Since the 30th of March, 1939, when the Masked Detective debuted in Detective Comics Issue 27, we have seen an array of different costumes worn by the iconic character. So many apparels, so many iterations. However, none quite sends tongues wagging like Rainbow Batman.
The Batsuit is predominantly known to consist of black, grey, blue, and yellow colors. That’s a standard procedure many have come to love for Batman. These colors represent the intensity of the Dark Knight and are probably part of the reason why he strikes so much fear into the hearts of many criminals at the mere sight of him.
But at some point, Batman traded in his signature fearsome colors for a much brighter shade. Multiple shades, in fact. Here’s all you need to know about Rainbow Batman.
Rainbow Batman: Origins
Detective Comics #241 is credited as the event where Rainbow Batman first made his debut. Before that, the Dark Knight utilized the darkness and dark costume as necessary weapons in his fight against Gotham’s Underworld.
At the beginning of this issue, The Boy Wonder, aka Dick Grayson, gets injured while he saves a young girl from harm. Batman begins to don different bright colors of the Batsuit on his nightly patrols in a strange sequence of events. He wears red, green, blue, yellow— until he finally dons all the colors in a one-of-a-kind rainbow Batsuit.
Then out of the blue (no pun intended), just as Robin’s arm gets healed, Batman altogether puts away his brightly colored getups, and begins wearing his signature trademark suit.
How strange.
Why Did Rainbow Batman Happen?
Eventually, it is revealed that Batman put on all those bright colors because of Robin. With word of his injury widespread in the media and underworld, Batman feared Dick Grayson would be considered a target by Gotham’s criminals and the general public.
Seeking to remove the bullseye from his sidekick, Batman wore all those different colors in a bid to provide something not only strange but distracting enough that criminals would focus their attention on him alone.
And it worked. The suit, when worn, helped to distract anyone from making any link between Robin and Dick Grayson due to the injury; Batman’s colorful and loud getups served to ‘stun’ anyone who came across them.
It really speaks to how smart and loving Bruce Wayne is. He often seems to be very hardened to love, but he really cares for people deeply. He went to such extreme lengths to protect his partner.
Retcon and Subsequent Appearances
The Crisis on Infinite Earths event brought back Rainbow Batman, with his existence being denied, down to the 2016 series Trinity, where even Bruce Wayne himself would deny it ever occurred.
Batman: The Brave and The Bold
The character goes show up in the animated series; Batman: The Brave and the Bold in a prologue scene as Batman takes on Firefly, and a strange entity is known as The Rainbow Creature. As they wreak havoc on Gotham City, Batman realized each creature’s colors possess a particular power.
His regular suits are useless against it, and so he develops a rainbow suit to match all of Rainbow Creature’s colors. Matching colors cannot be affected by the Creature’s powers. As Rainbow Batman, the not-so-dark Knight can take out both villains and restore peace into Gotham.
Legacy of Batman
For an event that most of DC’s continuity has retconned or flat-out denied, Rainbow Batman’s colorful appearance is a fan favorite. This has led to his further appearance in various forms.
Rainbow Batman is an example of how DC has done such an amazing job creating and developing the Batman character. They have created fun side stories like this one that you see pop up now and then. But you never get a full grasp on what the creators are thinking. You have to keep coming back for more to get the final story.
Video Game With Rainbow Batman
Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham references Rainbow Batman, enlisting him as a playable character along with his very own pack. The pack also includes Rainbow Raider, which players can make as their avatars as well. Rainbow Batman can deflect laser beams with his costume.
Rainbow Batman Toys
An action figure was also released as a part of The DC Collectibles LineUp. Rainbow Batman features as an incarnation of Batman priced at $80 per set upon release.
There is also the Rainbow set which is cool to display in any room because of all the colors. Each Batman is his own shade, and together they all make the rainbow.
Funk POP Rainbow Batman
The Rainbow Batman Funk POP is one of the coolest that you can get. There are 100’s of Batman Funk Pop Options to choose from. The Rainbow version is one of the most out-there designs that you can get. It’s unique and will stand out from the bunch.
