Batsuit
The Batsuit is a fictional tactical costume worn by the fictional superhero Batman, which appears in comics published by the American company DC Comics, and related media. The suit has been depicted in various artistic iterations, and the stories themselves have described Batman as modifying the details of his costume from time to time typically using military and SWAT standards materials and technology that evolved into an advanced combat suit. However, it usually consists of a gray body suit, the chest emblazoned with a stylized black bat either with or without a yellow ellipse around it, and blue-black accessories: a wide scalloped cape, gloves with a series of fin-like projections, trunks, boots, and a close-fitting cowl with ear-like projections to suggest a bat's head; and a yellow utility belt containing a variety of gadgets.
Origin and development
In-universe origin
While brooding in his study over how to be a more effective crime fighter, Bruce Wayne saw a bat come through his window. Reflecting that "criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot," Bruce adopts the persona of a bat in order to conceal his identity and strike fear into his adversaries. In the later elaborations on the origin, Bruce is terrified by bats as a child, and in the Silver Age story The First Batman the inspiration for the batsuit comes in part from a bat costume worn to a costume ball by his father Dr. Thomas Wayne, M.D.Color scheme
Batman's cape, cowl, gloves, briefs, and boots are usually either black or dark blue with the body of the costume being grey. Originally the suit was conceived as being black and grey, but due to coloring schemes of early comic books, the black was highlighted with blue. Hence, over the years the black cape and cowl appeared as dark blue in the comic books. Thus artists' renditions depict the costume as both black and grey or blue and grey.The bat symbol on the chest has also alternated from a simple black bat, to a bat design on a yellow ellipse, lending a logo-like appearance more akin to Superman's "S"-in-shield logo. The yellow ellipse was introduced in 1964 as part of the "New Look" Batman stories. In Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, the yellow ellipse design was explained as being a heavily armored, intentional target, to draw enemy fire away from his unarmored head and body. A subsequent issue of Shadow of the Bat re-established the concept. The yellow ellipse was eventually removed in 2000 after a 36-year run and replaced by a larger stylized black bat-emblem, which resembles the one from the Golden Age comics. The ellipse made a comeback in 2021.
Other elements, such as the utility belt and the length of the cowl's ears, have been changed by various artistic teams.
Basic suit
Bob Kane's original sketch of the character was very different from the Batman known today. Kane showed the very first drawing of a character he had first named the Bat, then Bat-Man, to Bill Finger who was the writer he hired to write the first Batman stories. Bill thought that the character looked too much like Superman, so he suggested major changes that would prove to be everlasting to the character's legacy.Finger took a Webster's Dictionary off the shelf, looking for a drawing of a bat, and found one. He then said to Kane, "Notice the ears, why don't we duplicate the ears?" He then suggested that Kane would draw what looked like a cowl, to bring the nosepiece down and make him look mysterious and not show any eyeballs at all. Finger didn't like the bird-like wings, so he also suggested to Kane to re-design them and make a cape instead, and scallop the edges so it would flow out behind Batman when he ran so it would look like bat wings as well as adding a bat symbol on the character's chest as its chest emblem. He also suggested that the color of his bodysuit should be gray instead of red and a pair of gloves were added, colored purple from the start but later changed to blue.
Similar to many other superhero costumes, the Batsuit's basic foundation is a tight bodysuit. In early depictions, contrasting briefs were worn over a one-piece suit, similar to the garb of early 20th-century circus performers and strongmen. Batman #1 revealed that there is a bulletproof vest sewn into the costume. Modern depictions of Batman's suit do not incorporate contrasting briefs, and the character's suit consists of pants without a color change. The Batsuit is also no longer portrayed as a one-piece suit, as the top and pants are separate pieces.
The Post-Crisis version of the bodysuit is not constructed from simple fabric, but from fictional advanced materials that gives it resistance to tearing. In addition, the suit also contains various defense and protection mechanisms layered into the suit's fabric. These protective layers in the Batsuit are necessary since Batman, although strong, powerful, and intelligent, is still a human being with no inherent superhuman powers. The basic version of the Batsuit is insulated against electricity and is mildly fire resistant. Batman utilizes many different body armor designs, some of which are constructed into his Batsuits, and others which are separate. In its most basic version, the suit is bulletproof around the upper torso and back. Other versions are entirely bulletproof to small arms fire, and have advanced flexible armor plating. In the video game, Batman: Arkham Asylum Batman wears a basic batsuit throughout the game but can unlock a new "Armored" batsuit after completing the main story-line. The armored suit is much bulkier and features heavy plate armor on the torso and limbs and segmented armor on the joints and neck.
Cape
As different artists have taken over the responsibility of drawing the costume, the details of the suit have changed considerably. The first version of the cape was a wing-like structure that may have been inspired by drawings by Leonardo da Vinci. This eventually evolved into a more cape-like design of varying length with scalloped edges to resemble the wings of a bat.The material of the cape has varied with different writers, sometimes being depicted as bulletproof and fire resistant, and other times being made of simple fabric that tears easily and is continuously replaced. For example, in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Robin's Reckoning", Batman fell through a floor heavily compromised by machine-gun fire and landed badly, hurting his leg. He ripped up his cape and used some pieces of broken wood to make an impromptu ankle splint. He is also commonly seen with the cape able to wrap around his entire body, usually whenever he is standing or sometimes when walking.
The cape may also incorporate Nomex fire-resistant/retardant material and a Kevlar weave to slow the impact of bullets. In The Dark Knight Strikes Again, the ends of the cape contained razor-sharp blades which Batman used to slice through several corrupt government officials.
Batman's usage of the cape as a mode of transportation differed over the years. A hang-glider version of this concept was presented in Batman Returns, in which a harness folds out of the cape to make it a rigid wing-like structure, then folds back when the wearer rolls forward on the ground after landing. In the show Justice League Batman ejected from the Batplane with his cape acting as a parachute using a harness. In the 2005 film Batman Begins, the cape was also used as a sort of wingsuit; when an electric current was applied to the cape, the shape-memory fibers aligned into a semi-rigid form resembling a bat's wings, allowing Batman to glide over the streets and rooftops of Gotham. After Dick Grayson took over the identity of Batman, he and Damian Wayne, the new Robin and Bruce Wayne's biological son, developed a "para-cape" for their costumes which gives them an ability to glide. However, at the beginning, Grayson finds that the new cape has too much weight. The Batman Arkham series also gave Batman the same gliding ability as in Batman Begins, while the 2022 film The Batman showed a version of the cape that—with the pull of a wire trigger—could turn into an actual wingsuit.
In the 2010 comic book mini-series Batman Beyond, Dick Grayson explains that there is also a tactical reason for adding a cape to the costume: misdirection. It "hides the body, makes it difficult to know where to strike" when Batman moves, with the result that villains attacking him at long range cannot determine whether they are shooting at Batman's body or just the cape. A flashback reveals that after armor-piercing rounds from the Joker's gun penetrated the cape, it saved Bruce but Dick, who was behind him, was critically wounded. It explains why Bruce eliminates the cape on the Batman Beyond incarnation of the Batsuit, as he prefers being the one to take the brunt of gunfire instead of others.
Cowl
The cowl mainly conceals Batman's features and contributes to his imposing appearance. In almost all comic book depictions, the eyeballs are not visible through the cowl. This was suggested by Batman co-creator Bill Finger during the character's creation to give him a more mysterious look. Instead, the eyes appear white without any visible eyeballs. This motif of white eyes behind a mask has been replicated in nearly every masked superhero following Batman's debut in 1939.There may be something added to the cowl that alters how people see Batman when looking at him directly. Batman's cowl has sometimes served other purposes. Occasionally, the cowl is depicted as having defense mechanisms such as electric shock or stun gas in order to prevent unauthorized removal. In Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne mail orders the materials to build the cowl through a maze of untraceable shell companies. To avoid suspicion, Wayne orders very large quantities of 10,000, each part sent to different locations and under different aliases. However, because some superpowered individuals such as metahuman hitman Tommy Monaghan have the power to see through solid objects, Batman also lines the cowl with lead to protect his identity. That property is absent in The New Batman/Superman Adventures crossover "World's Finest", where Superman saw through Batman's cowl with ease.
Batman's cowl has also been depicted with shifting optical lenses that identify suspects' identities as well as their weak points, while simultaneously avoiding the possibility of eye identification. The cowl's lenses incorporate multiple vision modes like infrared vision, night vision, and ultraviolet vision, and a digital camera for obtaining pieces of evidence. Also, in The Dark Knight, Batman uses a sonar concept introduced by Lucius Fox. This technology is utilized by using echolocation to triangulate objects via cell phones. In Detective Comics #838, it is revealed that Batman also has an echolocation system in the cowl. In Batman: The Animated Series, Batman wears a special motorcycle helmet when riding his Batcycle that is molded with bat ears to accommodate his cowl's ears. In Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman extensively uses a sophisticated "detective mode" vision enhancement built into the cowl that allows him to see enemies in darkness, including through walls, see their condition and state of alertness, and detect and identify hidden objects and analyze evidence. It also gives him the white eyes while it is activated.
One of the cowl's ears carries a high-gain antenna for an internal communication device on the left side of the mask, allowing Batman to stay in contact with his allies. This communication device is capable of scanning police radios and other communication frequencies. It also carries an inertial navigation unit to keep him in balance when facing foes such as the Scarecrow or Count Vertigo. The cowl's Kevlar panels provide a level of protection for his head against firearms. The front of the skull and the sides of the temples also have small armor inserts to increase the effectiveness of skull strikes and protect from concussive blows. Repeated encounters with the Mad Hatter also forced Batman to shield his cowl against the villain's mind control. Its basic design has remained unchanged, however, it has been frequently updated for Batman's needs.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold shows that the cowl's ears are able to change lengths for various uses. However, artist Karl Kerchl has drawn Batman's costume vault showing that he has a wide selection of masks with ears of different lengths. Despite that, Dick Grayson's cowl supposedly has the same features as Bruce Wayne's, although Grayson often finds that wearing it interferes with his peripheral vision.
In Batman: Cacophony, during Batman's hunt with the masked serial killer Onomatopoeia, he reinforced one of his masks with a secondary armor beneath its kevlar headpiece with bloodpack lining in anticipation of being shot in the skull, to create an opportunity to fake his own death to get himself closer to the villain. This was based on assassin Deadshot's helmet designs.