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Driver's bizarre reason for crashing into Batmobile during filming of 'badass scene' in 'underrated' Batman movie leaving Netflix in a few days

Home> Film & TV> News

Published 16:54 27 May 2025 GMT+1

Driver's bizarre reason for crashing into Batmobile during filming of 'badass scene' in 'underrated' Batman movie leaving Netflix in a few days

The driver ultimately landed himself a similar fate to the Joker...

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck

The filming of an 'awesome' scene in one of the films from the Dark Knight trilogy saw an incident occur between the Batmobile and a 'drunk' driver on the streets of Chicago.

The movies forming the Dark Knight trilogy are set to leave Netflix by June 1 and granted, you've probably seen them before - if not, we're judging.

Arguably, the most beloved of the trilogy is The Dark Knight, which came out in 2008, and that's part in large due to Heath Ledger's terrifying performance as The Joker - which could have been more frightening if his costume design followed the original concept art.

However, one detail you may not have realized about one of the films, which were all directed by Christopher Nolan, in particular is that one scene actually saw the Batmobile crashed into during filming - and it wasn't by any of the cast or crew.

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The drunk guy said what now? (Warner Bros. Pictures)
The drunk guy said what now? (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Batman Begins' Tumbler chase scene

The scene takes place in first of the trilogy - Batman Begins (2005) - and sees Batman himself (Christian Bale) racing through the streets of Gotham evading police in the new Batmobile - dubbed 'The Tumbler'.

Measuring a whopping nine feet wide and sixteen feet long, the Tumbler - designed by Chris Corbould and Andrew Smith - also sported four 44-inch tires at the rear and was covered in 'jagged plates of armor', Fandom notes.

It was reportedly envisioned by director Nolan to be a mix between a Lamborghini and a Humvee, according to co-writer David S. Goyer on a behind-the-scenes featurette, and a total of five to six Batmobiles were reportedly made for the film.

Steering away from using computer generated imagery (CGI), the chase scene was filmed on Lower Wacker Driver in downtown Chicago. However, during the shooting of the scene on the real-life streets, a person ended up driving into the Batmobile.

Allegedly drunk, the driver is said to have told those around him he was panicked by the Batmobile thinking it was an invading alien spacecraft.

And the incident was even later addressed by Bale too.

You can kind of see what he means (not condoning drunk driving though of course) (Warner Bros. Pictures)
You can kind of see what he means (not condoning drunk driving though of course) (Warner Bros. Pictures)

What Batman star Christian Bale said about the Tumbler chase scene incident

During the WonderCon event in San Francisco, Bale recalled, as per Comics Continuum and quoted by FandomWire, how the driver 'crashed into' the Batmobile.

Despite there being 'huge police escorts on either side of' the Tumbler, Bale said a 'poor drunken guy who didn’t have a license' ended up 'sideswiping' the vehicle.

"[He] said he got so panicked when he saw the car he thought aliens were landing. And he put the pedal to the metal. I wasn’t in it at the time; it was the stunt driver," Bale added.

Indeed, while the American Psycho star performed many of his own stunts in the film, he wasn't allowed near the beloved Batmobile, according to FandomWire.

Alas, while Batman managed to evade authorities, it can't be said for the drunk driver - as Bale revealed that the driver ended up getting 'hauled off to jail' as a result of the incident, ultimately suffering a similar fate to the Joker, as quoted by World Entertainment News Network via UPI. If only he'd had the Batmobile to drive eh?

The actor added: "I would’ve liked to hear his story to his fellow inmates that night: ‘What did you do?’ ‘Oh well, I hit Batman’s car.’ ‘Yeah, right—and I hit Superman!'"

And it's not taken long for fans to take to social media to weigh in on the scene and drama while filming it too.

What are people's reactions to the Batman Tumbler scene?

One YouTube user said: "Tumbler is without doubt one of the most badass vehicles in movies."

"The way this was shot and edited, then add in the badass musical score. This was Nolan at his best," another added.

A third wrote: "This scene never gets old.. Also Batman begins is underrated too."

"An alien spacecraft with tires surrounded by movie cameras in the middle of the city styled like a US military stealth craft. Makes sense," a fourth joked.

And a fifth resolved: "No CGI, and a memorable scene! Almost 20 years and still AWESOME!"

Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Topics: Batman, Film and TV, Netflix, Reddit, Social Media, US News, Viral

Poppy Bilderbeck
Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.

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