Batboat

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The Batboat from Batman: The Movie.
The Batboat from Batman: The Movie.[1]

The Batboat is the fictional personal watercraft of comic book superhero Batman.

Contents

[edit] Comics[2]

In Sub-Level 6 of the Batcave, there's an aqua-dynamic hydrofoil/submersible (otherwise known as the Batboat) on both the navigable Gotham River and the Atlantic Ocean's waters.

[edit] Background

Early in his career, while investigating arms dealers operating along the wharves of Gotham City's Chinatown district, Batman used a prototype Batboat to pursue the fleeing criminals. In what was later regarded as an "extreme measure", Batman destryoed their launch with a bow-mounted flame-thrower.

The first official Batboat made its debut in April 1946 (in Detective Comics #110). The storyline involved Scotland Yard providing Batman and Robin with the boat in order to speed their search for the villainous Professor Moriarty.

[edit] Hydrofoil

To submerge, the Batboat's foils retract to reduce parasitic drag. Its aluminum propellers are driven by sealed AH electrolyte batteries.

[edit] Cockpit

The Batboat displays include state-of-the-art navigation and communication links, an ascent-rate alarm, a dive-time clock, and a safe-ceiling depth meter.

[edit] Offensive weapons

Batboat armaments include a pneumatic harpoon with a high-tensile titanium cable, a launching grapnel that doubles as an anchor, variable-setting depth charges, and a small supply of active-homing torpedoes with heat/motion/vibration target-acquisition specifically designed to target a vehicle's propulsion systems.

[edit] Batskiboat

The Batskiboat[3][4][5][6] (or Bat Skiboat) is darker version of the Batboat. In the 1992 live-action film Batman Returns.[7] Batman uses the jet-powered hydrofoil near the climax of the film to travel through Gotham's sewer system towards the Penguin's lair.

The Batskiboat's[8] design has elements from the film's Batmobile and the figure of a shark. It is a single-seater and has the same extras as the Batmobile, including torpedo launchers. It also has a radar, which can be used by Batman to control each area of Gotham City.

Two Batskiboats were manufactured for Batman Returns: a full-size version 7.6 meters long and 4.9 meters wide, and a model 1.8 meters long and 1.2 meters wide.[citation needed]

[edit] Batstrike

The Batstrike[9]is a neutral-buoyancy undersea scooter. The Batstrike carries submerged speeds in excess of 5 knots.

[edit] Batsub

The Bat-Submersible (or "Batsub") made its debut in May 1949 in Detective Comics #147. Batman and Robin employed the Bat-Sub in order to net Tiger Shark.


The Batsub[10] (or Bat-Sub) is another fictional watercraft along with the Batboat used by the comic superhero Batman for alternative transportation purposes. In the 1995 film Batman Forever, a version of the Batplane is shown to have a cockpit that can transform into a submersible vehicle should the air vehicle be shot down.[11] This mini submarine does not have armament and is only equipped with a search headlight.

Environment systems[12] include CO2-scrubbers and air-conditioning units in the Bat-Submersible's stern. Oxygen tanks provide up to six hours of breathable air. There are also emergency tanks that allow an added twelve hours of life-support. The life-support includes oxygen/helium mixes for deep-water submersion.

[edit] Television and film

[edit] Batman (1966 film)/Batman (TV series)

The first appearance of the Batboat was in the 1966 film Batman: The Movie. It was subsequently used in the 1960s Batman television series. It was created by Glastron Industries.

Mel Whitley and Robert Hammond designed the Batboat from a Glastron V-174. They added a red flashing beacon, glowing eyes, batzooka hatches, seats for both Batman and Robin at the front of the boat, twin wind screens, a center console, an outdrive jet cover, and an aft to deck cover with a glowing Bat-Signal on the tail fin. Although the boat was powered by a Merc Cruiser Chevrolet V-6 and Attwood Corporation manufactured the hardwire, a water squirter and a jet nozzle were added to make the Batboat look like it was nuclear-powered. It took 31 days to build.

Eventually, a replica was built of the Batboat. When the Batman television show was cancelled, Glastron used the two Batboats for promotions on tours. After much touring, the boats were sold. One boat went to a Glastron dealer who was a Shriner. He used it in various Shriner parades. This Batboat was then moved to the Car Stars museum in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

[edit] Batman Returns

A darker version was used in Batman Returns as The Bat Skiboat.[13] Batman uses the vehicle near the climax of the film to travel through Gotham's sewer system towards the Penguin's lair.

[edit] Batman Forever

A second Batboat appears in the film Batman Forever,[14] piloted by Robin, and is quickly destroyed by The Riddler and Two-Face. In the same film, a version of the Batplane is shown to have a cockpit that can transform into a submersible vehicle should the air vehicle be shot down. The Batboat (a jet-powered cigarette boat) from Batman Forever fit within the film's H. R. Giger-inspired biomechanical theme.

[edit] Lego Batman

A hovercraft version of the Batboat is featured in the Lego Batman building toy set 7780 Batboat: the Hunt for Killer Croc.

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Batboat, which was used in the BATMAN movie and a few episodes of the TV show was made by Glastron. The company put a fiberglass cover on and made the front look like the Batmobile. The lights on the front resemble the eyes of a bat and the fin is the tail. The windows were added to be like the Batmobiles as well. Currently the Batboat can be in the Guinness Worlds Records Museum in Gatlinburg TN.
  2. ^ TEC 110 (4/46): In London, Batman and Robin use their first Bat-Boat and defeat Professor Moriarty, an English criminal who models himself on the infamous foe of Sherlock Holmes.
  3. ^ Movies - Batman Returns - Gadgets - Batskiboat
  4. ^ BATMAN-NEWS > Batskiboat
  5. ^ Tombo'z Lego Builds - The Batskiboat (Batboat) from the 1992 movie Batman Returns
  6. ^ Bat Ski Boat from "Batman Returns" (1992)
  7. ^ Batman Returns - Vehicles
  8. ^ This may be the strangest Bat-vehicle of all, as it seems to have no real purpose outside of skimming thru sewers. You have to be rich to have such a specialized vehicle in your fleet..which Bruce Wayne is, of course!
  9. ^ Character Profiles - Gadgets - Batstrike
  10. ^ BatSub: Earlier, in Batman The animated series Batman used a sleek powerboat, the Batboat while pursuing criminals on the water. In the future, The batcar with its hovercraft like properties, can pursue anything on the surface of the water, but it can't go under water. That's where the Batsub comes in. Sleek and equipped with the sate of the art electronics and weapons, the Batsub is the perfect solution to tackle crime under water. It is linked to the batsuit in the same manner as the Batcar.
  11. ^ The cockpit could be transformed into the little bat-sub, which was wholly created by John Dykstra's visual-effects department in cyberspace as a computer-generated image.
  12. ^ Character Profiles - Gadgets - Batboat
  13. ^ Batman Returns - Vehicles
  14. ^ Batman Forever - Vehicles

[edit] External links

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