Batman and gadgets go together like chocolate and peanut butter. Even the Dark Knights’ rogues more often than not employ some kind of specialized equipment in their evil schemes. While every version of the Caped Crusader has carried their share of crime-fighting gear, some are more heavily armed than others. Take Batman: The Animated Series, many fans’ definitive take on The World’s Greatest Detective. Though heavy on everything else that makes Batman such a successful hero, Batman: The Animated Series was decidedly light on gadgets. When Batman and his foes did make use of specialized gizmos, however, they were always top-notch.
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From old favorites like the Batarang to more high-tech fare, Batman: The Animated Series featured just enough utility belt goodies to keep bat-fans happy while highlighting the fact that Batman’s best tool will always be his brain. We dug deep and came up with our picks for the 10 coolest gadgets featured in Batman: The Animated Series, and here they are in no particular order.
1) Bola
Not all of Batman’s gadgets are high-tech. Some, like the bolas often used by various members of the Bat-family, are incredibly simple. Made of a rope and three weighted balls, bolas are a primitive hunting tool originally from South America. These non-lethal weapons are hundreds of years old and yet just as effective now as they were when the Mapuche used them to fend off the Chilean Army in the late 1800s.
Whether the target is cattle or one of the Joker’s goons, a perfectly timed bola is the best way to take down a retreating foe.
2) Batcomputer
On the other end of the spectrum, we have Batman’s most technologically advanced gadget, the batcomputer. While almost every version of Batman has a batcomputer, none are quite as extravagant as the one featured in Batman: The Animated Series. This is mainly due to certain advantages of animation over live-action, namely that animators can draw whatever they can think up without building it physically.
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As a result, Batman: The Animated Series features a batcomputer the size of a house with the capabilities to do, well, pretty much whatever the script calls for. We fully acknowledge that the batcomputer is often a magic device that serves the plot, but that doesn’t make it any less cool.
3) Wrist-Mounted Crossbow
Most depictions of Poison Ivy don’t walk around with a crossbow strapped to their arm. Then again, most depictions of Poison Ivy aren’t Batman: The Animated Series’ Poison Ivy. Why writer Paul Dini decided that Poison Ivy needed a crossbow is anyone’s guess, but it’s cool as hell and gives her an even more menacing aura than she already had. Ivy’s wrist-mounted crossbow can fire several darts in rapid succession before having to be reloaded, making it a fairly deadly addition to an already killer arsenal that includes mind-controlling pheromones as well as homicidal plant life.
4) Grapple Gun
For many years, DC was reluctant to allow Batman to have any sort of grappling hook launcher in the comics due to The Caped Crusader’s strict no-guns policy. Batman: The Animated Series got around this by making a grapple gun that didn’t resemble an actual firearm. Shaped like an uppercase “T,” the grapple gun consisted of a handle with a thumb-activated trigger and a straight shaft where the folded-up hook and cable were concealed.
The grapple gun gave Batman more mobility and even doubled as an offensive weapon occasionally, thanks to an electrified cord that sent out a shock big enough to blow off a car door.
5) Mind Control Chips
The Mad Hatter might not be one of Batman’s A-list Rogues, but we’d put his mind control technology up against Joker’s laughing gas or Scarecrow’s fear toxin any day. The Hatter uses a chip — usually attached to a 10/6 card — that allows him to fully take over anyone else’s mind via his control headband.
While this gadget could easily allow the Hatter to take over Gotham, the Alice in Wonderland-obsessed villain usually just uses it to make people role-play parts from Lewis Carroll’s famous novel.
6) Batmobile
The Batmobile has been Batman’s transportation of choice since the character’s inception. Not so much a single gadget as it is a collection of gadgets, the Batmobile is like the Swiss-Army knife of fictional vehicles, outclassing even James Bond’s Aston Martin. The BTAS Batmobile’s features include smoke and oil dispensers, a giant grappling hook, and a driver’s seat that can detach and become a batglider.
Much like the batcomputer, the Batmobile takes advantage of its animated status by looking impossibly long and intimidating depending on the angle it’s drawn. It may not be the flashiest-looking Batmobile out there, but it’s definitely the coolest overall.
7) Vertigo Eyepatch
When people talk about their favorite superpowers — flight, super strength, etc.— the ability to make other people dizzy hardly ever comes up. And yet, as Count Vertigo proves, throwing your enemies so off balance that they have no choice but to crawl along the floor is an incredibly effective strategy for a villain. Vertigo’s abilities come from a vertigo-inducing eyepatch he wears, leaving his hands free to commit crimes, strike at his dizzy foes, or shoot firearms.
Like its wearer, the vertigo eyepatch only made one appearance in Batman: The Animated Series, but that was more than enough for the wobble-inducing weapon to secure a place on this list.
8) Utility Belt
It may seem like a cheat to include Batman’s entire utility belt on this list, but when it comes to Batman: The Animated Series, the belt itself has enough going for it to deserve its own entry. In addition to housing the usual gadgets — gas mask, torch cutter, bolas, caltrops, etc. — it also contains hidden remote controls for both the Batboat and the Batmobile. In addition, the animated version of Batman’s utility belt features a deterrent system consisting of an ambiguous pink mist that shoots out at anyone attempting to tamper with the belt or its contents.
9) Freeze Gun
Most iterations of Mr. Freeze carry a large, two-handed ice-cannon designed to look menacing, if not practical. Batman: The Animated Series took the opposite approach, giving Freeze a wicked-looking pistol vaguely reminiscent of the real-life Mauser C96, the inspiration for Han Solo’s DL-44 blaster.
The Batman: The Animated Series freeze gun featured all the functionality of its bulkier counterparts but in a sleeker, better-designed package that only required one hand to wield. It’s no wonder this version of Mr. Freeze is often considered the definitive version of the character.
10) Batarang
Like the bola, the common, garden-variety batarang is one of Batman’s most basic gadgets. Essentially a bat-shaped boomerang, the batarang may be simple, but it’s also one of the most versatile tools at The Dark Knight’s disposal. Depending on how he aims it, Batman can use his batarang to disarm a foe, knock them out, or, in a pinch, attach a rope to it and use it as a hand-thrown grappling hook.
Unfortunately, many of the most recent Batman adaptations have eliminated the Batarang in favor of more lethal bat-shaped throwing knives or shurikens that arguably go against Batman’s personal code. While stab wounds don’t technically break Batman’s no-kill rule, we prefer our Dark Knights to stick to the blunt-force trauma of the batarangs in Batman: The Animated Series.
