While Zack Snyder did a great job revealing Ben Affleck's Batsuit in the upcoming Batman vs. Superman last week, it was missing one very important element: color. Because the picture was shot in black and white and in such a shadowy environment, it was hard to tell what kind of shading was going on in the design. Is the Bat symbol going to be the same color as the chestplate? Are the cape and cowl going to be the same color as the rest of the costume? While we don't yet have any photographic evidence just yet, reportedly the answer to these questions can be found in arguably the greatest Batman comic ever written.
Director Kevin Smith, who actually got to see his buddy Affleck in the Batsuit all the way back in November of last year, spoke a bit about the Batman vs. Superman image on the latest episode of his Hollywood Babble-On podcast, and has revealed that if you want to know what the Batsuit will really look like, all you need to do is open up a copy of Frank Miller's graphic novel The Dark Knight Returns. Speaking about Snyder's photo, Smith said,
"That’s not a representation of what the suit looks like. What the suit looks like... and I was always kind of keeping it quiet until they revealed it, but they’ve revealed it. And you can kind of see, and anybody that…you’ve seen some people take the picture and color it online. If you want to see what this fucking suit looks like, you just go to Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, go to the third book, "Hunt the Dark Knight"…it’s the exact fucking outfit he’s wearing. That’s why I hugged that guy all those months ago."
For those of you unfamiliar with the comic, you can see a sample page below:
While the utility belt in Snyder's photo simply looks way too dark to match Frank Miller's work, it's easy to see how the rest gels. It sounds like the bat symbol, the cape, and the cowl will actually very much stand out from the rest of the armor - which will be grey instead of black. It's hard to say if the black underwear will stick around, given that Snyder got rid of Superman's red underwear for Man of Steel.
Update: one of our readers has taken to Photoshop to mock up exactly what the new Batsuit will look like with the proper colorization. You can see it below:
Post by Anudder Cast.
So how does Kevin Smith know all of this? Apparently the photo of Ben Affleck's Batman he was shown back in November was completely different from the one that Zack Snyder' put online last week. Said Smith,
"They put it on a fake rooftop, and they lit it up. But it was in color, and you could see every piece of detail. So I’ve seen some people online go, ‘Why is this fucking suit any different than the Chris Nolan Batsuit? It’s all one fucking color.’ It’s like, ‘Dude, that’s a monochrome photo. You know what that means, one chrome."
The Clerks filmmaker also added a little extra tease about Batman vs. Superman that may actually be more speculation than based in fact. Asked by his co-host Ralph Garman why the new Batmobile looks so much like The Dark Knight Trilogy's Tumbler, Smith said, "What if it’s one of a few Batmobiles? What if that’s one of a few outfits in the movie? I suspect that’s the case."
Hopefully we'll get another look at Ben Affleck's Batman some point in the near future, but otherwise we may just have to settle for waiting for Batman vs. Superman's first trailer.
