BATMAN v SUPERMAN: Details On The "Sexy" Batmobile, Tumbler Differences, And The Batwing
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice production designer Patrick Tatopoulos talks in great detail here about the Batmobile, including how we're introduced to it in the movie, the way it differs to Christopher Nolan's Tumbler, the Batcave's link to the Justice League, and much more...
Whew, what a day for Batman v Superman news, eh? So far, we've had new images, some big Batman reveals, Justice League details, Marvel vs. DC talk, another magazine cover, and even news on where Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent call home in Dawn of Justice. Now it's time to talk about the Batmobile. Production designer Patrick Tatopoulos describes the process of bringing that vehicle back to the big screen as, "[Truly] an emotional process - it's about what feels right. I showed Zack and Zack said, 'Cool.' Sometimes it just clicks. These films are very grounded. THere will be tons of CG, but also a lot of real stuff - especially with Batman. Of course, building a car from scratch is challenging. The car drives, jumps, pretty much does everything. We got the best people."
"He is not driving a Formula 1 car, he's driving a tank that is very sexy looking," he adds. "Batman is rougher, tougher, and grungier. So everything is rough: the weapons, the suit and the car. There are machine guns mounted on the front. When you first see the Batmobile, it is being fixed. It is not - boom! - coming out of the garage brand new. It is scratched, damaged." That sounds like a very cool scene, and if anything should be a much cooler introduction for the Batmobile than the almost clichéd shot of it in action; Bruce (maybe Alfred) working on it is like something you'd see in the comics after all! It was also important to Tatopoulos to make sure this version of the vehicle differed to what we saw in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy. "Batmobiles are often designed very low to the ground, something classical. That didn't feel fully comfortable for us. I thought the Tumbler was a revolutionary design, with the suspension very high up. I wanted to combine the two vehicles. I wanted something of a motorcycle, too: big wheels, suspension, exhausts."
There's been a lot of speculation about whether or not the Batwing is in Batman v Superman as we got a glimpse of that flying vehicle in both the teaser trailer and leaked concept art. Well, the production designer confirms that we'll see it, and even reveals that the designs for this movie were thought up with what we'll see in Justice League in mind. "With The Justice League coming, it influences my designs of the Batcave, the Batmobile, the Batwing. We are creating a world for Batman - every set, every prop, is real. We have to be ready for what's next." Perhaps he's referring to the team's base of operations there? If so, fingers crossed for the satellite, eh?
About The Author:
A lifelong comic book fan who grew up on Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the '90s, Josh Wilding has been contributing to ComicBookMovie.com since 2009.
While he's also written for websites like Batman-News, HeyUGuys, and WhatCulture, Josh is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic for CBM and the site's #1 contributor with nearly two decades of experience covering film and TV news (including interviews with Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Gary Oldman, Halle Berry, Jon Bernthal, Tom Welling, and hundreds more).
Based in the UK with his wife, Josh is also an avid WWE and Formula 1 fan and writes about those passions on CBM's sister sites, TheRingReport.com and FullThrottleHQ.com. Favourite superhero? Spider-Man. Favourite pro wrestler? CM Punk. Favourite F1 driver? Max Verstappen.