For National Superhero Day, We Name the Best Batmobile
CARS.COM — Among superheroes not gifted with the power of flight like Superman, there’s a lot of transportation variation. Wonder Woman flies an invisible jet. Thor helicopters his hammer. Aquaman rides his giant seahorse, Storm. Green Lantern has his magic ring. And Spider-Man, well, rides the subway.
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Besides Tony Stark, who’s been known to drive an Audi R8 when he’s not in his flying Iron Man suit, not a lot of superheroes actually drive a car as their means of getting from one epic-battle-to-save-the-earth to the next. That’s one of the (many) things that makes Batman simply the coolest superhero on the planet — and, likewise, the Batmobile the coolest car.
Among comics, cartoons, TV shows and film, there’ve been many different iterations of the Batmobile since Batman first appeared in 1939. Those in the movies reached the widest audience, so in honor of National Superhero Day, we decided to rank the five versions of the Batmobile that have appeared in major Hollywood films.
5. Lego Batmobile
Also known as The Speedwagon, this incarnation of the Batmobile was driven by Lego Batman (who else!?) in this year’s “The Lego Batman Movie” and excited audiences at the 2017 Chicago Auto Show. It’s fantastic (made of plastic!), but you have to be made of snap-together toy pieces to drive it, so…
4. 1960s Batmobile
This version was driven by Adam West’s Batman and Burt Ward’s Robin in both the campy ’60s TV series and the 1966 movie, and is an indisputable classic. It was based on the 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car and modified to suit the needs of crime-fighting caped crusaders. As cool as this absurd, gadget-laden version is, at the end of the day it’s still just, like, a car.
3. Burton’s Batmobile
Director Tim Burton reimagined the entire visual and dramatic landscape of the Batman universe for 1989’s Batmania-inducing movie that defined the modern summer blockbuster and established comic-book superheroes as lucrative film fodder. This long, jet-fusillade-inspired vehicle driven by Michael Keaton’s interpretation of the Dark Knight Detective continues to be imitated in every subsequent Batmobile design.
2. The Tumbler
Christopher Nolan’s Christian Bale-fronted “Dark Knight” trilogy introduced an all-new concept to the Batmobile that fit with the real-world-grounded theme of his vision: If Batman really existed, what would the Batmobile be? The answer: An armored, open-wheeled military attack vehicle that never made it to production by Wayne Enterprises. After the initial shock wore off, Batman fans fell all over themselves for the Tumbler.
1. Batfleck Batmobile
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know: Blasphemy! Ben Affleck rocked as Batman but “Batman v Superman” sucked! Say what you will about the scattershot, ham-fisted Justice League-establishing faceoff film, the designers of this Batmobile got it right. As we’ve stated before, it borrows the best elements from both the Burton-mobile and the Tumbler — the two definitive Batmobiles of the past half-century — and combines them seamlessly into one equally cartoonish-yet-conceivable superhero ride.
It’s the best of both worlds, so why should we have to choose? (Feel free to let us have it on Facebook or Twitter if you zealously disagree.)
