The Dark Knight in The Batman is about the theatricality of his fearsome image. The film's most fearsome theatricality is not the Bat himself, but his ride. The Batmobile was one of the first things we saw in the movie, but it is not present in the final film. After Bruce and Jim Gordon follow the trail of the Penguin to a deal that sees Catwoman interrupt proceedings on her own quest for vengeance, a full on shootout between Gordon and Penguin's goons breaks out, as sound and fury as yells and gunfire from both sides deafen.
Suddenly, there is another rumble that transforms into an unnatural shriek. The gunfire stops, the yelling stops, even the roar of the heavy rain gives way to this scream. The sound of the Batmobile's souped up engine screaming to life, as well as alien blue flames licking from its exhausts, was revealed as a backing chorus to this horrifying, alien sound.
It's an incredible moment, made all the more incredible by the intense chase sequence that follows, as Bruce ardently hunts down a defiant Penguin. It is a moment that stands in stark contrast to Bruce's approach to fear and intimidation in The Batman. Batman has always had a theatricality to him, regardless of his iteration, the fearsome visage that makes the man into something else, a symbolic fear against the equally theatrical criminal grime of Gotham City. The Batman plays with this in a number of fascinating ways, from Bruce's embrace of becoming the shadow, to the raw viscerality with which he fights his foes. For most of the time, it is defined by silence. In multiple instances, Batman heroically enters a scene in that quiet stark stark,slinking out of the shadows to beat up the clown-Makeup goons we see assault a train passenger early on in the film, stalking his way through the Iceberg Lounge masked by dull lighting and the beats His descent in the final act is a theatrical bang followed by a short, sharp pause as he falls in like rain on their parade. Batman's fearsome reputation is what we often associate with that silent shadow.
The Batmobile's arrival in the gunfight is the same as before. It is the intent to put the fear of the Batman into his foes, but instead of that unnatural slinking in the shadows, it is the bursting forth of this wild, inhuman creature, screaming an impossible, horrifying noise. In that moment, the Batmobile becomes the Batman's visage, and we see Bruce almost become one with the vehicle in the ensuing chase, roaring to himself with a rage to match the roar of its engine as he jams the gas, the car slinking and sliding through. The Batman and the Batmobile are unstoppable because they are stuck to the Penguin's vehicle. It speaks to the rawness that defines the young Batman throughout the film, an animalistic burst of rage from man and machine alike that expresses his anger, his desire, as he theatrically calls himself at one point, to be Vengeance itself.
It is something immediately, awe-inspiringly cool. There is something almost a little horrifying to match that theatrical flourish.
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