Batman’s Best Tech Ever

Batman is quite possibly one of the techiest heroes in the DC Universe – bereft of supernatural or alien powers, Bruce uses his vast wealth, intelligence, and some of the most-cutting edge technology available to him. While traditionally Batman was the architect of these gadgets, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy glossed over this and much of the kit was engineered by Lucius Fox of Wayne Enterprises. Here are some of the best gadgets of the Dark Knight movies.

The Outfit

The Batsuit has had many incarnations over the years, including tight spandex outfits and armored uniforms with stuck-on nipples. The original suit in Batman Begins is made of a Nomex biweave covered in Kevlar plating and with reinforced joints preventing damage from knives and bullets; created for soldiers, the suit had a price tag of $300,000 which is too much for the army but just right for Bruce. In the Dark Knight, a lack of maneuverability pushes him to ask for a upgrade of the suit which is a titanium-dipped tri-weave fiber armor covered in separate Kevlar plates all over a scuba suit-type material which regulates body temperature.

(http://uk.ign.com/wikis/the-dark-knight-rises/Gauntlet)

Additionally, the Batsuit is equipped with gauntlets which have jagged fins sticking out from them. Taken from his time training with Ra’s Al Ghul, the gauntlets’ fins not only saved Bruce’s life but can deflect blades, break guns and are later propelled from the gauntlet to stun and harm the Joker. Bruce’s cape has traditionally been for show more than anything else, but in Batman Begins we learn that this particular cape is made of memory cloth which becomes rigid when an electrical charge runs through it, which he controls with his gloves.

Transport

In Batman Begins, we got the Tumbler. It might have been a disappointment to fans hoping for a true Batmobile, but instead we got this ex-military project inspired by the tank-like Batmobile in Frank Miller’s seminal comic The Dark Knight Returns. Originally designed to jump over rivers to create a bridge behind, it’s a high speed armored vehicle which Batman spray paints black. In The Dark Knight, we saw the Batpod emerge like a beautiful baby from the wrecked remains of the Tumbler; with in-wheel engines which spin and rotate independently, it’s one beautiful piece of kit.

The Dark Knight Rises saw the rise of The Bat, a sort of flying Tumbler. Part helicopter and part fighter jet, it has a rotor on the bottom which allows it to take off from a stationary position and is fully pivotable. Designed for “urban pacification” by the Department of Defense, it’s perfect for city travel. And it has rocket launchers attached!

The Weaponry

As any Bat-geek will know, Batman makes a conscious decision not to use guns. He does, however, have a few items of non-lethal weaponry. The EMP Rifle is based on a real-world theory that an electromagnetic pulse can disrupt electricity, which military contractors are looking into for crowd suppression, although Batman has weaponised it and uses it to turn off lights and disable vehicles. The Grappling Gun is a much more classic Batman weapon, a gas-powered pistol which ejects a magnetic grappling hook trailing a tensile cable strong enough to support 350 pounds of weight.

(http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/if-you-are-pro-batman-you-are-anti-gun)

Since 2005’s Batman Begins there has been a renewed interest in the Caped Crusader, including a decided increase in sales for Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, casual games on www.thedarkknightslot.net and the award-winning Arkham Asylum game series. One MIT graduate student was so in awe of Batman’s weaponry that he has been working on a battery-powered rope ascender, which is capable of lifting a 250 pound person 50 feet into the air in under five seconds. It’s a potentially useful invention for firefighters and the military although the device itself weighs over 20 pounds, so not very useful right now.

Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy attempted to bring a realistic edge to the Bat gadgets, and although some fans were disappointed by the lack of classic utility belt with its many features, at least we were spared the embarrassment of a can of Bat Shark-Repellant.