5. Batmobile from Super Powers toy line
To say that I played with this toy a lot when I was a kid would be like saying there was a lot of oil spilled into the Gulf of Mexico this summer. Many a day would Batman and Robin arrive on the scene in this baby. Perhaps The Joker had teamed up with Dr. Doom and Skeletor and they were holding hostages. Before the bad guys knew what was happening, the battering ram would take out Skeletor, Dr. Doom would be in the clutches of the rear grappling claw and Robin would vault his way out of the passenger seat to land a well placed boot to the Joker's ample chin. All in a day's work, chum.
4. Flying Batmobile from Batman and Robin
The perfect Batmobile for the (post) modern age.
3. Batmobile from Batman: The Animated Series
Clearly influenced by the Batmobile of the Tim Burton movies, I loved how kind of ridiculously long the original animated Batmobile appeared to be. It was like Batman was driving a submarine around Gotham City.
2. Batmobile from Batman
In many ways, the Batmobile from the 1966 show Batman is the quintessential Batmobile. It's certainly the most famous (it never fails to draw a crowd at a comic book convention), the most iconic, and the one people tend to think of when they think of the Batmobile. I love its sleek pop art 60s design. If I ever hit it super rich it's the only Batmobile I want to own.
1. Batmobile from 1940s
My favorite all-time Batmobile is the 1940s version that was basically a standard sedan with a giant fin attached to the roof and a terrifying bat head on the front. Seriously, that thing is scary! Imagine you're pulling a late night warehouse job with Clancy and the boys and you see that thing speeding its way right at you. Giant bat head coming right for you; its yellow eyes piercing through the smoke billowing out of a near-by manhole. You'd pee your pants. I would too. There have been many versions of the bat head Batmobile (notably the sci-fi influenced bubble top version from the 1950s) but this one remains my favorite.
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Some rights reserved.
I’ll always love the batmoblie from TAS. It fit the show perfectly.
No Tumbler? I also dig the one from the 7os that is essentially just like a muscle car with a bat head painted on the hood.
Gotta go with the 1966 one as well, the classic. You didn’t like the Tumbler? Would be interesting to compare all of the ones from the movies, they were all pretty elaborate and complex.
There’s a Batmobile Owner’s Manual from 2008 by Mike McAvennie that looks like a collector’s item, was gonna give it as a gift to my bro, but went with something else instead.
The original Michael Keaton Batmobile is what I always think of as definitive.
I had a michael keaton toy batmobile car that allowed you to put michael in the car and then a switch changed him to the batman figure so for me I agree with @s1lentslayer.
I still have the Super Powers batmobile, and I’ve even been letting my 5-year-old son play with it, but I have to tell him to be REALLY CAREFUL with it!
hmmm, two out of three Batmobiles have Robin with them, AND he drives in the 40s. I guess Bats was pretty lax on the underage driving back in the day.
I had completely forgotten about the Super Powers Batmobile. Oh man, that was a fantastic toy.
The flying Batmobile is just… redundant. That’s what the Batwing is for.
Man I dont know how many countless hours were spent with the Super Powers Batmobile. Now my daughter has it and plays with it all the time.
The Batmobile from the Animated Series is still the one I picture whenever I hear "Batmobile".
While I loved the Super Powers one as a kid, I did love the 1989 movie one. Being 10 when that movie came out, it changed my world and I’ll always have a fondness for that one.
I had a Batmobile toy from Returns that did that cool little splitting off the sides thing that was pretty cool. My childhood was also in full swing during Batman Forever and I have to say that batmobile toy was my absolute favorite.
I also love the teamups mentioned when you said you were playing with toys. I was weird so I only played in one universe at a time. Since I had all sorts of toys I would have Jurassic Park guys, or the Xanos figure from Gargoyes double as characters I didn’t have.
Did that kid’s parents buy him a city?
This article made me want to read the entire wiki for the batmobile. favorite line of the whole thing
"As the Batman films were handed over to director Joel Schumacher from Tim Burton, the design for the Batmobile became increasingly fanciful."
@Franktiger: I like the Tumbler.
the flying batmobile is incredibly stupid. not a car! just this A-hole’s opinion though.
I like the 70s batmobile that was pretty much just a corvette.
I totally forgot about that Super Powers Batmobile, but I had one too and played with it non-stop. Totally beat the Superman-buggy thing!
BTAS batmoblie, like many things from the series, is always my vision of the car. But Quitely’s new take on it is a very close second.
There is no wiki article for the Batwing. Despite it’s appearance in the movies and the animated series there is nothing. Batplane and Batcopter though. lame
false alarm, the batwing is mentioned in one paragraph for the movie and one for the show, no pictures either. not an outrage but still pretty lame
No Bat Tank from Dark Knight Returns? The correct list was that and four others 🙂 (Actually I like the whole list but wouldn’t have had number 4 myself…)
Specifically this: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hvBsDbuV_Ng/S6BYBJ05KQI/AAAAAAAABrU/94zPSY7Zc1M/s320/FMDKBatmobile.jpg
The only good thing about the Tumbler is that it has the most potential to be a Transformer.
Great list Conor. My favorite Top 5 yet. And thank you so much for that commercial. I have a lot of fond memories of that toy and I was thrilled to see it on this list as it’s always been one of my favorite designs. Still have it in fact. A close Second would be the Adam West Batmobile. But my number one would be TAS. It’s just so iconically simple. I probably would’ve replaced the B&R and 40s designs with the Tumbler and Burton’s. But that’s just me. Well done.
Tim Burton’s batmobile is clearly superior to all of the others. I haven’t seen any before or since transform into an armadillo. I also thought the voice commands and machine guns were nice touch.
the 40’s batmobile is so cool – is that robin driving…how old is he?
Am I the only person here who likes the current flying batmobile?
Now we’re talking! I am a Batmobile collector (really all the Bat-vehicles) and was excited to see this listing. And an excellent opportunity to impose my opinions on the good readers of ifanboy!
5. Batman Forever Batmobile – Sue me, I liked it.
4. Batman: TAS Batmobile – Long, lean, and wicked.
3. The Tumbler – Unique and totally different from the other more hot-rodded designs.
2. Batman movie (1989) Batmobile – This is an elegant, classy design that has really been influentual on subsequent designs (except for the recent films).
1. 1966 TV Batmobile – What a car. It combines the best of 60’s muscle cars with the futuristic gadgetry you’d expect. Ahh, the chrome pipes, the bubble canopies… I have a photo of myself and my kids sitting in one of the convention replicas of this car, but I won’t inflict that on you…
So, none from the comics, actually. I think most of the better ones were influenced by TV/film. I’m not a fan of the flying one from the Batman and Robin comic – this isn’t the Jetsons!
BTW, really detailed web site at http://www.batmobilehistory.com/index.php
Nothing beats the 1966 Batmobile! I remember in the opening of the TV series, seeing it shoot flames from it’s jet engine in the back! oh, and it had red bats on the rims!awesome!
@GloriousGodfrey: Nope! 🙂
I love that toy one! It does all the awesome Batmobile stuff! Also, I like Lex Luthors “C-3PO arms” feature…
I love that Robin is driving the 1940’s Batmobile so that Batman can stay poised to punch fleeing criminals in the back of the head as they drive by. That’s crime fighting on the go! “No time to pull over and engage these thugs , Robin. Just get as close as you can. Up on the sidwalk a little bit is fine, old chum.”
I remember i had handed down toy of the 60’s Tv show batmobile. It was made out of tin and had these weird pipe things in the back.
it was designed so that you could actually put matches (preferably on fire) in these pipes and wind a spring until they shot into the air.
Awesome. i wish i knew where that thing is
I, too, would like to see more love for the Tumbler.
Side note: I got to sit in one of the Batmobiles used in the 60’s show (it was brought to Aus in the late 60s for some publicity thing).
This is the kind of post thatI love.
I have to agree that the flying Batmobile is redundant- plus it looks like a clown car the way Quitely conceived it- what is that a kia??
Best batmobile in both presence and obvious technology application is def Tim Burton/Animated series Batmobiles.
Hands down.
My fav is the Batman Forever Batmobile, then the B:TAS one, and then the one from the 70’s that was just Bruce Wayne’s Porsch that no one seemed to notice Batman was already driving around.