WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Batman #86 by James Tynion IV, Tony S. Daniel, Danny Miki, Tomeu Morey and Clayton Cowles, in stores now.
Following the conclusion of writer Tom King's 85-issue tenure on Batman, the new creative team of James Tynion IV and Tony S. Daniel are launching the Dark Knight in a bold new direction. As an old threat from Gotham City's past seemingly returns, Bruce Wayne is still reeling from the loss of his trusted friend, Alfred Pennyworth. This pushes him to be better, and to do what he never has before. Already, it's become clear Bruce has plans for Gotham City's infrastructure. But that's not all -- he's also changed how he operates as Batman.
In fact, in Batman #86, the Caped Crusader debuts his latest weapon in his crime-fighting crusade: the Nightclimber, an automated vehicle that works as muscle, armor and transportation. Essentially, Batman now has his own Transformer.
The Nightclimber comes from a design by Bruce Wayne and is the result of new technology created by Lucius Fox. At Wayne Enterprises, Fox has developed a new automated factory floor that can print, build and assemble machines at any given time. This is meant to further help Batman's mission, seeing as how it can print whatever the superhero might need at a moment's notice.
"This creation of yours, Mr. Wayne," Lucius says, "It's not like anything you've used before." And with good reason: according to him, it can run, pounce, climb walls, track Batman's targets and fly.
While Fox isn't exactly comfortable sending the new vehicle into combat without proper testing, Batman deploys it for his latest case. The Nightclimber operates separately from him and it follows his commands. With it, Batman is able to take on five of the DC Universe's deadliest assassins, including Deathstroke, Merlyn and Cheshire.
Although we have yet to see the complete vehicle (the whole Nightclimber is conveniently kept out of frame), we do catch a glimpse of parts of it. It scales a wall in a robot-like form before Batman climbs into it. Then, it changes shape and transforms into a new, highly-advanced bat-plane.
Already, we've seen the Nightclimber work as an enforcer, as a mech-suit and as a bat-plane. What else can it do, and what other types of weaponry is it equipped with? Clearly this is just the start, and further issues of this run will unveil the full scope of this new invention's capabilities.
Batman has always had an impressive arsenal of weapons and vehicles at his disposal. From his legion of batmobiles, planes and submarines to his various mech suits, each designed for one specific situation, the dark knight detective can take on almost anything. But now, the Nightclimber takes things even further. We've only seen a fraction of what it can do, but already we can tell it's going to have a big impact in this new story.