The Art of The Batman

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The last of the Batman signature trifecta is the Batcave. And while we might typically imagine a high-tech stronghold. Reeves’ The Batmantakes us in a different direction. It was the little tidbits that I loved - like the inspiration of Stephen King’s Christine on the Batmobile, or the specific comics that informed this incarnation of Batman,” Field adds. “Having not seen Colin Farrell’s transformation into the Penguin in person, I found it particularly fascinating to learn more about the choices and physical process behind that.” Alongside this wealth of information, we’ve now been given a closer look at 2022’s Batsuit, alongside some insights into its creation from The Art of The Batman. Comic book writer and editorDennis O’Neilmemorably compared Gotham City to “Manhattan below 14th Street at eleven minutes past midnight on the coldest night in November,” which has made it a favorite inspiration for dieselpunk creators. Gotham’s influence can be seen in everything from the Aurora Noir of Tim Razumovsky to the world of Metropius to the art of Benjamin Carre and Thomas Pringle. Schumacher’s production designer, Barbara Ling, drew inspiration from 1930s Manhattan and the Neo-Tokyo of the 1988 anime Akira. She kept what she called the larger-than-life “World’s Fair proportions” so as to “not lose Gotham’s sensibility of overbearingness burdened by crooks.” Gotham in Batman Batman Forever concept art Batman Forever concept art Gotham in Batman Forever

The Batman stars Robert Pattinson as the titular Dark Knight, Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Paul Dano as Riddler, Jeffrey Wright as GCPD’s James Gordon, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard as Gotham D.A. Gil Colson, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, and Colin Farrell as Oswald Cobblepot/ Penguin. It also features Barry Keoghan, Jayme Lawson, Alex Ferns, and twins Max and Charlie Carver. Over the years, Batman has taken many shapes. He’s starred in comics, leapt onto the silver screen, taken on camp, drama, and even appeared in musicals. But despite his ever-changing form, three iconic Batmanfixtures have emerged over time: Batman’s Batsuit, Batmobile, and Batcave. And so, when a new Batman emerges from the darkness, as Robert Pattinson’s has in 2022, the first questions we have to ask revolve around these three Batobjects. Warner Bros. s The Batman,directed by Matt Reeves, brought us a new flavor of the Dark Knight. One that’s less concerned with Batman’s origins and more concerned with his mental state. The Batman isa movie that revives the Caped Crusader’s detective origins but brings with it a starker vulnerability than ever before. And still. This is Batman. And all Batmans must have some iconic things in common. So let’s meet The Batman’sincarnation of the Batsuit, Batmobile, and Batcave. The Batman’s Batsuit Warner Bros.

A Different Kind of Batman

Much like 2022’s Batsuit, The Batman’s Batmobile directly reflects this Batman’s personality. A little DIY, a little grimy, a lot of parts that fit together into something that works, but not gracefully. The Batman’sDIY Batmobile Warner Bros. Jaime Jones, who previously worked on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as well as Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi(2017),did the concept art of Gotham for Reeves’ movie. In Batman v Superman In The Batman The Batman concept art The Batman concept art In the series From the makeshift gear and holes in his cape to the foreboding darkness of Gotham, the above art is indicative of the vibe Reeves' has masterfully attached to The Batman, something overtly evident in promotional material alone. The image of Batman looming over his corrupt city is an iconic one. And The Batman is poised to sear a plethora of soon-to-be iconic images into the brains of audiences. The film's costume design, action sequences, and cinematography lend credence to the idea that The Batman will/could feel like a comic book panel come to life. When a killer targets Gotham’s elite with a series of sadistic machinations, a trail of cryptic clues sends the World’s Greatest Detective on an investigation into the underworld, where he encounters such characters as Selina Kyle/aka Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz), Oswald Cobblepot/aka the Penguin (Colin Farrell), Carmine Falcone (John Turturro), and Edward Nashton/aka the Riddler (Paul Dano). As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator’s plans becomes clear, Batman must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit, and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued Gotham City.

Brown’s sketches shown an evolution from a stylized version of Manhattan into three closely-knit main islands with several smaller ones surrounding it. His design debuted in the 1999 story “Claim Jumping” and has been respected by subsequent stories and films. The only change Christopher Nolan’s made was adding The Narrows between Midtown and Downtown islands. Taken from the "Art of" book that's just been released, we get a closer look at the Batsuit donned by Robert Pattinson in the movie, along with the wingsuit his Bruce Wayne used to fly through Gotham City's imposing skyline. As we saw in the movie, this Dark Knight didn't have the smoothest of landings - a reminder that the vigilante is still in a very early stage of his vigilante career. One piece of artwork actually leans a little more heavily into the comic books with that classic shot of Batman using his cape to swoop through his home. Adam Luchies is a Movies and TV News Writer for Collider. He began writing for Collider in November 2021. Adam graduated from Grand Valley State University with a Bachelors Degree in Multimedia Journalism in 2020.

To bring Gotham to the silver screen for Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), Production Designer Anton Furst created what he described as “a city run by crime, with a riot of architectural styles.”

Players can explore Gotham in the 2015 video game Batman: Arkham Knight, in which Scarecrow and a mysteriousArkham Knight plot to unite all of Gotham’s criminals in a battle against Batman. The game features several neighborhoods spread over three islands, including a modern office district, Chinatown and a run-down harbor. For Field, both director Matt Reeves and producer Dylan Clark were brilliant collaborators, and he found them very generous in talking him through their experiences of making the film with honesty and passion. In a conversation with Esquire ,Reeves adds to this notion as he discusses Batman’s (rather emo) eyeliner. He offers, “You can’t wear a cowl and not wear that. All of the Batmen wear that…I just loved the idea of taking off [the mask], and under that, there’s the sweating and the dripping and the whole theatricality of becoming this character.”making Pattinson;s suit a danger to himself as was demonstrated in the film. The use of these gadgets call into question why an engineering “genius” would use these devices. Of course the “riddling” aspect of The Riddler was retained in The Batman, giving Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne a dark mystery to solve. That mystery indeed unfolded in creepy fashion as The Riddler went around Gotham murdering the powerful in ways intended to send messages to Batman. Undoubtedly the creepiest of The Riddler’s kills saw him murdering commissioner Pete Savage by affixing a trap to his head that forced rats to burrow their way into the victim’s face and eat him alive. This particular killing method in fact seemed to have more in common with Saw villain Jigsaw than The Riddler’s primary inspiration, the Zodiac. Whereas other Batman iterations have been fully outfitted with the sleekest of Batsuits and the most evolved gadgets, The Batman’sBatsuit reflects that we are meeting a different kind of Bruce Wayne. Though 2022’s The Batmanis not an origin story, Bruce is still early into his crime-fighting career. And he really does not have it all together yet. 2022’s Batsuit Reveals Batman’s Inner State Warner Bros. Two years of stalking the streets as the Batman (Robert Pattinson), striking fear into the hearts of criminals, has led Bruce Wayne deep into the shadows of Gotham City. With only a few trusted allies — Alfred Pennyworth (Andy Serkis), Lt. James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) — amongst the city’s corrupt network of officials and high-profile figures, the lone vigilante has established himself as the sole embodiment of vengeance amongst his fellow citizens. Eric Gagnon did the concept art for the previous game in the series, Batman: Arkham Origins (2013). Map

Directed by Matt Reeves, The Batmanstars Robert Pattinson as the titular hero, Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler, Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, John Turturro as Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard as Gil Colson, Jayme Lawson as Bella Reál, with Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, and Colin Farrell as the Penguin. Reeves again shares, “The Nolan films established the Batmobile as a tank, which was a brilliant idea… But I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if this guy is a loner and a gearhead and fashioning these things by himself, taking parts of other cars and kit cars? So it’s recognizable as a car this time. But it’s like a muscle car. One that he’s made himself.” Designer James Chinlund shares, “The design process was like finding a way of letting Bruce reveal his character and the intimidation factor of recognizing like ‘Oh, my God. That’s Batman!”—but at the same time keeping it under wraps low-key. Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Warner Bros.Matt Reeves filmed The Batman (2022) in Glasgow, Liverpool and London, although plate shots of Chicago and New York were also used. “I wanted it to feel like an American city you’d never been to,” the director told CBR.