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15 Best Bat Family Costumes, Ranked
Batman and his extended family, the Bat Family have had a lot of different looks throughout the years to say the very least. Since Batman’s debut in 1939, and Robin’s a year later, the Dynamic Duo have gone through innumerable changes. What else would you expect from two different timeline resets, five different people under the Robin mantles, and the addition of three Batgirls? And across that time, the growing Bat Family’s illustrious members have changed their costumes a significant number of times. These are the best of Gotham’s sartorial offerings…
15) Zur-En-Arrh
It may not be the most bizarre suit “Bruce” has worn, but the Zur-En-Arrh costume was certainly a statement. Worn by Bruce’s failsafe personality when that identity takes over, it was inspired directly from a Silver Age story, and went from campy to surprisingly cool in a matter of decades.
While feelings on Zur tend to be divided among modern fans, the suit has never looked better than when it was drawn by Jorge Jiménez. And though it likely won’t be seen again for a long time, the mismatch of bright colors and a baseball bat was enough to utterly strike fear into the hearts of Gotham’s criminals.
14) Batman Beyond, Terry McGinnis
While the Beyond suit was worn by Bruce for a while, it’s undoubtedly the suit that most comes to mind with talk of Terry McGinnis. The sleek all-black costume with a built-in red cape is one of the best designs of any hero set in the future. It also came with built-in rocket boots, a functionally gliding cape to make Arkham Batman jealous, and invisibility. What more could you want?
13) Absolute Batman
Set in an alternate universe, Absolute Batman is easily the coolest reinvention of Batman in a long time. With a less traditional cape and more armor padding, this suit is also a lot more weaponized with hidden spikes, removable bat ear throwing knives and a removable bat emblem that can turn into an axe.
While it’s less of its own suit and more of a redesign, it’s still a worthy mention here. The book’s huge success is very much owed to the extreme nature of this Batman and his suit.
12) Robin, Tim Drake
The original Robin suit worn by Tim Drake is the gold standard of the traditional Robin suits. It came with a stronger cape with a black exterior and a yellow interior, proper gauntlets, and pants for once, and was a genuine game changer. Gone are the days of the legs exposed except for pixie boots and green gloves: here we have a Robin ready to fight. In short, the suit offered proof of how to update Robin correctly and also gave him more protection.
11) Batwoman, Kate Kane
With almost the exact design Terry uses in Beyond, Kate Kane’s color scheme is one of the family’s best, and the greatest asset is the fake red wig attached to her cowl. While Kate still has bright red hair, the wig – designed to throw people off the scent – is arguably one of the best ways to hide an identity. Kate’s suit offers a simple and sleek design, and is instantly recognizable, which is an underrated quality for superhero suits, even without major upgrades.
10) The Signal, Duke Thomas
Perhaps the most individually distinct costume of the bunch, Duke Thomas’ The Signal costume stands by design. Acting as the sole hero of Gotham in the daytime currently, Duke’s bright yellow costume shows him miles away in a fight. The colors are, in fact, designed to distract those causing chaos, as an added bonus. The suit also complements Duke’s metahuman shadow-manipulating powers.
9) Spoiler, Stephanie Brown
While she’s been Robin and Batgirl, Stephanie Brown is best defined as Spoiler, the Gotham vigilante invariably dressed in dark colours to blend well into the shadows. While her personality brightens up her dynamics with other heroes, her suit is as cool as it is basic. While fans will endlessly debate whether the full black mask or her half mask was better, both are very good looks.
8) The Original Red Hood, Jason Todd
While the Under the Red Hood story takes place before Jason was part of the Bat Family, his first Red Hood costume was one of his best. Almost every costume since has tried to copy the original without great success, which is a true mark of quality. The casual jacket motif has mainly stayed with various different versions, but the classic black leather jacket was always the pick of the bunch.
7) Burnside’s Barbara Gordon
Given she was the one who started the title of Batgirl, you’d think Barbara Gordon’s best suit would be her original one. While that was a great look, her Burnside costume brought so much more personality to Batgirl. The new color palette, along with the lining of the suit being more “homemade” added a ton for her character, and quickly became Barbara Gordon’s definitive Batgirl costume.
6) Batgirl, Cassandra Cain
While the other Batgirl costumes are great, Cassandra Cain’s is the best. Covering her entire identity and perfectly matching her silent sneaking abilities, the costume makes her more like an assassin. Rather than acting as an assassin, though, Cain valued human life above all else and understood the legacy of Batman, and her costume reflects that. Instead of opting for something to distinguish herself, she chose to be more like Batman with this costume.
5) Cowled Red Robin
While it was short-lived, when Tim switched to the Red Robin mantle, he found himself much more as a character and grew as a whole. This costume represents a fully realized Drake, as well as marking his time as Robin being merged with something much more. While some prefer him with the wingsuit and not the cowl, this fits Tim more as a character.
Choosing to be theatrical in his new persona is the best way for Tim to be himself a lot more. If any of these costumes had a chance to come back, this would be top of the wishlist. You just know the costume is good when it’s based directly on an Alex Ross design.
4) Infinite Frontier Robin
And now, finally, we get to the best Robin costume. While Damian and Tim are both stuck as Robin, Damian choosing this costume to be a blend of his father’s legacy and his connection to the League of Assassins was a perfect move. The built-in hooded cape with the orange was a bold new direction to take Robin and felt like a precursor to Damian’s batsuit in Batman #666. And as short-lived as it may be currently, this costume offers ample evidence that more grey Robin suits are the way to go.
3) Redondo Nightwing
The best costume worn by any of Batman’s sidekicks belongs to Nightwing, without question. And the best of his costumes is the design he wore, created for Bruno Redondo and Tom Taylor’s Nightwing run. It’s a simple reinvention that added classic comic book shading and effortlessly cool blue highlights. Bringing Nightwing back to basics and showing off why he matters, along with this costume was a stroke of genius.
2) Black and Grey Batman
The classic black and grey Batsuit is easily one of Batman’s best. Having made a full return in the back half of the ’90s this is the definitive costume for a lot of Batman fans, which signified a new dark world for Batman. Crucially, it’s also the default costume when at least half of DC fans picture Batman, so it’s pretty hard to beat. It looks incredible in the shadows and feels like the suit that describes the term, The Dark Knight.
1) Blue and Grey Batman
Recency bias may play a part here, but the return of Batman’s blue and grey costume is something we didn’t know we missed so much. If the black and grey represents the Dark Knight, this is the Caped Crusader look, channelling a sort of new Silver Age. With its triumphant return in Matt Fraction and Jorge Jiménez’s new Batman series, we’re excited to see more of it in action.
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