Batman of Zur-En-Arrh Still Has the Dark Knight’s Best Costume

Batman has no shortage of impressive outfits and tactical suits, but there’s no denying that the Dark Knight’s best look is the colorful Batman of Zur-En-Arrh costume. With bright red pants and cutoff shirt, yellow sleeves and a purple cape and cowl, this suit that made its first appearance during the Silver Age definitely attracts attention. While it might not be the best for hiding in the shadows, it is a stylish and flamboyant ensemble that dares you not to look at it.

Batman of Zur-En-Arrh made his first appearance in the 1958 story “Batman—The Superman of Planet X!” from Batman #113 by France Herron and Dick Sprang. The issue is the perfect encapsulation of the wacky adventures the Caped Crusader frequently found himself in during the Silver Age of Comics. This Batman is the alter ego of Tiano, an alien from the planet Zur-En-Arrh who has been monitoring the activities of Batman on Earth and has modeled his look after the Dark Knight. Tiano transports Bruce Wayne to his planet to help fight off an army of robots. When Batman discovers that being on the planet Zur-En-Arrh grants him the same powers as Superman, he and Tiano are able to easily fight off the robots. While Tiano did not make another appearance in the comics, the memory of his incredible outfit lives on.

While this goofy look could have easily been written off as an obscure novelty look from a time when comic books were not taken seriously, the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh actually made a comeback in a much more grounded way. During Grant Morrison’s tenure writing Batman comics from 2006 to 2013, they incorporated many of the sillier stories from the bygone days of Batman comics and bringing them back, reshaping them to fit into the current canon. The term “Zur-En-Arrh” first appears as a trigger phrase during an isolation experiment that Batman undergoes, and is based on a mishearing of the words “Zorro in Arkham,” which Bruce Wayne’s father had spoken the night he was shot and killed. “Batman of Zur-En-Arrh” was later established to be a backup personality that Bruce Wayne developed in case his mind was ever broken, which it was in the story “Batman R.I.P.”

Morrison doesn’t simply drop the phrase as an Easter egg for fans, but their story actually brings back the classic costume. After Batman is hit with hallucinogenic drugs, his enemies use the trigger phrase “Zur-En-Arrh” to drive the Dark Knight mad. He ends up on the street and fashions himself a makeshift costume that matches Tiano’s Silver Age outfit perfectly. Gone are the drab blacks and grays and occasional blues that Batman usually wears. This suit is bright and colorful and pops in the way that the fashion of a billionaire playboy should. During this time Bruce also adopts the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh persona, which is more violent and completely sheds any vestiges of Bruce Wayne’s personality. He is eventually able to regain his senses with the help of a hallucination that takes the form of Bat-Mite, another wacky creation of the Silver Age.

Unfortunately, once Batman’s mind is restored, he resorts back to his boring regular costume. The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh suit made a brief appearance during The LEGO Batman Movie, and the Silver Age story was retold in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, complete with the colorful outfit. Hopefully it will someday make a reappearance in the comics, where it would fit in perfectly with the futuristic neon style of the Gotham City in Future State. This would help fans realize that it truly is the best Batman costume, and DC will make it his permanent suit across all media. After all, who wouldn’t want to see Robert Pattinson don the red, yellow and purple on the big screen?