Definitive Cinematic Batman

[Tomato]

So I wanted to switch gears a bit from the Marvel characters, and talk about a character that's a lot tougher to place: Batman. There have been SO MANY versions of the character in film over the years, that I've combined several of his designs by the director who oversaw them. You'll have to forgive me for using the Hot Toys figures for most of the shots... but in many ways, the Hot Toys figures are better representations of the designs than the costumes themselves, so I went with those figures where I could to keep things consistent. Also: I used Mattel's recent BvS figure as a reference for Snyder Batman, mainly because it's the most detailed version we've seen of the design.

For those wondering why the Batman thread encompases ALL his designs, whereas the Marvel ones only feature their MCU looks... That's because Marvel's movie showing prior to the MCU was pretty awful overall and it wasn't worth it. I MIGHT add some select stuff for certain characters down the road, but pre-MCU CA, IM, and Thor were easy passes.

I should note that this poll is purely from a design perspective. Any reservations about performance of an actor are not relevant.

Adam West Batman

Tim Burton Batman

Joel Schumacher Batman

Chris Nolan Batman

Zack Snyder Batman

[Distorto]

I think that the Nolan Batman has had the largest cultural impact as far as Batman's go.  Given that all 3 of the films in the Dark Knight trilogy are above an 8.0 average on several movie review websites (Namely imdb). I think it's safe to say the Dark Knight series has become the most recognizable of all the movie Batmen.  As far as design wise, I believe either the Joel Schumacher design, the Christopher Nolan design and the George Clooney Batman are superior as far as design goes. The Adam West Batman design features several clunky aspects, most prominent being the eyebrows and the white lines on the nose. I also happen to think the design does not have the focus appropriate to constitute an intentional aesthetic. Basically I don't like the gray spandex pants.  It features a large amount of contrast that leads the eye away from the essential's, maybe like the face. Honestly though, it's really hard to say which is the best design, because that implies analyzing a lot about the intention of the design.

I like the New Zack Snyder Batman. And I like the Christopher Nolan Batman. I think the elements of the Zack Snyder Batman really stay consistent with the bat theme, given they are all dark. Christopher Nolan's Batman adds a bit of visual interest with the desaturated yellow belt, without damaging the seriousness of the costume.

^{Also, a note to Tomato, could you add the names of  the poll options under the pictures, because I had to look up each one. It's kind of confusing actually (for me).}

[Tomato]

Fair point on the names, those have now been added. In the future though, please don't do that with your text. I had to copy it to notepad to read it.

That said, you make a good point about there not being a "best" design... most of that is entirely personal preference, but that's why I make these polls in the first place. However, I would counter your argument about Nolan's Batman being more "Definitive" just because the score of the movies on websites are higher... they are the most recent installments, and that's heavily skewed especially given the fact that they are modern websites. If you were to poll people during the "Bat-Mania" of the Adam West era, or during the "Summer of Batman" in 1989, I'm sure the results would be far different. And even if you could go by that alone, a good movie doesn't necessarily mean a good costume. For Example, Winter Soldier is my favorite of the cap movies, but neither the Stealth costume or the WWII outfit is even in my top 3 favorite costumes.

That having been said, the Dark Knight costume is easily one of my favorites. I'm a biiiig proponent of the basic bat logo, and the design is interesting and practical. However, from a purely visual perspective (ignoring my issues with the direction of the franchise), the Zack Snyder look is easily my favorite. It's got a great big Bat-logo, it keeps the gray/black look from the comics, and I'm loving how they incorporated a bit of the metallic color into the gloves and boots.

[bat1987]

Was a big fan of the Burton suit when I first saw the movie. Its a cool look. Dark knight suit while functional and practical is a bit on the boring side for me. Snyder suit looks fantastic and its very close to modern comics look. Voted for that one.

[Podmark]

I went with Nolan (Dark Knight design specifically) for now. Ask me this question again after BvS comes out and I may change my answer.

West Batman suffers a lot from the material used. Extract that to a modern costume designer and ditch the eyebrows and it would be fine.
Keaton's look has never appealed to me for some reason.
I like Schumacher's design better than Keaton's, but still not my favorite.

As a costume I think Nolan's suit looks great. Practical and strong looking. It's not what I think of as Batman in general, but when I think of a film that's the design I imagine.