Could A Real Grappling Hook Gadget Work Like Batman's? | MythBusters

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:10]Hi Tori.

[00:00:10]>> Hi guys.

[00:00:11]>> How you doing?

[00:00:12]>> Good.

[00:00:15]>> No, don't tell me.

[00:00:17]>> Exactly. We're about to do an entire episode of nothing but superhero myths.

[00:00:21]>> Superhero myths? Isn't that going to be kind of impossible to test?

[00:00:24]>> Technically, yes. Most superhero powers are totally mythical. No one can run at the speed of light. No one can spin webs and no one turns green when they get angry and has super strength. But there is an aspect that we can test empirically and it mostly involves gadgets.

[00:00:38]>> A mythical superhero gadget.

[00:00:40]>> Exactly.

[00:00:40]>> Well, if we're going to do this in true superhero fashion, I think all of you need to put your underwear on the outside of your pants.

[00:00:45]>> You're right. Let's do it.

[00:00:47]When disaster strikes FIRE >> SUPERHEROES, >> he is Starman >> and their gadgets come to save the day.

[00:00:59]But now these torpedoes and tights are also getting put under the Mythbusters microscope.

[00:01:06]>> So you look all excited. What's going on?

[00:01:08]>> We are doing a superhero device that I've always wanted to build. It's a key component on the belt of Nocturnal echolocating flying mammal man.

[00:01:16]Batman.

[00:01:17]>> Yes. Shh. Anyway, he's always got this on his belt. And when he's in danger, he'll fire at a wall, go stick in the wall to use either a zipline or a mechanical ascender to get himself away. It's the grappling gun.

[00:01:30]>> We can do that.

[00:01:32]>> In a neverending fight against crime, superheroes often have to leap tall buildings. And if they can't do it in a single bound like Superman, they could always rely on their trusty grappling guns to give them that extra lift.

[00:01:48]But is climbing a building like this really possible?

[00:01:56]How are we going to test this one?

[00:01:59]>> I think that's actually pretty easy. We just got to get some real offtheshelf grappling hooks and use them to climb some walls.

[00:02:09]And we're going to have to do this one for real. Man, we we can't fake it this time. No.

[00:02:14]>> And so, a short time later.

[00:02:17]>> Everything is perfect, right?

[00:02:18]>> Yeah. This area ought to be good.

[00:02:20]>> The Mythbusters have a wall. And Adam, a grappling hook.

[00:02:25]No superhero technology here. Just a regular off-the-shelf grappler. But will this device be enough to let him climb the walls?

[00:02:34]>> This is grappling hook number one. It's actually collapsible, so I guess it fits in your bag well. And you you set it up like this. You thread it down, and there it's ready to go.

[00:02:44]>> The Battel tactical air initiated Launch System, Tails for short, was developed for the US Navy to aid shipto- ship rescue.

[00:02:53]>> It's a little bigger than Batman's. It has a uh a tank. It's got a piston, and it just lets the piston go and it shoots the grappling hook. It'll go 100 feet straight up.

[00:03:04]>> And that's a prospect that's got Jamie cackling like a super villain.

[00:03:13]>> Before they crawl the wall, they rig a safety system.

[00:03:16]>> This setup right here is our safety backup. This is a blay system. And so if there's anything that goes wrong with a grappling hook, this will kick in and keep one of us from falling and hitting the ground. Jess will be on the ground paying out rope as one of us tries to climb up. So if that person slips, Jess will catch them.

[00:03:35]>> And Jess will catch them. That's the theory. So will these regular grappling hooks enable Adam and Jamie to walk the wall like the Cape Crusader?

[00:03:44]>> You know, I'm not in really great shape like Batman is, but you know, we're going to try.

[00:03:51]>> Oh, I caught a big one. Look at that.

[00:03:54]That'll feed my family for a month.

[00:03:57]While Adam struggles with the mojo of the throw, Jamie's off like a shot.

[00:04:03]>> Three, two, one.

[00:04:10]>> You cleared the whole building, Jamie.

[00:04:12]Nice work.

[00:04:15]>> Hey, >> finally, Adam's grappling hook also grabs hold.

[00:04:20]>> Is that purchase?

[00:04:21]>> You've got purchase.

[00:04:23]>> So, that just leaves the climbing.

[00:04:25]>> You all said, Batman, >> I'm all set, Boy Wonder. Adam attacks the wall head on.

[00:04:34]>> There's no This is not going to happen at all.

[00:04:37]>> Don't remember Batman having this much trouble. With Adam floundering like a fish out of water, Jamie's decided to try a different climbing technique.

[00:04:47]>> What I'm tying here is known as a press knot. Basically, it's a one-way knot.

[00:04:52]When you push on it, it slides up, but when you bear down on it, it won't go the other way. Thanks to his knots, Jamie soon up up and away.

[00:05:06]>> Oh yeah, he's cruising now.

[00:05:10]>> Ladies and gentlemen, there's a new superhero on the block. Jamie Heinman is the inchworm. Able to leap tall buildings given plenty of notice. But at least he's gaining altitude.

[00:05:26]His fellow heroes not scaling. He's ab sailing.

[00:05:43]All right, you guys don't mind. I'm just going to lie here for a little while.

[00:05:50]>> Jamie eventually makes it to the top, but not at a great rate of knots. My little knot trick worked, but it took me probably just under 10 minutes to make it up this 20ft wall. And if you're a superhero trying to save the little old lady, you need to do it quicker than that. While both grappling hooks held firm, it was the boy's ascent that failed. To get this myth off the ground, they're going to need to build something that can take the climb out of the equation superhero style.

[00:06:20]>> I think we need to go back to the shop and build our own solution. Okay, let's go.

[00:06:32]>> Put on your cape, dust off your tights, and take to the skies because the Mythbusters are seeing if superhero gadgets are nothing more than a flash in the pan.

[00:06:44]Adam and Jamie are first trying to find out if the minuscule handheld grappling hooks that hoist up superheroes can really work.

[00:06:54]So far, their efforts have been more comical than comic book, but now they've hatched an evil plan.

[00:07:02]>> I think our course is pretty clear. I think we're going to have to build this device ourselves.

[00:07:08]>> Yeah, but it seems to me that there are actually two distinct elements to this cable gun winch thing.

[00:07:14]>> Okay. What are they?

[00:07:16]>> Well, you've got the winch and you've got the gun. So, why don't we treat them separately and one of us build one. one build the other.

[00:07:23]>> So, why don't you take the mechanical ascending rig and I'll take the gun that fires the thing into the wall that sticks in the wall.

[00:07:30]>> Okay.

[00:07:31]>> And then uh we'll finish off with the final climb off.

[00:07:34]>> Great.

[00:07:35]>> All right.

[00:07:36]>> Our superheroes go headto head. Jamie's task is to build a super lightweight winch to ascend buildings at the push of a button.

[00:07:46]Adam's making a device that can shoot a cable into a concrete wall.

[00:07:52]I got the nail in there. Look at that.

[00:07:54]>> There's just one rule. Both gadgets have to be as small as possible so they can fit on a superhero's belt.

[00:08:03]>> The challenge in this particular case is how small can we get it? It's got to be really powerful and really small.

[00:08:10]Jaime's device straps to his forearm and is powered by a battery on his belt. The motor is the smallest and fastest he could find. It puts out 30,000 RPM, but by itself, it's not powerful enough to hoist Hineman up a high-rise.

[00:08:26]>> These gear reductions actually translate the power that this engine puts out into something I can use. Instead of 30,000 RPM, they're reducing the speed and increasing the torque. So, I end up with something that is 750 RPM, but very powerful. It sure got a flashy superhero feel, but will it work? Jaime's going to test it on his sidekick.

[00:08:50]>> What I'm going to do instead of trying to pull myself up is actually pull Jess along the floor. She's going to go skiing in the shop.

[00:08:59]>> All right, Jamie, I'm ready.

[00:09:01]>> Does Jaime's rig have the pulling power to make Jess do the shop floor shimmy?

[00:09:14]It worked.

[00:09:15]>> It worked. Looks like superhero gadget number one is ready to roll. Meanwhile, on the other side of the myth cave, Adam's getting the drop on his cable firing device.

[00:09:30]Sorry.

[00:09:32]Batman's grappling gun. It can do a bunch of things, but the one I'm concerned with is that it can shoot over into a a brick or concrete or masonry wall and stay there and actually string a cable that can support Batman's weight.

[00:09:46]>> The centerpiece of his design is a 22 caliber nail gun.

[00:09:51]>> Takes a rimfire 22 caliber shell here.

[00:09:53]Sticks in there. Put your nail in the tip. Bring it up to it. Bang. Hit it.

[00:10:00]Crack. 22 caliber shell fires a nail right into the concrete. His cunning plan. Attach the cable to the nail gun, then fire that from a divers's spear gun. When the nail gun hits the wall, the blank round fires the nail into the concrete and the cable's ready to cross like this. In three, two, one.

[00:10:25]>> Oh, well, sort of.

[00:10:27]>> Batman probably didn't get it on his first try either.

[00:10:29]>> No. So, you know, it's going to take time.

[00:10:32]>> Three, two, one.

[00:10:35]>> Oh, shoot. You got to work out that hitting the wall part.

[00:10:39]>> Adam's little firing mechanism here is totally superheroesque. Um, and it's dangerous. So, that's Mythbusteresque.

[00:10:46]>> Obviously, I'm going to go back to the other shop and play around with aiming and uh adding some air power to this to get a better throw.

[00:10:52]>> Once he's done that, the scene is set for a superhero grappling gadget showdown. You all set with that thing?

[00:10:59]>> I am. Yours is working.

[00:11:01]>> Works like a charm.

[00:11:02]>> Let's go be Batman.

[00:11:04]>> Okay.

[00:11:10]It's the Mythbusters superhero special.

[00:11:14]If you're a cake cloud hero, it's not good for the image to be seen taking the elevator. You get much more cred if you fire your trusty grappling hook and quickly ascend to the city skyline. Adam and Jamie have devised their own miniature superhero style grappling devices and are looking for the same uplifting experience.

[00:11:34]>> Perfect. You want to go first or should I?

[00:11:38]>> Sure, I'll go first. How about right over here?

[00:11:40]>> Today, we've come north of the Mythbusters shop to the Hamilton Air Force Base in Nevada. And while it may look like an abandoned aircraft hanger, in fact, it is a super modern superhero training facility. Jaime prepares to go from mildmannered mythbuster to skybound superhero. Adam's impressed.

[00:12:00]>> That's awesome.

[00:12:01]>> Awesome it may be, but does it fit the size criteria? Remember, superhero devices are unfeasibly small.

[00:12:10]>> I think it qualifies in the size criteria. The motor he's chosen is absolutely the highest powered tiny motor that is out there that's declassified.

[00:12:20]>> Jaime's rig doesn't have to shoot the cable. We just want to know if it can lift him like a superhero.

[00:12:26]>> God, I hate these things.

[00:12:28]Give me a ladder any day of the week.

[00:12:31]>> Adam attaches Jamie's cable to a beam.

[00:12:34]>> So Jaime's climb is going to be a straight vertical ascent. There's going to be nothing around him. He is using only the tiny line that's high test to get him to the rafters which are about 27 ft off the floor.

[00:12:47]>> Just in case it's not clear, this line is a safety. This isn't helping in any way to pull me up. This is only in case this breaks, then Adam and Jess will stop me.

[00:12:59]>> Can Jaime's grappling gadget get him off the ground?

[00:13:03]I've had no time to test it, no time to do anything other than assemble it and come out and then put my life on the end of it. I just have this sinking feeling that I'm going to have hear this little tink and it's going to be all over.

[00:13:19]>> Okay, in three, two, one.

[00:13:28]Jaime's soaring towards success when the cable suddenly snaps.

[00:13:36]>> And like Superman after a brush with kryptonite, our hero comes back down to earth.

[00:13:42]>> I think I should maybe pick the uh slightly heavier line.

[00:13:46]>> Did the line snap?

[00:13:47]>> Uh-huh.

[00:13:48]>> Thanks to Adam and Jess, JD was spared a painful fall from grace. It's a little scary actually, but uh you know it the the motor actually didn't even know I was there, you know, so it's plenty of power.

[00:14:01]>> The heavier lines wound on and once again.

[00:14:06]Yeah, it's good. Jamie's all up in the air all the way.

[00:14:12]Oh, come on. Oh, you can do it.

[00:14:18]Yeah, >> I made it. That's a surefire superhero success. Just like the comic strip, >> he made it from the floor to the rafters in 20 seconds. That's 27 ft. That's superhero speed.

[00:14:32]>> But uh how's he going to get back down?

[00:14:35]>> Um a shoot.

[00:14:38]>> The rig's got no reverse gear. With the device strapped to his arm, Jaime has no choice but to sever the line and hope Adam and Jess can give him a soft landing. He makes the cut >> and that's when things come crashing down.

[00:14:56]>> I just whacked myself in the nose really hard.

[00:15:01]>> Yeah, I cut the line and and it was like snap. Whack.

[00:15:07]Just not the kind of thing you want to hit yourself in the face with.

[00:15:10]>> This right here is the blood of the Heinan. Revered by the Chinese for its healing and restorative properties. In a few hours, it will begin to eat through the floor of this building and then it will replicate.

[00:15:23]>> I tell you what, this thing has balls.

[00:15:25]It's totally capable of pulling me up and more.

[00:15:30]We just built it in a couple days, so it's got some bugs. So, sue me. Uh, but with a little with another day, maybe I can make this like really sweet. And it's just fantastic. It works like a charm. So Jamie passed with flying colors, a miniature motorized ascender is really possible. Which means next up it's Adam and his concrete piercing grappler. I I I haven't come up with a name for it. Nocturnal echolocating flying mammal man's cable shooter.

[00:16:01]How's that?

[00:16:07]In the Mythbusters superhero special, Jamie just leaped a tall building with a single motor. But can Adam fire a line into a wall? This is an underwater spear gun firing this weight behind a 22 caliber rimfire concrete nail round, which will activate this piston, driving this nail into the wall. Also on its way, it will be dragging this cable going into the wall. Hopefully leaving it in the wall with enough force that I can tie it off at the other end. Hook a pulley up to it and down to the wall.

[00:16:40]>> It's not as small as something Batman would use, but will it work?

[00:16:46]>> Adam takes his position on his makebelieve rooftop and takes aim at the villain's lair.

[00:16:52]>> 3 2 1 All right, reset. He reloads again and again.

[00:17:06]The nail gun's firing when it hits the wall, but for some reason the nails aren't penetrating. Seems those dastardly crooks have built their hideout from some sort of super tough material.

[00:17:17]>> This is definitely harder concrete than anything I've dealt with before cuz I've never seen that kind of thing.

[00:17:23]>> And it is a military base.

[00:17:24]>> It is a military base, >> but a superhero never gives up.

[00:17:28]Unfortunately, the way it works in Batman movies doesn't involve him shooting at something and it bouncing off and falling on the ground. However, that's probably the reality of this type of device.

[00:17:41]>> But Perseverance Savage finally finds a in the armor.

[00:17:49]>> But I think I'm in.

[00:17:51]>> You're in, >> dude? I'm trying it.

[00:17:53]>> Go for it.

[00:17:55]>> Here we go.

[00:17:58]The nails not in deep, but our hero's going to swing into action. Adam clips into a safety harness and prepares to put his superhero status on the line.

[00:18:08]Literally, >> I'm clipping into the line. Boy Wonder, >> I'm Batman. You You're Boy Wonder. If you make it across, then you can be Batman.

[00:18:17]>> Oh, really?

[00:18:17]>> I made it all the way up.

[00:18:19]>> Can Adam swing to superhero glory, or will he plummet to sidekick status? In three, two, one. Oh.

[00:18:32]>> Well, it looks like your boy won.

[00:18:35]>> The line couldn't hold Adam's weight.

[00:18:38]>> The nail pulled straight out of the wall, leaving him just hanging around.

[00:18:44]>> Personally, I think the idea of a beltsized shooter that will get you into any kind of wall, it's totally busted.

[00:18:50]Can someone let me down now? I would say that your device was exceptional. It really did, I think, make a plausible case for a beltw wearable superheroike mechanical ascending rig. Well, thank you. And your cable shooting rig actually seemed like it worked quite well, but it just didn't quite make it into this hardened concrete. I'm not so sure that I'm ready to give that one up, but for now, we have to call it busted.

[00:19:18]>> Yeah, totally busted.

[00:19:19]>> Let's get out of here.

[00:19:20]>> All right.