Pininfarina's Gotham and Dark Knight Hypercars Sound a Lot Better Than They Actually Are

That's probably because Batman is a much more alluring proposition than Bruce Wayne himself. Sure, the guy does have that touching story of his, but after being told so many times in pretty much the same way, it kind of blurred into the background, leaving us interested solely in the exploits of his superhero self.

Bruce Wayne is a very rich individual. Owner of a company called Wayne Enterprises – which has a hand in pretty much everything, but we really have no clue what its main area of expertise is – he doesn't shy away from displaying his wealth.

And that includes driving or being driven around in expensive cars. Just to answer the challenge from this story's first paragraph, the many incarnations of Wayne over the years have been seen occasionally on screen in the company of some pretty fine names in the industry: Aston Martin, Lamborghini, and Bentley.

What Wayne never used in the movies is a Pininfarina. You know, those Italian beauties that for many of us will forever remain a distant dream, never to be seen or experienced firsthand. But guess what: the Bruce Waynes of our real world will get to do just that: drive around in specially-prepped Pininfarinas meant to honor the comic book character.

The carmaker announced this week the launch of a "collection of bespoke pure-electric vehicles" inspired not by Batman, as we're used to, but by Bruce Wayne himself. And by collection, the Italians mean that two of their present-day models, the B95 and Battista, will each be treated to a pair of unique versions.

The designs are made by Pininfarina with help from Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products and Relevance International. The former is the group that handles licensing for the brands Warner owns, while the latter is a PR agency.

The two Bruce Wayne-inspired specifications for the electric hypercars are called Gotham and Dark Knight, and each brings several unique features to the two models – some of the features, we're promised, have never been seen before.

But first, a bit about what the new trims (we'll call them that for the lack of a better word) share. One of the most exciting changes happened on the interior, where Pininfarina installed a Wayne Enterprises-inspired HMI display. That's cool enough, but the company is throwing in an assistant with a voice inspired by Alfred Pennyworth to make things even more interesting.

Then, all four special Italian cars display on the outside a new door and roof design, with the latter element now boasting a large curved glass section meant to improve interior lighting. A unique aluminum chassis and door plates are included in the package.

Exclusively for the two Battista models the Italian carmaker also envisioned some changes to make them even better at going fast. That includes the fitting of tailgate shark fins and new louver openings in the front and rear carbon fiber wings.

The technical specifications on all four cars remain the same as before, with them sharing the same 120 kWh lithium-ion battery and four-motor setup capable of delivering 1,900 horsepower.

Pininfarina B95 Gotham and Battista Gotham

The Gotham design was created by the Italians with the goal of reflecting "the more gentle, civilian sophistication of Bruce Wayne." What that means on the interior is the fitting of tan leather pretty much everywhere with matching stitching and bespoke quilting in the center panels.

The Pininfarina B95 Gotham comes with wheels sporting a matt black inner and gloss black outer rings, with a brushed aluminum anodized black rim centre lock ring to top the design off.

The Pininfarina Battista Gotham, on the other hand, displays a lot more goodies. There's an Argento Vittorio gloss paint wrapping around the bodywork, except on the roof, where the carmaker went for Nero Torino gloss.

The brushed and polished anodized aluminum F logo on the car is back-lit, and the car rides on alloy wheels (20 inches front and 21 inches rear) in Prezioso Evoluzione gloss black.

Pininfarina B95 Dark Knight and Battista Dark Knight

The Dark Knight version of the two cars is meant to bring forth Bruce Wayne's habit of using technology to fight crime – you know, because the guy is just a guy, with no actual superpowers.

In a normal world that would mean the two models received a lot of high-tech enhancements, but that's not really the case. What Pininfarina did for the B95 Dark Knight and Battista Dark Knight is fit them with black Alcantara and black leather upholstery, and paint them in Nero Profondo gloss paint, offset by a Nero Torino Goccia roof.

The wheels on these two models, in the same size mentioned above, come in a ceramic-polished look.

And that's about it when it comes to making these two hypercars Bruce Wayne-worthy. Quite a bit of a disappointment, really, when you consider just how much potential this idea has. Sure, the vehicles' impressive performance levels remain, but one can't feel a bit let down about all this.

Pininfarina didn't officially say how much the four hypercars in Bruce Wayne guise are worth, but you only need to consider how much it charges for the regular versions to know they must not be cheap: $2.2 million for the Battista and more than twice as much for the B95.