The Batsuit Thread

[Silver Nemesis]

This thread is for observations, opinions, images and speculation concerning the new batsuit, as well as those displayed in the armoury. Anything batsuit-related is welcome here.

I'd like to comment on each of these costumes in turn, starting with the one on the far left. For now I'm going to call this one the proto-batsuit. Here's some analysis Joker posted in another thread.

From looking at the 'Vault of Suits' image again, and upon closer inspection, I like that the (apparently) first Keaton batsuit takes inspiration from the original 1939 Kane/Finger iteration.



EDIT



Pretty cool that it's confirmed the '66 West symbol is also used on the 1st suit. I like it even more now than I did before. 

https://www.batman-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=4243.msg68099#new

Knox's reference to "eight sightings in just under a month" suggests Bruce Keaton had been active for several weeks prior to the events of the 1989 film. Of course his crime fighting activities might have gone back further than those eight sightings, but for now let's assume he was active for about a month. It was during those four weeks that Knox began investigating his activities and the late Johnny Gobs met his untimely fate. Was Bruce wearing this proto-batsuit during that time? Did his confrontation with Nick and Eddie mark the debut of the 1989 suit?

In a much older thread (https://www.batman-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=2087.0), I speculated that Keaton might have already defeated Ratcatcher and Kite Man prior to the events of the 1989 film. If so, perhaps this is the costume he was wearing at the time. Perhaps there should be a Batman: Month One comic exploring those mysterious early weeks of Bruce's adventures.

The costume standing second from left is obviously based on the more traditional blue and grey design from the comics, and it even appears to have white eye lenses in the cowl. The only thing missing is the trunks.

The cowl features a furrowed brow similar to the Alex Ross batsuit.

I don't know where this would fit into the timeline. Unless the proto-batsuit was something Bruce whipped up during his travels, and this blue and grey outfit is the one he wore during the earliest weeks of his career. Or is it just an alternative to the 1989 suit that he never actually used? It's the only other suit to have the 1989 chest emblem. Perhaps the proto-batsuit was one he wore for training purposes only, and this blue and grey costume was the first suit he wore in public.

Here's something Joker posted about it in another thread.

The blue and gray is obviously a standout.

The blue and gray suit could be viewed as something a nod towards Bob Ringwood's concept art for B89 back in the day.



Heck, it even appears to have the white eye lenses from what I can tell.

https://www.batman-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=4243.10

There's no commentary needed for the three central suits. Each corresponds to one of Keaton's big screen outings. Each has its own story, and we know what those stories are.

I wonder what happened to all the spare suits he had in Batman Returns.

The costume standing second from the right appears to be a diving suit built for underwater purposes.

This one has a strong dieselpunk vibe that feels very consistent with the Burtonverse aesthetic. It looks like the most heavily armoured suit in the vault, it has goggles built into the cowl, and breathing apparatus covers the lower half of the wearer's face. Presumably those tubes connect the mask to an oxygen cylinder on the back. One of the most interesting details is the two wing-like protuberances on his back. Some method of underwater propulsion, perhaps?

Some people have pointed out that this costume somewhat resembles the Deep Dive Batman figure from the Batman Returns toy line.

Did Bruce don this suit to fight an aquatic villain? Killer Croc? Orca? Professor Bubbles? Or did he wear this suit to infiltrate the Riddler's island lair, the Burtonverse equivalent of Claw Island? I imagine Keaton would have approached the Riddler's hideout more stealthily than Kilmer did. He might have taken the Batskiboat or Batsub part of the way, and then covered the remaining distance using this suit. Is this what he was wearing when he faced off against the Riddler?

The costume on the far right appears to be some kind of Arctic suit.

It has goggles to protect the wearer's eyes and a hood added to the cape for extra protection against the elements. The colour is paler than the other suits, suggesting winter camouflage. It resembles the Victorian and WWII batsuits featured in the Elseworlds books Gotham by Gaslight and JSA: The Liberty Files.

It could be that Batman used this suit when abroad in cold environments, but the more obvious scenario is that he wore it while fighting Mr Freeze. It's positioned two spaces along from the BR suit, and Batman & Robin was two films after BR. Is this the Burtonverse equivalent of Clooney's Arctic suit? Could be. Let's not forget that there was a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger on the wall of Shreck's office in BR.

Was Fries a former employee of Shreck Industries? Did Batman adopt this special suit after Victor froze Gotham? There was also an Arctic Batman figure in the Batman Returns toy line. In place of a hood and goggles it had a glass helmet.

I'm glad they didn't include the batsuit from the Batman '89 comic. Its absence suggests that series is apocryphal to the live action canon. The Superman/Supergirl situation further confirms that. Instead the Earth-789 comics seem to exist in their own pocket universe, similar to the old Batman newspaper strip that followed the release of the 1989 film.
   
Here's one final thing to think about: will Batman debut another new costume in The Flash? Notice that the trailers don't show any clips of Keaton from the final battle. We see the Batwing in action, but we don't see Keaton piloting it? He's going up against an army of Kryptonians, so wouldn't it make sense for him to don mech armour like Batfleck did? Is that a final surprise the filmmakers are keeping under wraps?

[thecolorsblend]

The costume standing second from the right appears to be a diving suit built for underwater purposes.

This one has a strong dieselpunk vibe that feels very consistent with the Burtonverse aesthetic. It looks like the most heavily armoured suit in the vault, it has goggles built into the cowl, and breathing apparatus covers the lower half of the wearer's face. Presumably those tubes connect the mask to an oxygen cylinder on the back. One of the most interesting details is the two wing-like protuberances on his back. Some method of underwater propulsion, perhaps?

Some people have pointed out that this costume somewhat resembles the Deep Dive Batman figure from the Batman Returns toy line.

Did Bruce don this suit to fight an aquatic villain? Killer Croc? Orca? Professor Bubbles? Or did he wear this suit to infiltrate the Riddler's island lair, the Burtonverse equivalent of Claw Island? I imagine Keaton would have approached the Riddler's hideout more stealthily than Kilmer did. He might have taken the Batskiboat or Batsub part of the way, and then covered the remaining distance using this suit. Is this what he was wearing when he faced off against the Riddler?

The costume on the far right appears to be some kind of Arctic suit.

It has goggles to protect the wearer's eyes and a hood added to the cape for extra protection against the elements. The colour is paler than the other suits, suggesting winter camouflage. It resembles the Victorian and WWII batsuits featured in the Elseworlds books Gotham by Gaslight and JSA: The Liberty Files.

It could be that Batman used this suit when abroad in cold environments, but the more obvious scenario is that he wore it while fighting Mr Freeze. It's positioned two spaces along from the BR suit, and Batman & Robin was two films after BR. Is this the Burtonverse equivalent of Clooney's Arctic suit? Could be. Let's not forget that there was a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger on the wall of Shreck's office in BR.

These were the first thoughts I had upon seeing those suits. I doubt the movie itself will show much to do with them. But I like to think that someone in the production is trying to allow space for the BF and B&R stories to have happened in some form or another. Like, if you MUST keep the Schumacher stories in some kind of canon, these will allow you to do so.

And there's some story/character logic backing that up. Between the showdowns in Axis Chemicals and Arctic World, Keaton's Batman might've learned the importance of dressing properly for each occasion. Admittedly, neither of those two environments is ever shown to work against him. But they COULD have. And he would've been in a mess if they had.

So, if you want to construct a bit of off-the-books canon, you could argue that Keaton went straight home after credits rolled in BR and started working on suits that would allow him to survive extreme environments.

And those new suits came in handy when versions of the Riddler and Mr. Freeze came to town.

[Silver Nemesis]

It's nice to see that his cape glider, while upgraded, still retains the same basic bat-shape as the one from BR.

[The Joker]

The costume on the far right appears to be some kind of Arctic suit.

It has goggles to protect the wearer's eyes and a hood added to the cape for extra protection against the elements. The colour is paler than the other suits, suggesting winter camouflage. It resembles the Victorian and WWII batsuits featured in the Elseworlds books Gotham by Gaslight and JSA: The Liberty Files.

It could be that Batman used this suit when abroad in cold environments, but the more obvious scenario is that he wore it while fighting Mr Freeze. It's positioned two spaces along from the BR suit, and Batman & Robin was two films after BR. Is this the Burtonverse equivalent of Clooney's Arctic suit? Could be. Let's not forget that there was a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger on the wall of Shreck's office in BR.

Was Fries a former employee of Shreck Industries? Did Batman adopt this special suit after Victor froze Gotham? There was also an Arctic Batman figure in the Batman Returns toy line. In place of a hood and goggles it had a glass helmet.

Good catch as always, Silver.

Yeah, the paler suit does appear to be something of an homage to the Arctic suit Batman figure to some degree. If memory serves, "Arctic Batman" was one of the more popular Batman figure variants during the "Batman Returns" Kenner run. I never personally had it, as I wasn't really into variant costumes (I just wanted the classic/movie accurate Batman and that's it), but it sure seemed like everyone I knew who were collecting the toys back then, if they were to have more than one Batman figure, had the "Arctic Batman" figure for sure.

In your opinion, do you think the 1st costume in the Vault (inspired by 1939 with the 1966 emblem) to be Keats equivalent to Bruce's DCAU black ski mask/black jacket ect getup that we saw in "Mask of the Phantasm"? Ergo a suit he only used on his initial night out, and then promptly retired?

That's what I'm thinking. With perhaps the more traditional blue/grey suit being practiced in a bit more during the early days, and to which may have been used during the possible confrontations with Kite-Man, and Ratcatcher. I also like the idea that the "eight sightings in just under a month" line from Knox could be referring to the blue/grey suit as well as the B89 suit. Where the switch took place sometime between those eight sightings, and thus, descriptions on the Batman sightings varying and not exactly correlating with one another. Keeping the aura of mystery fully intact.

Also, the notion of Victor Fries being an employee/associate with Shreck Industries gives me Raimiverse/PS4 vibes of Otto Octavius/Doc Ock and Oscorp. Not that that's a bad thing either.

I'm glad they didn't include the batsuit from the Batman '89 comic. Its absence suggests that series is apocryphal to the live action canon. The Superman/Supergirl situation further confirms that. Instead the Earth-789 comics seem to exist in their own pocket universe, similar to the old Batman newspaper strip that followed the release of the 1989 film.

Same.
   

Here's one final thing to think about: will Batman debut another new costume in The Flash? Notice that the trailers don't show any clips of Keaton from the final battle. We see the Batwing in action, but we don't see Keaton piloting it? He's going up against an army of Kryptonians, so wouldn't it make sense for him to don mech armour like Batfleck did? Is that a final surprise the filmmakers are keeping under wraps?

Possibly? Though, right now, I'm kinda leaning towards the idea that Batfleck overall had more time to develop a suit in confronting Cavill's Superman, where time is of the essence during "The Flash", and Batkeats simply doesn't have that window of opportunity in developing a more proper suit to battle a bunch of super-powered kryptonians from another universe. Ultimately being forced to Batwing it. However, Batkeats having something of an ace up his sleeve would totally be him.

[Silver Nemesis]

In your opinion, do you think the 1st costume in the Vault (inspired by 1939 with the 1966 emblem) to be Keats equivalent to Bruce's DCAU black ski mask/black jacket ect getup that we saw in "Mask of the Phantasm"? Ergo a suit he only used on his initial night out, and then promptly retired?

I was thinking of something like that. Another good comparison would be this getup, which Baleman only wore once during the early intel-gathering stage of his career.

When he realised it wasn't adequate, he ditched the harness and ski mask and added the cape and cowl to create his finished ensemble.

Keaton's proto-batsuit might be the Burtonverse equivalent of this. I could buy into the idea that he only wore it once. Maybe something went wrong. Perhaps the grapple guns fell from their holsters, and this inspired him to create the utility belt for securely carrying his equipment.

After that he switched to the blue and grey suit. But again, something went wrong. The lighter colours might have made it too visible – hence Knox's "eight sightings" line – so Bruce decided to recolour it black and improve the utility belt. He might have ditched the lenses in the cowl because they compromised his vision.

It would be fascinating to explore the pre-89 stage of his career via flashbacks in The Flash or Batman Beyond. Keaton said he wanted to do something similar to Batman Begins in his third Batman movie. It would be awesome to see a young digitally de-aged Keats training like Bale did in BB. Such flashbacks would also offer a glimpse of how these early batsuits fit into the timeline.

Yeah, the paler suit does appear to be something of an homage to the Arctic suit Batman figure to some degree. If memory serves, "Arctic Batman" was one of the more popular Batman figure variants during the "Batman Returns" Kenner run. I never personally had it, as I wasn't really into variant costumes (I just wanted the classic/movie accurate Batman and that's it), but it sure seemed like everyone I knew who were collecting the toys back then, if they were to have more than one Batman figure, had the "Arctic Batman" figure for sure.

I've still got my Laser Batman figure somewhere, but he's missing his cape and accessories. I liked this one because it had the grey and black colour scheme from the comics.

Variant figures always remind me of 'Mitefall', the final episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, in which Bat-Mite tries to tank the show's ratings by making Batman change into various gimmicky action figure costumes.

In the end his plan works and B:TBATB gets cancelled. I can't help feeling this was a commentary on the increasingly toyetic trajectory of the Burton/Schumacher series. They even had Batman literally jump the shark at one point.

Oh how I miss B:TATB. It was the funniest version of Batman since the West era and proved that comedic Batman can still work when handled with skill and intelligence.

[thecolorsblend]

I've still got my Laser Batman figure somewhere, but he's missing his cape and accessories. I liked this one because it had the grey and black colour scheme from the comics.

I loved Laser Batman for the coloring but also the design of the suit.

When I read comics as a kid, I rarely took the costume designs literally. I usually assumed the art showed as much of the costume as artistic deadlines would allow. So, the costumes might be drawn and colored "flat". But I thought readers were supposed to interpret textures and whatnot for superhero costumes.

So, MAYBE Superman was wearing a simple bodysuit. But The Flash's outfit was insulated in some way to protect his body while he sped around, Green Lantern's outfit was probably made of alien fabrics since it was generated by his ring (maybe not as weird as the Ryan Reynolds movie version but it would look along those lines), Daredevil's uniform was probably very flexible to allow him maximum agility, maybe Dick Grayson's Robin wore flesh-colored leggings/tights like Burt Ward, Spider-Man's outfit probably looked a lot more like Andrew Garfield's (webbing texture, gradient red shading on the suit, stuff like that) and a lot less like Nicholas Hammond's, etc.

And when it came to Batman, I thought his suit should basically look like Laser Batman. The texture on that figure suggested some sort of armor beneath his fabric suit. Or maybe the suit is constructed of some kind of special Wayne Tech polymer that would protect against fire and bullets. Or whatever. But basically, Batman wasn't going out into the night wearing a simple polyester bodysuit and a cape. And Laser Batman was one of the few figures that implied the texture and armor that I thought Batman would included with his suit.

Obviously, I also owned and adored Laser Batman too.

[The Joker]

Keaton's proto-batsuit might be the Burtonverse equivalent of this. I could buy into the idea that he only wore it once. Maybe something went wrong. Perhaps the grapple guns fell from their holsters, and this inspired him to create the utility belt for securely carrying his equipment.

After that he switched to the blue and grey suit. But again, something went wrong. The lighter colours might have made it too visible – hence Knox's "eight sightings" line – so Bruce decided to recolour it black and improve the utility belt. He might have ditched the lenses in the cowl because they compromised his vision.

Yeah, I kinda dig the whole trial and error thing that the first two suits may have unintentionally brought forth. First suit indicates what he was going for, but unfortunately turned out impractical in several ways. Second suit may have dehumanized him a bit more, making him appear ultimately more supernatural, thanks to the white lens, but like you said, the white lens may have clouded his vision to some degree, and the blue/grey color scheme just wasn't quite as stealthy as initially hoped. ect.

Then he finds the winner with the B89 suit.

It would be fascinating to explore the pre-89 stage of his career via flashbacks in The Flash or Batman Beyond. Keaton said he wanted to do something similar to Batman Begins in his third Batman movie. It would be awesome to see a young digitally de-aged Keats training like Bale did in BB. Such flashbacks would also offer a glimpse of how these early batsuits fit into the timeline.

Yeah, a "Batman Beyond" with Keats and flashbacks pre-B89, or post-BReturns, would be prime rib.

[The Joker]

It's nice to see that his cape glider, while upgraded, still retains the same basic bat-shape as the one from BR.

[eledoremassis02]

We know the Burtonverse Flash takes a returns suit and mods it to a Flash suit. The trailer shows the vault but there is only one Returns suit. We do know he had mutiple in Returns.

Does flash take the last surviving Returns suit and mess it up or is there a seperate area of the cave with spare suits and the vault are just suits that had importance?

[Silver Nemesis]

The new suit's growing on me the more I see it.