First introduced in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, the Batpod is without doubt one of the coolest vehicles we've ever seen Batman use on the silver screen. It's so cool, in fact, that many a superhero fan would surely love to own their very own version of the motorcycle, regardless of the cost. Obviously this would just be a pipe dream for most, but one person has now managed to make this fantasy a reality- paying more than $400,000 for the bike that was actually used during the filming of The Dark Knight Rises.
The Prop Store, in partnership with the European theater chain Odeon, held an auction this week in London featuring a huge catalog of awesome movie memorabilia from a wide variety of blockbusters, and it was the Batpod that wound up being the biggest sale of the day. Described as the "Hero" version of the prop - which is to say that it's the one created by the production for close-up shots and features the most detail of those constructed - the vehicle wound up going for a total of £312,000, which translates to $406,068.
It was one of three notable Batman-related items up for bid, with the Batsuit from Batman Begins ultimately going for £96,000 ($124,944), and the costume from The Dark Knight Rises selling for a whopping £192,000 ($249,911). While those superhero get-ups had previously been up for auction before, however, this was the first time that the Batpod from The Dark Knight Rises was available for purchase. Other notable sales included a TIE Pilot helmet from Star Wars: A New Hope (£210,00 or $273,423); the Sloth Mask from The Goonies (£36,000 or $46,86); and Harry Potter's Hogwarts acceptance letter, complete with a wax seal (£8,400 or $10,932). By the time the day was over, the full lot of items wound up selling for an impressive total of £1.5 million ($1,952,272).
The press release about the auction doesn't mention any details about the winners of the various items - but I'm hoping that the person with deep pockets who purchased the Batpod has some really big plans for it. Personally, if I had the money to buy Batman's motorcycle, I would build on that purchase by hiring an engineer to construct a version of the Caped Crusader's Tumbler and get the Batpod to fit inside it, just like in The Dark Knight.
If you had the money, do you think you would buy a Batpod for over $400,000? What about any of the other crazy cool props that were up for auction? Hit the comments section below with your thoughts.
