Final Fantasy designer's version of Batman may have inspired Kingdom Hearts

Final Fantasy designer and Kingdom Hearts creator Tetsuya Nomura's re-imagining of Batman was inspired by concepts drawn from a canceled video game, Siliconera reports.

The drastically different caped crusader debuted yesterday at San Diego Comic-Con. According to Nomura, he was working on a project several years ago and came up with the basic concept. The game, however, never saw the light of day. It was canned in its early stages of conceptual planning and ideas.

"When the merchandise team started expanding into the DC Comics Variant figures," Nomura said, "they approached me and said, 'We remember you drew a sort of Batman design back then. Would you be able to share that with us?'"

Although Nomura's Batman looks like it could have come from the Kingdom Hearts franchise, the designer said it's actually the other way around.

"The project that never got off the ground was done before Kingdom Hearts was conceived," Nomura said. "It might be the opposite — the design from that early project influenced Kingdom Hearts and armor design in that series."

The design is still just a prototype, though the Variant Play Arts Kai version of the DC Comics character will be released as part of a new Batman line.