- February 17, 2021
Top Five Best Batsuits
I wanted to make a video that was just fun and excitement, no major critical analysis. The best way to do that was to talk about what’s my favorite DC superhero, Batman and his best batsuit.
His design is half of what makes him so awesome to me. Even if a writer can’t write Batman dialogue, an artist can create an atmosphere with Batman’s image and appearance. It doesn’t have to be serious or with the trunks on the outside, and it can all work. It’s amazing that Batman can look like Adam West and look like a monster and still be Batman.
Because of this, we’ve had some really awesome Batsuits over the year, and I wanted to pick out my favorites. I’m not gonna include the standard black and grey with trunks, because that’s just his most basic design. It’s classic, it’s awesome, but everyone knows that, and it’s honestly not necessarily in my top five. But don’t take it as a slight when its not on this list.
Also, don’t expect any super-suits, not that they’re disqualified, so much as I don’t really love any of their designs.
Number #5: Flashpoint Batsuit
Best drawn by Andy Kubert, there’s so many things to love about the design he made for Thomas Wayne’s alternate universe Batman.
From the moment you see him, you can tell that this isn’t Bruce Wayne. There’s the holsters on his thighs, the red around his chest symbol, and the shoulder pads sharp enough to stab someone’s eyes out set it apart. From the moment you see him, you know this is a dark avenger.
The character himself isn’t as great to me as it might be to others, but the design is top notch. I love how it just adds a few perfect touches that make him distinguishable from other versions of Thomas Wayne.
Colors help a lot too. It actually runs the risk of looking too goofy with the very nasty looking red used for his bandolier. But instead, it’s colored perfectly to draw you in to the weapons he uses that other Batmen wouldn’t use.
It’s all about telling a story about who and what this Batman is. Few other batsuit designs do sot his well without looking ridiculous.
I also can’t move on without saying more about the sharp shoulder pads. On Bruce, it always made him seem a step too menacing when he had them. It made him look like a demon. He’s supposed to be the guy who would run with a Robin. How can he when he’s so terrifying that no normal person would walk up to him? For Thomas Wayne, it works perfectly to assure that you know this isn’t a Batman who prides himself on saving people.
Number #4: Rebirth Batsuit
While I don’t think this suit ever looked as good after Greg Capullo stopped drawing it, it’s still one of the more normal yet striking designs. With the fantastic colors, it makes risky choices for a suit that would be the norm for most of the Rebirth era.
It combines classic ideas that I didn’t even like to turn it into something cool. Capullo turned the yellow oval into this cool outline. It serves to be both intimidating to criminals but not so to civilians. He added a yellow outline to the utility belt, making both less distracting, but also cool and attractive.
It does so many little things just with the color that make Batman appear intimidating but also cool.
I think the most important thing is the cape and bringing purple back into the Batsuit. Purple used to be an active color on the Batsuit back when he wore purple gloves. I never much liked it, it was distracting and clashed with the rest of the design. I took that and assumed purple itself was a bad color on Batman, but I was wrong. It just needed to be put somewhere else.
This deep dark purple lining under the cape, lets Batman turn from man to bat on the fly. You rarely have the problem of his body meshing with the dark cape. That can be a flaw sometimes when you’re trying to draw him coming from darkness. But making it a dark purple allows skilled colorists to make the most of it.
Ultimately, it’s just an attractive design that respects Batman’s over 80-year long history. At the same time it does something pretty new and never done before.
Number #3: Knightmare Batsuit, or Desert Batsuit
Now, hold your pitchforks. I know this does go against a pretty simple and cardinal rule of character design, simple is better. This costume is a bit overly complicated both in the movie, Batman v Superman, and in its comic appearance during the Rules of Engagement arc of Tom King’s run.
But it’s just so cool. I never thought I needed Batman in duster and goggles until I saw it. This costume has a lot going on besides those two busy design choices too. From the kneepads atop of pants, and the scarf on top of that, this costume just screams busy.
But it’s cool ‘busy,’ everything has a purpose. It’s more like he wore clothes for the desert over his Batsuit and I love that. The trench coat logistically shouldn’t replace the function of a cape. But I allow it because the brown colors down drown his chest symbol, but amplify it. His scarf does the same.
The only thing that doesn’t use color to amplify the few actual Batman-parts of the suit are the goggles. I do think they look better in the movie than in the comic. Batman already has the mask with white eyes, so the goggles are pretty pointless. In the movie, at least, it makes him feel more grounded. The difference small, but worth mentioning.
This is easily the suit that thrives mostly off of cool factor and functionality, while also being distinctly different from every other Batsuit without being a supersuit.
Number #2: White Knight Batsuit, or Murphy-Verse Suit
I love the two White Knight series, but mostly for the art than anything. The story is pretty good, but making a lot of the Batfamily into cops was only good for giving them cool new looks, that were out of touch.
Batman’s design though is not a problem in the White Knight universe. It’s probably even closer to the standard black and gray than the rebirth suit. but it has these small touches that would make it standout even if it weren’t drawn by Sean Murphy.
Adding a collar to Batman’s cape is genius and striking. Vampires inspired Batman’s original design, and the in-universe lore that people thought he was one. Giving him what is essentially Dracula’s cape is a fun ode to Batman lore. It also, marks this Batman as one whose more distant than most incarnations, speaking to his character. Before, people complained about not being able to see his eyes, but this Batman even covers his mouth from view.
Another thing, and I never thought this would come out of my mouth, but looks great in thigh-high boots. Like seriously, this may be the most black Batman has wore without making it the primary and secondary color. It makes him look like he could take someone’s head off with a kick, which something not reserved for many male characters, let alone leading males.
Number #1: Batman Beyond Batsuit
This may be the most or least controversial pick of the list. I love the Batman Beyond animated show. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that my kid brain used to spend 90% of its time just looking at how cool and amazing this suit is. I’ll admit, I don’t think the comics have ever captured this suit as well as the show did, but its still usually fantastic.
It’s the suit that best follows the “simple is best” guideline of character design. It’s amazing what they did while making the suit easily 80% black. The Beyond suits makes Terry McGinnis look sleek, agile, but deceptively small. It’s worn by a brute of man. This in turn, shocked criminals who met him for the first time and experienced the super-strength it gives him.
This is the first suit that augmented a Batman’s abilities, but that’s not why its on the list. I’m speaking purely about design.
The comics have struggled to capture one of my favorite design choices from the show, but making it a mask instead of a cowl shouldn’t work as well as it does. It makes Terry both human and inhuman. His whole face is covered but his mouth has the same white out as his eyes, which isn’t something I’ve seen before in any batsuit. It likely wouldn’t work for 90% of them.
Then there was the choice to forgo the cape. There is a design of this suit with one, but having an all black mask makes up for the loss of fear that came with forgoing the cape, at least to me. This doesn’t suit lose anything without the cape.
There’s also so much this suit tells us about this Batman. It fits so tightly that its obvious he’s young, that he’s not Bruce Wayne. Then the way the whited-out mouth amplifies his smile and his smirk made Terry feel distinctly his own.
This suit is also very clearly from the future, it is of its time and matches the aesthetic of Neo-Gotham. In the show’s universe, crossover episodes always had modern day heroes going to the future and that’s for the best because the Beyond suit would stick out like a sore thumb among the other Bat-family members in modern day.
I haven’t even talked about the perfect choice to make the Batsuit red. It’s this added level of intimidation, that helps to make Terry still appear frightening without the cape. The red bat symbol almost appears more intimidating than a black or white symbol honestly. I’m not sure why outside of red being a more inherently violent color.
So yeah, those are my favorite batsuits, it was fun to talk about them, but seriously, what’s your favorite Batsuit? It can be from comic, movie, tv show, or video game, I wanna know.
Leave a comment below. I’m already thinking of favorite Superman and Wolverine suits. Check the YouTube channel for more Batman content.