The new Batmobile to be featured in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is an intimidating sight to behold, but how much would the heavily armored and weaponized "car" cost in real life?
CNBC asked some experts to find out. The short answer? A lot. The slightly longer answer? More than $9 million, and that is without paying for munitions and fuel. For reference, an M1 Abrams tank used by the U.S. military costs $3 million a piece.
The estimate comes from Pimp My Ride host Ryan Friedlinghaus, and he would be one to know how much it costs to make a Batmobile: he recently made one himself. Friedlinghaus and his team created a promotional Batmobile that was featured at the Electronic Entertainment Expo over the summer, modeled after the Batmobile to be seen in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Knight video game. That Batmobile took more than a year and $1 million to create, but couldn't actually be driven around town.
By his estimate, a working vehicle like the one tweeted out by Batman v. Superman director Zack Snyder would at minimum cost $3 million. However, he says "If a defense company was to make a vehicle like that, you've got to make it bulletproof, there are so many other pieces to it, then to make it look pretty and move around and drive, I mean, this thing has to go into war, I would say triple that."
Tripling his original estimate, the grand total for a fully functional, bulletproof, heavily armed Batmobile would only set you back roughly $9 million. The "Tumbler" Batmobile seen in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy supposedly cost around $1 million for comparison.
Friedlinghaus says the car reminds him more of an aircraft than a car.
"When you see that stealth bomber, you know that it's our secret plane that we send to go handle business, and that is what Batman handles business with," he says, and he may be right. The car definitely looks like it could transform into something akin to the Batwing.
CNBC asked several defense contractors for their own estimate, but due to only one picture of the Batman v. Superman Batmobile existing they said they would need more information to provide an accurate estimate.
"The new Batmobile looks pretty cool," John Daggett, spokesman for defense contractor Oshkosh, says. "It is hard to determine the actual size based on the shots ... there would be too many unknowns in order for us to give you a decent quote."
We've definitely come a long way from the Batmobile seen in the Adam West days, that's for sure.
