10 Secrets Of The Batmobile Explained

3. The Nineties Movies Batmobiles

Batmobile DC Comics
Warner Bros.

The serials of the 1940s may have first brought the Batmobile to live-action life, and Burt Ward and Adam West may have had their own fan favourite version of the car in the sixties, but Michael Keaton's Dark Knight took things to a whole different level when he rocked up with his own Batmobile in Tim Burton's 1989 Batman picture.

In that film and its follow-up, Batman Returns, Keaton's Bats was cruising around in a car that left jaws agape. It was great, it was sleek, it was cool, it was extremely shiny... and it also came to typify the visual impact Burtons films would leave on Batman as a whole.

Hand sculpted and inspired by the racing cars of the 1950s, this Batmobile is legitimately capable of going from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds in real life - although the back end of the car actually begins to sway and wobble once the vehicle hits 90 mph!

The Batmobile of those two Burton-helmed, Keaton-headlined offerings would also go on to influence the wheels driven around by Kevin Conroy's Dark Knight in the mesmerising Batman: The Animated Series, and the greater DC Animated Universe that spawned from that stunning show.

Elsewhere on the big screen, the Batmobile driven by Val Kilmer's Dark Knight in Batman Forever is able to project a 25-foot flame out of its exhaust, whereas the Batman & Robin vehicle tied to George Clooney's Bats is unique in that it only has one solitary seat inside.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.