While Batman drove several vehicles since his first appearance, the first car deemed "The Batmobile" appeared in the 1941 issue No. 48 of Batman's Detective Comics. Remarkably, the original Batmobile contains none of the trademarks of the Batmobile as we now know it---such as dark colors, bat shapes and fins. Rather, this model appeared as a red convertible with a bat-shaped hood ornament on the front of the car.
Soon the Batmobile would begin to alter and, for the rest of the 1940s, show up as a two-door sedan with the traditional dark colors, fins and a mask shaped like Batman's head on the front of the vehicle; although the shape of the car and minor details would change with each new appearance. Artist Dick Sprang created the first standard design of the vehicle in 1944, keeping many of the features of the previous Batmobile but adding red stripes to the otherwise dark-colored car.
Dick Sprang's design would continue as the standard until 1950's Batman's Detective Comics No. 156, which debuted a new Batmobile after the destruction of the previous model. This model, based on a 1950s Studebaker, featured gadgets like a searchlight, radar, TV screens and even a miniature laboratory.
The next major redesign of the Batmobile occurred in Batman No.164 in 1964. This model, based on contemporaneous Porsches and Corvettes, had two seats and a sleek sports-car design.
By 1968, the comic books adopted a design similar to the Batmobile as it appeared on the 1960s television series until 1969 when a new design resulted in a Batmobile styled after a coupe with no fins, a yellow stripe running on top of the car lengthwise and a remote-control system that would prove standard in future models. This model would be redesigned by artist Neal Adams into an even more low-key design, eliminating the yellow stripe but retaining many of the more practical features. This design proved the most enduring, undergoing minor revisions until the late 1980s.
In the late 1980s, artist Norm Breyfogle created several futuristic redesigns of the Batmobile, though the vehicle would appear different depending on the artist, especially when Batman would appear in non-Batman comic books. Variations on the spaceship-like Batmobile would continue throughout the 1990s.
By the 2000s, the Batmobile would return to a more sleek style, often hybrids of previous major designs, including several from the Batman films. Many of these versions had fins and a mask shaped like Batman's head on the front of the car. However, this appearance of the Batmobile would continue to undergo changes.
Artist Frank Quitely, in 2009's Batman & Robin No. 1, created a new design of the Batmobile with a red bat-shaped windshield and the ability to transform into a flying vehicle. This model marks the first flying Batmobile in normal Batman continuity.
As Batman continued to make appearances in other comic books, flashbacks and alternate-universe stories, more redesigns of the Batmobile would crop up only to be forgotten after the stories ended.
Most famous (and largest) of these designs can be seen in Frank Miller's futuristic mid-1980s story "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns." Miller redesigned the Batmobile into an incredibly durable tank with powerful heavy artillery.
In the low-budget 1943 "Batman" by Columbia Pictures, an unmodified 1939 Cadillac convertible was used as the vehicle of choice for both Batman and his alter ego Bruce Wayne. For the 1949 sequel, the filmmakers used a 1949 Mercury Convertible for Batman and Bruce.
The 1960s Batman TV series starring Adam West featured the first on-screen appearance of a "true" Batmobile, based on the abandoned Lincoln Futura concept car, which already shared many features with the comic book Batmobiles such as the bubble canopy and fins. This two-seat Batmobile contained numerous gadgets like a battering ram, rockets and a computer. This design would go on to influence not only the comic books' depiction of the Batmobile but also animated series in the years to come, including the 1970s "Superfriends" cartoon.
The next live-action appearance of the Batmobile would be 1989's Batman feature film, which featured a design based on the classic models with fins, but with a turbine at the front instead of a mask. This model went on to influence the more conservative but sleek Batmobile of "Batman: The Animated Series" and subsequent cartoons. This model even reappeared in the 1992 sequel "Batman Returns" before a drastic redesign in 1995's "Batman Forever" to include intricate details and even a fin on top of the car, reminiscent of the models of the 1940s and 1950s. The 1997 film "Batman & Robin" would result in an additional redesign with even bigger fins and an open cockpit.
The most dramatic redesign of the Batmobile occurred in the 2005 film "Batman Begins" with a vehicle, termed the "Tumbler," an unused experimental military vehicle capable of making long jumps that Bruce Wayne refitted for his crime-fighting needs. This version of the Batmobile was a tanklike vehicle akin to Frank Miller's redesign but with large wheels rather than a tank tread. This version made an another appearance in the 2009 sequel "The Dark Knight."