The only things that are more iconic than DC Comics’ Batman are his various cool gadgets. The Batwing, Batphone, all those kooky toys from the Christian Bale-era films, and more make the series all the more indelible. Above it all, nothing’s more iconic than his venerable Batmobile. The newest version has been fully revealed before its on-screen debut, and it’s wearing real Mickey Thompson tires that are available to the public.
The latest installment in the film franchise, aptly named The Batman, stars Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, John Turturro, and Peter Sarsgaard and debuts on March 4. Promotional efforts are well underway, and Warner Brothers recently brought some of the movie props to downtown Dallas, according to NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth.
Notably, the latest Batmobile was there, and it’s one of the wildest generations yet. Twitter user arturodraws snapped some shots of the beast, and it looks amazing.
Overall, the look is throwback, as if Batman built an armored muscle car in the ‘60s or ‘70s, which is on brand for the latest film. According to Esquire, director and co-screenwriter Matt Reeves got a lot of his inspiration from ‘70s action films. Hell yes.
This thing kind of looks more Mad Max than Batman, and that’s very much a compliment. It has a lifted stance, wide bodywork, an angry face, massive flat-top fenders, wide tires with big sidewalls, the works. The cherry on top is its powertrain, which looks to be a mid-mounted GM LS V8 of some kind that’s nestled in some precision-looking tube scaffolding that makes up its chassis. I’m not sure what the drivetrain is, but it looks like there are two driveshafts coming out of a transaxle. Although, the engine is mounted longitudinally, as in, its crankshaft runs down the centerline of the car.
The wheels and tires also stick out, literally and because they looked familiar. The tires seem to be super-wide Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/R street performance tires that are common equipment for modern muscle car builds. They are available in a variety of sizes and range between roughly $250-550 each, but it’s unclear what size the Batmobile is wearing. The current spec of the original Adam West-era Batmobile also currently sits on Mickey Thompsons, so there appears to be a common theme amongst different variants. Neat indeed.
The wheels are thoroughly aggressive, as if they’re meant to be armored to protect against small arms fire and contact with evil doers’ henchmens’ rides. They look like a cross between a semi-truck wheel and something that Peter Steele of Type O Negative would’ve thrown on his iconic car.
Although, perhaps we shouldn’t get too caught up in figuring out what makes this exact prop roll forward. Just simply having the inoperable equivalent of a 1:1 scale model is cool enough. To me, the point of this, or any Batmobile, is to take a long look at it and use one’s imagination to think about what kind of cool shit lies beneath its bodywork, whether actually possible or not. As twitter user ErikJLarsen points out in quoting comic book writer Grant Morrison: Who cares, just enjoy the story!
I’m normally not crazy about Marvel and DC movies, but I’m definitely going to check this one out in theaters.
What to read next:
- Peter Nelson took his tuned Mazda 2 to the dyno. These are the results.
- Chris Rosales spent $8,000 fixing his crashed VW Golf GTI, and it was worth every penny.
- Take a few minutes to reminisce about Joe Isuzu, a truly bizarre character invented to sell cars with obvious lies.
- Tested and reviewed: Oculus VR sim racing is truly immersive, but it has its downsides.
- The new mail truck’s 8.6 MPG fuel economy figure is being taken out of context, Kevin Williams writes. And when the LLV contract is over, the old mail trucks should be converted and recycled.
- This is a big deal: Proposed REPAIR act protects small auto shops and consumers from OEM monopolies.
