'Justice League': Early Batman Tactical Suit Concept Art Revealed

Now that Justice League is finally in theaters, fans have been digging into the creative decisions that led to the version of DC's superhero team that we got in theaters. That means the usual discussions about deleted scenes or character cameos that almost made the cut - and of course, the character and costume designs the filmmakers used (or could've used). Case in point:

#batman #tactical #conceptart for #justiceleague Always an honor to work on a bat suit. I had an incredible time working on the concept art for costume designer @michaelwilkinson in London with the amazing crew at #warnerbros #leavesdenstudios The artists on this show really brought it! Thanks to @brookedibbs @hodge1001 and Mark Trunk for being so friendly! I think I was in the Uk for a couple of months after working with the the great LA team: @constantinesekeris @pboutte @ianjoynerart @keltoncram Special thanks to Stephanie Porter the assistant costume designer that balanced her incredibly challenging job with babysitting me and making sure I didn’t get lost riding the tubes 😊 #dccomics #dccinematicuniverse #wonderwoman #cyborg #aquaman #theflash #steppenwolf #parademons #kirby #zbrush #costume #zbrushsculpt #keyshot

A post shared by jsmarantz (@jsmarantz) on Nov 26, 2017 at 10:38am PST

This concept art of Batman's tactical suit comes from artist Jerad S. Marantz, who was part of the team working on Justice League.

The artwork gives us some finer details of the Batman tactical suit, like the weaving of the kevlar mesh and armor plating, for enhancement like the exoskeletal arm braces that reinforce Bruce Wayne's bones for those pesky metahuman encounters. One interesting detail is the closer look at the cowl, which shows collar bone reinforcements, as well as what looks like throat protection / voice modulation, to create that signature Ben Affleck Batman voice.

While the tactical suit looks good in artistic concept, it's highly debatable whether or not the suit had any kind of distinctive function within the actual Justice League movie. If anything, scenes of Affleck wearing the suit (especially without the cowl) made the costume look uncomfortably padded and bulky. We'd be surprised if it ends up on a lot of fan "best costume" lists, going forward. But hey - gotta sell those action figure variants, right?

Want more Justice League artwork? Check out this Parademon concept art!

Justice League is now in theaters; Aquaman arrives on December 21, 2018; Shazam on April 5, 2019; Wonder Woman 2 on November 1st, 2019; Cyborg on April 3, 2020; and Green Lantern Corps on July 24, 2020.