A History of Batman’s Batsuits

Batman (1943) – Just three years after his creation, the Caped Crusader was adapted for the screen in a 15 part movie serial. Unfortunately, looking back at it from 2016, the suit worn by Lewis Wilson in the role look pretty laughable now.

Batman and Robin (1949) – Lewis Wilson was replaced by Robert Lowery for the second movie serial, with Johnny Duncan joining him as the Boy Wonder. The suit isn’t much better this time, however, with the cowl in particular being hilariously too big for Lowery’s head.

Batman (1966) – The 1960s Batman TV series, and its spin-off movie, defined what the hero looked like in popular culture for decades. Though its far from the style we are now accustomed to today, the grey/blue colour scheme and the drawn-on eyebrows perfectly fit the campy tone of the series. KAPOW!

Batman (1989) + Batman Returns (1992) – Tim Burton completely redesigned the hero’s look for his cinematic reboot of the character. Suddenly, Batman dressed all in black latex with fake muscles. One deficit of the suit was that Michael Keaton could not turn his head. We’re sure that made crime-fighting difficult!

Batman Forever (1995) – When Joel Schumacher took over the directing duties, he increased the musculature on the suit in a move apparently inspired by Greek statues. To increase toy potential, Val Kilmer’s Batman wore two suits in the movie.

Batman & Robin (1998) – As you can see, this toyetic approach only increased when George Clooney donned the suit. While the initial costume is bad enough with its infamous nipples, the second is a real eyesore with its intrusive silver detailing and chest-hugging batsymbol.

Batman Begins (2005) – Christopher Nolan took the character in a new gritty direction and so had a more practical suit, said to be a military prototype in the film. Like Keaton before him, though, Bale struggled with moving his head in the rigid rubber cowl.

The Dark Knight (2008) + The Dark Knight Rises (2012) – For the sequel, Batman’s suit was redesigned to be more armoured and to make the cowl much sleeker to allow Bale more maneuverability. The most functional suit ever utilsied in a Batman film, it was kept pretty much the same for the third movie.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice + Suicide Squad (2016) – Zack Snyder’s Bats and Supes mash-up borrowed heavily from The Dark Knight Returns graphic novel. As such, Ben Affleck wore two suits that were perfect replications of costumes from that comic. A) the grey, bulky normal suit and B) the mecha-suit that gives him extra protection in his battle with the Man of Steel.

Justice League (2017) – In next year’s DC hero team-up, Batman will get a new suit, that is being dubbed his “tactical batsuit.” It is more detailed than Batfleck’s previous outfit and most noticeably has the new addition of goggles. Quite what Batman needs the suit for in the movie has yet to be seen.