Yahoo Autos Every Batman movie ranked by Batmobile
Alright, let's try this again. After ranking all 25 James Bond films exclusively by their car content, it's time to do the same for Batman. Admittedly, there have been a lot fewer Batman movies. Also, Batmobiles would feature in multiple movies. Also also, I know a lot less about Batman films than James Bond ones. But hey, I'm literally sitting next to a Keaton Batmobile model I've owned since 1992, so I'm not completely bereft of knowledge.
Now, as usual, some ground rules. In order to break ties (as in, which film with the same Batmobile is better), I've considered other car/vehicle content in the film. Furthermore, again, I'm only considering films. So, no comic books or cartoons, because that would take forever and getting the visuals alone ... good grief.
1) 'Batman' (1989)
This is the Batmobile. I'm not sure this could ever be topped, honestly. And sure, this was the Batmobile of my youth as evidenced by the aforementioned 30-year-old toy sitting next to me as I type this, but even those editors younger than me concur. OK, so Palmer's out driving some old BMWs and he wasn't polled. Anyway, this car is almost as big of a star in Tim Burton's 1989 "Batman" as Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. Apologies Kim Basinger. The car is epic, and it makes the scenes it's in epic — and yeah, the iconic Danny Elfman score sure helps in that regard. A few bonus points here for the Batwing and that one awesome shot where it flies up to the moon for no other reason than visual awesomeness. One bonus point removed for it being downed by a really long revolver hidden in the Joker's pants.
2) 'Batman' (1966)
Yeah kids, there was a movie based on the 1960s Adam West TV show. And it was fantastic. The "some days you just can't rid of a bomb!" scene still makes me laugh after the 148th viewing. Also, "shark-repellant Batspray." Anyway, the Batmobile created for the TV show by George Barris based on the Lincoln Futura Concept car is the second-most iconic Batmobile of all time. It's featured throughout the movie, and is not only driven by Batman but the Penguin and Alfred (in a mask, no less, cause I guess Dick Grayson is old enough to fight crime but not old enough to drive???). We also get to see the Batcopter, Batboat and Batcycle. Holy bonus points, Batman!
3) 'Batman Begins'
This would be the first appearance of "the Tumbler," which was used in all the Christopher Nolan "Dark Knight" films. However, this is the film where we're not only introduced to the Tumbler Batmobile, but where it sees the most action. Aesthetically, the Tumbler is quite obviously faaaaar away from the established Bat-sthetic (which is really just the Burton one) and there was quite a lot of controversy and fan-boy hate when pictures of it circulated on the web back in the day. Then everyone saw the movie and didn't care anymore. As we saw then, the Tumbler was an actually functional Batmobile (Jay Leno even drove it), and something that wouldn't actually be a hilarious hinderance to crimefighting (cause yeah, the Burton Batmobile is nonsense). It's a concept that would be revisited more recently, with less successful results.
4) 'Batman Returns'
The Tim Burton Batmobile returns along with Michael Keaton. Although less of a star this time around, we do get to see some new features. There's the piling that lowers into the ground to lift the Batmobile up and rotate it as needed. This is obviously a necessity, cause holy rearview camera Batman, can you imagine the turning radius and making a multi-point turn in that thing? There's also the Batmissile function, which strips off the outer wings and leaves the skinny inner jet engine bit just in case Batman needs to shimmy through a narrow alley. Thank god you checked that option's box, Bruce! Besides roasting a few clowns with the afterburner early on, the Batmobile later terrorizes Gotham when the Penguin electronically hacks into it. It's here when we see the Batmobile comes equipped with a DVD burner. Fancy. Again, bonus points here for the Batskiboat (I had that toy too, but sold it on eBay) and the Penguin's motorized duck. We should all be happy that exists.
5) 'The Dark Knight'
And now for something completely different. In what is widely considered the greatest film that happens to include Batman ever, "The Dark Knight" includes plenty of Batmobile action. Once again, it's the Tumbler, and it's mostly featured in a chase featuring the Joker, semi tractor trailers and an unfortunately accurate RPG. Relatedly, we get to see a Tumbler feature not shown in "Batman Begins" (cause they totally hadn't thought of it yet): the Batpod. This motorcyclish thing with in-wheel motors is mighty cool and would return in "The Dark Knight Rises."