Oh sure, there are other parts of Mattel’s Dark Knight-themed exclusives for San Diego Comic-Con. But do you really need convincing beyond the return of the Technicolor dreamboat that is Rainbow Batman?
io9 can exclusively reveal two of Mattel’s exclusive bits of DC merchandise for the rapidly incoming San Diego Comic-Con, which will be tempting our wallets with all kinds of shiny new goodies in just over a month’s time. As 2019 is also the year of two special anniversaries for Batman, the two DC offerings this year are naturally all about Gotham’s favorite crime-fighting son.
First up is Hot Wheels’ diecast car of the Armored Batmobile from the Tim Burton Batman movie, which turns 30 this year. As well as a fully detailed replica of the ‘89 Batmobile itself, the special set also comes with a small diecast figure of Michael Keaton’s Batman, but also a special protective shell replicating the film’s armored upgrade for the vehicle. Simply pop it over the Batmobile and your Hot Wheels car is protected from the deadliest threats a small toy car could ever face! So like, falling off a shelf, probably, if you take it out of the fancy Batman ‘89-themed packaging. If you’re at the con, this set will cost you $25.
If you’re a fan of Mattel’s DC action figures, though, the other offering might be more tempting. A celebration of Batman’s Silver Age roots in the comics, the four-figure set gives you four remarkably silly renditions of Bruce Wayne’s early comic book adventures. Clad in a special, old-school comic art themed box—80-page Giant Batman is a great little throwback joke!—the four figures feature 23 points of articulation, and each one is clad in a colour scheme representing a specific story from the Silver Age of Comics.
The first is a classic Batman representing the Dark Knight’s iconic blue and grey costume for many of his Silver Age adventures, while the other three are more one-off specifics. There’s Negative Suit Batman from Detective Comics #284, in which a blast from an experimental ray rendered Batman averse to light itself. There’s Zebra Batman from Detective Comics #275, in which an encounter with magnet-powered supervillain Zebra-Man left Batman’s suit scrambled into Zebra-esque crazy black-and-white waves.
Those are both pretty colorless schemes, so the set gets a blast of candy-coated crayon in the form of the iconic Rainbow Batman, from Detective Comics #241, which included a storyline where Bruce attempted to protect and injured Dick Grayson from harm by wearing a series of garishly colored Batman outfits while they were out on patrol, distracting thieves away from the Boy Wonder’s compromised state. It’s ridiculous, and I love it, and I will purchase any and all versions of this suit wherever possible. Like right here, where the pricey set will set you back $80.
There’s good news if you’re going to San Diego next month—starting June 17, Mattel will put up a limited collection of both of these exclusives online for prepurchase at its Mattel Store, so fans can get their sets guaranteed to claim at Comic-Con itself from July 17. Pre-purchased sets will begin shipping after the convention comes to a close.
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated pre-orders for both of these items would be available for fans not attending San Diego Comic-Con. Pre-orders are actually only SDCC attendees to pre-claim their sets, and not available for those not attending. It has been updated to reflect that, and io9 regrets the error.
For more, make sure you’re following us on our new Instagram @io9dotcom.