Batarang Arkham Asylum made in Catia V5 and rendered in Keyshot Pro 10.

A batarang is a roughly bat-shaped throwing weapon used by the DC Comics superhero Batman. The name is a portmanteau of bat and boomerang, and was originally spelled baterang. Although they are named after boomerangs, batarangs have become more like shuriken in recent interpretations. They have since become a staple of Batman's arsenal, appearing in every major Batman television and film adaptation to date. Recent interpretations of the Dark Knight find additional motivation to use the batarang as a ranged attack (alternative to firearms, which he rejects outright due to the circumstances of his parents' murder, except for certain circumstances) and is used primarily to knock guns out of an assailant's hand.[1] They also serve as Batman's calling cards to alert criminal elements of his presence and props to create an illusion to the superstitious that he commands bats when he throws them.

A batarang prop from the 1997 film Batman & Robin has been donated to the Smithsonian Institution, and is in the National Museum of American History's entertainment collection.

Batarangs first appeared in Detective Comics #31 (September 1939), in the story Batman Versus the Vampire. Batman threw the first batarang at the Monk and missed, but later in the story, the batarang helped him knock over a chandelier and escape from the villain's trap.[2]

The earliest depictions were of scalloped, metal boomerangs used to attack opponents, which quickly flew back to the thrower. However, variations of batarangs include those that can fold to fit into Batman's utility belt, those that can be explosively charged, those that can be remote-controlled, and those that are electrified.

The use of the batarang has been in a state of constant development since its early appearances. In 1946, Batman and Robin developed a batarang gun, and then a lighter batarang pistol in 1947. A 1957 story called The 100 Batarangs of Batman! (Detective Comics #244, June 1957) detailed the magnetic batarang, the seeing-eye batarang, the flash-bulb batarang, the bomb batarang, the rope batarang, the police whistle batarang and the mysterious Batarang X, among others.[3] That issue also included an origin story for the batarang, which was given to Batman by an Australian circus performer named Lee Collins.