Modern Batman: Shows his dark side

The Petersen Automobile Museum opened in 1994 and has Clark Gable's Mercedes Benz, Lucille Ball's Ghia coupe, the Love Bug, the Seinfeld taxi and other cars of the stars on permanent display.

Up for sale in this auction will be a 1954 Chrysler New Yorker originally owned by reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, equipped with a custom-made germ-filtration feature designed to purify its interior.

There's also a 1948 Delahaye Cabriolet formerly owned by Elton John and a car used in the hit Italian-American mobster series The Sopranos.

But the real hit is expected to be the Batmobile.

Batman first appeared in detective comics in the 1930s.

The Sopranos: Get the look, buy the car

Cartoon artist Bob Kane, Batman's creator, said he based the character of Bruce Wayne on Douglas Fairbanks Snr and the idea of a man flying using wings came from Leonardo da Vinci.

But Kane said the concept of a bat/man and the shadowy feel of the character as opposed to other superheroes came from a 1935 movie called The Bat Whispers.

The characters were made into a hugely popular 1960s TV series.

A series of high-budget films in the 1980s and 1990s brought the character to a new audience, ensuring his enduring appeal.