75

This (silent) video shows the Batmobile in the new Batman v Superman movie:

However, 14 seconds in we see:

NO STEP on the Batmobile!

Why would the Batmobile need to have "NO STEP" on the side? Batman knows the risk and it's not like he's running a taxi service. Is Batman worried about getting a ticket from an overenthusiastic Health & Safety officer?

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  • 116
    It's to remind him not to step there.
    – Valorum
    Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 5:52
  • 38
    The evidence would suggest that he does
    – Valorum
    Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 7:29
  • 63
    Probably to remind Robin.
    – Boelabaal
    Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 7:33
  • 26
    I have doubts that this sign will actually appear in the theatrical release. This is just early b-roll footage which has not finished going through post production (hence the silence). The sign is probably there to warn the cast and crew to not step there because that piece isn't strong enough to hold the weight of a person and would probably break. That would be an expensive mistake. Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 18:55
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    I think it has more to do with the fact that they wanted the Batmobile to look like a military aircraft, which has things like this painted on delicate control surfaces (among others). I doubt the filmmakers really understand why they're there on the aircraft parts.
    – Ernie
    Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 19:17

8 Answers 8

49

By popular demand, I am reposting my comment as an answer.

Just to clarify, this footage is not the finished product, so don't expect to see this sign to appear in an official release. It will most likely be digitally erased in post-production. You would not see this any more than you would see the wires that hold up the stunt men in an elaborate fight scene.

I seriously doubt the sign is there for Batman, or his damsel in distress. It is most likely put there by the prop master to alert the cast and crew not to put too much weight on that part because it would probably break, or damage something underneath the body panel. Time will tell if I am correct.

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    The reason they don't do that is that "digitally erasing" stuff in every frame of a scene is expensive. Putting something like that on a prop and saying "just fix it in post!" will not get you far. There's a reason that every real-world set is combed for things like writing, logos and labels prior to use. Only those that are meant to be seen, should ever end up on camera. Commented May 1, 2015 at 1:57
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    @DewiMorgan There is a lot of post production cgi, the whole film will be much darker and removing this is childsplay. They have to do a lot to the batmobile post production, removing those letters won't be a problem.
    – Vincent
    Commented May 1, 2015 at 6:58
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    @DewiMorgan I agree with Vincent on this. It doesn't take very long to erase artifacts like this with modern processing software. They can write a script that will filter out 90-99% of it automatically. There would only be a handful of frames which would need more detailed work. These would be scenes which would have closeups of the Batmobile. Mind you, that at least 75% of the film will probably have CGI composite images which will seamlessly blend into the rest of the film. Commented May 1, 2015 at 12:56
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    It'll be interesting to see the final version. The trailer may not have sound, but the visual production values are fairly high and the whole point of the trailer is that it's lovingly admiring the Batmobile from every angle. Leaving a glaring prop reminder on it just makes no sense. I think it'll be there (modulo the vissitudes of film production genereally), I suspect it's for the subconscious tie-in to aircraft. Commented May 2, 2015 at 15:52
  • 13
    Has time told whether you're correct yet?
    – Molag Bal
    Commented Jun 6, 2016 at 0:54
102

I don't know how chivalrous Batman will turn out to be in this movie, but the Dark Knights of the past have had cause, once in a while, to take civilian passengers. Vicki Vale in Batman and Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins both got to take a ride in their respective Batmobiles after being rescued by their respective Batmen.

So, even if he's not running a taxi service, it's by no means unimaginable for him to bring the Batmobile to a screeching stop, retract the hood, and grunt "Climb in!" to someone in danger. Batman has, of course, anticipated this contingency, and marked an unsafe area—to better protect the citizens of Gotham.

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    CLIMB IN! NO, NOT THERE, IT’S DANGEROUS. WELL NO, NOT EXACTLY AS DANGEROUS AS THE JOKER, BUT— SEE, NOW YOU’VE BURNED YOUR FOOT. *mutters* WHY DOESN’T ANYONE EVER READ THE DAMN SIGN Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 10:00
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    (Warner Bros., yes, I am available for script consultancy.) Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 10:01
  • 9
    Or if not chivalry, it's the ultimate pickup machine. He cruises the Gotham Strip on alternate Friday nights, as shown in "Batman: After Hours" on HBO and Netflix Premium.
    – paul
    Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 11:05
  • 16
    @PaulD.Waite lol : "GET IN. NO, YOU NEED TO... NOT THERE, IT'S HOT. TO THE LEFT. NO, YOUR OTHER LEFT. JUST CLIMB OVER THE... #$^DAMMIT. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? FORGET IT, JUST STAY HERE."
    – Omegacron
    Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 14:52
  • 12
    Super Villians are very vulnerable to reverse psychology....
    – Oldcat
    Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 21:40
86

Because it's not only batman who works worked on the Batmobile

Note that the earlier batmobile was designed by one man (Fox), built by others (Waynetech), driven by another (Wayne) and maintained by yet another man (Alfred).

At a minimum there are four and potentially dozens of people who've worked on the various batmobiles, any of whom could have thought that that was a step.


Because the car is built out of stock (airplane?) parts

As Patrick and Monty have pointed out in their comments above, the parts used for the Tumbler were cannibalised from Waynetech's military assets rather than being custom-made from scratch. The same is almost certainly true for the modified Batmobile. These parts may well have been pre-painted with the "no step" designation before they were appropriated for this 'black project'


So he knows where not to step

Since Bruce wasn't fundamentally involved in the design of the car, it's clearly in his interest to know which bits can be stepped on and which bits can't. Causing thousands of dollars of damage to his funky new Batmobile for the sake of a 1$ stencil is not a good tradeoff.

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    That was my thinking as well. This batmobile could be similar to the Tumbler in that it was a repurposed vehicle originally designed for a larger distribution. Therefore it would have to meet some safety regs such as caution stickers and seatbelts.
    – Monty129
    Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 9:31
  • 42
    A sign you've been on the internet too long: "Tumbler" looks like it's spelled wrong.
    – phantom42
    Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 13:14
  • 28
    @phantom42 A sign that the internet's been around too long: Google redirects searches for "tumbler" to "tumblr"
    – Turch
    Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 14:52
  • 3
    @phantom42 A sign you've been on the internet too long: you read "Tumbler" as "Tumblr".
    – user11521
    Commented Apr 29, 2015 at 18:02
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    I think the most important workers here are the prop masters and special effects team members, who don't want people stepping on part of their not really armored metal car and causing damage.
    – user31178
    Commented Apr 30, 2015 at 18:41
28

It could be a bit of engineer's humor on the part of Batman or the actual builder of the batmobile, like this notice on the Space Shuttle Carrier aircraft:

enter image description here

"Shuttle mounting point" by Rob Elliott (Zeeeter at en.wikipedia) - Self-made; originally uploaded to en.wiki here. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

16

I've interpreted the evidence differently from most here.

I would be surprised if the signage doesn't make the final version. It was placed intentionally, with very neat lettering, to give the Batmobile an 'aerospace-y' or 'high-tech' feel.

If you do a google search, you'll find that most actual 'no step' signs (that are to keep actual people from stepping on some non-weight-bearing surface,) are brightly colored and often red or yellow.

My opinion (and that is all that it is) is that the Batmobile is so marked to give the impression that it might be subject to service by his team of engineers and/or was just provided by the manufacturer (Wayne Industries) with said marking in place. Just like it would be for anyone who ordered one -- as if it is an actual product with all the normal safety / warning stickers in place.

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  • An interesting theory. You'll forgive me if I hold fire on upvoting this answer until I see the official trailer footage.
    – Valorum
    Commented May 1, 2015 at 7:26
  • 1
    Completely agree. Just like the orange label visible at 9 seconds (and again at 17, and 26); the electric shock hazard label visible at 20 seconds; and what might be something on the roof at 22 and 27 seconds... these are decals for visual interest. They are not stuff put on a prop just to be removed in post. That just doesn't happen. Not ever. Commented May 5, 2015 at 6:08
  • I am inclined to agree. This chimes with the utilitarian military/industrial aesthetic and military aircraft often have no step markings even though you would hope that flight and ground crew would know this anyway (at least as well as batman). Commented Jun 1, 2017 at 20:28
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I think (as does Jason Hutchinson who mentioned this first) that it's a label for the film crew since it will obviously be some vulnerable part which cannot support the full weight of a person (or some similar reason).

Judging by the unaltered footage and no music + the fact it says B-roll in the title this is some stock footage which got leaked or released to some network in order to create some anticipation for the upcoming movie.

I don't like this footage, if it got leaked shame on the person who did it, we've seen the batmobile in pictures and will see it in future 'REAL' teasers/trailers/clips just wait till it comes out properly.

If it was intentionally released shame on the film studio, this shows they are not putting any effort into creating a hype for the movie and does not read well for the movie (i'm going with the first option).

But yes the lable is purely for crew, it has nothing to do with things "in-universe".

Sorry to spoil it for ya but there's probably nothing more to it.

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  • I'm would expect that any/all props that require handling by the crew have handles, or other well-known areas to apply force, just for such handling. It is highly unlikely that anyone would need to step on that surface for the normal shooting setup. Commented Jan 26, 2016 at 1:23
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Why wouldn't it? If there's danger, there's danger.

You could argue that ground crew at airports and on military bases must be extremely well trained and would never think of stepping on the dangerous parts of aircraft, but manufacturers still plaster "NO STEP" all over them. It's a safety measure. It's a precaution.

I see no reason at all for this not to apply to the Batmobile.

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  • You see no reason? I did put a few in the question. Commented Apr 30, 2015 at 22:24
  • @Wikis: No, you didn't. It seems like you didn't understand this answer or the notion that "not doing something isn't the opposite of doing nothing" Commented May 1, 2015 at 9:59
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Because stepping could cause damage to panel.

enter image description here

Seriously though, I see two possibilities: it is not meant to be seen by the audience, only the cast and crew (as others have pointed out); or it is meant to be seen by the audience and convey the impression that this is a piece of military hardware of some kind, although obviously repurposed for Batman's use.

But we won't know until the movie comes out.

1
  • It's funny, I just envisioned that Batman was simply showing his affinity for Jethro Tull
    – John Bell
    Commented Nov 27, 2015 at 9:32

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