawing Batman.

Still, I would defer to SN. And just watch him send me to school on this.

[BatmanFurst]

So the line launcher did actually originate from the 89 film and not the comics?

I think it's a matter of perspective. The first time I can remember Batman using some type of launcher for his line is TDKR when Batman chose the wrong building the intercept Two Face. Of course, that launcher was basically a modified rifle.

The gauntlet thingie from B89 is the first of its kind I can remember seeing in any Batman-related thing. A while later (1990 or 91?), comic book Batman adopted a much simpler launcher that was shaped kind of like a small flashlight, fired a line into a building, Batman swung from it, retracted the line, fired it again, wash, rinse, repeat. I don't remember the comic book launcher being a thing before Breyfogle started drawing Batman.

Still, I would defer to SN. And just watch him send me to school on this.

The Arkham series has made the launcher popular again. It would be pretty cool if that's another innovation that came from the 89 film. I'm still in disbelief that something as iconic as the grapple gun didn't exist before the 89 film.

[Silver Nemesis]

Still, I would defer to SN. And just watch him send me to school on this.

I'm still in disbelief that something as iconic as the grapple gun didn't exist before the 89 film.

While the line launcher – the one that fires two cables simultaneously – did originate in the 1989 film, Batman and Robin had been shown using guns to deploy grapple lines as early as 'A Touch of Poison Ivy!' (Batman Vol 1 #183, August 1966).

Adam West's Batman also used the Batzooka to launch grappling ropes in the sixties TV show.

Before this, Batman and Robin were so badass they didn't need grapple launchers. They could just manually hurl their bat-ropes up onto the roof of whichever skyscraper they wanted to climb.

[The Laughing Fish]

Adam Savage from MythBusters takes a look at the Speargun prop that was used in BR. The prop demonstates to be very functional with rotation mechnisms and the grip folds. Savage says it's surprisingly comfortable to hold.

So the cylinder within the prop was built to rotate in B89, but they were never recovered. Wow.

Gotta love all the other props you can see in this video, e.g. Batgirl's utility belt, the B89 insignia, an Edward Scissorheads glove, the Space Bug head from the 1986 version of The Fly and the Terminator statue. Cinematic nostalgia right there.