The Batcave from the upcoming Justice League reflects the stiff, modern brutality of Ben Affleck’s caped crusader, and it’s one that includes a lot of straightforward and rigid blocks and glass surfaces. This Batman’s older, tougher, and more than a little bitter, so it’s only fitting that his superhero pad reflects that adult angst.
In an Entertainment Weekly interview, production designer Patrick Tatopoulos spoke about the changes to the character’s signature home base and how it’s evolved between BvS and Justice League under the guidance of Zack Snyder. It has everything to do with the darker tone for the character that’s been established in the DCEU:
“A Batman that’s tough, bold, stronger, a little older. It started to define some things. It didn’t feel like an elegant, sleek thing. It felt like the guy was brutal — like brutalism, in architecture. This is why the Batcave is made of blocks, the glass house is very blocky.”
Brutalist architecture is an actual design style characterized by rigid structures. In the DCEU, this design reflects a world-weary Batman characterized by brutal efficiency.
Brutally efficient and rigid in style, lacking in any semblance of elegance or beauty.
Who needs elegance or sleek surfaces when you can have that?
This characteristic design choice also oozes into other areas of Batman’s extensive array of gadgets and devices, as well, especially the carrier jet called the Flying Fox that the team will use in Justice League. The exciting challenge for Tatopoulos with the superhero team-up movie is in exploring and blending the color palettes for the various characters:
“The great thing about Justice League was more about: ‘What is the palette for Flash’s world? What is the palette for Wonder Woman’s world? What about the world of Aquaman?’”
Justice League will supposedly blend Aquaman’s deep greens with the gold and bronze of Wonder Woman and Batman’s, uh, black darkness. Somewhere mixed in will be Cyborg’s shiny metal aesthetic and the Flash’s “regular dude” colors.
Who knows, maybe we’ll even get some neon green for a Green Lantern as the seventh hero to show up.
Justice League hits theaters November 17.
