7 Best Batman Vehicles That Aren’t the Batmobile

Batman is well-known for the technology and Bat-themed vehicles his uses to fight crime, but the famed Batmobile is hardly the only example of the latter. In his life fighting crime on the streets of Gotham City as Batman, Bruce Wayne doesn’t bring the kind of metahuman superpowers that Superman, Wonder Woman, or other DC superheroes do. As a fully human member of the Justice League, Batman instead relies on his genius-level intellect, his incredible martial arts skills, and his arsenal of gadgets and tools to fight villains of both the human and metahuman variety. One of Batman’s greatest assets in protecting the people of Gotham City is his assortment of Bat-vehicles.

Typically, the Batmobile is the first Bat-vehicle that springs to mind when one thinks of Batman, but sometimes, the Dark Knight’s missions require vehicles of a different sort. With so many on his side, Batman is perhaps the most vehicularly-inclined superhero in existence, with some of his vehicles having decades of comic book history behind them, and others being created exclusive for his big-screen appearances. Here are the seven greatest Batman vehicles apart from the Batmobile.

The Batskiboat

One of the examples of a movie-specific Bat-vehicle, the Batskiboat was the first (and only) aquatic vehicle utilized by Michael Keaton’s Dark Knight. Seen in the third act of Tim Burton’s Batman Returns, the Batskiboat is Batman’s vehicle for infiltrating the sewers that the Penguin (Danny DeVito) calls home, in order to stop his plot to slaughter children throughout Gotham City. The Batskiboat also carries a design which suggests its purpose is for missions on smaller bodies of water and into relatively tight confines where water is likely to be present, such as a sewer. Though its appearance in Batman Returns is relatively brief, the Batskiboat holds the distinction of being the only Bat-vehicle capable of doing barrel rolls on the walls of a sewer. Combined with its sonar, weaponry, and all-around Bat-tech, the Batskiboat a very memorable Bat-vehicle indeed.

The Bat Boat

The Batskiboat isn’t the Caped Crusader’s only means of water-based travel, with the traditional Bat Boat being among Batman’s vehicles deriving from the comics and seen throughout his many adaptations in popular media. The Bat Boat was first seen in live-action in the 1960s Adam West Batman TV series, and was later brought to life in 1995’s Batman Forever with Robin (Chris O’Donnell) as captain of the ship. While the Bat Boat has had many variations in how it has been portrayed, the entire concept behind it is just inherently cool, equipping Batman with everything he needs for an oceanic battle. The Bat Boat naturally is the kind of vehicle that comes in handy if the Dark Knight needs to lend Aquaman a hand, as well, and it has taken Batman on some wild aquatic adventures indeed in the comics, movies, TV, and animation.

The Knightcrawler

Another of the movie-specific Bat-vehicles, the Knightcrawler was featured as one of the newer Bat-vehicles utilized by Ben Affleck’s Batman in both the theatrical cut of Justice League as well as in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. With a design like that of a gigantic spider, the Knightcrawler is capable of scaling walls by embedding its legs several feet into concrete walls. Additionally, the Nightcrawler is armed with rockets, missiles, and other kinds of high-tech weaponry, making it the perfect kind of Bat-vehicle to battle Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) and the Parademon army from the planet Apokolips. As a war vehicle crafted to aid the Justice League against their most formidable of alien enemies, the Knightcrawler is a Bat-Vehicle expertly designed to get the job done.

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The Flying Fox

Zack Snyder’s Justice League does a superb job of bringing a wide collection of Bat-vehicles into play, both deriving from the comics and created for the movie itself, and the Flying Fox is a stellar example of the latter. Designed as a military troop carrier, Batman has difficulty repairing some technical problems with the Flying Fox, but with the ability of Cyborg (Ray Fisher) to interface with any form of technology, he quickly resolves its “software issue” with the League soaring into the final battle with Steppenwolf aboard the aircraft. The Flying Fox is another Bat-vehicle perfect for lending support in a team battle with the Justice League, the aircraft able to carry the Batmobile into battle and even bring down Steppenwolf’s energy-based dome shield. The Flying Fox even made a return in the opening chase sequence of The Flash, dropping Batman into action aboard the Batcycle. Like its namesake species of bat, the Flying Fox is an airborne Bat-vehicle that is large and always in charge.

The Riot Tank Batmobile

Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns sees Bruce Wayne don the cowl again after 10 years of retirement, and to get the job of taking down Gotham City’s new gang known as the Mutants, Batman needs some heavy duty vehicles and tech on his side. Enter the Dark Knight’s colossal new war machine, canonically known as the Riot Tank Batmobile, or simply the Bat Tank for short. The Bat Tank is exactly what it sounds like, an enormous bulldozer of a bat-vehicle that helped make The Dark Knight Returns into the timeless comic book classic that it is. While the Bat Tank hasn’t been featured significantly in many Batman adaptations, it was showcased in all its explosive glory in The Dark Knight Returns animated movie from 2012, and later made a brief appearance at the end of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, complete with a gang of criminals (Mutants perhaps?) apprehended and tied up below its enormous headlights.

The Batcycle

When it comes to zooming through the streets of Gotham City on a set of wheels, the Batmobile isn’t the only option for Batman. Often, he combines his skills at fighting crime and motorcycling into one package in the Batcycle. Like the Batmobile, the Batcycle has been a staple of all Batman media since time immemorial, and has been the two-wheeled vehicle of choice for countless animated and live-action versions of the Caped Crusader. Adam West’s Batman first rode the Batcycle complete with a side car for Robin, while it was later featured prominently in Batman: The Animated Series. Christian Bale’s Batman later rode his own version of the Batcycle, dubbed “The Bat-pod,” in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, with Ben Affleck and Robert Pattinson’s Batmen respectively riding their own Batcycles in The Flash and The Batman. With such a long history in the comics and presence in Batman movies and animation, it goes without saying that the Batcycle is one of the greatest Bat-vehicles ever built.

The Batwing

The Batwing (also known as the Batplane) is not just a classic Bat-vehicle, but one that stands neck and neck with the Batmobile. Like no other Bat-vehicle, the Batwing captures everything about Batman as a hero — his preparedness, his technological genius, his ability to bring state-of-the-art weaponry and vehicles to missions alongside the Justice League, and above all else, an aircraft with a distinct and unmistakable bat motif matched by virtually no other Bat-vehicle. Whereas Adam West’s Batman took to the skies in the Batcopter, nearly every subsequent live-action and animated Batman has had his own version of the Batwing, each with its own unique design and spin to fit their version of the Dark Knight. Without question, the Batwing is more than deserving of being recognized as the best vehicle utilized by Batman apart from the Batmobile itself, and a compelling argument can indeed be made that the Batwing is truly the ultimate Bat-vehicle.

What’s your favorite Batman vehicle? Let us know in the comments below!