Creating Batman's razor-sharp batarangs (video)

Tony Swatton has been a blacksmith armorer for over thirty years. He has created weapons for over two hundred feature films... including Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. He even created Bane's belt buckles for The Dark Knight Rises.

In the latest episode of his show Man at Arms, Swatton walked through the process of creating Batman's weapon of choice... the batarang. Swatton wasn't looking to build a movie prop this time around -- his twelve inch batarangs are as sharp as the blade of an ax.

Check out the video to see how Swatton carefully makes each batarang by hand, and be sure to stick around towards the end to see them in action!

6 comments

lethargicj

March 12, 2013

I always hated the batarangs in the Nolan movies. They were just little metal versions of the movie's logo. They don't look functional or aerodynamic or anything. They put so much effort into making everything seem like it could function in reality and then one his most famous weapons is just a little piece of metal that looks like it'd go about 5 feet and clink around on the ground. The live action films seem to put more focus on the "bat" part than they do the "arang" part.

Atsarnecky

March 12, 2013

Too bad Batman really didn't use his Batarangs in the trilogy. Kinda for some of the others, though usually attached to a rope.

Psycrypto

March 12, 2013

I can agree that the realism behind the nolanverse batarang is questionable, but their awesome usage in Batman Begins in undeniable, especially against Ras Al Ghul. It's pretty original how he makes a type of claw/brass knuckle ouf of 2 batarangs (only for a few seconds of course, but still wicked!). It's funny how I always wished he'd somehow use his "claws" on the side of his forearms, and he finally does in Batman Begins!

diogo02000

March 14, 2013

This is the kind of video what someone will do something very stupid after creating his own Batarang, but i believe everyone what could do it in his home would do for sure. Its your own batarang, its awesome!

marv

March 15, 2013

The thing that bugs me about the batarang in Batman Begins is that the only real looking one was the one that Bruce was making in the batcave for the first time. The other ones that are seen while he is batman look very britle and toy-like in comparison with the one he made in the cave.The best example is when he appears for the first time and breaks the lights with a batarang. The bad guy picks up the batarang to look at it and the audience can see it too. In this scene we see clearly a very thin, britle batarang that wouldn't hurt a fly and that could come from a kinder suprise...

Monavi B

June 1, 2013

oh lord jesus

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Creating Batman's razor-sharp batarangs (video)

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