Every time a new actor is cast as Batman, an awful lot of emphasis is put on the Batsuit. And when Robert Pattison became the caped crusader, a lot of attention was paid to its resemblance to a bulletproof vest. But Pattinson says it’s not the bulletproof armor that makes his Batman invincible.
When Pattinson entered the DCU, many questioned how he would fare, joining the pantheon of the great Batman actors. One element that Pattinson enjoyed about playing the character was the ‘do-it-yourself’ nature of his Batman suit, gadgets, and armor. But as well as the physical shield that Bruce Wayne puts around himself, Pattinson says that the mental one is more important.
“The suit does not make him invincible; it’s just a few panels of bulletproof armor, and the rest is how much Bruce believes in it and how much his adversaries are scared of it,” he told Epic Theatres via Facebook.
In The Batman, Wayne is portrayed as a loner tinkering with his tools in his basement, something that Pattinson really liked about this version of the character. As he said; “I like the handmade nature of everything where you can see the construction, there’s an element of showing how do-it-yourself this version of Batman is…even the Batmobile looks like something he’s built himself in his basement.”
For the bulletproof vest look of Pattinson’s Batsuit, the costume designers “really looked at stuff from the Vietnam War, military tactical stuff that one guy could put together and allow him to fight better,” producer Dylan Clark told Den of Geek.
Some fans have compared the different feelings invoked by Batman’s invincibility, compared to Superman’s. While the Kryptonian can be viewed as a shield protecting humanity, Batman inspires more feelings of terror and helplessness in those around him than many of the DC villains.
This invincibility is certainly a big part of why Pattinson’s character is mostly known as ‘Vengeance’ in the 2022 movie. He projects an almost suicidal fearlessness, which instills more fear in his enemies than his armor. But we do see at the end of The Batman that Bruce has regained his hopeful look on the world, realizing he can’t just be darkness all the time.