Batman has used many variations of the Bat-shaped glider over the years but which versions of the Batplane and Batwing are the best?
Batman has his many ways of getting around. He cruises through the streets of Gotham City in the Batmobile, embarks on high-speed chases on the Batbike (or BatCycle) and rides on the waves via the Batboat. However, when it’s time to take to the skies, he calls upon the Batwing.
Normally shaped like a bat (the most iconic being shaped like Batman’s own bat emblem), the Batwing has had many incarnations over the years. There have also been other variations of his aircraft, including the Batplane or the lesser-known Batcopter.
The bad guys in Gotham City know that Batman can get to them by land, by sea, or by air, and the Batwing might be the most effective of them all. It has been used in different stories to take down The Joker’s criminal parade, do battle with Man-Bat in the skies, or take the fight to an alien invasion.
Batman’s aircrafts have found their way into his many movie and TV appearances. So, with all of that in mind, let’s rank all of the versions of the Batwing, Batplane, Batjet or Batcopter to appear on the big and small screens.
There have been quite a few variations, so prepare yourselves…
9. The Batplane (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice)
The DC Extended Universe gave Batman a lot of fire power right out of the gate and Ben Affleck’s Dark Knight got to show it all off in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. If he wasn’t chasing down bad guys (or running into Superman) in his unstoppable Batmobile, he was unleashing round after round on Doomsday from the skies in his Batplane.
The Batplane design is very unique to the DCEU and it mirrors the Batmobile in that it’s both incredibly sleek and yet also monstrously large. In fact, the tailfin design on the back of the main body is identical to the DCEU Batmobile, with two larger fins housed on each wing.
Speaking of the wings, they aren’t jagged like their Batwing counterparts. Instead, they extend outwards and they both join in front of the main body of the vehicle to form a holster for one of its primary weapons. This bridge-like structure is also used by Batman as a launching pad whenever he exits the plane and jumps into the warehouse to save Martha.
This Batplane is a great design that works perfectly for the world of the DCEU, even if it lacks a little bit of the character of some of its counterparts.
8. The Batcopter (Batman 1966)
Throwing it way back to a rare gem in the Batman media that even the most devoted Bat-fan might overlook from time-to-time, and that is the Batcopter. While it sounds, looks, and operates like a device exclusively made for the 1966 Batman TV series, you can rest assured that it was also a part of the Caped Crusader’s comic book lore, first showing up in 1951 – 15 years before its screen debut.
It made the jump to live-action in Batman: The Movie (1966); the cinematic spinoff of the classic TV series, starring Adam West and Burt Ward. As was the case back then, more money was spent on the movies, and so the Batcopter was one of the many new gadgets the Dynamic Duo had at their disposal in the super-sized showdown.
It was essentially a Bell 47 helicopter with a red and black paint job, the bat symbol painted onto its front and base, and a giant pair of bat wings stuck onto each side of it. And it worked perfectly in the outlandishly brilliant world of Batman ’66, gifting the film adaptation with the larger-than-life feel that it needed to differentiate itself from the series.
We wish we got to see more of it throughout the show’s run (outside of the additional footage that was shot for the film) but the Batcopter made a lasting impression.
7. The Batwing (The Batman)
No, Robert Pattinson did not use the Batwing in the 2022 Matt Reeves film The Batman, but the Caped Crusader did call upon it in the 2004 animated series of the same name. This is another opportunity for me to remind y’all that The Batman is a seriously underrated aspect of the Dark Knight’s legacy and deserves more love.
The show made full use of the hero’s arsenal of gadgets and vehicles but the Batwing is one of its more overlooked additions. It made its first appearance when Batman went up against Maxie Zeus, and that makes sense as he needed something that could cruise through the skies.
To say this Batwing had a unique look would be an understatement. There were no pointed Bat ears at the front of it as it opted for a more rotund look. Batman would sit in the central pod (which had a retractable seal at the forefront), while there were two large rounded wings on either side for navigation, each one pointing out towards the back of the vehicle.
It was an unusual look but admirably different from what we had seen before, and yet another reminder that The Batman was out here trying its own thing and thriving.
6. The Batplane (The New Batman Adventures)
When Batman: The Animated Series returned for additional episodes in 1997, it was given something of a visual overhaul so that it could resemble the style of Superman: The Animated Series. Thus, The New Batman Adventures was born and with it came a number of redesigned elements, including the Batwing.
A completely new vehicle, the Batplane was no longer shaped like a bat in the same way that its predecessor was. In fact, it was more of a traditionally-shaped aircraft, with a long rounded body that was shaped more like a rocket than anything else. It featured two pointed tailfins and thicker, shorter wings towards its back, allowing its long front to be the primary attribute of the vehicle in the same way that it is for the Batmobile.
What’s interesting is that Batboat used in The New Batman Adventures also boasts a similar design, looking nothing like its predecessor in Batman: The Animated Series and also featuring that long rocket-like body. It was obviously a fixture of the vehicles in this chapter of the DCAU and it’s understandable because they certainly pulled it off.
The Batplane may not have had the same character as the Batwing, but it was a memorable look that held its own nonetheless.
5. The Bat (The Dark Knight Trilogy)
Christopher Nolan’s iconic The Dark Knight Trilogy is known for reinventing a lot of the Batman lore, including the legendary Batmobile (which adopted a more armored, bulky look). The same can be said for the Caped Crusader’s aircraft.
Neither the Batwing nor the Batplane directly appeared in the trilogy, but the third movie in the saga – The Dark Knight Rises – did feature a unique aircraft that felt totally at home in the more grounded and realistic world that Nolan had created. Nicknamed “The Bat”, this vehicle was introduced by Lucius Fox to assist Batman in getting some air superiority.
The hero no longer had the Batmobile at his disposal after The Joker destroyed it in the previous movie, but The Bat was essentially the same vehicle for the skies. Adopting a similar armored and bulky look, the craft was deceptively lightweight and it featured a rotor mounted to the underneath of its body, which propelled it upwards into the skies of Gotham (and allowed it to seamlessly veer between buildings).
It also featured a lot of fire power and allowed Batman to take down Bane and the League of Assassins in the war for Gotham, giving the GCPD a major assist in winning the final battle.
4. The Batwing (The Flash)
Michael Keaton’s return as Batman in The Flash brought with it a host of his iconic catchphrases, gadgets, and vehicles. We saw the legendary Batmobile that he drove through the streets of Gotham City in Batman and Batman Returns but his primary means of transport in this movie came in the form of the Batwing. The bigger, badder, bolder Batwing, that is.
The Batwing seen in The Flash is spiritually the same as the one Keaton’s Dark Knight used in Batman, but there are some differences. For starters, it’s much larger than its 1989 counterpart as it takes up almost all of the big screen everytime it is in focus. Its wings are also much less curved, with the design opting for more of a Batplane look than the iconic Batman ’89 emblem shape of its predecessor.
It also features a much more interactive experience for the pilot and passengers as the cockpit could rotate within the canopy, allowing for emergency exits from underneath if necessary – something Batman made use of during his war with Zod’s army in The Flash.
While the more contemporary look removed a little of the character in the design of this Batwing, it was still a believable upgrade that looked amazing on-screen. It was the same, but different.
3. The Batwing (Batman Forever)
The Batwing returned for its second live-action appearance in 1995’s Batman Forever. It was perfectly at home in the colorful adventure as the franchise became more of a toyetic property when Joel Schumacher took over as director, and the Batwing was one of the multiple vehicles in that movie primed for the merchandise.
The vehicle itself was much longer than its previous movie adaptation (in Tim Burton’s Batman), resembling Forever‘s own Batmobile and Batboat designs. The main body of the Batwing was identical to both, in fact, even featuring the same pointed tailfin seen on both vehicles. Its front had also been streamlined, with the flatter Bat-ears bearing something of a similarity to the Batwing design from Batman: The Animated Series.
Like everything in Batman Forever, it was given a “cooler” design, with that same blue fluorescent light seen within the Batmobile also radiating from the main body of the Batwing and the edges of the wings. Its wings also curved inward, giving it an all-around sharper, more Bat-like, look.
It was sleek, it was stylish and it was pretty darn cool. What was also pretty cool was the fact that Batman could disengage the wings to turn it into a makeshift submarine boat when he needed to. He really does think of everything.
2. The Batwing (Batman 1989)
Next up we have the original Batwing. We are, of course, talking about the version that appeared in Tim Burton’s 1989 game-changer Batman.
While the Caped Crusader had a Batplane in the comics, this is the movie that introduced us to the Batwing variation of it. A large aircraft in the shape of a bat, it was instantly recognizable as the Dark Knight’s vehicle. The body of the craft extends to form the iconic bat ears while the large wings are rounded in the shape of Batman’s own bat emblem. Like the Batmobile, it also features two jagged tailfins just behind the sliding canopy, while its back end features three more pointed edges (to again resemble the iconic bat emblem).
It makes its first appearance in the final act of Batman, when the Dark Knight uses it to destroy The Joker’s poisonous balloons. That first shot, in which it triumphantly glides onto the screen and spins just enough in both directions so that you can see it in all its glory, is nothing short of cinema. And it was a welcome debut for a vehicle that was so iconic it would be welcomed into the wider Batman lore shortly afterwards.
This is what the Batwing should look like.
1. The Batwing (Batman: The Animated Series)
If you mention the Batwing to a DC fan, there is a pretty good chance that they might instantly think of the one seen in Batman: The Animated Series. It’s the definitive version of the vehicle for a whole generation of fans who grew up watching that show, and like so many of its creations, it’s among the most iconic, too.
Fundamentally, it’s the same idea as the original Batwing seen in the 1989 movie in that it’s essentially a giant Bat-shaped aircraft, but its design differs from that one a great deal. It’s larger, longer, flatter and sharper. The Bat ears at the head of the vehicle extend well beyond its body, but even they are dwarfed by the giant pointed wings that protrude from each side of it.
Its huge, yes, but it doesn’t look overly bulky or unappealing, with its sleek texture and thin wings making it perhaps the most visually appealing of all the Batwings. It also makes it effectively aerodynamic, which provides us with many aesthetically-pleasing moments in the series when it majestically weaves in and out of buildings, clouds, or anything else in its path.
Like everything it tackled, Batman: The Animated Series built upon greatness and delivered something every bit as iconic as its own source material.
Which version of the Batwing is your favorite? Do you prefer the Batplane or the Batcopter?