10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Batman’s Utility Belt
4. A Flirtation With Miniaturization
As the utility belt began to evolve and become a more integral part of Batman’s costume and arsenal, there was a move for his artists at the time to miniaturize as much as possible to get as many tools in the belt as possible. This led to the utility belt design with thin cylinders or capsules on it.
Batman shrank down many of his tools to fit within the ten cylinders that lined the belt. They included a number of smoke, gas, and other pellets, a miniature camera, a small set of lock picks, a laser torch, a fingerprint dusting kit, an infrared flashlight, and his rebreather. This, of course, is just an average listing of what Bats might carry at any given time, and he would often change items to fit a specific situation.
The cylinders were not the only places on the belt to store items, as the Batarangs were stored in a pouch in the back of the belt. The Batrope runs from inside the belt and through the belt buckle. The spaces between the cylinders are also compartments that hold a considerable amount of equipment, including a medical kit, anti-toxins, an interface to the Batcomputer, controls to his various vehicles, or mission-specific equipment like defoliants, de-icers or antidotes for Joker Venom.