4. The Sonic Bat-Device
In a scene shamelessly pilfered from Batman: Year One, the movie Batman Begins featured our hero employing a sonar device that called every Bat in the surrounding area towards it. This allowed the Dark Knight to escape capture by the police (both in the movie and the book). The sonic-bat device (for want of a better name) is a small transmitter that Batman keeps in his boot. When operated, the device brings an army of Batmans winged acolytes to help him escape, or make him appear to have supernatural powers. He has used the bats on a number of occasions (Court of Owls, Batman Incorporated) and it is generally considered that, when he needs his bats, he manipulates them with sonar commands from a modified version of this device. Batman also uses similar sonic devices to keep the bats from nesting in the main areas of the Batcave (Haunted Arkham, Off the Menu). The boot-device has been seen rarely, if at all, since its appearance in Year One, but following a centre stage appearance in Batman Begins, we can only hope to see it again soon.