Batmobile
Back to Objects Main > Batmobile
Real Identity: Not Applicable
Appearances: Terror on Dinosaur Island!, Evil Under the Sea!, Invasion of the Secret Santas!, Day of the Dark Knight!, Enter the Outsiders!, The Fall of the Blue Beetle!, Journey to the Center of the Bat!, Return of the Fearsome Fangs!, Deep Cover for Batman!, Game Over for Owlman!, Night of the Huntress!, Menace of the Conqueror Caveman!, The Color of Revenge!, Legends of the Dark Knight!, Hail the Tornado Tyrant!, The Last Bat on Earth!, When OMAC Attacks!, The Fate of Equinox!, Death Race to Oblivion!, Revenge of the Reach!, Aquaman's Outrageous Adventure!, The Golden Age of Justice!, Sidekicks Assemble!, Clash of the Metal Men!, A Bat Divided!, The Super-Batman of Planet X!, The Power of Shazam!, Chill of the Night!, Gorillas in Our Midst!, The Siege of Starro! Part One, Part Two, Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster!, The Mask of Matches Malone!, Menace of the Madniks!, Emperor Joker!, The Criss Cross Conspiracy!, Plague of the Prototypes!, The Knights of Tomorrow!, Bat-Mite Presents: Batman's Strangest Cases! (Bat-Manga Universe), The Malicious Mr. Mind!, Joker: The Vile and The Villainous!, Shadow of the Bat!, Night of the Batmen!, Scorn of the Star Sapphire!, Battle of the Superheroes!, Sword of the Atom!, Triumvirate of Terror!, Bold Beginnings!, Powerless!, Four Star Spectacular! (Double Jeopardy!), and Mitefall!
Powers/Skills: Transportation, Transformation, and Various Offensive Capabilities
Voiced By: Not Applicable
The Batmobile is Batman's primary mode of transportation. It was completely modified and armed with advanced technology, most from Wayne Tech prototypes. Batman has gone through several Batmobiles over his career, eight total so far. The first Batmobile was a red 1936 Cord with a small bat hood ornament. The second was a 1940's silver Roadster. The third was a black 1944 Studebaker with fender skirts on all four corners, had no bumpers, and sported a pair of dramatic red stripes at the trim and belt lines on the car. It sported the scalloped vertical tailfin and a Bat-Mask ornament protecting the front grill. Eventually, Batman decided to use this version as his back up Batmobile in the present.
The fourth was a 50's Studebaker/Chrysler Imperial blend with Bat Signal projector on the canopy, the fifth was a 60's Futura with a twin bubble windshield, the sixth was a 70's charged sports car Batmobile, and the seventh was a 80's gunmetal-finish tank. The Studebaker-Imperial blend was utilized when Robin was in his pre-teen years. It had the giant tailfin, twin rocket tubes housed in the fenders that gave short bursts of tremendous speed for short distances, could accelerate to 100 miles in 100 feet, housed a compact but complete traveling laboratory beind the front seats, dashboard television screens, navigational radar, and searchlight. The smaller and sportier Futura model was adopted for its greater maneuverability. It was equipped with a hot-line to Gotham City Police Headquarters, a dashboard button for opening the concealed Batcave entrance, and more anti-theft devices.
The sixth Batmobile was an interesting deviation in design. It was sleek yet the most generic. Where it lacked in appearance, it made up in power with a turbo charged system. Currently, the latest Batmobile is a 6-speed manual turbo-charged 0-60 in 2.4 seconds, armor plated, and ultra versatile wonder. The wheels are gel-filled Kevlar-reinforced, puncture proof, flame resistant, and are equipped for all-weather terrain. It's design borrows from the Studebaker but features twin bubble domes. As a safeguard, the Batmobile has a voice authorization requirement. However, parallel versions of Batman and those inhabiting Batman's body can easily bypass it. The engine and several special features are from a special relationship with Ferris Aircraft. So far, the company has been able to generate speeds up to Mach 3.5 without causing burnout for the Batmobile. An ultrachute prototype is currently being tested.
During high-speed chases, the Batmobile is armed in the rear and front. The rear can project lubricant slicks, smoke-screens, and tire-piercing caltrops. Besides floodlights and infrared camcorders, the front is equipped with grapnels, chain-barrier cutters, ray guns, and Batarangs. When Batman is incapacitated, the Batmobile can be locked down in a five tier defense system. If a proximity alert is triggered, a surface electrification is activated. If that fails, gas is released. After that, hypersonic blasts then super adhesive glue. As a measure of last resort, the Batmobile has a self-destruct mechanism. This is done by calibrating the engine's sub-atomic drive.
An astonishing feature of the Batmobile is its ability to transform into other vehicles such as the Batjet, Batboat, and Batsub. This feature definitely comes in handy when Batman deals with emerging situations. Even though Batman is able to methodically take any action into account, there are times that necessitate his abandonment of the Batmobile. In order to save Aquaman's life, the Batsub was blown up by Black Manta's missiles. On another occassion, Gorilla Grodd used his Mental Manipulation to force the destruction of the Batjet. However, Batman's alter-ego Bruce Wayne has vast financial resources. In record time, a new Batmobile is ready for use.
Built into the interior frame of the Batmobile cockpit, Batman can eject from the Batmobile while riding the Bat-Cycle. The Bat-Cycle has its merit when Batman has to pursue criminals in tight terrain that not even the Batmobile can fit in. It also capable of flight in the form of hidden rotor blades and has a small arsenal of surface to air missiles. It also can form a sidecar to transport allies. Robin is its primary passenger. Furthermore, the Cycle can transform into the Bat-Copter.
After a Gotham super villain went on a rampage with an army of exo-suits, Batman modified his Batmobile. With the press of a button, the Batmobile transforms into a exo-suit. It can fire its fists and like a veritable batarang, the fist returns to the suit. Batman utilized the suit in a battle against Babyface. Ultimately, the suit was to balance the battlefield and Batman's ingenuity won the day with a well-placed exploding batarang. The Batmobile can also transform into a ship capable of space travel and firing missiles. It is referred to as the Batrocket in this form. It was recently used to end a war between two alien races. The vehicle's Alien Nullifier Beam disabled both side's warships.
When Batman transported himself to Earth 3, Owlman was left beind in a failsafe prison cell. Soon after, Owlman escaped and began a crime spree disguised as Batman. He easily stole and reprogrammed the Batmobile to obey only him. When Batman returned and found himself a fugitive, the Batmobile didn't respond to his summons. After a foot chase and teaming up with the Joker, Batman decided to utilize the first Batmobile that he kept in storage away from the Batcave. Its appearance shows its age, but it still contains modern technology, including knockout gas.
On the far off planet of Zur En Arrh, its defender, Tlano became Batman and created his own Batmobile and Batplane. The Batmobile is an outfitted air car with an atomic powered motor. It appears to be a side-by-side two seat vehicle. The Batplane is shaped like a rocket found on Earth. The Chancellor, Gor-Zonn has a direct line to the Bat Vehicles and often alerts Batman of any major crimes going on. Both can shoot durable grapple wires and the Batplane is armed with air-to-air rockets that fire in pairs. Just like the Batmobile on Earth, those on Zur En Arrh are subjected to destruction on a daily basis and rebuilt.
The Batmobile was well preserved even into the time of the Great Disaster. After a restoration by Batman, Kamandi, and Dr. Canus, the Batmobile was fully operational again. However, its tenure was brief. After destroying Gorilla Grodd's sonic cannons, Batman launched the Batmobile into the mountain range to force an avalanche on the Ape People.
In a parallel universe dubbed Bat-Manga, the Batmobile is a modified Lincoln Futura equipped with a multitude of gadgets such as an aluminium chain slicer, lasers, rockets, on-board telephone, radar, dashboard monitor, on-board computer, police beacon, and smoke emitter. During a rematch against Lord Death Man, Robin drove the Batmobile and created a centrifugal force for Batman to take out Death Man's henchmen. As Lord Death Man tried to kill the duo from above in a helicopter, Robin activated the Batmobile's smoke screen and blinded the villain. He flew straight into power lines and died in the explosion.