In certain circumstances and situations, the Batman needs more than just his utility belt and fancy vehicles to take down the bad guys. That goes double for when he's on missions with the rest of the Justice League where they're confronting otherworldly threats. Battling the likes of Two-Face and the Penguin in Gotham City is one thing and taking on cosmic starfish and deranged New Gods is quite another.
In times of great danger, Batman is not opposed to wielding his own set of tech-based (and sometimes supernatural) superpowers and swooping in Superman-style to save the day. Over the last few years, particularly during the Scott Snyder/Greg Capullo run on the flagship Batman title, The Dark Knight has deployed some awesome battle armor and we're counting down the 10 most powerful instances. Continue on to see where your favorite Batarmor ranks.
10.) The Suit of Sorrows
Debuting in 2008, in Detective Comics” #838 in 2008 from Paul Dini and Ryan Benjamin, this costume originates as a gift from Tahlia al Ghul to combat her father. Initially skeptical, the Dark Knight dons the armor only to discover that it makes him stronger and faster. The catch? The costume has mystical properties stemming from its creation during the Crusades in 1190. In addition to giving Batman greater physical prowess, it also made him much more violent.
Realizing this, Batman eventually stopped wearing the armor, stowing it in the Batcave for emergency use only. It would eventually be stolen by the Order of Purity and given to a new Azrael. After the events of the New 52, the Suit of Sorrows was retconned to become a tech-based suit with an artificial intelligence that acted as a "second brain".
9.) Batman Beyond suit
Created by Bruce Timm, Paul Dini, and Alan Burnett in 1999 for the (ahead-of-its-time) Batman Beyond animated series, the Dark Knight went full tech with a costume that augmented his strength, gave him rocket-propelled flight and even invisibility. The side effect was that the suit placed an incredible strain on an aging Bruce Wayne's heart, causing him to shut down the Batcave and admit defeat in his war to end crime in Gotham City. There were a million little hearts broken back in '99 when Kevin Conroy delivered the line, "Never again."
However, a teenage Terry McGinnis would stumble upon Bruce's most closely guarded secret and convince him to train him to continue on Batman's legacy. Over the years, the costume has made several appearances in DC Comic titles and crossovers and is now considered canon.
8.) Court of Owls - Thrasher Batsuit
The 2012 Court of Owls series from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo saw Batman battered and nearly broken by a mysterious secret organization that claimed to have controlled Gotham from the shadows ever since its founding. Things get especially weird when the shadow organization reveals their use of undead ninjas that are kept cryogenically frozen until given a target to assassinate.
A group of these unearthly foes targeted the Caped Crusader in the Batcave, where he deployed the Thrasher suit, a Batsuit of his own design capable of subduing the Court's assassins with their lone weakness, subzero temperatures. In addition to freezing its targets with cryogenic Batarang bombs, the Thrasher suit can also emit electric shocks and fire EMP blasts.
7.) Project Batman - Commissioner Gordon's Superheavy Suit
Following the events of the 2014 six-issue story arc Joker: Endgame, Gotham is left without a Batman. That's when Powers International (an outrider of Derek Powers of Batman Beyond fame) and the Gotham City Police Department began their Project Batman program and placed Jams Gordon inside a two-layer Batman costume.
The first layer is a fiber-reinforced undersuit made of experimental components while the outer layer is a mechanical exo-suit armed with night vision, thermal imagining, rocket-propelled gliding, armor-piercing cannons, a variety of gas-based nonlethal projectiles and a lizard-like camouflage mode. Gordon referred to his exo-suit as "Rookie" but comic book fans took to calling it the "Bat-Bunny" due to its rabbit-like antennas.
6.) DC One Million Batsuit
Debuting in 1998's JLA #23, the issue features a Batman from the 853rd Century who was born on Pluto and rose up to overthrow a Joker-like tyrant cruelly enslaving the planet's populace with the threat of a "Laughing Virus".
Taking the ancient Gotham City hero's mantle, the futuristic suit featured collapsible armor that far exceeded the durability and protection of the original costume. The cowl also contained an incredibly powerful Batcomputer that could project holograms and operated the suit's night vision, flight, and camouflage mode. In the DC One Million Batman's first encounter with Bruce Wayne, he effortlessly disabled the Caped Crusader with one blow.
5.) Superman Unchained's Stealth Suit
In the 2013's Superman Unchained limited series from Scott Snyder and Jim Lee, Bruce develops a suit that would allow him to go toe-to-toe with Superman should he ever go rogue.
However, instead of the usual tactic of designing a Batsuit that would be a physical match for the Man of Steel, Batman designs a costume that would let him hide from Supes - no matter what tactics or abilities Superman uses, the costume automatically reacts and adjusts.
There are few things scarier in the DC Comics Universe than a Batman that you can't see. The suit seemed specifically designed for all those fanboys who said Superman would just use his Heat Vision no Batman before he ever got close with any kryptonite.
4) Dark Knight Returns/ Batman v Superman Armor
One of the most iconic armored Batsuits, the armor is worn by Batman in Frank Miller's 1986 The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel served as the inspiration for the armor created by Bruce Wayne in Zack Snyder's 2016 film, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
The comic version was much more powerful, allowing The Dark Knight to trade blows with Superman BEFORE he was weakened by kryptonite. In addition to greatly augmenting his strength, the costume also sprays acid, is durable enough to withstand blows from Superman's full-strength and can also emit strong electric shocks.
3.) The Justice Buster aka Fenrir
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's run on Batman saw a number of different Bat armors and costumes deployed by an unwavering Caped Crusader. One of the most powerful armors worn by The Dark Knight was in 2014's Batman: Endgame, which saw Bruce don the Justice Buster aka Fenrir.
Who else but Batman would be prepared to take on and defeat the Justice League when they're turned against Batman by the Joker and his Joker Venom.
Its built-in functions allows Batman to dehydrate Aquaman, catch The Flash in a frictionless foam (the built-in Batcomputer maps Flash's movements before he gets up to full speed), take out Cyborg with an EMP tree, a "citrine neurolizer" for Green Lantern (it's never explained what this actually is) and gauntlets that emit microscopic Red Suns with every punch thrown at Superman.
As for Wonder Woman, the only League member with no real weakness, the suit deploys a magical artifact called the Bind of Veils, which tricks Wonder Woman into believing she's one their fight before a punch is ever thrown. Against other foes, the Justice Buster might not prove as useful, then again, someone as resourceful as The Dark Knight would probably just deploy its many functions in unorthodox manners and still come out victorious.
2.) Batman and Robin Hellbat Armor
In 2014's Batman and Robin #33 from Peter J.Tomasi and Patrick Gleason, Batman must shake off his fellow Justice League members trying to stop him from embarking on a suicide mission to Apokolips to recover the dead body of his son, Damien. What sets this particular Batsuit apart from other renditions is the fact that it was made by his fellow Justice Leaguers instead of the Dark Knight himself.
The armor was hardened at the heart of a dying star by Superman, forged in Olympus by Wonder Woman, designed with impeccable technical precision by Cyborg and tempered at unimaginable depths by Aquaman and in the Speed Force by The Flash. It also has a chaos shard in its chest that allows the suit to absorb energy blasts (even Darkseid's omega beam) and redirect it at Batman's attacker. While wearing the armor, Batman is strong enough to knockout Kalibak with one punch. For added style effect, the nano kinetic armor assembles on Batman like a swarm of bats by saying the keyword to a built-in A.I. computer.
The drawback to this all-powerful armor is that it's powered by the metabolism of its wearer and prolonged use will result in death. A civilian Lois Lane even dons the armor at one point and manages to go toe-to-toe with the Eradicator.
1.) The Insider Suit
There are Batman suits and then there's the Insider Suit. Created in 2010, Batman had just returned to present day after the events of Final Crisis to discover that Dick Grayson had taken up the cape-and-cowl in his absence. Fabian Nicieza and Cliff Richards created the armor in Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batman and Robin” #1 which allowed Bruce to observe how Grayson had been leading the Batfamily in his absence.
Another suit that took inspiration from the Justice League, Bruce used designs for Professor Ivo's Amazo to create armor capable of emitting Superman's Heat Vision blast, access the Speed Force, turn invisible like Martian Manhunter, detect lies via an electrified rope that mimicked Wonder Woman's lasso of truth and a willpower activated energy blast similar to Green Lantern. The suit could also teleport by using the Justice Leauge satellite's teleporter.
The catch was that each ability had a lengthy recharge time after every single use. Still, someone as dangerous as Batman likely doesn't need multiple chances to seize victory.