Hey, at least no nipples this time, right?

The Batsuit? No, I don't have strong feelings about the Batsuit. I'm a well adjusted adult with a job and-ok, fine. I'll talk about the new Batsuit. But only because you insisted.

New set photos? Quickly fellow nerds, to the internet! 
We have to let the world know what we would have done differently
and how much better it would have been if we were in charge!

I'm not saying internet rage is
always unjustified, just often.

So set photos of a stunt performer in costume as Batman leaked-is it leaking if it's done deliberately for marketing reasons? Anyway, obsessive Batman fans have taken to the internets to opine about whether it's the greatest interpretation of the character's look ever or whether the film should be shut down immediately and completely reshot with a different costume that better fits the expectations of the loudest (all caps) twitter users. There is no middle ground here.

That said, it's fine. The Batsuit I mean, not our culture of dogpiling on a design choice months or years before a movie is released based on out of context photos. I mean, it's Batman. His costume gets reinvented every time we see him. It's fine, I don't care. As long as the movie isn't a three hour, self-indulgent, grimdark method acting slog, I'll be good.

You heard me. Batman's about a guy in
tights fighting theme crime. It's not Hamlet.

Above: a gif of Micheal
Keaton, demonstrating his
range of motion in costume.

Anyway, Robert Pattinson's Batman costume kind of looks like Christian Bale's suit from the Christopher Nolan movies; all black and tactical-looking. It has no cape which is almost certainly because it's added later as a CG effect. And it's, well, you know, the Batsuit. Or at least a live action version of something that only exists in two-dimensions. And that's got to be tough. On paper, comic artists fudge the design to make it look right at any angle, but I suppose when your putting a person in a foam-rubber suit you don't have that flexibility-literally or figuratively. Batman is sort of famous for ninja flipping around and kicking the shit out of henchmen, which, great, lycra bodysuit. But in live action, whatever he's wearing has to look like it can take a bullet. So it needs to be simultaneously indestructible and lightweight, with total range of motion. Good luck.

Obviously they're all wrong and the 90's
Animated Batman is the best Batman.
But I say, to each their own, right?

Add on to these completely contradictory design parameters the inevitable fan reaction that comes with interpreting someone thing as recognizable as Batman, and it can't be easy. Some people like the more grounded Nolan-trilogy look, others prefer the 'roided out tank look from the Dark Knight Returns comic, while still others want the classic blue and grey from the 1970's. Everyone has a favorite veri-sorry, every obsessed fan has a favorite version of the character so there's no way you're going to make everyone happy.

Especially Robert Pattinson and all the unfortunate stunt performers who have to strap on ninety pounds of immobile rubber body armor for fourteen hours a day and pretend they're fighting the Penguin's goons. They're going to have a rough time no matter what you do.

Pictured: Inevitability.