I love the new exaggerated Batman character design

DC Comics is about to enter an exciting new era, treating fans to an exclusive look at a new character design for the upcoming series, Absolute Batman. As one of DC’s most iconic superheroes, Batman’s revamp is a major update to the Dark Knight we’ve seen before – broader, bolder and battier than ever.

Fanbases can be pretty precious about their favourite superheroes, so any character design tweaks have to win the favour of fans over anything else. With the wider Absolute Universe set to be a bold reimagining of some of DC’s most beloved superheroes, it could just be the dynamic refresh that DC need to take Marvel’s crown.

The new Batman design is a more stylised take on the iconic vigilante, with a towering larger-than-life stature and over-exaggerated muscles (even for DC’s standards). New additions have been added to his black and grey costume, with spiked shoulder pads and a new cape that appears to extend down his arms to form menacing bat wings. Controversially the iconic bat logo has been reimagined, now appearing as a more abstract rectangular square across his chest.

The Absolute Universe is set to be an alternate comic series that reimagines DC’s most iconic characters as brooding underdogs. It’s part of DC’s brand new ‘All In’ initiative – a coordinated launch of DC’s freshest comic series’ and character arcs – set to be “the biggest initiative that DC has done in the better part of a decade” according to writer Scott Snyder. While details of Synder’s Absolute Batman have been kept fairly under wraps, the promotional artwork is an exciting glimpse of what’s in store for the future of Gotham’s billionaire vigilante superhero.

For more comic illustration news, check out the official DC art that revived Nightwing’s controversially flamboyant costume. If you’re a film fan, look at the new Superman logo for James Gunn’s upcoming movie inspired by the classic comic book design.