A lot of superheroes have iconic traits and toys, and chief among them is often a really sweet ride. But how do we break down which superheroes have the coolest vehicles? Well, first of all the vehicle has to be primarily used by a superhero and not a super-villain. It should also be something used by the superhero as a vehicle and not part of nor the superhero’s primary power. Iron Man’s suit and Ghost Rider’s Hellcycle are great vehicles but there would be no Iron Man or Ghost Rider without them.
The vehicle’s usefulness also escalates on its ability to travel. Travelling in air is more impressive than travelling on ground or sea. The ability to travel in space trumps the ability to merely travel in air. There are always disagreements. Feel free to sound off on what you like and don’t like in the comments section.
10. The Condormobile
The Condormobile appeared in the 1981 movie Condorman, and there’s an excellent possibility that you’ve never seen Condorman or read the three issue mini-series comic. This fact only means that you should find a way to see Condorman. The hero is a comic book writer named Woodrow Wilkins, who has been furnished by the CIA all the tech that he dreamed up in his creations. The purpose of all of this is to complete a mission of international espionage. The tech that Wilkins is supplied throughout the adventure includes the Condormobile.
The Condormobile is a modified Sterling Nova. It has at least four rear mounted laser cannons as well as a rear mounted flamethrower. The Condormobile also has a pretty advanced camera system for 1981. The front can be modified so that the Condormobile turns into a ramp for oncoming traffic, and it’s also powered by a rocket engine. The Condormobile is also low enough to the ground to pass under loading trucks, and it can be turned into a hovercraft. Undoubtedly, the Condormobile has even more tricks, but those are the only ones the movie had time to show us.
9. The Turtle Van
Depending on which animated series you happen to be watching, the Turtle Van has a few different origins. In the original 1980s animated series, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles stole the van from Baxter Stockman. Donatello added high tech weaponry and tracking devices to the van, which was then driven against the Technodrome and became the Turtles’ primary mode of transport. In the 2003 animated series, the Turtles steal the van from the Purple Dragons, and the 2012 animated version of the Turtle Van is actually a subway car which had served as a hideout for a mutated alligator named Leatherhead. The Turtles steal the subway car from Leatherhead and subsequently turn it into the Turtle Van. In every incarnation, the Turtle Van is stolen from a Turtle enemy.
The limits of the Turtle Van seem to depend on the story requirements. For instance, the side door has been seen to open up at a ninety degree angle and reveal a cannon. The side door has also been to open up from two side doors. These changes can be attributed to Donatello constantly tinkering with the van’s mechanics. The Van, which the Turtles call the ‘Party Wagon,’ consistently has missiles, oil slicks, and heavy armor plating. The 1980s Turtle Van also had an advanced GPS for the era.
8. The Green Hornet’s Black Beauty
The Black Beauty is the name of the car that Green Hornet’s trusty side kick Kato drove. The Green Hornet started as a radio show in the 1930s, and it’s unknown what car the Black Beauty was intended to be at that time. It is known that a feature of the original 1930s Black Beauty was a “silent mode” through which the car could not be heard while driving. The car in the 1960s television series as well as the 2011 Green Hornet movie are mid-1960s Chrysler Imperials. The car from the television series was called the “hero car” and was tricked out with all of the necessary gadgets.
The Black Beauty had a few standard superhero features. The car in the 1960s series was revolutionary at the time for having a car phone. The Black Beauty generally has two hood mounted M1919 Browning Machine Guns, two stinger missiles that can be fired from the front of the car, a flamethrower, four rear modified missiles, as well as guns stationed on the side of the car. You can shoot from any area of the car and while looking stylish at the same time. There was also a NOW comic book series based on the Green Hornet, in which the Black Beauty was based on a Pontiac Banshee, and another comic version based on a 1991-1996 Oldsmobile. The comic book series is that only time that the Black Beauty is not based on the Chrysler Imperial from the mid 1960’s.
7. The Batmobile
There may be a lot of argument for the placement of the iconic Batmobile this far down the list, but the Batmobile is still essentially either an automobile or a military vehicle. The original Batmobile was nothing more than a red convertible, and the first major evolution of the Batmobile was a classic blue/black design with a Bat symbol on the front of the car. The main feature of the Futura Batmobile from the Batman television series was the rocket engine in the back. The Tim Burton movies’ Batmobile featured a sleeker design as well as more weapons, while the Nolan films’ Batmobile/Tumbler largely owes its tank-like design to Frank Miller’s iconic comic book series The Dark Knight Returns.
The Batmobile’s capabilities are only really limited by the imagination of the comic book writer, television studio, or film maker. The Batmobile does seem to have a few consistent features throughout its multi-decade run, including the fact that it’s almost always a two seat vehicle. The Batmobile’s cockpit generally will feature state of the art communication devices as well as global positioning systems. It almost always possesses a rudimentary crime lab or at the very least readily accessible scientific equipment, and usually it’ll possess a rocket or turbine engine. The external defense systems of the Batmobile vary over time. It often can be seen with external guns and rockets, as well as oil slicks. Over the years, the Batmobile has also featured such practical enhancements as gas masks, raft or hover-mobile capabilities, and some versions were convertible into a mini-sub or a short range flying device. This is not to be confused with the Batwing or any other vehicle Batman may operate.
6. The Fantasti-Car MK II
The Fantastic Four weren’t vigilantes; they were superheroes as a by-product of conducting scientific research. The Fantasti-Car lacks advanced weaponry. The original MK I version of the Fantasti-Car introduced in Fantastic Four #3 resembled a “flying bathtub,” and the MK II version of the Fantasti-Car was introduced in Fantastic Four #12 and unveiled a sleeker and more practical design. Fantasti-Cars based on the MK II design have also been seen in various cartoon series as well as the 2007 movie Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The primary feature of the Fantasti-Car is that it can break off into up to four separate flying vehicles. These vehicles can either be controlled by a pilot or radio controlled from the main ship.
The features of the Fantasti-Car MK II were laid out in an official schematic provided by Marvel Comics. As a total unit, the Fantasti-Car can travel 550 miles per hour and has a maximum altitude of 30,000 feet. If the sections are broken off, each can travel 350 miles per hour and achieve a maximum altitude of 38,000 feet. The Fantasti-Car from Rise of the Silver Surfer appeared to be an updated design. The film Fantasti-Car could fly from New York City to Siberia in a matter of minutes. The film car is also specifically mentioned to have a Hemi engine, because the Fantastic Four apparently isn’t above product placement.
5. The Invisible Plane
Wonder Woman’s Invisible Plane has suffered a somewhat damaged reputation of late, so we’ll attempt to rectify that perception and justify the Invisible Plane’s rightful place on this list. The ultimate justification for the Invisible Plane is that the United States military has spent decades as well as billions of dollars trying to replicate a reasonable facsimile. The original Invisible Plane debuted in 1942 in Sensation Comics #1, and was propeller driven but had a maximum airspeed of 2,000 miles per hour. In layman’s terms, this was a completely invisible plane during World War II that was capable of going around Mach 3. Our modern military eventually caught up with most of those specifications with the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Wonder Woman’s Invisible Plane/Jet would have been the most incredible spy plane of all time. This would have been of incredible importance for Diana Prince flying missions during the Second World War. No plane would have been able to catch the Invisible Plane, and no radar would have been able to detect it. Neither the Allied nor the Axis powers would have been laughing at this device.
The Post-Crisis version of the Invisible Jet somewhat diminished the brilliance of the aircraft. Wonder Woman now had the ability of flight, rendering the jet a bit superfluous. The Invisible Jet was turned into an alien intelligence which could morph itself into different forms. Basically, Wonder Woman now had an invisible version of the craft from Flight of the Navigator. However, the original imagination of a completely invisible, cloaked SR-71 Blackbird flying missions in World War II was decades ahead of its time in innovation. It’s that plane that deserves this high recognition over what you saw in Super Friends.
4. The Quinjet
The Quinjet first debuted in Avengers #61 in 1969, and its name comes from its four turbojet engines as well as one afterburning turbofan engine. It was created by the Wakanda Design Group under the leadership of the Black Panther. The original Quinjet was designed primarily for transport and could achieve a maximum speed of Mach 2.1. While slower than the Invisible Plane, the Quinjet makes up for the deficiency by being able to carry more passengers as well as being weaponized. A modified version of the Quinjet was also able to carry the Avengers into space during the Infinity Crusade.
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Quinjets are used both by the Avengers as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. The cinematic Quinjets focused more on their fighting capabilities, and also possess stealth technology and are able to land on a Helicarrier. The Quinjets used in the films have the added capability of a GAU-17/A Gatling Gun as well as forward launching missiles.
3. The Interceptor
The Interceptor is a spaceship that uses a large Green Lantern battery in order to propel it thousands of light years in seconds. It was first designed by a race of ‘Manhunters,’ which were androids made by the Guardians of Oa in order to serve as a galactic police force. The Green Lantern Corps was developed after the failure of the Manhunters. The incredible speed that the Interceptor obtains is known as ‘ultrawarp.’ ‘Ultrawarp’ can only be controlled by an artificial intelligence known as “Aya.” The Interceptor was first introduced into comics in Green Lantern (Volume 4) #65 in 2011.
The Interceptor, as well as Aya, were primary plot points in Green Lantern: The Animated Series. In the series, Aya was actually revealed to be a living being. Unfortunately, Aya went out of control after a failed romantic situation and threatened to destroy the universe. Aya was revealed to be capable of destroying the Anti-Monitor, which was the primary protagonist in the Crisis on Infinite Earths comic book series in 1985. The animated series showed that the Interceptor had a back-up artificial intelligence referred to as LANOS. Outside of the Aya storyline, the Interceptor from the animated series and the Interceptor in the comic books possess virtually the same capabilities.
2. The Time Sphere
The Time Sphere was first introduced into DC Comics in 1959 with the comic Showcase #20, and was created by a scientist named Rip Hunter. The limits of the Time Sphere travelling through time appear to be the limits of time itself. The Time Sphere cannot travel back before the beginning of the universe, and there’s also apparently a curtain that prohibits anyone from travelling past the end of known time. The Time Sphere should be able to get its occupant to any point in between those two dates.
The Time Sphere featured prominently in the season one finale of the TV series The Flash in 2015. In the episode Fast Enough, a time sphere is constructed for possible use by the Reverse Flash, Harrison Wells. The Reverse Flash has the schematics for the device based on Rip Hunter’s original design, but the Flash destroys the device to prevent the Reverse Flash from getting back to his own time. The Time Sphere, or possibly Time Spheres, will appear in the upcoming CW series Legends of Tomorrow, which features Rip Hunter as a main character.
1. The Carrier
The Carrier is the base of operations for the superhero team known as the Authority. It’s fifty miles long, 35 miles high, two miles wide, and powered by a caged baby universe. The Carrier is technically in a continuous orbit around the Earth, which it uses as an anchor when it travels. The Carrier travels in a space known as “The Bleed”, which is the space in between the different alternate universes in DC Comics. Therefore, the Carrier can actually travel to any point in the multiverse of DC as well as any point and time.
The Carrier not only possesses artificial intelligence but also actual sentience, which means it is in fact a living being. The Carrier’s origins are largely lost to time, but it’s known that the original purpose was to be a trading ship that would traffic between different dimensions. The Carrier remains parked around Earth primarily so that its original owner can find it again. It earns our top spot by virtue of having no real limitations in where it can travel. The Carrier can pinpoint any place in any universe or any time and instantaneously exist there as well as in its orbit around Earth.
3 Comments
What? No Supercar? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8m9Z010pM4)
Oh, very nice addition.
What, no TARDIS?