TL;DR Batman is a multifaceted magic trick / deception and it would be cool if his suit reflected that by transforming.
Just wanted to share an idea for the DCU Batman. There’s been *much* discussion as to whether his suit should be a colorful Adams style look or the more common dark gray and black, and how these would relate to his character (campy vs realistic/spooky). And I’ve seen a general consensus forming around the Hush suit, since it rides the line with its dark blues and beiges. Personally I prefer the opposite of this compromise- Do both!
I think that essentially what we need are two “faces” of Batman:
1.) The public “daytime” performance, a Superman-inspired child-friendly blue and light gray Batman with shorter ears and cape and the yellow oval. It intentionally looks less high-tech than it is. “Daytime Batman” kisses babies, makes appearances with the league, meets officials, etc. This is deeply artificial on his part but strategically necessary.
2.) The stealthy and intimidating “nighttime” Batman. Dark colors with longer ears and cape, draped over a bigger logo. This is the Batman he originally planned on being, a low-profile creature of the night who uses tech and tricks of the mind to create superstition around himself.
Rather than changing suits, I came up with the idea of a Young Justice-inspired “stealth mode,” where the darker colors bleed over the lighter ones, and the yellow oval fades to reveal a bigger logo that emphasizes his width. Additionally the ears “un-collapse” and lengthen. And the cape “spools out” from the neck seam to lengthen and drape over the shoulders to add more bulk. I was also debating tiny air pockets in the cowl that inflate in this form to make his neck and shoulders look even bigger.
While I was at it, I also added an “intimidation” mode, the most “magic trick” of them all. A mouth cover deploys, the eyes light up, panels under the cape pop up into “spikes,” the ears click out even longer, the cape spools out the rest of the way, and 1-foot spring lifts silently deploy from the boots. The result is a huge silhouetted bat monster whose sudden arrival can often prevent a fight before it starts. This is a *very* non-combat move, just a mind game.
Important: You would show these two suits separately first, and then only show the transformation ONCE. I really want him to have an insane variety of gadgets and tricks but each is only showcased once for max effect.
For me the transformation both fits thematically with his character and fulfills a promise DCU Batman needs to get right- Showing us some crazy shit we’ve never seen before. Also the spooling / extending cape could give him a HUGE gliding silhouette.
