FILM NOTES: From GLADIATOR to THE BATMAN: PART II & More

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Update... Superhero Hype posted an article earlier today mentioning that the Tumbler, a.k.a. the Batmobile from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, will return in Christopher Nolan’s third Bat flick next July. A photo from the Pittsburgh set of The Dark Knight Rises is shown below...with the Tumbler and Batpod (the motorcycle that Batman used to escape the Gotham police force and its dogs at the end of The Dark Knight)—which is covered by the blue tarp—sitting on a trailer.

For those of you wishing that a new Batmobile was used in The Dark Knight Rises (after the original Tumbler was destroyed by the Joker in The Dark Knight), keep in mind that Lucious Fox (Morgan Freeman’s character) stated in Batman Begins that two Tumblers were manufactured at Wayne Enterprises...since two were needed to erect portable bridges in a combat zone. I’m glad that Nolan is bringing back this vehicle. The Batmobile in Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns was awesome...but nothing beats a tank-like automobile capable of colliding head-on into a speeding garbage truck and remain unscathed. And eject an armed motorcycle complete with grappling hooks in the event of an emergency. Carry on.