The least we can say is that it does not go unnoticed. Dark night feline curve, gigantic fins, flames coming out of the rear, weapons on the wings and the Batman symbol on the rims… a real Batmobile has been criss-crossing the roads of the Côte d’Azur for several months and including the Principality of Monaco.
An identical replica to the 1989 Batmobile
It’s simple, we’ve seen it everywhere. On the Croisette in Cannes, on the Moyenne Corniche, in front of the Palace of Monaco, on the Larvotto, in front of the Casino de Monte-Carlo or the Monte-Carlo Bay. And each time it circulates, onlookers shoot it with photos which they then publish on social networks. Even Prince Albert II of Monaco posed in front during an event in Mougins.
Normal, the machine is out of the ordinary. This is the exact replica of the Batmobile from the 1989 Batman movie starring Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson and Kim Basinger. It even has fake machine guns that can be activated from the cockpit and its reactor at the back (!) can spit fire. Its dashboard is worthy of the cockpit of an airplane.
A Batmobile registered in Ukraine
If the racing car can drive on our roads, it is because it is registered. And his license plate displays the flag… yellow and blue of Ukraine.
According to the services of kyiv, the Batmobile obtained its authentication on October 16, 2019. On the vehicle’s technical sheet also appears the car which served as the basis for its construction: a 1990 Chevrolet Caprice on which was grafted a BMW V12. It was assembled in the suburbs of kyiv by the Nanoprotec company which had shot a clip when the keys were handed over to its client.
It belonged to an enigmatic member of the “Monaco Battalion”
At the time of its registration in Ukraine, the Batmobile was owned by a certain Denys Oleksiyovych Devyatov. A name that we find in particular on the list of the SBU – the Ukrainian FBI – in their vast investigation into the “Monaco battalion”, of which Nice-Matin told the story. Like his comrades, he is suspected of having fled the country at the start of the war with Russia to reach the Côte d’Azur.
The criminal procedure aims to shed light on “the circumstances of the crossing of the border” and on “the role and place of law enforcement officials in this process”. Translation: the investigators will check if the exiles used their official position to manage to leave the country while martial law is in force.
Estimated at 250,000 euros, a wealthy Egyptian at the wheel
However, Denys Oleksiyovych Devyatov is far from being a big fish now. According to the Ukrainian services, he is from kyiv and operates in rather varied fields: private air transport of people, sale of cars but also sale of cereals… for dogs. Activities for which he declared a famous turnover in 2019: 10,000 hryvnia or 272 euros.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Justice, he was even sentenced twice for indebtedness. This did not prevent him from buying this jewel, costing 250,000 euros when he left the garage.
It is he who would have provoked the Batmobile in Monaco at the beginning of 2020. It has since changed hands… without changing the license plate and without it being known whether it has been sold. Because the one who drives it today in the streets of the Principality is a wealthy Egyptian fan of supercars: Mohamed Hamdy.
On his Instagram account we see him standing on this common car in front of the Casino de Monte-Carlo with this caption: “May the Batmobile rest one day.”