Batman’smost infamous suit just got even more confusing after comments from the costume designer himself. Long before theDCU, Batman was appearing on the big screen in various iterations. From Adam West’s classic fabric suit, to Michael Keaton’s hard rubber suit, the look has undergone some significant changes.
Through the years, getting the balance between the comics and live-action has proven a challenge that has more often than not resulted in arguments among the fanbase.Nocomic book adaptationwill be a perfect replica, and Batman has a range of suits, and live-action projects have toyed with several variants of the design.
But, there is one suit design that stands out from the rest. Having caused quite a sensational stir among fans everywhere, the stylistic choices were absolutely baffling. However, thedesigner behind this suit has finally spoken upabout it, and honestly, I’m more confused than before.
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Batman & RobinsawGeorge Clooney step into the role of Gotham’s Dark Knightalongside his faithful sidekick, Robin.
This film introduced several notable details that would be talked about for decades, including Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze, and Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy, but thebatsuit managed to steal the attentionfor one key reason. The nipples.
The suit made abold choice to not justhighlight Batman’s nipples, but to really make them a defining feature on the suit that are impossible to ignore. And to this day, this is the suit that continues to get the most airtime in discussions.
Considering how much this movie had to offer, and the incredible merchandise and fandoms that evolved as a result, the nipple suit is just a bizarre andunnecessary addition that feels impossible to understand. But somehow, the designer behind the suit felt it made sense.
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While there were several individuals involved in the process of approving the nipple suit as a final design, it all leads back to one man. The lead sculptor for the suit is a gentleman named Jose Fernandez, and he hasoffered some insights into the thought processbehind the infamous suit (viaMel Magazine):
With Val Kilmer’s suit in Batman Forever, the nipples were one of those things that I added. It wasn’t fetish to me, it was more informed by Roman armor—like Centurions. And, in the comic books, the characters always looked like they were naked with spray paint on them—it was all about anatomy, and I like to push anatomy. I don’t know exactly where my head was at back in the day, but that’s what I remember. And so, I added the nipples. I had no idea there was going to end up being all this buzz about it.
As Fernandez highlights, theBatman Foreversuit set the foundation, but he decided to lean much more heavily into this design, and make itmore prominent forBatman & Robin. Theresult is one of the most bizarre suitsin any comic book movie.
However, it’s clear that Fernandez hadno intention of this decision being such a notable alteration. More often than not, costumes and set designs get little to no recognition when they excel, and when they fall short, fans are quick to pick it apart.
And in this case, this design choice hasbecome a major part of the discussion around the film, which indicates that a lot more people felt strongly about the choice, though not necessarily positively.
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Fernandez felt that the comics often portrayed these heroes in skintight outfits that left nothing to the imagination. And for him, thistied into the idea of Greek statuesof heroes and gods (viaVice).
So I said, let’s make it anatomical and gave photos of those greek status and those incredible anatomical drawings you see in medical books. He did the nipples and when I looked at them, I thought, that’s cool.
Unfortunately, in real life, the suit ended up looking incredibly goofy, and the nipples became a prominent talking point for audiences everywhere. However, it’s good to see there was at leastsome sort of thought process behind the design.
The issue is, this is nothing like the Greek statues, and the nipples on the suit proved incredibly distracting because of their prominence. Whereas, the statues and even theBatman Foreverdesign feature nipples that blend inwith the rest of the suit.
In Fernandez' design, they quite literally stand out, with their extreme size, and the choice to color these sections differently in a way that draws more attention to them. It seemsincredibly unlikely that no one flagged this design as being sort of weird, but, alas, that’s the way the suit ended up being introduced to the world.
Ultimately, the nipple suit is just one design among many, and it has become a fun meme that many fans of superhero movies look back on with good humor. Sure, it’s weird, and even with the explanation, it makes little to no sense. ButBatmanremains one of the most popular and celebrated charactersof all time.
