Is this the coolest Batsuit yet?

Batman has long been a favourite on every platform. First came the comic books, then the TV series and then began one of the most popular series of movies in history, forever changing the game for fancy dress companies like Fancy Dress Ball.

Batman: The Movie landed in 1966, with Adam West taking his TV-series Batman to the big screen - the superhero has since gone on to become one of the most heroic figures of generation after generation of (rightly) unashamed geeks.

The most recent of those movies, The Dark Knight Rises, has perhaps been the most hotly anticipated geek-fest of recent movie history and it hasn't seen many review ratings below 4.5 out of 5 stars. While some argue that it is not quite as good as 2008's The Dark Knight, it will certainly make a lasting impact on film fans around the world.

The impact that Batman as a character has had on the world since his DC Comics inception in 1939 has been unprecedented, so much so that it has produced some of the most iconic costumes of all time. Nevermind Beetlejuice, Kiss and Superman; Batman epitomises cool when it comes to fancy dress.

Just what is it about Batman costumes that make them so appealing to fancy dress revellers? Even in 1939, his outfit was outrageously cool and, remarkably, it hasn't changed a great deal since then. This infographic, created by the New York Film Academy, shows how that outfit has changed in more than 70 years, with today's titanium-dipped armour suit giving Batman his most fearsome look yet.

It's covered in Kevlar with carbon fibre reinforcements and is topped off by a graphite cowl (a cowl that, apparently for the first time ever in Batman cinematic history, allows the superhero to actually turn his head). Another infographic also outlines the immense cost of this suit, estimating it at over $1 million.

In an ideal world, we'd all be able to afford this kind of suit for a fancy dress party. Indeed, if we could afford such a suit, it's fair to say that its use wouldn't be limited to fancy dress parties! Nevertheless, the Batman costume is tipped to be one of the standout Halloween costumes of the year, such is tradition when a blockbuster movie like The Dark Knight Rises fills every single one of our nerdy superhero needs.

If the Batman franchise is revived again, which we all sincerely hope it is, this Batsuit is going to be a hard one to beat.