What is your favorite Batman suit?

[Abraham Smashington]

Honestly? I'd have to go with the "Batman Returns" version but with the cowl of the new version. If Keaton could have moved his neck more, it would have been pretty much perfect. I'll always love the yellow logo and utility bealt.

[Abraham Smashington]

Also, lulz to the Batman & Robin silver suit.

Fucking Bat-Credit Card.....

[Ed Hocken]

There's something endearing about the Adam West Batsuit. The fact there's eyebrows on the cowl, I mean come on.

In terms of actual suit? I'd go with Begins.

[BillyG]

I love Dark Knight's suit, except the cowl. It's so skinny. My real favorite is the black/blue/grey Jim Lee Batman.

[nerdious dorkus]

All about the first batsuit. Fucking Frank Miller shit right there.

[Ed Hocken]

If we're talking comics?



Gotham By Gaslight Batman

[nerdious dorkus]

Nah.



RIGHT THURR.

[Ed Hocken]

Ah yes, Batman: Black & White

[Timothy225]

If we're talking movies, I'll go with the Keaton Batsuits (I prefer the first one most, second one's OK - didn't need the redesigned armored midsection). After that, the suits become way too overdesigned and look like shit. Batman Begins' batsuit is passable, but Dark Knight's is a fucking waste of time and effort. Keep it simple, folks!

As for comics: Two words. Neal FUCKING Adams, yo!

[PHEDG]

[gravedigger]

God yes, Neal Adams. I really wish the movies had gone that route but I suppose the studio was worried people would associate the movies with the Adam West show.

As far as the movie suits go, I prefer BATMANS RETURNS. The sculpted muscles on the BATMAN suit have always looked funny to me. The armor-abs look better, I think.

[Ari]

I love the suite from Batman Returns. Begins would be my second choice. That Batman Beyond suit looks sweeeeet.

[Timothy225]

God yes, Neal Adams. I really wish the movies had gone that route but I suppose the studio was worried people would associate the movies with the Adam West show.

As far as the movie suits go, I prefer BATMANS RETURNS. The sculpted muscles on the BATMAN suit have always looked funny to me. The armor-abs look better, I think.

All honesty, I'd prefer seeing sculpted muscles on a batsuit as opposed to all the filigree and design bits. Stuff like that I'd rather see on a character like Iron Man, where it's expected (case in point, the pic of Batman Beyond Fej posted. Great pic, but all that extraneous stuff makes him look a lot less sleek than the animated/comic version).

It seems to be a problem I've seen more in the DC films as opposed to Marvel, though that might be changing with Thor and Captain America. In the first Superman and Batman films, the characters looked pretty close to the comics - costumes were simpler, no extraneous design elements that would detract from the overall look of the character. This holds true for Marvel's shots at Blade, Spider-Man, Hulk, the Fantastic Four, and X-Men (to an extent) - the costumes were faithful to the source material, looked great on the screen, looked pretty sleek and had freedom of movement, etc. In Spider-Man's case, the hexagon patterns and airbrushed muscles served a purpose - they enhanced his physical appearance, made him look like he was as toned as a superhero should be.

With the later Batman films and Superman Returns, however, there's been a tendency to overwork the design. In Superman Returns, much was made of the fact that the texture of the supersuit was composed of little "S" shapes, which did NOTHING in terms of how the suit looked onscreen, but likely jacked up production costs, especially if they had to make more than one of 'em (this holds true for the recent Star Trek flick - why waste money on design elements that weren't even going to show up properly? Waste of time and money). Christopher Reeve's suit was simply a spandex material, looked like Superman should look, and looked great onscreen.

Batman has been established as wearing some sort of armor with his suit in the comics, but it's UNDERNEATH the cloth, not part of it. It's used as a psychological tactic - you shoot at somebody wearing armor, you expect bullets to bounce off, alaa Iron Man. Shoot at a guy dressed like a big bat shadow, and bullets bounce off though you don't see how, you'll shit yourself before he clocks you one, which plays into how Batman operates: fear is his most effective weapon. You don't want to meet Batman in a dark alley, especially if you just mugged someone.

Think I over thought this a teeny bit too much?

[Matt]

LOVED the 'Batman Beyond' suit.

[Captain Russ]

Paul Pope's Batman Year 100 suit was pretty cool.

But the Mazzuchelli suit is where it's at for me.

Film-wise, I liked the Fatman suit from Begins. The matte black looked great under the correct lighting conditions.

I totally agree with Tim on the unnecessary tendency to overdesign what already worked. Most of the work is already done for you, why add distracting aspects to something already visually appealing?