This Ancient Mayan Batman is Based on a Real "Death Bat" God

[IanDavis]

This Ancient Mayan Batman is Based on a Real "Death Bat" God

Stuff like this will confuse the heck out of future historians.

In honor of the 75th anniversary of Batman, Warner Home Entertainment Mexico cooked up a clever promotion. It worked with the Mexican Museum of Design, and invited a group of artists to rework the Dark Knight however they saw fit (which could have gone [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/jimquisition/9617-Batman-Is-Everything-Wrong-With-Square-Enix]horribly wrong[/a]). One artist decided to make his design more historic, using ancient Mayan designs taken from a [a href=https://www.behance.net/gallery/19712599/Batman-a-travs-de-la-creatividad-mexicana]"death bat" cult[/a].

Kimbal based his design off of the old Mayan god [a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camazotz]Camazotz[/a], which literally translates to "death bat". The name makes more sense when you realize that Camazotz had the body of a man and the head of a bat, and was generally associated with darkness, night, and the underworld. Mayan mythology doesn't say anything about crime fighting, but does mention beheading a guy and using his head to play a ballgame. Kimbal might need to retcon that last bit.

[gallery=3252]
Sure, Batman might be old, but he's actually much, much older than that. You see, Batman is a primal force of the universe. Just like Wind, Fire, and Water, Batman always has been, and always will be.

Source: [a href=https://www.behance.net/gallery/19712599/Batman-a-travs-de-la-creatividad-mexicana]Behance[/a]

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[Shiftygiant]

I can't wait to see what historians will think of our time (Okay, we'll all be dead, but you know) because I'm dead certain they'll think Batman was a deity, and Marvel & DC were rival religions.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Haha, that is an awesome way to confused the future historians!

 

[shadowxvii]

The thing about "confusing future historians" is that it will be a lot harder to do in said future, because there is a lot more written history now than there were before, and it will keep being that way unless something major happens. Not that it wouldn't be fun to have a people belive Batman was an actual god, or that Abraham Lincoln was a real vampire hunter.

 

[VanQ]

That looks like it would fit right into WoW's Pandaria expansion as an armor set. Make it happen, Blizz. Monks need some good tier sets.

 

[Uratoh]

In before Camazotz announced as the next Smite character.

 

[Leonardo Huizar]

Id be more scared of walking into this in the middle of the night than some grey scaled luchador



[...im mocking Bats' design]

 

[Makabriel]

Wow, Zack Snyder is going all out for his BvS movie..

 

[Arqus_Zed]

In before Camazotz announced as the next Smite character.

Well, it's not like it would be the first game to do so
(-> Shin Megami Tensei)

 

[LaughingAtlas]

"Just like Wind, Fire, and Water, Batman always has been, and always will be."

How eerily fitting that almost exactly that was said of The Joker in one of the comics. The one where it was all from a new mook's POV?

 

[Haru17]

"A Real Death Bat God", something sound off about that phrase to you? Probably because the headline is written so poorly it implies the existence of death bat gods. Why not "An Actual Mythological Death Bat God", that way it makes sense and you still get to put 'Batman' and 'Death Bat God' in your headline.

 

[faefrost]

Am I the only one that wants to see this used in an actual Batman story now?!?! Or failing that a Venture Brothers Episode? I mean that's just too cool! El Batmanuel?

 

[camazotz]

I 100% approve!



Camazotz was one of the demons that dwelled in Xibalba (Quiche Mayan land of the dead), and his domain was the House of Night, at least going by his appearance as the decapitator of one of the Hero Twins of Mayan myth in the Popol Vuh. There's a lot to suggest the progenitor of Camazotz may have been the desmodus draculae,a species of giant South American vampire bat which may have lived into the early holocene period, with enough time to freak out the early Amerinds into making up some interesting myth tales. Or...you know...regular bats could have been the source, too.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

...Dang. That's certainly enough to frighten criminals, especially the superstitious and cowardly ones. I kinds wanna see this used in an actual comic now...

 

[Darth_Payn]

Am I the only one that wants to see this used in an actual Batman story now?!?! Or failing that a Venture Brothers Episode? I mean that's just too cool! El Batmanuel?

That did happen in a Venture Brothers episode. They go to these Mayan ruins to find Venture-stein and his army of escaped lab mutants, Hank gets separated from the rest of the group, finds an ancient bat shrine after wigging out on raw coffee beans, then becomes "The Bat". It was awesome.

 

[Queen Michael]

Yeah, there's no such thing as a "real" death bat god.

Apart from the actual Batman, of course.

 

[Namehere]

That is just... WICKED COOL!

And it reminds me of the Michale Keaton's Batman - the first one. When the reporter's standing there looking at his armor collection? That so needs to be digitally edited into the film, right along side the Wicker Peoples' king's suit.