14 DAY TRIAL // A few days ago, before the San Diego Comic-Con 2014 frenzy began, one tabloid rumor that was never verified claimed that Ben Affleck, aka Batman in the upcoming “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” hated the Batsuit because he found it too “restrictive” and too difficult to put on / take off, requiring help at least from one assistant for either task.
The other day, the cape and cowl part of the Batsuit were on show on the Comic-Con exhibition floor, which means that dozens of photos and details on the combo emerged online, reaching fans who did not score access to the convention.
You can see the cape and the cowl in the photo above: reports say that the cape is made from a leather-like material that makes it very elegant and tough-looking at the same time. However, you will notice that it is attached directly to the cowl, which seems to be made of a very inflexible material.
What this actually means, as fans with a very keen eye have pointed out on various forums online, is that Ben Affleck’s Batman (the “Batfleck”) will not be able to turn his head at all, not without turning his entire body in that direction.
So, after a very successful run with Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy, which saw Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader, the Batsuit is returning to the same degree of impracticability it had when Michael Keaton played the part in Tim Burton’s movies, starting with 1989.
The video below showcases all the Bat-turns included in those – and there were quite a lot of them, because of the nature of Batman’s work.
To make matters worse, Nolan worked on the suit and changed it for every one of his three installments, to the point where the one in “The Dark Knight Rises” was actually looking like something a real-life crime-fighter could put on to protect himself from harm, without limiting his movements.
A photo of it is included below, for comparison.
All this said, it’s no wonder fans are again looking for reasons to be unhappy with the direction Snyder’s Batman is taking. First of all, he and Warners cast Affleck for the part (which, some believe, remains the worst casting decision ever).
Secondly, he gave him a Batsuit that will make him move unnaturally, ignoring the progress recorded in previous iterations of the character. That’s like getting up from the computer, where you’re writing an email, and setting about to carving that message in stone.
However, what these angry fans are ignoring (whether on purpose or not) is that this could be just one version of the suit, like a prototype. Just think about how many tries Tony Stark had before he came up with his perfect Iron Man suit. This could be one of those cases… perhaps Bruce Wayne is rebuilding his Batsuit?
Hopefully, more details on it will come out of Comic-Con, where Warners is expected to bring “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice” this weekend. The film doesn’t come out until May 2016.
