List of objects used in the Batman film series

The follwing is an overview of the various equipment used by Batman and his allies in the live-action Batman films since 1989.

Tim Burton film series (1989-1992)

Batarang

The Batarang used in Batman was a foldable metal bat attached to a line and was used to ensnare an enemy's legs and manually drag them back. Batman Returns also featured a computerized version that could be programmed to fly after specific targets.

Bat-grenades

Bat-grenades were designed for but ultimately, not shown in the 1989 live-action Batman film. With this bomb, following a time run off, an explosive with enormous explosive yield is set free. In the same movie however, Batman was seen using smoke grenades.

For director Tim Burton's second Batman film, Batman Returns (1992), the Caped Crusader had in his arsenal, a collection of special bat-"test tubes." These little tubes were hidden in the utility belt, and contained several mixtures of chemicals. They had several effects when thrown separately or mixed together. The blue was napalm, the red was an explosive and the green was knockout gas.

Bat-Signal

In Tim Burton's 1989 film Batman, Batman gives the signal to the police as a gift so that they can summon him when he is needed, after he defeats The Joker.

In Burton's 1992 sequel Batman Returns, Batman has miniature Bat-Signals stationed up around Wayne Manor as a beacon to call him. The main signal is only used when Commissioner Gordon needs Batman's help when the Red Triangle Circus Gang attack Max Shreck during Christmas.

Grappling gun

The grapple gun from the 1989 film was a spring action, speargun-like device that shot a grappling hook and, when needed, paralyzing gas.

The grapple gun from Batman Returns from Batman Returns was based on the first model from the 1989 Batman film. It was revised around the handle. Now, it had more chrome parts. The launcher was now at the lower part, but on the upper surface and it was operated with the thumb.

Vehicles

Batboat

A darker version was used in Batman Returns as The Bat Skiboat. Batman uses the vehicle near the climax of the film to travel through Gotham's sewer system towards the Penguin's lair.

Batmobile

Tim Burton's live-action films Batman and Batman Returns presented a different version of the Batmobile. It reflected the environment of Burton's Art Deco Gotham City. It was long, low and sleek, and was built on a Chevy Impala chassis.

Reputedly, every gadget seen on the Batmobile used in these films was fully functional, including the gas turbine powering the vehicle, which consumed fuel at such a high rate that there was only enough fuel capacity to run it for the approximately fifteen seconds of the longest shot in which the viewer can see it operating. Spherical bombs could be deployed from its sides. An AfterBurner was housed in the back. Two Browning machine guns were hidden behind flaps in each fender. Its Grappling hook, once hooked on a structure, serves as an anchor to allow the batmobile to make an extremely sharp turn at high speed that its pursuers typically cannot duplicate. It had superhydraulics for course changes, and a batdisc ejector (side-mounted) that could fire precisely 15 Batdiscs in the 1-second pulse. Other gadgets included chassis-mounted shinbreakers, oil slick dispensers and smoke emitters. Inside, the two-seat cockpit featured aircraft-like instrumentation, a passengers' side monitor, self-diagnostics system, CD recorder, and voice-command recognition system. In Batman Returns it is shown to have a secondary mode referred to as the "Batmissile", where the wheels would retract inward and the sides of the vehicle would break off, converting the car into a thin bullet train-like form capable of squeezing through tight alleyways. Although this secondary mode would require the car to be reassembled and significantly repaired.

The Batmobile's shields are made up of ceramic fractal armor panels. They explode outward when struck by projectiles, deflecting injurious force away from the car and its occupants. If Batman has to exit the Batmobile for an extended period of time, he can, through a voice command, (specifically, the phrase "shields") activate the Batmobile's shielding system. This prevents people from tampering with the car while it is left unattended. Bulletproof and fireproof steel plates envelop the body and cockpit entirely. While this armor is in place, the vehicle cannot be driven. In Batman the shields were not fully functioning. In reality, a life-size model was built and the animation was provided by stop motion technology. In Batman Returns, the shields had the same characteristics. However, the design was slimmer and the special effects were provided by computer-generated imagery. In shield mode, a small but powerful bomb can be deployed.

Batwing

The Batwing appears in the Batman and Batman Forever movies, used to combat the Joker and the Riddler, respectively. The original Batwing is destroyed towards the end of the first film and has been rebuilt and upgraded by the events of Forever. The Batwing in the latter actually has an ejection pod which also doubles as a mini sub. Both models of the plane are roughly bat-shaped.

Joel Schumacher film series (1995-1997)

Batcomputer

In the 1997 film Batman & Robin, Alfred programs his brain algorithms into the Batcomputer and CREATES a virtual simulation of himself. His niece, Barbara, encounters the simulation while searching the Batcave. Despite the power of the Batcomputer, the animation is jittery and the speech stuttering, which makes Virtual Alfred resemble Max Headroom.

Bat-grenades

A variation of the Bat-grenandes or Bat-bomb appeared in the 1997 live-action film Batman & Robin. These bat-shaped portable explosives could either be thrown or attached with a magnet.

Bat-Signal

In Joel Schumacher's 1995 film Batman Forever, the criminal psychologist Dr. Chase Meridian uses the Bat-Signal to call Batman, in order to seduce him. Batman is slightly Peeved at her usage of the Bat-Signal as a mere "beeper". A music video for "Kiss from a Rose", also from the film, features singer Seal performing the song while standing near the Bat-Signal. Also in Batman Forever, the Riddler alters the Bat-Signal by projecting a question mark into the sky with the first symbol forming the dot at the base. Similarly, in Batman: Dark Victory, after brokering a tentative alliance with Batman, the Riddler changes the signal, projecting a question mark into the sky in order to let Batman know that he has an answer for him.

In the Schumacher's 1997 film Batman & Robin, Poison Ivy alters the Bat-Signal by changing it to a "Robin-Signal" to lure Robin into a trap.

Grappling gun

The look of the grapple gun changed dramatically for Batman Forever, to fit with the new Batman (Joel Schumacher directed instead of Tim Burton, and Val Kilmer was the star instead of Michael Keaton). Now, it was more powerful and could cut through hard steel and rock, as seen in the opening bank sequence.

The grapple gun from Batman & Robin was very different from the one from Batman Forever. It can be attached on Batman's glove or the utility belt. The 90 m rope it launches can carry as much as 400 kg.

Vehicles

Batboat

A second Batboat appears in the film Batman Forever, piloted by Robin, and is quickly destroyed by The Riddler and Two-Face. In the same film, a version of the Batwing is shown to have a cockpit that can transform into a submersible vehicle should the air vehicle be shot down. The Batboat (a jet-powered cigarette boat) from Batman Forever fit within the film's H. R. Giger-inspired biomechanical theme.

Batblade

The Batblade is the name of a specialized motorcycle used by Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone) in the 1997 film Batman & Robin. This vehicle can function under the most extreme weather conditions.

The Batblade was built on the body of a drag racer: the rear tire comes not from a motorcycle, but from a car. Originally the equipment for fast pursuits was conceived, and with the help of the special effects it functions also on smooth underground and under most extreme weather conditions.

Batmobile

Batman Forever

When the Batman films were handed over to director Joel Schumacher from Tim Burton, the design for the Batmobile became increasingly fanciful. Decorative lighting was added to the vehicle's rims, sides and front edge, and the wing-shaped fins reached further into the air. New abilities included a grappling hook allowing the Batmobile to drive up walls, as well as the speed to perform large jumps from surface to surface during chases across Gotham City's elevated freeways and gigantic statues.

The Batman Forever Batmobile's ability to drive up walls was displayed as Batman eludes a dead-end provided by Two-Face and his henchmen. Later in the film, [...] Grayson takes the Batmobile for a joy ride without Batman's permission or awareness. Ultimately, it was destroyed when the Riddler deposited a sack full of explosives in the cockpit. Batman Forever is also notable for the phrase uttered by Batman to Dr. Chase Meridian "It's the car, right? Chicks love the car."

The Batman Forever Batmobile sought to accentuate its intricate lines. To do this, the filmmakers equipped it with engine panels, wheels, and undercarriage were indirectly lit so that they appeared to glow blue. The Batman Forever car also had a split cockpit canopy, separate fenders, and jet exhaust. The roof fin could be opened into a "V" shape for a more contemporary look, though the only time this was shown is during the scene when [...] Grayson is taking the car out for a joyride through the city. The wheels were made to keep the bat emblems upright when the wheels are turning. The bat-emblem hubcaps was a counter-rotating gear that transferred into a stationary point. The two-seat cockpit featured a rear-view monitor, system diagnostics display, and custom gauge cluster. H. R. Giger was chosen to design the Batmobile in the very early stages of production. He left due to creative differences. His designs are on his official website in illustrated and 3D Graphic Art form. There were two primary avoidance/defense features on the Batman Forever version. First, it had the ability to lock all four wheels perpendicular to its centerline, to allow for quick sideways movement. Second, for more dire circumstances, the Batmobile could reroute the jet exhaust to under its front end and launch grappling cables at overhead anchors. With the nose up and the lines in place, the car could climb sheer vertical surfaces like building walls as if it were driving on flat ground.

Batman & Robin

In Batman & Robin as Batman and Robin were in pursuit, Mr. Freeze shoots the underside of the car for several seconds with his freeze-gun, before the car crash-lands. However, in the next scene in the Batcave, the Batmobile is sitting back on its pedestal appearing to be in perfect condition.

The second Schumacher era Batmobile (as seen in the 1997 film Batman & Robin) featured neither a passenger seat nor a canopy. Like the Batman Forever car, this Batmobile (which was designed by Harald Belker) featured light-up wheels and engine panels. The displays were much more involved with this car, however, with red, orange, yellow, and blue lights, as well as special pulsating lights in the counterrotating turbine intake. The nozzles were canted away from the centerline of the car slightly, so the final effect was that the six exhausts made a "V" pattern to keep the car pointed straight ahead. A bat mask was incorporated in the nose of the car, though the sculpted lines made it somewhat difficult to make out at first. The fins were unmistakable, though, and remain as the largest set ever built into a real-world Batmobile. On the Batman & Robin version the arsenal of weaponry and gadgets is controlled by an onboard voice-activated computer which surrounds the single-seat cockpit. From behind the wheel, the driver has access to a multifunctioning key command response system which delivers immediate weapon activation during attack and defensive procedures. The Batman & Robin Batmobile was equipped with dual-mount, subcarriage rocket launchers, front and rear grappling hooks, multipoint infrared and laser scan tracking units, anterior/posterior wheel-based axle bombs, catapult ejection seat, and disguised central carriage, which detaches to become an emergency road vehicle. The single-seat cockpit featured a two-way videoconferencing screen, radar unit, and Redbird communication switch.

The design of the Batmobiles of the Schumacher films have garnered criticism for allegedly resembling giant phalli.

Batwing

The Batwing appears in the Batman and Batman Forever movies, used to combat the Joker and the Riddler, respectively. The original Batwing is destroyed towards the end of the first film and has been rebuilt and upgraded by the events of Forever. The Batwing in the latter actually has an ejection pod which also doubles as a mini sub. Both models of the plane are roughly bat-shaped.

Redbird

In the 1997 live-action film Batman & Robin, the Redbird was a motorcycle instead of an automobile.

As with the Batmobile, this particular Redbird was a ground-up build, utilizing fiberglass and carbon fiber. The company TFX developed the Redbird on a Honda off-road motorcycle.

The Redbird has two drive nozzles, which allows the vehicle to rise. This is dependent on the speed when taking off, making the Redbird airborn for 20 seconds or longer. There's a central computer on the tank that supplies an LCD announcement containing additional information for the driver. Additionally, the Redbird has small burls to the tire, which can be driven out very fast, in order to increase the road grip. Also, it features a grappling hook, which is attached in the front fender over the tire.

In the film, Batman has an override program capable of controlling the Redbird from the Batmobile. He uses it in order to shut the Redbird down when Robin tries to make a life-threatening jump between buildings.

Christopher Nolan film series (2005-)

Batarang

The 2005 film Batman Begins showed them as a simple bat-shaped shuriken, used mainly for distraction rather than as weapons, fitting in with that film's depiction of Batman's ninja training.

While the The Dark Knight uses the batarang in its promotional posters, it is not thrown in the film. As part of Lucius Fox's improvements on the Batsuit, he adds blades on the suit that shoot out of Batman's arm, which are similar to the batarang. To gain leverage over his fight with the Joker, Batman shoots these blades at him, further disfiguring his already scarred face. His true batarangs are only seen once during the film; when Bruce Wayne puts away his Batsuit after deciding to turn himself in to the police, he takes a minute to pick up and stare at one of his batarangs, and then proceeds to put it away with the rest of his gear.

Bat-grenades

Christopher Nolan's film The Dark Knight (2008) had Batman using remote explosive devices that appear to be designed primarily for creating diversions and for making holes to escape or enter from. Fired from a device similar in functionality to a sniper rifle (and which has a fantastically long range), the small and barely-noticeable explosives stick to surfaces by means of a gummy adhesive applied to them. They remain on the surface until detonated, and the force of the explosion is potent enough to destroy concrete pillars. A pneumatic mangling device once held on his hand, would give a perception of unlimited force which would allow Batman to bend a barrel of a rifle with ease.

Batcomputer

A mainframe on Batman's bunker safehouse, which he uses to identify criminals of their features and fingerprints and hacking other computer systems. It was presumably one of the items from Wayne Enterprises' Applied Science Division, along with the rest of The Dark Knight's gadgets. Another mainframe from Wayne Enterprises' Research and Development Facility, where Batman turned the computer into a device that can turn every phone and other communication equipment in Gotham into a microphone/high-frequency generator-receiver when activated. With half of Gotham generating sonar, the computer can image the entire city. Following the Joker's defeat, Lucius Fox typed his name, the self-destruct code for the technology.

Bat-Signal

In the 2005 film Batman Begins, Batman initially 'improvises' a Bat-Signal by draping crime boss Carmine Falcone over a spotlight at the docks after defeating him, his shredded and spread-out coat making the light look like a bat. At the conclusion of the movie, then-Lieutenant Gordon creates the actual Bat-Signal to call Batman to the roof for a talk, although he jokingly comments that he only uses it because they couldn't find any mob bosses to strap to it.

In the 2008 sequel The Dark Knight, as in Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Gordon uses the Bat-Signal to remind Gotham of Batman's presence. The signal proves to be very effective, with [...] dealers and criminals becoming apprehensive at its very appearance. At the end of the film, after reluctantly agreeing to let Batman take the blame for the murders committed by Harvey Dent in order to preserve Dent's image as Gotham's hero, Gordon hesitantly destroys the signal using an axe in front of various members of the police force and the press.

Grappling gun

The grapple gun from Batman Begins was propelled with compressed air works with a magnetic grappling hook. The thin climbing cable was tested on a load-carrying capacity of .

Vehicles

Batpod

The Batcycle for the 2008 superhero film The Dark Knight (directed by Christopher Nolan) is called the Batpod and its mock-up was done by Nolan and later designed by Nathan Crowley, who designed the Tumbler for Batman Begins (2005). The bike has 20" front and rear tires (the Tumbler's front wheels), and is powered by a high-performance, water-cooled, single-cylinder engine - geared toward the lower end for faster acceleration and with no exhaust pipes. The exhaust is routed through the hollow steel/aluminum/magnesium tubing used for the frame of the bike. The Batpod is steered by the shoulders instead of hands, and the rider's arms are protected by shields. The two foot pegs are set 3 1/2 feet apart on either side of the tank, which the rider lies on, belly down. The sound effects for the Batpod came, in part, from the sound of the Tesla Roadster's electric motor.

The Batpod ejects out of the Tumbler's front end, making the Tumbler's front wheels both of the Batpod's. Because the Tumbler is ordered to self-destruct, the Batpod allows Batman to continue his pursuit. For the film, the bike is armed with grappling hooks, cannons, and machine guns. Six models were constructed for the film's production to anticipate some of them crashing. Square-Enix also contributed to the design.

One action sequence in the film shows the wheels rolling against their normal axes, seemingly for added stability in sharp turns or other maneuvers. This also allows for instant changes in direction - if the driver approaches a wall, the Batpod's central frame will rotate to keep the driver upright.

Batmobile (The Tumbler)

The Batmobile depicted in the Christopher Nolan directed films Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008) owes more to the tank-like vehicle from Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and has a much more 'workhorse' appearance than the sleek automobiles seen in previous incarnations. The vehicle does not have a front axle, a design that was influenced by the spinners featured in Director Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. The film's production designer described the machine as a cross between a Lamborghini and a Tank. It is said to resemble a crouching bat, but in some ways resembles the F-117 Nighthawk.

In the 2005 movie, Bruce Wayne modifies a prototype military vehicle called "the Tumbler" that was designed as a bridging vehicle for the military. In the Nolan films the vehicle is never referred to as the "Batmobile". Six vehicles were built for the production of the film. Two full-sized, driving versions were used in exterior shots. One full-sized model with hydraulic enhancements was used in jump sequences. One full-sized, functional version carried propane tanks to fuel the rocket blast out of the rear nozzle. A radio-controlled, 1/3-scale electric model also performed stunts in the film (e.g., the roof-top chase sequence). These scenes were filmed over 9 weeks, on a massive set built on a stage at Shepperton Studios.

The Batmobile returns in The Dark Knight, and appears twice in the movie: when Batman captures the Scarecrow and the fake Batmen in the car park, and in the chase where it is damaged beyond repair by a chain 'tumbling' reaction, initiated by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by The Joker; Batman ejects from the Batmobile in the Batpod (a motorcycle formed by the front wheels and struts of the Batmobile). Once ejected, Batman programs the Batmobile to self-destruct.

The Batman Begins Batmobile has a pair of autocannons mounted in the nose of the car between the front wheels. In "Attack" mode, the driver's seat moves to the center of the car, and the driver is repositioned to lay face-down with his head in the center section between the front wheels. This serves two main purposes: first, it provides more substantial protection with the driver shielded by multiple layers of armor plating. Second, the prone position reduces the risk of injury a driver faces when making extreme driving maneuvers. Other devices included:

• Rear flaps for brake
• Front autocannons
• Rocket launcher
• Landing hook to Sprung landing stabilization
• Integrated fire-extinguishing system
• Integrated safety connection to gasoline control
• Jet engine on back of car for quick boosts/rampless jumps
• Stealth mode, which turns off the car's lights and reduces the engine sound enormously, making the car very hard to find in dark places
• Caltrops are deployed from the rear of the vehicle. Batman uses this to immobilize a police vehicle following him.
• Front of car is heavily armored, so the car can crash into and destroy objects, and also protects the driver (Batman) while in the prone driving position/"Attack" mode
• Both front wheels can eject when the vehicle is damaged to form the Batpod, a bat-cycle like vehicle (the rest self-destructs).