The New Batsuit

This morning, director Zack Snyder tweeted the first picture of the new Batsuit, being worn by Ben Affleck in what will be an amazing performance, forget the naysayers.

I downloaded and played with the levels and contrast in PhotoShop to get a better look at the detail, because the original was all shadowy and sexy.

The first thing I noticed was the stubbier, ears on the cowl.  Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns made a HUGE, HUGE impression on me as a kid.  It was the first comic I read that was not goofy and childish.  That book, more than any other, I think, made me want to read comics forever.  I prefer "short-eared Batman," because of DKR, but also because it calls back to the great, weird, golden age and silver age comics my Dad always got me as a kid, and of course because of the Bill Dozier 1966 TV show starring Adam West that a lot of Batman fans turn their nose up at but that I still love to this day.

It also looks less armor plated.  I get the whole "urban soldier" thing the previous movies were trying to do, but I gotta say, those suits were not exactly superhero-iconic.  I really like how it looks more like a form-fitting suit and less like a bunch of separate plates.  This new suit looks battle-worn and beat up, and I just assume they'll say it's armored.  They do in the comics, and we say "oh, of course it is, it would have to be!" without seeing every seam and plate.  I don't need to see it.  This is BY FAR the most visually appealing suit put on film.  It looks like a comic book.  It looks iconic and superheroic.  It looks like a comic book come to life.

I love that big-ass pouched belt, which I'm sure will still stretch believability with what he can keep in it, but this looks to be the most visually FUNCTIONAL utility belt since...well...the 60s TV show.  I dig the gauntlet scallops being dialed back a bit. Again, just personal preference.  I don't need them to be weapons, they just look sweet and add to the bat motif.

Overall, a big "A" on the suit.  I wasn't a fan of Nolan's Batsuits, but this looks promising.  Very much larger than life and comic-booky, it's not trying so desperately to be "realistic."  I really want to see it in color.  I'm hoping for a gray bodysuit with Black gloves/mask/boots (or maybe a REALLY dark, flat blue, but that'd be harder to pull off, I think.

I'm really excited and positive about Affleck as Batman (apparently me, my wife, and Kevin Smith are the only ones) and I hope this image goes a long way to calm down some of the fans losing their shit over it.