Matt Reeves’ Batmobile Is Badass, But ‘Absolute Batman’ Took Things Completely Off the Rails
Matt Reeves officially kicked off production on The Batman Part II yesterday, sharing a pair of behind-the-scenes monitor shots that immediately sent fans into detective mode. And fittingly, the very first thing we see rolling into action is the Batmobile itself. Because no matter who’s under the cowl, no matter what version of Gotham we’re stepping into, the Batmobile is always one of the most important weapons in Batman’s arsenal.
Every generation has its favorite. For a lot of fans, it’s still Tim Burton’s 1989 Batmobile, that long, gothic nightmare machine. It was sleek, theatrical, and completely unique to Burton’s vision. Then the films evolved. Christopher Nolan gave us the Tumbler, basically a military tank crashing through Gotham. Zack Snyder turned it into an armored war machine. Every filmmaker bends the Batmobile to fit their version of Batman.
And that’s exactly why Matt Reeves’ Batmobile works so damn well.
Instead of giving us another hyper-military tank, Reeves stripped it down into this terrifying muscle car monster. It’s heavily inspired by late-60s and early-70s muscle cars, particularly a Dodge Charger and Plymouth Barracuda, but modified into something that feels less like a superhero vehicle and more like a street racer from hell.
Speaking with Empire, Matt Reeves explained exactly what he was going for with the vehicle, noting, “I wanted the Batmobile to feel like a creature from a horror movie.” He later expanded on that inspiration while speaking with The Playlist, saying the car was heavily inspired by Christine and describing it as “this sort of monstrous car.”
And honestly? That’s exactly what makes it so badass.
But speaking of monsters…
You guys already know where I’m going with this. I can’t help myself. I’m obsessed with Absolute Batman.
And unlike a lot of websites suddenly pretending they care about the book because they discovered it gets clicks, I genuinely love this series. I’ve been screaming about it since day one because it feels dangerous, weird, violent, and completely unlike anything DC has done in years.
Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta basically injected manga insanity directly into Absolute Batman. The series pulls from Berserk, horror films, The Thing, Hellraiser, Evil Dead, all of it. Every issue escalates into something more grotesque and more intense, and somehow they keep topping themselves.
Which brings us to one of the coolest Batmobiles ever created.
In the Absolute Batman universe, Bruce Wayne isn’t a billionaire. He’s blue-collar. He’s a massive working-class bruiser who survives off grit, intelligence, engineering skills, and sheer force of will. Meanwhile, Joker and the elites are the ones with the money and power in this universe. So naturally, Bruce doesn’t build a sleek supercar.
He builds a goddamn war machine out of a dump truck.
The Batmobile first appeared in Absolute Batman #2 before its full origin was explored in Absolute Batman Annual #1.
And yes, it’s literally a gigantic modified dump truck.
Not metaphorically. Not aesthetically. An actual hulking construction vehicle that Bruce steals from a group of white supremacist extremists before converting it into the most absurdly oversized Batmobile imaginable.
This thing is enormous. Two stories tall. Covered in armor plating. And when it shows up in the comic, it feels like a horror movie creature smashing through the page. (There’s a sequence where Batman uses it during a massive escape, and the entire thing just bulldozes through Gotham like an unstoppable industrial beast.)
Then the newer issues somehow crank things up even further.
The redesigned Batmobile that reappears later in the series moves less like a truck and more like some giant acrobatic death machine. It twists between buildings, flips through tight spaces, and even confuses the police. Harley Quinn nicknames it the “Bat-Nasty,” which honestly fits perfectly because the thing barely even resembles a car anymore.
And honestly, that’s why both Reeves’ Batmobile and Absolute Batman’s Batmobile work so well; they aren’t trying to copy the past, they’re trying to reflect who Batman is in those worlds.
Reeves gave us a young, angry Batman who built a terrifying muscle car out of rage and obsession. Absolute Batman gave us a working-class Bruce Wayne who weaponized industrial machinery and turned a dump truck into a rolling nightmare.
Both are absolutely fucking badass.
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