Batman Will Have More Than One Suit In Justice League

During a recent Justice League set visit, costume designer Michael Wilkinson, who previously worked on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, revealed to Comicbook.com and other press that The Dark Knight (Ben Affleck) will be wearing two Bat-suits in the film.

The one they call the “Classic Bat-suit” will be worn throughout most of film. It is similar to suit Batman wore in the previous film, but it has been tweaked and improved upon.

“People who look very closely might notice that we have these new armor plates underneath the mesh, the carbon fiber weave on his suit,” Wilkinson explained. “So we thought it would be cool for him to have a few very carefully placed pieces of armor hidden underneath his bat suit. The seaming is [underneath], also; we cannot put this very graphic way of doing the seaming that we like for the breakup of the suit.

“We’ve come up with a new cowl. It’s very close to the last one, but again new technologies, new materials (now made from polyurethane instead of foam latex), tweaking has allowed us to take that one even further. One big new detail is that Zach wanted the idea that there’s a little more sense of armor and deflection on his gauntlets when he is shot at. So I designed this thing based on a Samurai. We borrowed it from Bruce Wayne’s history too, so it has a connection with Asian Martial arts in Japan. So I thought that would be perfect. We modernized it to the Wayne Tech aesthetic here. We changed the straight shank of the blade from last time. It’s something a little more aggressive.”

The second suit, which they call the “Tactical Bat-suit,” has been tweaked and ramped up a little bit with more protection, so that Batman can handle the more powerful threats that appear later on in the film.

“So in the final chapter of our film, Batman realizes he has to step up his game a little bit and he and Alfred have been working on developing a suit that’s even more protective and offers more deflection than the classic suit,” he shared. “So in a sense, it’s piece of armor. You can see the artwork here. This is something we’re still developing.

“We won’t shoot this for about two months, which seems like two years in the costuming world. But we have two months to develop this. This is the artwork here. So you can see the classic suit underneath, but on top are straps and layers of the carbon fiber, strengthening armor plates, he’s got sort of a leather layer upon here that he is strapping all over his plates onto the wrapping around his body and offering just a little more protection than the old. He’s also going to get a new cowl with some new tech details and that gives him even more protection. We’re going to do some goggles for him, a new tech cape made out of our carbon fiber weave.”

The goggles he mentioned will serve two purposes. “We loved the way in the comic books he’s always drawn with white flashes of eyes, so we thought of cool ways of doing it,” Wilkinson said. “We liked the way that they catch the light and give that classic image from the comic books. But he’ll also be piloting a new vehicle that he will need these goggles for.”

Additionally, it was pointed out to Wilkinson that back of Batman’s new cowl there are a handful of silvery lines/notches. What are those for? “So we liked the idea that it’s implied that inside this cowl is a whole submembrane-like protective system. But now with the tactical cowl, much of it is pressed on the outside part of the cowl and maybe even will strengthen the vertebrae, strengthening pieces of the back here, and maybe protecting by sticking to connections that he has with Alfred back in the bat cave.”

The film is being directed by Zack Snyder, based on a screenplay by Chris Terrio. The all-star cast includes Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Henry Cavill as Clark Kent/Superman, Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash, Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman, Ray Fisher as Victor Stone/Cyborg, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, J. K. Simmons as Commissioner James Gordon, and Amber Heard as Mera.

Justice League will open in theaters on November 17, 2017.