Real-Life Batman: Arkham City Costume

"Arkham Asylum Suit" by Batpirisss

This may well be the most amazing "home" made costume ever.  He doesn't quite have the physique to pull off the costume, but he sure gets an "A" for attention to detail. This photo gallery is nearly unbelievable. At first glance, I thought the photo above was a CG model.

"Wanted to show a project we completed recently. A group of us had been talking for years about what we always wanted to see done on screen for the Bat franchise. After the game design came out we decided to approach it with that end result in mind.

All of us agreed that this was the best movie suit never done as well as the entire game being the film we all wanted to see. And there were so many aspects to it, including the illusive blue and gray of the new city suit, that we wanted to tackle. Some of the goals on the suit were that we wanted the pieces to be accurate like they walked right off the screen. The whole suit would need to be proportioned to the point that all the pieces worked together to complete the image of the character design. This was tricky due to the fact that no human being in the world is the shape of that guy. Especially the cowl. Also the cross texture of the entire suit must be included and it has to run synced up on all panels as the game suit does, so that all lines intersect at an X throughout the entire suit.

We wanted to achieve the right colors and needed them to change dramatically from one light source to another, like the game suit does. Especially the new game where you see a brighter blue cowl in one light and then a seemingly black cowl in another. This went for the gray also as it needed to go dark and also reflect the greens that they used in the game. The whole suit is weathered to match the grittiness of the game suit and made to be worn. We wanted to follow the same basic design of the movie suits meaning separate sizeable torso, legs, etc… all mounted on an undersuit so that anyone could have it tailored to them the same way the movie pieces can be sized. The briefs were done separate so that the movement would be fluid and the entire muscle set-up should look one piece but move easily.

With the cowl being such a unique shape we didn’t want to sacrifice feel so we chose to do two sizes with the cowl. We mounted the City bat in the pics as we are almost done with the add-ons for the boots and gaunts as well as the new belt, and would be completing that suit. But also show how the Asylum bat looks and with a switch of some gear you can go either way. Let me know what you guys think and I’ll shoot some pics of individual pieces later if you like. 

I'll break down the suit and see what I can get together as far as the build but we really just steamrolled through. It took about 3 months with 3 artists on the project. The only found item are the base gloves which ironically is the same as most of the Batfilms."

"THE COWL: The cowl was really where we wanted to start. With the goals in mind that we wanted to do something with the color that we hadn’t seen before. The first game was a much darker Black with tones of blue. The second is a much brighter blue that seems to go black. So we decided to go with two color formulas. The darker cowl was an easy one but the range we wanted from the second took some work. One of our team members specializes in DP work so we did many test shots on the color both film and photo. When you look at the pics it might seem that one is the darker cowl from Asylum and the other is the blue but …that’s all the same cowl in the pics."

"The other detail was the one that’s been haunting studios for years and that’s movement. We wanted to be able to move the wearers head without the statue look and without making a helmet. I think the design of the mask really played into this naturally because I have seen all of the film cowls and I have never seen anything look or move like this cowl. With the way the mouth opening is, it really moves as you can see from the scream pic. The mask was sculpted with thickness in mind and wearability not just shape so that strategic areas are specific thicknesses. So when poured with a core in, the neck for example is thinner and the jaw lines are thicker etc… This helps how it holds to the face and where it will bend. And because the collar was not to be glued down like the film cowls, it was allowed to move, and the head can turn very easily. So without scallops the movement looked great similar to an action figure when you turn its head."

"The size of the initial cowl made it ideal for a range of users between 22-23 inches plus. But when going to the higher end head size as you guys know you start to run into issues with how well it feels and looks. So we made a second cowl by just adjusting the master that fits a range of 23-24 plus inches. The look of the cowl really plays into this being necessary as the cowl itself goes long and narrow at the top. Which is what makes it look so cool. Also with the details, the temple design especially, should roll and fade with the light. You can see how it does this from pic to pic."

The Cape: The cape is another of those pieces we had talked about for a while. The idea of a shoulder set cape that was seamed, with three pieces and hugged the front image of the torso was very exciting. Especially with the back balancing this slim minimal front with layers and depth. We also wanted to keep that light texture on it to carry the theme over. And to carry on the effect that when you see the suit from a distance it appears solid in color and make up, but when you get closer you start to get the textures popping off of it. So a full model was built that was almost a complete circle. I’m taking a stab but I believe it was past 12 feet from tip to tip at the longest points. There was only one section taken out of the circle in the front.

A silicone mold was made for this and a glass jacket also. The body of the cape was shot using latex into the mold similar to the 89 capes and the desired thickness figured out. We brought these in at a good weight which is distributed mostly on the shoulders and with the three piece design, it sits great. The front pieces were sculpted on the master and textured to match. With the main body of the cape being almost a full circle it was than fused at pleated points in the back so that it has this depth and rolls, just like the original design. Than it is attached to the front pieces and a Velcro assembly is used at the collar similar to the superman returns cape but with more beef. Sticking with the superman cape idea, the cape itself was colored with a similar transition on the interior. To get the effect again that we desired of having subtle depth with solid colors we shot a slightly lighter hue on the inside edges of the cape leaving the middle that sits behind the body darker to frame the suit from the inside. You can see in some of the pics how this comes together. The cape is colored to match the cowl in the mold so there are no wear issues and with the texture and process it really looks more like leather in person and pics."

"We are in the process of story boarding a quick showcase vid and have a location already locked down. As soon as couple pieces of equipment are returned we will start production and if all goes well hope to have something in the next couple months."