The Batman: Robert Pattinson’s Costume Looks Influenced by Arkham Games

Matt Reeves has finally unveiled the Bat Suit for The Batman in all of its glory and people are still soaking it in. Some have noticed that the hero is rocking a much more armored or tech look than in previous outings. A big source of inspiration for that costume choice could be the influence of the Arkham Batman video games. In those entries, The Dark Knight has the height of technology in his suits. Heck, in Batman: Arkham Knight, he’s having his suit dropped to him in the field so that he can change into it on the fly. Now, this may come off as a bit excessive to Bat Suit purists, but these choices absolutely make sense for a more modern interpretation of the hero. The reasoning holds up with respect to this being a fresh take on the character while still taking inspiration from other established stories.

Under close inspection, the gears inside of the Bat Symbol on the chest area seem to move depending on the situation. As you can see by the GIF below, this is almost a dead ringer for the kind of articulation that is present on the Arkham Knight suit. It looks like that might not be all as other parts of the armor could move around as well. But, keeping with Reeves’ past comments about The Batman, it appears that other eras are being referenced in the design as well. The mask definitely has some Adam West vibes to it as the nose is so prominent. Also, that cape is a wonderful flourish that actually gives the entire thing some humanity and flair amongst all that tech.

One other fun quirk of this costuming choice would be that the multiple villains approach absolutely tracks with what goes on in the Arkham games. Each one has focused on a number of villains getting Batman isolated and then having the detective fight each one on the way to facing the big bad. Joker occupied that space in the first game and was a bit of a specter in Arkham Knight. Now, there doesn’t seem to be any trace of the Clown Prince of Crime in Reeves’ movie. But, the ensemble approach should raise some eyebrows as well.

In the director’s own words, he described his approach to The Batman. Reeves began, “Year One is one of the many comic books that I love. We are definitely not doing Year One. It’s just exciting to be focused very specifically on a tale that is defining for him and very personal to him. Obviously we’re not doing an origin tale or anything like that. We’re doing a story that is definitively Batman though, and trying to tell a story that’s emotional and yet is really about him being the world’s greatest detective and all the things that for me, since I was a kid, made me love Batman.”

The Batman is scheduled to premiere in theaters on June 25, 2021.