Batman's Body in Fortnite

In 2021 Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point released. While the idea of this crossover as an official DC comic is pretty silly, I believe that his design is notable for how it stands out. In an effort to emphasize his fighting ability, the way they depict him as a character overlooks other aspects of what makes the character Batman.

Batman's relatively small silhouette is boosted with his cape in Detective Comics #27

Batman's physique is instead framed by his cape in Batman Hush #1

In many of the older comics, Batman is rather lean, more relying on his agility and concealment with his large cape. However with series such as Batman Hush, there's instead a focus on his muscles. The artists make him look like a body builder under his vacuum sealed suit. This level of muscle gives an impression of strength, but in practice would lower Batman's endurance substantially. It's exaggerated for emphasis. In Batman/Fortnite this is further emphasized. At the beginning he wears an outfit more resembling the one from hush, but starting in issue 2 he has a more original design. Sporting a new much more heavily armored look, he's given a much larger silhouette already, but then they also remove his sleeves to even further emphasize the huge size of his muscles. His design portrays physical scale almost at the expense of all else.

Batman as he appears in Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #2 (game trailer below)

Within the comics, he's still portrayed as a detective. He leaves himself clues to get around and escape the time loop that Fortnite revolves around. (As an aside, I had no idea that there was a narrative to Fortnite beyond seasonal events until reading this.) His design does not communicate this, however, in favor of focusing on the combat involved in the setting. The cape that comes with the outfit in-game is described as "battle-worn" and more serves to outline his already massive form. He wears weapons across his chest. His armor is sharpened to a point in many places. He is first and foremost a warrior as communicated by this design, but he's the kind from action movies that many teenagers fantasize of: huge muscles, square jaw, and carrying an arsenal. (For a particular example of the first two, I believe the online idea of a "Giga Chad" which is popular with teens and teens at heart communicates this in a streamlined manner.) Nothing suggests his cunning, it's just assumed since people already know Batman and associate him with that. He's left looking like just another mercenary.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mr. Sinister and the Ethics of Genetics

Image
Mr. Sinister in Powers of X uses genetic experiments in a way that is sometimes silly and sometimes cruel, but a look at his decision making can be used to shine a light on a larger issue in the ethics of genetic manipulation in people: Who gets to call the shots? A Mr. Sinister clone not calling the shots in Powers of X #4 Proponents of human genetic manipulation often tout benefits such as the curing of genetic diseases, but the question that stems from this is what counts as a disease that needs to be cured? At first this may seem silly, "well obviously cancer or HIV risk" some might fairly say, however others may go further. Schizophrenia has some genetic component , autism has some as well, even sexuality and gender are sometimes deemed to have a genetic component. Which of these are diseases? Which should be cured if any? Look at the states across the world trying to ban LGBT people from public life, clearly some would view it in such a way. This simple thought expe...
Read more

How Super Spiders Move

Image
The Spider-Man comics have covered a lot of styles over the years, but one thing that's of particular note is how they handle movement. The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) and Spider-Man (1990) primarily utilize speed lines following behind the action to emphasize movement which is pretty typical for comics.   A kick with speed lines from The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) #50   The latter's much more realistic art style allows the emphasis on the chaos of shapes from the webs to help emphasize this. They form into nonsensical shapes and patterns that grab the eye and embody flying through the air at high speed. The chaos of these webs even manages to break beyond the panels in a few places. Flying with knots of webs in Spider-Man (1990) #1 A more recent example of a similar style is used in the comics with Spinstress which mainly use speed lines as a backdrop for more intense scenes with a focus primarily on the posing to show movement. Here dramatic poses serve to allow the comic to ca...
Read more

How is Science Made Fun Today?

Image
Science is a process. This fact is imparted through as people make it through high-school. As we observe the natural world and find new patterns we must adjust our hypotheses to suit these new ideas. This has been seen in many cases, such as Newton's law of gravitation which was famously modified by Einstein's theory of relativity as new research was done. Now the question is, how is this information usually conveyed to the general public? There was a time when people gathered in coffee shops to gossip about the latest breakthroughs. Most people don't tend to read scientific articles in the modern era, though there are a handful that subscribe to scientific magazines. The massive rise of popular science has been greatly influenced by the internet in this day, mirroring the coffee shops that once housed rousing discussions on an often much grander scale. One common way is through viral "fun facts" shared on social media, though these can often be sensationalist if ...
Read more