Batman is big business for Warner Bros. Discovery, so the introduction of a new big-screen Dark Knight for the DCU is among DC Studios co-CEOs James Gunn’s and Peter Safran’s most important plans. But what should, and what will, the new Batman look like?
Give Batman The Blues
Aesthetically, everyone has an opinion, so I may as well explain mine. It will be important for the DCU to establish its own look for Batman, to make a statement and for consistency between Batman’s appearances in his solo movies and his team-ups with Superman and other powerful heroes.
The choices need to be made with an eye toward establishing a definitive visual look for a shared-world Batman who endures beyond merely a few planned films. And the plan needs to be stable no matter what happens with buyouts or evolving decisions about who to cast and how “new” versus “sort of new” or “continuing” the DCU Batman winds up being relative to other existing films.
For starters, I think the color of the DCU Batsuit should take certain inspiration from the 1960s TV series and go with dark midnight and mid-gray (so a bit darker gray than Adam West wore in the Batman TV show).
Those colors look good on camera even in brighter surroundings for team-ups, while looking appropriate and cool in darker settings as well. And surprising as it might seem, they are the best colors for Batman to wear in crime-fighting at night. Allow me to explain, for those who need a “reason” for it…
Midnight blue and gray work better for camouflage in an oft-overcast and rainy city like Gotham, because black absorbs light and creates a silhouette while blue reflects ambient light in the environment while the gray blends in with sky, concrete, and streets. It should include trunks because they help break up the color fields on the body and contain added pads/armor for falling and fighting.
I favor a yellow oval around the bat-emblem on his chest, to attract gunfire where he’s got the most armor as an explanation if you want one. His belt should be yellow purely for the aesthetics of it, but dark gray is fine. The belt and trunks work as a single piece, with all of his gadgets in the belt while the trunks bring the added armor. See? You can have it for the fun, and if you need explanations then here ya go, realism fans.
It also makes perfect sense that, in a world where superhumans exist, Batman would want to create an impression and myth that he might have powers, that he is a scary creature of some sort, so he might design his costume to disguise the armor underneath, for a reason to use a cloth-looking suit instead of armor.
For some examples of what I’m talking about, costume and sculpture designer Shawn Reeves of ReevzFX has done fantastic work on some original Batman concept suits that would look spot-on in a DCU setting, comic faithful and even with trunks and the yellow oval on the chest. There’s one that looks like a cross between the Batman v Superman costume and The Dark Knight costume, and it looks lovely.
Here is a version with the trunks that would translate perfectly to the big screen…
There’s another he made for indie production company Bat In The Sun’s fan film Dying Is Easy that mixes aesthetics for an alternate but equally great costume design that would work especially well in a horror-themed Batman franchise.
Those designs all have hints of inspiration from some of the best sources for film adaptation, including artist extraordinaire Lee Bermejo’s fabulous bat-suit design in comics like Lex Luthor: Man of Steel, the also-brilliant artist Gary Frank’s design for the suit in Batman: Earth One, as well as those influences from Batman v Superman and The Dark Knight. And again, all of these would also ideally be dark midnight blue and gray, looking black in certain lighting and just flashes of deep blue and ambient lights.
The Batman costume from the indie production Dying Is Easy is particularly notable for nods to the 1989 Batman movie and one other crucial comic book inspiration – Neal Adams’ iconic cover of “Batman” issue #227 from 1970, which itself was heavily inspired by (in fact, a mandated homage to) “Detective Comics” issue #31.
That comic book and its cover are important, because it’s a Batman horror story specifically mentioned by James Gunn as an influence on his ideas for Batman with a supernatural horror.
Another good costume design that would work excellent in the DCU and with Pattinson in the cowl is the design used for one of Bruce Wayne’s extra displayed Batman costumes in the movie The Flash. Warner Bros. released the image below, depicting the collection of Batman costumes…
The costume to the far-lefthand side of this image is too dark to see clearly here, but it appeared on display at various events including comic conventions where it was photographed, revealing an excellent gray and black Batman costume with trunks, short gloves, and inspired by the earliest 1940 Batman because it also includes shoulder holsters with guns and a utility belt full of ammo. The blue-on-gray bat-suit in the shot gets most of the attention from fans, but the first bat-suit from that Batman’s career is the best in my opinion, and works as a terrific example of how to depict a comics-accurate costume in the new DCU. Minus the guns, of course.
Hot Toys posted an image of their upcoming line of collectable figures from The Flash, and it shows the batsuits more clearly. The same one on the far-lefthand side, with a few modifications, is a great inspiration for a DCU Batman…
These are costumes Batman could wear with armor and in even “grounded” stories as well as more fantastical ones. With the DCU signaling a possible supernatural horror tone to its new Batman, the combination of themes and tone work well with this approach, favoring the colors being either ink-black and gray, or more preferably dark midnight blue and gray.
This even works if DC Studios decides to merge the DCU and The Batman, or go for a soft-merge that keeps precise continuity details vague, or just by having Robert Pattinson play both Batmen as alternate multiverse versions of Bruce Wayne. I dove into this in great detail in a companion article, so be sure to read that for all of the points about how it could be the answer that makes everyone happiest and fits perfectly into the goal of shoring up DCU’s plans going into any buyout in the next year.
One of the few ways I might be disappointed is if a DCU Batman winds up in some type of cloth costume design (i.e. not overtly armored like The Dark Knight Trilogy and The Batman) but still doesn’t get trunks. At the point you’re making a whole new Batman, and he’s wearing a cloth suit, and you’ve got other superheroes in trunks, then I have become a trunks enthusiast for the aesthetics and uniqueness and fact it has valid “explanations” for a grounded Batman in a world where superhuman heroes exist and wear trunks with their costumes.
That said, there are lots of ways for Batman to dress and most of the movies so far have tended toward one of three general designs, so there’s lots more room to experiment and decades of source material to pull from. If trunks are missing, I won’t be that disappointed. If there’s a mix of cloth suit and armor, I won’t be that disappointed. Chances are, it’ll look good or great. But I’ll still hope some day we get a suit in the realm of what I’m talking about here.
Batman’s next big-screen iteration can attempt something that hasn’t been done before, while remaining true to Batman’s cinematic and comic book legacy as well as being consistent with the new DCU’s aesthetics and needs. I think I’ve laid out some examples that fit well into those needs and bring aspects so far missing from the films, but there are plenty more options and I’m sure they will consider all of the best ones before making a final choice. In the meantime, these ideas fit nicely as placeholders no matter what form of introduction, and potential crossover or not, transpires for Batman and the DCU.