The Batman's Batmobile Chase Scene Released Online
The Batmobile is a lean, mean, Penguin-chasing machine in a clip from The Batman. In the full five-minute scene from The Batman on HBO Max, vengeful vigilantes Batman (Robert Pattinson) and Catwoman (Zoe Kravitz) bust a gangster drug drop on the Gotham docks. From the shadows, the revving engine of The Bat's armored muscle car roars to life before pursuing Penguin (Colin Farrell) like a Batman out of hell in a fiery, fast and furious chase across the rain-slicked streets of Gotham City. Watch the clip above and catch The Batman streaming now on HBO Max.
"Every Batman film, in my opinion, starts with the car. After [director Matt Reeves'] take on Bruce, our first conversations were about, 'What does that mean for the car?'" The Batman production designer James Chinlund told Inverse about the hero's hot rod. "It was the first piece of design we attacked. All the other designs go back to the car. We loved the idea that Bruce was a gearhead, that he spent a lot of time in the garage. It was a natural idea that he might have some other cars lying around the shop. So, as he was contemplating his mission, he says to himself, 'I need a vehicle to get me around. What do I need that vehicle to do?'"
One of those needs: chase down criminals with an intimidating vehicle like the possessed Plymouth Fury of John Carpenter's Christine.
"Matt was talking about Christine and some other cars and films that really had a presence. We knew we wanted it to be a car and not a tank. We wanted the audience to recognize that it was something they could build themselves," Chinlund said. "We started with the frame, the big steel bumper. We used the roof from a '69 Charger because we felt like he'd built this frame and was like, 'Well, I need a roof.' So he cut the roof off this car and slapped it on there."
Like its driver, The Batman's beastly Batmobile "reflects his single-minded focus on the mission. He's all about getting it done, he's not about a big design statement," Chinlund explained. "It's sort of a lean and mean version of the Batman. There's no wasted space, there's no decoration. There are no flourishes. He's one man against the evils of the city. The car reflects this individual who's going up against the world."
Starring Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Andy Serkis, and Colin Farrell, The Batman is now available to own digitally and streaming on HBO Max.