Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is one of the faces of the National Football League – recognized and loved everywhere he goes. Yet, he must feel he isn’t getting quiet enough attention, so he is using part of his five-year, $275 million contract to buy one of the ten Batmobile Tumbler replicas Warner Bros. commissioned about a month ago. It’s a good use of $2.99 million if you ask me.
Perhaps he’s buying it to cheer himself up from the putrid season his Bengals are having. Sure, he leads the NFL in yards and touchdowns, but a terrible defense has landed the 27-year-old’s team at 4-8 and third in the AFC North. Anyway, Burrow revealed that he bought one of the Tumblers during the first episode of HBO’s latest Hard Knocks season while talking to star wide receiver (and the MVP on my fantasy team when he’s healthy) Tee Higgins.
“Have I told you I bought a Batmobile,” Burrow asked Higgins. “I don’t think I get it for like a year, but I bought it.” Just to complete the package, Burrow said he was thinking about getting a movie-accurate Batsuit to match the car for Halloween. Oh, to be young, rich, talented and hot.
Yes, you read that correctly. Wayne Enterprises is a “real” company. Warner Bros. Discovery partnered with PR firm Relevance International to produce ultra-luxury experiences and products under the banner of fictionaire billionaire Bruce Wayne’s conglomerate. For example, Wayne Enterprises collaborated with Pininfarina to build four one-off Batman-themed versions of the Battista electric hypercar.
[…]
While a jet turbine canonically powers this Batmobile in the movies, the road-going four-wheel-drive vehicle is powered by a 6.2-liter LS3 engine. The entire thing weighs in at 5,511 pounds with a steel tube space frame, sheet metal fiberglass, carbon fiber and kevlar.
These Batmobiles will still have a screen-screen feel with imitation gun turrets, a simulated jet turbine powerplant and a smoke-screen delivery system. Not to forget, there’s also a movie-accurate two-seat interior with a five-point racing harness. While it sounds absurd in-universe for a defense contractor to sell an armored military vehicle to the general public, AM General did produce the Hummer H1.
You shouldn’t expect to see Burrow pulling up to practice in Cincinnati in the Tumbler since it’s not road-legal. Still, as a thing to own and goof around with, there aren’t many better ways to drop $3 million… if you have the means, of course.
