Evolution of the Batmobile

The now officially released image; the new Batmobile as it will appear in his upcoming film Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. The latest Batmobile has some serious hardware, but the Batmobile wasn't always so machine heavy. Take a look at the evolution of the Batmobile through comics, TV and film...

1939: ORIGINAL RED SEDAN

Batman made his first appearances in the old Detective Comics series in the late 1930s and 1940s. In his earliest incarnation, Batman was more of a pulp magazine detective story figure. As a super sleuth with a secret aristocratic identity, Batman tooled around in a simple -- but fast! -- red sedan.

1940: BLACK AND BLUE

As Batman became a more popular character, he earned his own dedicated comic book title and artists started developing a new look for the caped crusader. The Batmobile went through several variations in this period, too, with the iconic blue-black color scheme gradually settling into place.

1944: BAT LOGO

This famous incarnation of the Batmobile -- with an early, front-mounted version of the Bat Logo -- was featured on the cover of Batman #20 (January 1944) and stayed in circulation for many years. It was eventually destroyed in a fiery crash off a cliff by Batman's eternal nemesis, The Joker.

1966: CRIME FIGHTING GETS CAMPY

The immortal Batman television series with Adam West, which debuted in 1966, took the character into a new and highly campy direction. The Batmobile was practically a co-star in the show, and many replica versions -- like the one pictured above -- now regularly tour around on the comic book convention circuit.

1986: ARMOR ADDED

Marquee comics artist/writer Frank Miller took a crack at the Batman mythology with the highly regarded four-part series The Dark Knight Returns, later complied into a single volume graphic novel. The Batmobile makes a brief but highly memorable appearance as a ginormous armored war machine.

1989: TIM BURTON'S VERSION

Director Tim Burton re-imagined the Batman myth, and the Batmobile, in his highly stylized 1989 blockbuster movie. Burton's Batmobile reflected the film's relatively bleak and impressionistic art design.

1995: BATMAN FOREVER

When director Joel Schumacher took over the Batman series, the tone of the films drifted back toward a looser and more mainstream vibe. Batman Forever (1995) introduced Val Kilmer as the new caped crusader, along with a decidedly goofier Batmobile.

2005: THE TUMBLER

Director Christopher Nolan's most recent reboot of the Batman franchise, a huge critical and commercial success, introduced a new version of the Batmobile called the Tumbler. Four fully operational versions of the vehicle were built for filming, one of which was outfitted with an actual jet engine.

2016: SERIOUSLY BAD ASS

Another image of the newest Batmobile from the set of Snyder's movie, currently filming in Detroit, Mich. That's Ben Affleck under the cowl -- he'll be squaring off against Henry Cavill as Superman.




Source: http://news.discovery.com/autos/drive/evolution-of-the-batmobile-140915.htm?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dnewsnewsletter#mkcpgn=emnws1