On June 25, fans who line up to see Batman Begins will get a glimpse of not only the new Batman (American Psycho’s Christian Bale), but a whole new Batmobile. The Batmobile has gone through many makeovers since the franchise began out of a comic book in the 1930s and soldiered on through a series of short movie serials, the classic ‘60s TV show, and the movies of the late 80s and early 90s.

Though many have complained that the films have gotten worse and worse since Tim Burton retooled the Batman image in 1989--with Joel Schumacher’s atrocious Batman & Robin taking the cake as the all time worst and the Catwoman spin-off running a very close second--fans seem generally excited that this new one will get the franchize back on Bat-track. One element of the films that rarely takes a beating, though, is the Batmobile, that slick, black torpedo on wheels that seems to get cooler with every flick. Fans generally seem to agree it's a badass ride despite the quality of any one film.

Yet Batman Begins finds the famed fight-car getting a big transformation. So we thought we’d take a look at some of the finer points of this new Batmobile.

Batman Begins director Christopher Nolan (Memento) decided to approach the Batmobile design from a completely different angle this time out, going for a rougher Humvee look, rather than the now-traditional slick, big Bat-bullet look we’ve all come to know and love. Though many will inevitably complain that Nolan didn’t stick to the original look, others are applauding this new design.

In Batman Begins, the Dark Knight powers through Gotham City in a high-tech urban tank that combines speed, stealth, power and lots of cool guns and weapons. One major difference this time out is that the Batmobile isn't digital. Nolan decided to build a real Batmobile from scratch. It makes a huge difference in how the chase scenes play out, making them much more exciting and realistic.

Additionally, the style of the new Batmobile is much colder and harder than the Batmobiles of yore, which reflects the dark tone of the prequel where we learn the origin of the winged vigilante. The new Batmobile is closer to an SUV or a Humvee than the old Bat cruiser.

Begins' director Nolan opted to keep the car's look more realistic, like something you might actually see on the streets, or at least on a military base. It’s sort of a cross between a suped up mini-tank and junked out a monster truck, with a look right out of the scrap yard. In fact, the idea was to emulate the look of Miller’s Dark Knight Returns Batmobile, where Batman’s vehicle is pieced together out of found parts.

In screenwriter David Goyer’s script, the Batmobile is described as “The Tumbler,” built by the Applied Research branch of Wayne Corp. as a bridging vehicle for the military, but then never used. Goyer describes it as “a cross between a Lamborghini Countach and a Humvee. Sandy camouflage, stealth-angled paneling and variable-angle flaps across the back.” Take a close look at the glass pod between the massive two front wheels. It comes into play during one of the film's coolest scenes. Oh, and it can do a rampless jump at 100 mph. Nice, eh?

So not only does Batman Begins tell a bleaker Bat-tale than we’ve seen in a while, probing Wayne’s motivations and psychological underpinnings, but it takes the Batmobile down a darker alley as well. The question is, will fans dig this darker vision, or will they scream "Holy Bat-screw-up!" and run for this hills. Only time will tell...

Check out the Batman Begins game and more cool stuff on Electric Playground's "The Journey Starts Here," which airs this week.