Lego Batman (stylized as ''LEGO Batman'') is a discontinued theme and product range of the

Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

building toy, introduced in 2006, based on the superhero character

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

, under license from

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

. The sets feature vehicles, characters and scenes from the comics and films. The inspirations for the design of these vary widely. For example, the

Batmobile The Batmobile is the fictional land vehicle driven by the superhero Batman, used both to patrol Gotham City looking for crime and to engage in car chases or vehicular combat with the city's criminal underworld. The Batmobile is one of a suite o ...

retains its basic sleek shape and prominent fins from the Tim Burton films, whereas the "Bat-Tank" seems to be based on the tank-like Batmobile in Frank Miller's '' The Dark Knight Returns''. The theme was relaunched in early 2012 as part of the Lego DC Universe Superheroes line, which is a sub-theme of the Lego Super Heroes line. In total there were 17 sets, almost all of them including Batman. The theme spawned multiple TV series, video games and films.

Overview

The product line focuses on the superhero character

has been adapted into various media including film, radio, television, and video games, as well as numerous merchandising items. ''Lego Batman'' aimed to recreate the main characters in Lego form, including Batman, Robin, the Joker, Bane and Harley Quinn.

Development

''Lego Batman'' was inspired by the '' Batman franchise''. The construction toy range was based on the media franchise and developed in collaboration with Warner Bros. Consumer Products. The construction sets were designed to recreate the story and characters of the media franchise in Lego form.

Construction sets

According to BrickLink, The Lego Group released a total of 15 Lego sets as part of ''Lego Batman'' theme.

Non-Batman film sets

Batman is given a wide range of vehicles, their appearances resembling their accepted forms. Several vehicles, including the "Batman Dragster", "Batman's Buggy", and "Bat-Tank", have also been introduced. The Batmobile appears similar to the way it does in the 1989 film, while the Batboat takes on a hovercraft-like form. All the set-boxes feature a comic strip by artist Greg Hyland at the back, featuring stylized versions of the set in action. The first seven sets were released in 2006: ''The Batman Dragster: Catwoman Pursuit'' (set number: 7779), ''The Batboat: Hunt for Killer Croc'' (set number: 7780), ''The Batmobile: Two-Face's Escape'' (set number: 7781), ''The Batwing: The Joker's Aerial Assault'' (set number: 7782), ''The Batcave: The Penguin and Mr. Freeze's Invasion'' (set number: 7783), ''The Batmobile: Ultimate Collector's Edition'' (set number: 7784) and ''Arkham Asylum'' (set number: 7785). The next two sets were released in 2007: ''The Batcopter: The Chase for Scarecrow'' (set number: 7786) and ''The Bat-Tank: The Riddler and Bane's Hideout'' (set number: 7787). The last four sets were released in 2008: ''Batman's Buggy: The Escape of Mr. Freeze'' (set number: 7884), ''Robin's Scuba Jet: Attack of The Penguin'' (set number: 7885), ''The Batcycle: Harley Quinn's Hammer Truck'' (set number: 7886) and ''The Tumbler: Joker's Ice-Cream Surprise'' (set number: 7888). Lego Batman has been re-introduced in 2012 as part of the Lego Super Heroes theme. Five sets were released on 1 January 2012. They are ''The Dynamic Duo Funhouse Escape'' (set number: 6857), Catwoman Catcycle City Chase (set number: 6858), ''The Batcave'' (set number: 6860), ''Batwing Battle Over Gotham City'' (set number: 6863), and ''Batmobile and the Two-Face Chase'' (set number: 6864). Later, on 28 December 2012, ''Arkham Asylum'' (set number: 10937), and ''Batman vs. Mr. Freeze: Aquaman on Ice'' (set number: 76000) were released. In 2013, a ''Robin and Redbird Cycle'' (set number: 30166) polybag was released as a promotion. Three sets were released on 4 January 2014. They are ''Batman: The Penguin Face Off'' (set number: 76010), ''Batman: Man-Bat Attack'' (set number: 76011) and ''Batman: The Riddler Chase'' (set number: 76012). Later, on 18 February 2014, ''Batman: The Joker Steam Roller'' (set number: 76013) was released. In addition, a ''The Joker Bumper Car'' (set number: 30303) polybag was released as a promotion. Two sets were released on 2 August 2015. They are ''The Batboat Harbor Pursuit'' (set number: 76034) and ''Jokerland'' (set number: 76035). On 1 March 2016, ''Gotham City Cycle Chase'' (set number: 76053) was released. Later, three sets namely ''Batman: Scarecrow Harvest of Fear'' (set number: 76054), ''Batman: Killer Croc Sewer Smash'' (set number: 76055) and ''Batman: Rescue from Ra's al Ghul'' (set number: 76056) were released on August 1 the same year. Three sets were released on 1 August 2018. They are ''Batman: The Attack of the Talons'' (set number: 76110), ''Batman: Brother Eye Takedown'' (set number: 76111) and ''App-Controlled Batmobile'' (set number: 76112). Two sets were released on 2 January 2019. They are ''Batman Batsub and the Underwater Clash'' (set number: 76116), and ''Batman Mech vs. Poison Ivy Mech'' (set number: 76117). Later, July 1, ''Mr. Freeze Batcycle Battle'' (set number: 76118) was released. Five sets were released on August 2. They are ''Batmobile: Pursuit of The Joker'' (set number: 76119), ''Batwing and The Riddler Heist'' (set number: 76120), ''Batcave Clayface Invasion'' (set number: 76122), ''Batman vs. The Riddler Robbery'' (set number: 76137) and ''Batman and The Joker'' Escape (set number: 76138). Three sets were released on 24 August 2020. They are ''Batboat The Penguin Pursuit!'' (set number: 76158), ''Joker's Trike Chase'' (set number: 76159), and ''Mobile Bat Base'' (set number: 76160).

The Dark Knight Trilogy

''The Bat vs. Bane: Tumbler Chase'' (set number: 76001), based on '' The Dark Knight Rises'' film, was released on 29 December 2012. ''The Tumbler'' (set number: 76023), based on '' The Dark Knight'' film was released was released on 24 December 2014. In addition, a The Batman Tumbler (set number: 30300) polybag was released as a promotion. In 2021, a remake of the 2014 ''The Tumbler'' (set number: 76240) was released.

Batman Classic TV Series

The ''Batman Classic TV Series - Batcave'' (set number: 76052), based on the 1960s ''

'' TV series was released on 1 March 2016. In addition, a ''Batman Classic TV Series - Mr. Freeze'' (set number: 30603) polybag was released as a promotion.

The Lego Batman Movie

From 2017 to 2018, Lego released 42 sets and promotional polybags as part of ''The Lego Batman Movie'' theme.

1989 Batman

The ''1989 Batmobile'' (set number: 76139), based on the 1989 ''Batman'' film, was released on 30 November 2019. The ''1989 Batwing'' (set number: 76161) was released on 1 November 2020.

The Batman

In conjunction with the 2022 ''The Batman'' film, Lego released four movie tie-in sets on 1 November 2021, namely ''Batman & Selina Kyle Motorcycle Pursuit'' (set number: 76179), ''Batmobile: The Penguin Chase'' (set number: 76181), ''Batcave: The Riddler Face-Off'' (set number: 76183) as well as ''The Batman - Batmobile'' (set number: 42127) under the

Lego Technic Lego Technic (stylized as ''LEGO Technic'') is a line of Lego interconnecting plastic rods and parts. The purpose of this series is to create advanced models of working vehicles and machines, compared to the simpler brick-building properties of ...

theme.

Lego Minifigures

In 2017, 71017 The Lego Batman Movie Series 1 was released, based on '' The Lego Batman Movie'' film, with a total of 20 minifigures. A follow-up was released in 2018 in 71020 The Lego Batman Movie Series 2, with a total of 20 minifigures. In 2020, 71026 DC Super Heroes Series was released, based on DC Comics, with a total of 16 minifigures.

Lego Brick Sketches

Lego released the 40386 Batman and 40428 The Joker under the '' Lego Brick Sketches'' theme on 1 June 2020.

Lego Art

Lego released the 31205 Jim Lee Batman Collection under the ''Lego Art'' theme on 1 March 2022.

Film and television

Animated short film

An official animated short film called "Lego Batman: Bricks, Bats & Bad Guys" was produced with

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

to promote the product line. It was made in 2006. It contains three adventures where

tries to stop The Joker, The Penguin, Two-Face and Mr. Freeze to their getaway vehicles by his Bat-vehicles and were all sent to Arkham Asylum.

DC Nation

During the premiere of '' Green Lantern: The Animated Series'', animation from Lego Batman was part of the preview for the DC Nation block of programming coming in 2012 to Cartoon Network.

''Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite''

''Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite'' is an animated superhero action comedy film based on the video game '' Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes''. It encompasses most

cutscene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...

s from the game, while the gameplay was replaced by new scenes. The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on 21 May 2013, and received generally positive reviews, with praise for the animation and action, although the promotional tone of the film was criticized.

''The Lego Movie''

The Lego Batman character appears in the 2014 ''The Lego Movie'' voiced by

Will Arnett William Emerson Arnett (; born May 4, 1970) is a Canadian and American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his roles as Gob Bluth in the Fox/Netflix sitcom '' Arrested Development'' (2003–2006, 2013, 2018–2019) and the titular ch ...

''Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered''

Cartoon Network aired the television special '' Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered'' on 27 October 2014, which details Superman wanting to recruit Batman into the Justice League while he is fighting Penguin and other villains over a gem, but he refuses the league. When Superman mysteriously goes missing, Batman recruits Flash to help find him. With nothing to report, they run into Captain Cold, who is trying to steal an Atlantean pillar in a desert. After a fight which results in the Batwing getting destroyed and Flash mysteriously disappearing, Batman defeats Cold, only for him and the pillar to go missing as well. He goes to Aquaman in the sea, who fights Black Manta for the trident of Poseidon, but he goes through a similar situation, where Aquaman disappears, Batman defeats Manta, and then he and the trident are warped away. Realizing that the Justice League is the target and not the artifacts Batman goes to Wonder Woman and Cyborg, who are fighting Luthor in Metropolis. As Luthor reveals an anonymous buyer wants the daily planet globe, Wonder Woman and Cyborg disappear, leaving Batman to defeat Luthor, only for him and the globe to disappear. Batman realizes that the plot was by Bat-Mite and it was to abduct the members of the Justice League and so that Batman can be the number one superhero in the universe. The film was released on DVD with '' Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League'' in 2015.

''Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League''

''Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League'' is an animated comedy film based on the

and

brands, released on February 10, 2015, on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

and DVD. This is the third Lego DC Comics film following '' Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite'' and '' Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered''. Some actors from various DC properties reprise their respective roles, including Nolan North as

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

, Khary Payton as

Tom Kenny Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He has been voicing SpongeBob SquarePants (character), the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media since its debut in 1999. Kenny has voice ...

as The Penguin and

Plastic Man Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a superhero featured in American comic books first appearing in ''Police Comics'' #1, originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole (artist), Jack Co ...

. The film received mixed but unfavorable reviews from critics, with criticisms focusing on the silly and promotional tone and the characters, although the animation was praised.

''Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Attack of the Legion of Doom''

''Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Attack of the Legion of Doom'' is an animated comedy film based on the

and

brands, which was released on August 25, 2015, on

, DVD and Digital HD. This is the fourth Lego DC Comics film following '' Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite'', '' Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered'' and '' Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League''. Actors from various (also copyrighted) DC properties reprise their respective roles, including Mark Hamill as The Trickster, Nolan North as

, Khary Payton as

Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...

, Kevin Michael Richardson as Black Manta, Grey Griffin as Lois Lane and

as The Penguin. The film received generally positive reviews, with praise for the animation, action, and humor, although some criticized the

consumerism Consumerism is a socio-cultural and economic phenomenon that is typical of industrialized societies. It is characterized by the continuous acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing quantities. In contemporary consumer society, the ...

in the film.

''Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Cosmic Clash''

''Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Cosmic Clash'' is an animated

action comedy The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the America ...

film based on the

and

brands, which was released on February 9, 2016, on Digital HD and March 1 on

and DVD. It is the fifth Lego DC Comics film following '' Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite'', '' Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered'', '' Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League'' and '' Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Attack of the Legion of Doom''. Some actors from various DC properties reprised their respective roles, including Nolan North as

and Khary Payton as

Cyborg A cyborg (, a portmanteau of ''cybernetics, cybernetic'' and ''organism'') is a being with both Organic matter, organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.Lego Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...

and

brands, which was released on June 21, 2016, in Digital HD and on July 12 on

and DVD. It is the sixth Lego DC Comics film following '' Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite'', '' Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered'', '' Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League vs. Bizarro League'', '' Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Attack of the Legion of Doom'' and '' Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League – Cosmic Clash''. Some actors from various DC properties reprise their respective roles, including Nolan North as

and Troy Baker as

. The film received positive reviews, with praise for the action, although the consumerism was criticized.

''The Lego Batman Movie''

The Batman from ''The Lego Movie'' received his own spin-off film. Arnett reprised his role of Batman, while Chris McKay, who was earlier attached to the sequel, directed the film. It was released on February 10, 2017.

''Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash''

''Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: The Flash'' is an American animated film. It is a superhero action-adventure comedy, based on the

and

brands. It is produced by

DC Entertainment DC Entertainment is an American entertainment company that was founded in September 2009 and is based in Burbank, California. The company is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery which manages DC Comics characters by working with other units ...

, The Lego Group and Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, and was released digitally on February 13, 2018, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 13. It is the seventh Lego DC Comics film. This is the first posthumous release for longtime DC producer Benjamin Melniker, who died a month before its release. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised the action, humor, and animation.

''The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part''

Batman also appears in the 2019 ''The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part''.

''Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman – Rage of Atlantis''

''Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman – Rage of Atlantis'' is an American animated film. It is a superhero action-adventure comedy, based on the

and

brands. Produced by

, The Lego Group and Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It premiered at

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

on July 22, 2018 and was later released digitally, DVD and Blu-ray on July 31. It is the eighth Lego DC Comics film. The film received mixed reviews, with praise for the animation but criticism for the consumerism.

''Lego DC Batman: Family Matters''

''Lego DC Batman: Family Matters'' is an American animated film. It is a superhero action-adventure comedy based on the

and

brands produced by

, The Lego Group and Warner Bros. Animation, and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, it premiered at

on July 21, 2019 and was later released on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital on August 20. It is the ninth Lego DC Comics film. The DVD release includes a free 84-piece Lego set. The film received positive reviews, with praise for the humor and action, although the consumerism was criticized.

''Lego DC Shazam! Magic and Monsters''

''Lego DC Shazam! Magic and Monsters'' is an American animated superhero action-adventure comedy film based on the

and

brands produced by

, The Lego Group and Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It is the tenth and final Lego DC Comics film. The film was released on digital on April 28, and on Blu-ray/DVD on June 16, 2020. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for the humor and action.

Video games

; : A video game based on the theme called '' Lego Batman: The Videogame'' was released in 2008. Produced by

TT Games TT Games Limited is a British holding company and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Games. The company was established in 2005 through the merger of developer Traveller's Tales and publisher Giant Interactive (now TT Games Publishing). Its other b ...

, the game followed similar titles based upon ''

Lego Star Wars Lego ''Star Wars'' (stylized as ''LEGO Star Wars'') is a List of Lego themes, Lego theme based on the Star Wars, ''Star Wars'' media franchise created by George Lucas. It includes over 928 Lego building toy sets, 1389 Lego minifigures, an ep ...

'' and '' Lego Indiana Jones''. ; : A sequel to the first Lego Batman called '' Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes'' was released in 2012 and included other

characters like Superman, Wonder Woman,

, and the Flash, most of them appearing towards the end of the story. ; : The Lego Batman character appeared as a playable character in the video game based on '' The Lego Movie'' in which he also appeared in. ; : Based on '' The Lego Batman Movie'', Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment released the endless-runner game coinciding with the release of the film. It was released for Android and iOS. ; : A direct sequel to ''Lego Batman 2'' called '' Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham'' was released in 2014. This third installment saw Batman travel outside of Gotham into space with the Justice League. The game features bonus DLC content featuring different generations of Batman in Lego form such as '' Batman 1966'' and '' The Dark Knight Trilogy''. Despite the title, Batman was not the main focus in this installment and it was more focused on the entire Justice League and other DC Superheroes. ; : Two versions of the Lego Batman character (''DC Comics'' & ''The Lego Movie'') appeared again in the video game '' Lego Dimensions'', which was released in 2015. This game involves a crossover of different characters from different franchises such as ''

'', '' The Wizard of Oz'', ''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985 ...

'', '' The Lego Movie'', etc. ; : A direct spin-off to the ''Lego Batman'' trilogy called '' Lego DC Super-Villains'' that was released in 2018. The spin-off sees both Batman and the Justice League missing as the game focuses on villains of the

DC Universe The DC Universe (DCU) is the shared universe in which most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. In context, the term "DC Universe" usually refers to the main DC Continuity (fiction), continuity. It contains v ...

Awards and nominations

In 2012, Batwing Battle Over Gotham City was awarded "DreamToys" in the Construction category by the Toy Retailers Association. In 2014, Batman Man-Bat attack was awarded "DreamToys" in the Build The World category by the Toy Retailers Association.

References

External links

*
Official The Lego Batman Movie website at Lego.com
{{Batman in popular media Batman toys DC Comics titles Joker (character) in other media

Products introduced in 2006 Products and services discontinued in 2008 Robin (character) in other media