WARNER BROTHERS

If you’ll recall, the motion-picture Batmobile has remained fairly similar in form since its introduction in 1989 when Michael Keaton played the Dark Knight—large vertical wings, a huge jet engine sticking out the back, about two inches of ground clearance, and a general cartoony feel. As much as we love it, the Batmobile has been a bit corny since its inception and only got worse as time passed. By the time the Governator was chasing Mr. Clooney around in 1997, Batman’s ride looked like something out of The Fast and the Furious: Gotham Drift .

It’s All About the Tumbler, Baby

In bringing a breath of fresh air to the Batman franchise, Batman Begins director Chris Nolan saw fit to liven up the Batmobile. While trying to bring a more realistic feel to our favorite superhero (don’t tell Superman) and his city, the director realized he needed to build a vehicle to match.

“What I love about Batman is that he has no super powers except for his extraordinary wealth,” Nolan says. “Looking at it from that point of view, if you had limitless financial resources, and therefore a lot of power in material ways, how could you apply that to the creation of some amazing gadgets and crime-fighting techniques?”

The Tumbler, that’s how.

A veteran of 12 James Bond films, special-effects supervisor Chris Corbould is no stranger to bringing automotive dreams to life. Looking more like something out of a military catalog than a comic book, weighing in at about 2.5 tons, and sporting six tires you’d normally find on a lifted Jeep, the new, scratch-built Batmobile—a.k.a. the Tumbler—is still capable of reaching 60 mph from a standstill in a claimed seven seconds flat. Warner Brothers notes that, without the bodywork and “armaments,” it’ll do the deed in five.

This is presumably the work of some sort of engine, but neither Corbould nor Warner Brothers could tell us what powers the Tumbler or Batman’s other Dark Knight ride.

Corbould adds that the Tumbler did all its own stunts. “We did lots of tests so that we could jump it. I think our longest jump was 60 to 70 feet,” he tells us. “We could actually jump this, land, and carry on with the shot.”

As you might have seen in The Dark Knight trailers, Bruce Wayne will continue to ride in style in his Lamborghini Murciélago LP640 when he’s out of costume and in the Tumbler as Batman. However, when times call for something more agile and not so huge, our man now has an alternative.

WARNER BROTHERS

“Will You Be Wanting the Bat Pod, Sir?”

“It’s a two-wheeled vehicle, but it’s definitely not a motorcycle,” Chris Nolan says about the Bat Pod. “In essence, the Bat Pod is to the world of motorcycles what the Tumbler is to the world of cars.”

The original Bat Pod was conceived in Nolan’s garage by himself and production designer Nathan Crowley. With little to go on but an idea, Nolan recalls thinking, “Let’s just go for it. Let’s build it full-size.” So they did.

They constructed the concept out of anything they could find that might fit, so it wasn’t long before they had the basic model made. Then it was again up to Chris Corbould and his team to bring it to life.

Corbould tells us it took awhile to get the vehicle steering right, saying, “That was my main concern as soon as I saw the design of the Bat Pod because the wheels and the tires were very wide on it. What I did was instruct my engineers to very quickly put something together just so we could see what problems we were going to have with the steering.”

Round and Round, or Not

The tread on a motorcycle’s tires is rounded because a bike has to tilt to turn correctly and the tire’s contact patch must tilt with it. Since the Bat Pod’s tires are extremely wide and flat, Corbould’s team was given a daunting task in making it roadworthy. To alleviate some of the handling issues, they began experimenting with shaving the tires down to give them a little more control while turning.

“Originally, we shaved the front and the back tires,” Corbould tells us. But stunt rider Jean-Pierre Goy blew too many rear tires locking up the back wheel and whipping the bike around, so they decided to leave the back tire alone.

In finished form, the Bat Pod is quite amazing to take in. Sporting 40mm cannons, .50-caliber machine guns, and grappling-hook launchers, the Pod is ridden from a prone position and weighs an estimated 1100 to 1300 pounds. It perfectly matches the character of its four-wheeled counterpart. Other noteworthy design features include exhaust that’s ducted through the framework and the steering system, which utilizes inputs from the rider’s arms and shoulders rather than the traditional wrists and forearms.

If you’d like to see the Bat Pod or the Tumbler in person, you’re in luck—both vehicles are touring the U.S. until the film’s release overseas when they will cross the pond for promotions there. If you have the time, check out these beasts in person before going to see The Dark Knight , in theaters and IMAX on July 18.

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