Houston drivers encountered one vehicle Thursday afternoon that was considerably harder to overlook than the average freeway breakdown.
A Batmobile modeled after the car from Michael Keaton’s 1989 “Batman” ended up on the shoulder of Interstate 45 in the Webster area on August 27. Houston TranStar recorded a verified stall on southbound I-45 at El Dorado Boulevard at 4:15 p.m., listing the right shoulder as affected.
TranStar cameras provided a better look at the situation. The long, black movie-inspired car was sitting along the Gulf Freeway, decidedly stationary, before a tow truck arrived to assist it.
Fortunately, this did not require Batman to diagnose some elaborate act of sabotage. Owner Abdulla Kudrath later told ABC13 what had happened: “We got a flat tire.”
Behind The Mask
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Houston’s Batmobile had already developed something of a local following before its roadside appearance.
ABC13 identified Kudrath in March as the physician and entrepreneur behind the car after motorists had been spotting the masked driver around Houston. The vehicle takes its design from the Batmobile driven by Keaton in Tim Burton’s 1989 film.
This particular machine is more than a body shaped to resemble the movie car. More recent coverage of the custom build describes it as roughly 22 feet long and powered by a turbocharged LS V8. It also has the less cinematic equipment required for operating in ordinary traffic, including working headlights, turn signals, and rear-view cameras.
That last part is important because Kudrath does, in fact, drive it on public roads. This is not a display car that happened to be photographed on a trailer.
Gotham Responds
The breakdown naturally left social-media viewers with more theories than the mechanical diagnosis required.
Some wondered whether the Joker had taken advantage of the situation. Others questioned why the Batmobile did not have run-flat tires, suggested Alfred should call roadside assistance, or concluded that even Batman could not defeat Houston’s afternoon traffic.
The run-flat question remains a joke rather than a confirmed equipment failure. There does not appear to be reliable documentation establishing what type of tires Kudrath has fitted to the car.
What is established is considerably simpler. One of Houston’s least subtle cars got a flat during Thursday’s commute, ended up on the shoulder of I-45, and eventually needed a tow truck.
For once, the Batmobile’s problem required considerably less technology than the Batcave could provide.