“To The LEGO Batmobile!” – The Best Sets For Your Batcave

Batman Forever LEGO Batmobile

It’s my least favorite Batmobile of all time. Joel Schumacher took the entire franchise to cartoony extremes. It has some unique features, including wheels that rotate 90° so it can drive sideways. Attached to its nose is a grappling hook that allows it to drive up walls, which looks excellent in animation but stupid in live-action.

The new LEGO Batmobile set—so new it’s still on pre-order—gets all the comically-sized fins and weird close-fitting fenders just right, but no sideways wheels or grappling hook. Boo. It does come with a Batman minifig and display plaque.

• 990 pieces
• 6.5 in. (17 cm) high, 16 in. (41 cm) long and 5 in. (12 cm) wide

Batman: The Animated Series – Gotham City Skyline

This set is retiring this year, and it has a Batmobile!

The set recreates iconic locations from the beloved Batman: The Animated Series, including Arkham Asylum, Bat Signal, and Gotham City Court Building. The 15 panels detach, revealing the inside of Wayne Manor and the activities of the Rogues Gallery across the city. It’s packed with easter eggs and characters from the series.

The set comes with four minifigs—Batman, The Joker, Harley Quinn, and Catwoman. There’s even a brick-built mini Batwing and LEGO Batmobile that fit within the build.

• 4210 pieces
• 4 minifigs
• 16 in. (41 cm) high, 30 in. (76 cm) wide and 2.5 in. (6 cm) deep

1989 Batmobile

The sleek Batmobile from Burton’s movies had no straight lines, which works wonderfully in the art deco Gotham presented in the movie. It was designed by conceptual illustrator Julian Caldow and built by the special effects team at Pinewood Studios in England. The car sits on a Chevrolet Impala chassis, and the body is 22 feet long…. tight turns are not something it’s great at.

The 2019 LEGO Batmobile set has a sliding cockpit door, wrap-around windshield, flame exhaust, and weapons with pop-up functions. A Batman minifig comes with a cape that matches the one seen in the movie, and Vicki Vale comes with her camera. The kit also comes with a nifty rotating display stand for display.

It’s my favorite Batmobile. I have endless regrets about not picking this up.

The Batman LEGO Batmobile

The 2022 movie not only brought a new Batman, it also included a muscle car-inspired Batmobile that has a call back to the Lincoln Futura’s fins, but that’s where the similarities stop. It’s a sports car on an off-road chassis with a super-powered engine. It looks like a car a mechanically minded rich guy would build in his garage without an R&D department with a multi-billion dollar budget.

This 1,360 piece kit has opening doors and hood, and the engine has moving pistons, a spinning jet exhaust, and light bricks that make the front grill glow. It also has functional wheels with a rear differential. This one retired last year, but some third-party sites still have it in stock. It won’t be available forever, so snag it if you want it. I can attest that it’s a fun weekend build if you’re a Technic fan.

The Classic TV Series LEGO Batmobile

The car in the show is packed with all the goofy bat gadgets. Everything from a handy automatic tire inflation device and bat-glove compartment to the inflatable Batmobile and the library paste bat-dissolving switch. It was the dynamic duo’s primary mode of transportation from the Batcave to all manner of hijinks.

This set filled an important gap in Batman’s garage when it came out last year… and it looks fantastic. The Ford Lincoln Futura based Batmobile features a molded windshield, rotatable wheels, authentic interior details, and an opening trunk containing the Bat Computer. It comes with a plaque and a caped Batman minifig for display.

Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na… LEGO Batman!

• 1,822 pieces
• 1966-style Batman minifigure
• 5 in. (14 cm) high, 19 in. (50 cm) long and 7 in. (18 cm) wide

The Tumbler

Christopher Nolan and production designer Nathan Crowley took Frank Miller’s riot tank and squashed it into something more realistic and grounded in the real world. It was a total departure from Batman’s vehicles before it. The Tumbler is beefy, utilitarian, and angular. It’s also the shortest of the scratch-built at 15 feet.

The 2,049 piece UCS-like version is just as hulking and angular as the real thing. It has a roof that opens and allows access to the seats and control panel. It’s a fun and (I’ll be honest) sometimes frustrating build with a mix of Technic, bricks, and a lot of plates. But it’s a fantastic display piece. I will note that this one is retired last year, so this may be your last chance to snag one.

Batwing

It’s not a Batmobile, but it’s a friggin’ awesome (sadly retired and hard to get a hold of) set. I have hopes that we’ll see something like this again so fans will have another shot at building it. By fan… I mean me. I want to build a big Batwing.

The kit has a lot of details straight from Danny Elfman’s 1989 movie. It has a removable canopy that reveals a full interior, complete with instrument displays, and posable flaps. Included are 3 minifigs from the scene the Batwing appears in—Batman, the Joker, and Lawrence the Boombox Goon. The kit also comes with two display options—an angled stand and a special brick that allows for vertical mounting on a wall.

Batman: The Animated Series Batmobile

The first design seen in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939) was a bright red coupe with a long, reinforced hood and running boards. It took a lot of design cues from the Cord 812 and Bugatti Type 41. The red didn’t last long. The car was redesigned for the comics in the early 1940s when the stealthy black we see today was adopted.

This LEGO Batmobile set is on the smaller size with only 435 pieces, but it still captures the Batmobile from the series and the classic comics. If you’re wanting a build in one sitting set that can be displayed almost anywhere, this is your Batmobile.

• 435 pieces
• 3 minifigs
• 11 in. (28 cm) long

Batcave Shadowbox

Hear me out—though it may not be the focus, this set has a buildable Batmobile.

The 3,981-piece brick-built Batcave came with a bunch of screen-inspired details—from a row of Batarangs to a buildable Batmobile. It’s filled with details and moving parts. LEGO Batman can hang out in the control center with a changing main computer screen, check out the armory, and store an extra Batsuit in the illuminated vault.

The 1989 model seats a minifig and has 2 hidden launchers. Minifigs include Max Shreck, the Penguin, Catwoman, 2 versions of Batman (one with a fabric cape), Alfred Pennyworth, and Bruce Wayne. When the shadow box is closed, you can see all of these elements through the Batman emblem.

Sadly, this set retired last year and was sold out by April. As a Burton-era fan, I’m still kicking myself because I didn’t pick it up for my LEGO Batman collection. It’s a super cool display piece.