The Most Brutal Batcave Yet
Batman’s Batcave is as necessary to his being as his ferocious workout routine or his vigorous intellect. Over the years, Batman has had numerous iterations, many of them featuring an interpretation of his famous homebase as well. The version of Batman/Bruce Wayne, as portrayed by Ben Affleck in Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, gave us an older, more world-weary vigilante than previously seen.
His was the most brutal and intimidating version yet, and Batfleck’s base of operations perfectly reflected this Batman’s priorities and mindset. In fact, in Zack Snyder’s 2016 film we get many excellent scenes in the Ben Affleck Batcave which illumine the cave’s many functions and qualities.
I’ve personally drawn a ton of inspiration from the film representation of this Batcave in particular. If you feel the same way and you’re keen to dive into the moody, visceral Batfleck cave, then read on. We’ll discuss the overall design aesthetic, the many brilliant uses of the cave, its organization, and the underlying ethos that enables Batfleck to be the most powerful and formidable Batman ever committed to film. You’ll probably even find more than a few ideas and hacks you can use to start your own Batcave or improve the one you’ve already got.
When I first began putting together this article it quickly became clear that it would be too large and unwieldy for a single piece. Thus, this will be the first in a series of articles, as this is meant to be a fairly exhaustive look at this particular version of the Batcave. And there’s a lot to talk about. This introductory piece will cover the general aesthetics of the cave as well as the first section of it, the crime lab. Each subsequent article (released every two weeks or so) will then cover another part of the cave. Finally, we’ll get into what the driving forces are behind Batman’s organizational ethos of this particular Batcave.
Ben Affleck Batcave- Overall Aesthetics
If you haven’t seen the movie extra entitled “Batcave: Legacy of the Lair” that accompanies the film you should check it out. It’s pretty incredible how close the designers came to building a real Batcave as most of the design was actually physically constructed, with only a very small amount of CGI being used. The primary design language of the cave and internal structures used in this iteration of the Batcave is the Brutalist aesthetic.
“Brutalism is a style with an emphasis on materials, textures and construction, producing highly expressive forms.”
Architecture.com
Brutalist design embraces the natural materials from which a building is constructed, rather than trying to hide or cover up these elements. It leans towards minimalism and often features a monochromatic color palette. The Batcave makes good use of these design cues. In the aforementioned documentary, the manmade structures here are designed and built to fit within the confines of the cave rather than necessitating removal of materials. Indeed, the rocky cave structures and water pooling up from the bottom of the cave are a large part of what gives it its distinctive look.
Glass and unstained concrete are the other most notable construction materials used. Along with the pitch-black water and the rusty brown of the cave walls, the entire space is coated in moody, muted tones. This gives the space a masculine, modernist feel that is sophisticated in its simplicity. It’s quite the dark atmosphere, both literally and figuratively, that is the perfect space for Bruce to work and ruminate in.
By the time we get to this 2016 version of Batman, this is exactly what we as the audience have been waiting for. Gone is the gaudy, “extra-ness” of Joel Schumacher’s franchise. And here we have a Batcave that, while minimal, has been perfected over several decades of crime fighting and is more fully realized than the iterations of the cave from Christopher Nolan’s films.
Cave Organization
You already know the deal with the Batcave. Its purpose is to be a one stop shop for all activities and equipment needed for the Batman to perform his duties as Gotham’s protector. It’s a place for him to research his foes, their criminal organizations, and anything else relevant to detective work. It’s a training center. An inventor’s workshop. And it’s also a safe haven for Batman to retreat to, regroup, recharge, and plan his next move.
The head production designer for BvS, Patrick Tatopoulis, states that this iteration of the Batcave is organized, purposefully, by “cubes”. Although the spaces, strictly speaking, are not necessarily cubes, each one is sectioned off from the others, either partially or entirely, by glass and concrete walls. This lends a very clean and clear organizational pattern to the cave. The first of these cubes we’ll look at is the heart of Batman’s work as the World’s Greatest Detective- The Lab.
The Lab
This large “cube” is really more of a rectangular space that houses several different functions, not the least of which is the imposing computer station with its many various monitors. This serves as the ultimate command center for Batman’s operations. From here he can conduct research, listen in on police chatter, and monitor criminals and situations around the city and in the press.
There are four huge monitors directly above the middle section of the station, but we can also tell from the above picture that this station was meant at some point to support multiple users. There are monitors off to either side with their own dedicated keyboards and mice. I’d guess that at the height of Batman’s career there had been many a night where he and Alfred would work side by side, with perhaps Jason Todd or another of the Robins joining them. The dual joysticks here are used by Alfred in the film to pilot the Batwing in drone mode.
Immediately adjacent to the computer station is an equipment workstation. In the movie, we mostly see Alfred using it to troubleshoot and repair parts of the suit, but we can probably assume that sometimes Bruce works here as well. Within the work areas there is a noticeable absence of tools and tool storage. Perhaps this area is meant for doing smaller scale electrical work only.
From the shot here, we can discern that there’s probably an oscilloscope here as well as other test equipment, maybe some soldering/de-soldering tools and a large, moveable magnifying glass. Alfred does mention in a related scene that he needs to rewire a piece of the suit. Since there is a lot of sensitive computer equipment in this room it would make sense that any heavy fabrication or mechanical work would be done elsewhere and then equipment, in this case a Batsuit, would be brought into the room later for electronics work and final refinement.
There’s a second workstation directly in front of the main computer station and some tanks that line the back of the room. Towards the front of the room, we can make out a metal storage cabinet (see 1st shot) that also holds some kind of heavy duty, industrial drill press. The soon to be finished mech-suit hangs from the ceiling.
Speaking of which, most things in this room are suspended from the ceiling. In fact, in the featurette, Tatopoulis mentions that the design team was going for an uncluttered look and that the only thing that made sense to leave on the floor was the high-tech office chair that Bruce uses. This suspension of items from the ceiling also alludes to the whole bat mythos.
The Lab features such an amazing sophisticated, clean aesthetic. It’s easily the most future-forward technology heavy room in the cave. The next room up for discussion is such a departure from this, but is equally important. Batfleck of course needs an area to train his body to be physically capable. If The Lab is where Batman’s intellect shines, the Training Room is where his equally impressive physique is forged. Check out the next article in this Batcave series now with a thorough discussion of Batfleck’s Training Room. And to learn how to build your own self-discipline like the Dark Knight, click here.
Thank you for reading this article! If there’s something I missed or you want to contribute, comment below. Till next time!
