The Batman star Robert Pattinson breaks down the new Batsuit

There's nothing like putting on the Batsuit for the first time — especially if it's one that was tailored for your body, as The Batman star Robert Pattinson learned.

"I felt very different immediately," Pattinson tells EW. "It really flowed. It was so well-designed, so articulated on all the joints. It was kind of shocking."

The Tenet actor suits up as the Dark Knight in director Matt Reeves' gritty franchise reboot, which is set during the hero's second year and pits him against the Riddler (Paul Dano). He was surprised by how comfortable his Batsuit felt because he was comparing it to Val Kilmer's Batman Forever costume, which he wore (nipples and all) for both his solo screen test in May 2019 and his chemistry read with Zoë Kravitz, who plays Selina Kyle, five months later. It was the only archival suit that fit him.

"[It] was significantly too small for me, and it was an arduous experience," says the actor.

"Part of the tradition is that when you're playing Batman at Warner Bros., you don't just do an audition, you do a screen test and they need to see you in a Batsuit," says Reeves. "But they don't make you a Batsuit because that's a very involved process. So what you do is you put on an old Batsuit. You put on the one that fits you," which just so happened to be Kilmer's. Reeves continues: "You could see Rob transforming immediately. The first thing that you do is you put it on and then he came out and looked at himself in the mirror, and he just turned to me and said, 'It's quite transformative.' I said, 'Sure is.' That was an amazing experience."

The magic briefly started to wear off once the screen test began. "He [started] sweating in the suit because it was really warm and so old that when he started heating up, [the cowl] started kind of getting misshaped," says Reeves. "It was also funny. It was crazy."

Jamie Hawkesworth/Warner Bros. Robert Pattinson in 'The Batman'

After the tough time he had with Kilmer's costume, Pattinson says it was "a huge relief" when he finally had his own suit; however, he admits that it fit almost too perfectly. "It kind of backfired on me as well. In the costume fitting, I ended up doing loads of somersaults and stuff, and then they added all those into the fight scenes. You can do like a couple of somersaults in it, but it really gets old pretty quickly," he says.

Designed by costume supervisor Dave Crossman and Batsuit chief concept artist Glyn Dillon, the suit is supposed to look homemade, like it was cobbled together by spare parts, and carry visual reminders of everything Bruce has put it through at this stage in his vigilante career.

"There are little blood stains on it. There's kind of grazes where it's been hit with bullets and kind of just the wear and tear of someone who's been out fighting every night," says Pattinson. "It felt like a really new thing... It looks like a soldier's armor in some kind of strange parallel universe where you have to wear little ears on top of your head as well."

Of course, no Batsuit would be complete without Batman's trademark grapple gun, which flips out from the suit's wrist. "The grapple gun is, I think, in every single Batman movie, but I'm not sure how many times he used them so defensively [as he does in The Batman]," says Pattinson. "It's used as a weapon. And that's quite a lot, which is quite fun. Again, it's very rudimentary. It's kind of based on Travis Bickle, the gun mechanism, which he has in Taxi Driver."

Pattinson was surprised when the grapple gun worked as it was supposed to the first time he had to use it in a scene. "[It] just kind of blew my mind. It was the only time it ever worked perfectly, but it looked so cool. And it was a very satisfying click when you throw it out," he says.

The actor also revealed another unique aspect of his Batsuit: The Bat symbol on his chest isn't just for decoration. "It's a tool, which he can pop out of the chest plate, which is kind of amazing, incredibly difficult to design as well, and looks great."

Jonathan Olley/DC Comics/Warner Bros. Zoë Kravitz in 'The Batman'

While Kravitz doesn't have an elaborate super-suit like Pattinson — because her version of Selina Kyle hasn't become Catwoman yet — she does have a low-tech, all-black outfit for all of Selina's illicit activities.

"We designed this motorcycle suit to kind of start the foundation of what will eventually be the Catsuit," says Kravitz. "So that was an interesting process of finding out, 'Okay, how can we get hints of what will eventually be the Catsuit and who she will become,' but right now trying to make it feel as practical as possible."

Watch the video above for more insight into the Batsuit.

The Batman opens in theaters March 4.

Related content:

• The Batman stars Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz recall their sweaty first day on set

• Matt Reeves on creating a new 'Bat-verse' with The Batman's HBO Max spin-offs