Build Your Own Batman Costume

Whether you call him "The Caped Crusader," "The Dark Knight," "The World's Greatest Detective," or simply "Batman," his batsuit has become an icon. Batman wears his Batsuit to conceal his identity and to intimidate villains, but you can make your own Batsuit just for fun—and if it intimidates a few villains along the way, so much the better! Get started with Step 1 below.

Steps

  1. Decide what kind of Batman you want to be. Just as Batman has evolved since his debut in May of 1939, so has his costume. There are two prevalent images of Batman:
    • The Dark Knight: This is a darker version of Batman that began to appear after the Batman Begins movie. This portrayed Batman as more of a dark outcast in Gotham city, a vigilante who lives outside the law. Alfred Pennyworth said it best, in the movie The Dark Knight when he said, "Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They'll hate you for it, but that's the point of Batman, he can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make. The right choice."
    • The World's Greatest Detective: This is the iconic comic-book version of Batman. This batman costume is more playful and colorful (with the bright yellow accents) and follows a more detective-style way of fighting crime. This costume best depicts a Batman character who is witty enough to yell "freeze!" to Arnold as Mr. Freeze.

Becoming the Dark Knight

  1. Go dark. Unlike the first Batsuit, the Dark Knight's suit is a lot more sophisticated. Here's how to make one.
    • Start with full-body pant suit or unitard. It should be all black fabric and long sleeve. It should be extremely fitted and stretchy for optimal mobility. You can find them at stores that sell ballet clothing, or if you will be spending time outside when the weather is colder, you can go for neoprene body suit like those that divers, surfers, and paddlers use (and which may be a little more forgiving if you're not fresh from training with Ra's al Ghul and the League of Shadows.
    • Add on armour. Use a black paintball armor to create the hard shell of the bat suit. Every part of your body should have this hard shell on it, but you especially want to cover the chest and upper arms.
    • Pump it up. Batman's suit clearly indicates how big each and everyone of his ab muscles are, to strike fear into the hearts of villains and scoundrels. You can pad the abs by adding large amounts of Puffy Paint (available at Walmart) to the armour, or use dense, paintable styrofoam (available at craft stores) to build up muscles.
    • Add the Batman crest. The Batman crest covers the center of your chest. It should be the all-black bat symbol and there should be nothing around it. You can use this template: just print it as large as you need, trace it onto cardboard, and carefully cut out with a box cutter.
    • Add the gloves. The gloves should be elbow length, all black and should have three "fins" attached to the sides. These fins should be stiff and angling backwards towards Batman.
  2. Fasten on your utility belt. This is the stiff black or dark metal belt with a large square pockets on the sides that house Batman's gadgets. You can use an inexpensive webbing belt with a black buckle, and empty jewelry boxes or eyeglass cases for the pouches.
  3. Add Bat-gadgets as desired. Go the extra mile and try adding utilities such as a Bat-monitor (black walkie-talkie), Bat-cuffs (spray paint handcuffs black), a Bat-lasso (black climbing rope), a Bat-Tracer (anything black with a blinking red or blue LED), Batarangs (anywhere that sells novelty boomerangs, painted black), etc.
  4. Put the cape back in "Caped Crusader." You should have a floor length, straight cut at the bottom, black cape. A sheet, dyed black, should do the trick nicely. Cotton is good, satin is better. Kevlar is best. Good luck with that last one!
  5. Step into the boots. These boots can be closer to military boots than rain boots. The less lacing or buckling the more authentic the boot will look.
  6. The Man in the Mask. Crown your costume with the perfect Batman mask. Buy a black rubber mask with pointed ears that extend from top sides of your head. Your nose should be stiff and pointy. The mouth and chin should be completely exposed and the eyes should have very little other than the whites of your eyes exposed.
    • Use black make up to "black-out" the skin surrounding your eyes so that the mask makes you look more like the Dark Knight.

Becoming Batman, the World's Greatest Detective

  1. Go light. Unlike the Dark Knight's suit, the Batman of the Detective Comics days is a lot simpler. Here's how to make one.
    • Start with full-body pant suit or unitard. It should be neutral or slightly bluish-gray, with long sleeves. Unless you're already ripped, it should fitted loosely so that you can pad. You can find them at stores that sell ballet clothing, or if you will be spending time outside when the weather is colder, you can go for neoprene body suit like those that divers, surfers, and paddlers use.
    • Don't worry about getting a unitard if you can't find one—the utility belt will make the suit look continuous. Do make sure your pants are not loose at the bottom—they need to tuck into your boots.
  2. Slip on some black briefs. Not boxers. Batman is an outsider, he has no problem wearing his underwear on the outside of his gray suit. So find a pair that has nothing written on them. Dark blue will also work, depending on the bat-era you are trying to emulate.
  3. Bulk up. Use shoulder pads that you can get from a fabric store to add muscles to your body to fill out the suit, or use balloons partially inflated.
  4. Add the Batman crest. It will need to cover the center of your chest. The look of the crest has been interpreted two different ways: A yellow sideways oval with all black "bat" symbol on the inside OR an all-black "bat" symbol without anything around it.
  5. Slip on your gloves. The gloves should be elbow length, should match the color of your Bat-briefs, and should have three fins attached to the sides. These fins should be stiff and angling backwards towards Batman.
  6. Fasten on your utility belt. This is the iconic yellow belt with a large gold Batman symbol on the front and small square yellow pockets that house Batman's gadgets. You can probably find a vinyl yellow belt at Goodwill or Salvation Army. Barring that, there's always the costume store, which may have a yellow Bat Utility Belt.
  7. Add Bat-gadgets as desired. Go the extra mile and try adding utilities such as a Bat-monitor (walkie-talkie), Bat-cuffs, a Bat-lasso, a Bat-Tracer (anything with a blinking LED), Batarangs (anywhere that sells novelty boomerangs, painted black or yellow), etc.
  8. Put the cape back in "Caped Crusader." You should have a floor length black cape with jagged edges and blue lining. The edges should be reminiscent of bat wings.
  9. Slip on the black boots. These should come up just below the knee. There shouldn't be any sort of lace or strap on the boots. Batman doesn't have time to deal with that. Try all black rain boots.
  10. Crown your costume with the perfect Batman mask. Create a black fabric mask with pointed ears that extend from top sides of your head. You should have a pointy (pyramid-like) nose. The mouth and chin should be completely exposed and the eyes should have almond shaped holes for visibility purposes.

Bringing a Friend

  1. Have a friend dress up as somebody in the Batman family of heroes and villains. The obvious choices are:
    • Catwoman. Friend, or foe? Who's to know. Whichever she is, there's not much that needs to be said about this costume.Be prepared to meet your match, Caped Crusader:
    • Robin, the Boy Wonder. Make sure Robin is appropriate for the Bat-era you have chosen. The Dark Knight's Robin's costume is black with red accents, whereas the traditional Robin is a little more colorful:
    • The Joker. Green hair, white face, blackened eyes, smeared red lipstick, and a purple suit will get you most of the way there. Just how ragged you make the makeup and how flamboyant the suit will determine if you're early Joker, or later Joker.
    • Other great foes that make for great costume opportunities could be The Riddler, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, the Penguin, Mr. Freeze, or Bane.
  2. Finished.

Warnings

  • Wearing a costume won't give you any super-human powers—especially since Batman himself doesn't even have any super-human powers! He depends at least somewhat on his frightening appearance, and the bat motif, to be effective; the rest is his own special training.

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