Why Batman Begins' Batmobile Was Nolan's Dark Knight Secret Weapon

screenrant.com:

Batman Begins was the first chapter of what would be known as the Dark Knight trilogy, and the design for the film's unique Batmobile was the key to Nolan's Batman reboot. After Batman & Robin's disastrous reception put the future of the Batman movie franchise in question, Warner Bros. considered many different options as to where to take the character next. Several scripts were written, including a Darren Aronofsky Year One adaptation and a Batman Beyond film starring Clint Eastwood, but it was eventually Christopher Nolan's Batman pitch that won over the studio.

Nolan had started to make a name for himself in the industry with Memento, but the director was far from being a safe choice to helm a reboot of one of the most important Warner Bros. IPs. David Goyer, who had previously worked on Marvel's Blade movies, joined Christopher Nolan in the mission of creating a Batman film that could make the audiences forget Batman & Robin and that reignited the Batman franchise. Nolan and Goyer decided to dive into Batman's origins, to the point they had to create a story for Bruce Wayne's «lost years» involving the seemly immortal Ra's Al Ghul.

Related: Why Christopher Nolan Avoids Using CGI So Much

While Batman Begins was inspired by Frank Miller's Year One on some levels, the movie was essentially a new take on Batman – especially in terms of movies. In order to sell this darker, more realistic version of Batman, Christopher Nolan was aware that he had to design the Batmobile before anything in Batman Begins, as he revealed in a special featurette for the Dark Knight trilogy Blu-ray release. The director had a very specific idea for a contemporary approach to Batman, and the new Batmobile was going to be the embodiment of that