Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice comes out on March 25. While we wait for that, I’ve spotted something in the marketing for the new superhero film that ties Batman to James Bond in a very Aston Martin-y, very Jalop way.
Like the title of this says, the two iconic film characters sort of drive the same car! Or have, at separate times, driven the same model of car as each other in some form of media.
In the trailers for Batman V Superman, we’ve seen Batman (as Bruce Wayne) rip the cover off of what looks to be a black Aston Martin DB Mark III and drive to a party hosted by Lex Luthor. We see the car in more detail when Bruce pulls up and Superman (as Clark Kent) glares at him.
Now, James Bond is of course famous for driving all sorts of Aston Martin models, starting with the iconic DB5 back in 1964's Goldfinger. However, the DB5 showed up in the third Bond movie because of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming had Bond driving an older Aston Martin; he drove an Aston Martin DB Mark III.
Here’s the transcript from one of the best Bond novels in the chapter titled “Thoughts In A D.B.III” highlighting the DB Mk III as Bond’s choice for his mission to stop the gold-mogul Goldfinger:
James Bond flung the D.B.III through the last mile of straight and did a racing change down into third and then into second for the short hill before the inevitable traffic crawl through Rochester. Leashed in by the velvet claw of the front discs, the engine muttered its protest with a mild back-popple from the twin exhausts. Bond went up into third again, beat the lights at the bottom of the hill and slid resignedly up to the back of the queue that would crawl on for a quarter of an hour—if he was lucky—through the sprawl of Rochester and Chatham.
Bond settled back into second and let the car idle. He reached for the wide gunmetal case of Morland cigarettes on the neighbouring bucket seat, fumbled for one and lit it from the dashboard.
He had chosen the A2 in preference to the A20 to Sandwich because he wanted to take a quick look at Goldfinger-land—Reculver and those melancholy forsaken reaches of the Thames which Goldfinger had chosen for his parish. He would then cross the Isle of Thanet to Ramsgate and leave his bag at the Channel Packet, have an early lunch and be off to Sandwich.
The car was from the pool. Bond had been offered the Aston Martin or a Jaguar 3.4. He had taken the D.B.III. Either of the cars would have suited his cover—a well-to-do, rather adventurous young man with a taste for the good, the fast things of life. But the D.B.III had the advantage of an up-to-date triptyque, an inconspicuous colour—battleship grey—and certain extras which might or might not come in handy. These included switches to alter the type and colour of Bond’s front and rear lights if he was following or being followed at night, reinforced steel bumpers, fore and aft, in case he needed to ram, a long-barrelled Colt .45 in a trick compartment under the driver’s seat, a radio pick-up tuned to receive an apparatus called the Homer, and plenty of concealed space that would fox most Customs men.
Bond saw a chance and picked up fifty yards, sliding into a ten-yard gap left by a family saloon of slow reactions. The man at the wheel, who wore that infallible badge of the bad driver, a hat clamped firmly on the exact centre of his head, hooted angrily. Bond reached out of the window and raised an enigmatically clenched fist. The hooting stopped.
It’s important to note that Fleming incorrectly referred to the Aston as the “D.B. III.” Aston Martin only ever called the car the Mk III, or Mk. III., etc. But, see there—Batman and James Bond (sort of) drive the same car!
Just a fun fact I thought I’d share. Would you take Batman’s black DB, or Bond’s famously colored Battleship Grey? Would it be bad for the biggest Bond fan on Jalopnik to choose black?