DVD Movie Reviews

By Alex

You know superheroes are just like us: they get tired of wearing the same clothes; they want to keep up with fashion; they want to occasionally upgrade their ‘look’ perhaps. What they don’t want to happen is to turn up to a fight and be laughed at because they're still wearing last season’s codpiece (this is a serious superhero no, no). With the final Chris Nolan/Christian Bale Batman collaboration, Dark Knight Rises, to be released soon, I thought I would take a stroll down superhero fashion memory lane.

Let’s take a look at the following case study: The Evolution of the Batsuit. Now, I am aware that there have been numerous other Bat suits before Michael Keaton in the 1989 flick Batman, but seriously I just don’t care. Those look ridiculous plus this is my blog so what I say goes.

Batman and Batman Returns

Michael Keaton and legendary twisted director, Tim Burton, kicked off the blockbuster Batman franchise in 1989. It was dark and gritty, Keaton was perfectly cast as Bruce Wayne/Batman and the suit retained its iconic logo and colours, while also looking very high-tech and intimidating. Then in Batman Returns we see a change to a more armoured Batsuit which starts a trend for the forthcoming Batman movies.

Batman Forever

Uggghhh jeez…Val Kilmer as Batman – *choke*. Or should I say joke. Anyway, before ol’ Val blew out to the size of a Beluga whale, he could fit into this batsuit. The trend of having an armoured batsuit and an everyday-wear-around-the-house-while-doing-the-washing-up batsuit continues here. Except this armoured batsuit seems to be following the ‘90s trend of super metallic paint and the traditional colours of black and yellow have disappeared. All-in-all not a bad set of suits for ol’ batty boy – too bad the movie blew chunks.

Batman & Robin

Speaking of vomit inducing films, say hello to George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell a.k.a Batman & Robin. The infamous ‘nipple’ batsuit (even though Val Kilmer’s batsuit had them too) which sparked outrage amongst devoted Bat fans. People also criticised the over inflated codpieces and there were rumours of arguments between Clooney and O’Donnell over the size of their respective pieces. Really fellas? This time both suits have gone all black…ah no wait…what’s that? Oh dear, someone’s tried to put colour into the armoured suit. I blame it on the ‘90s. There were a lot of bad decisions made in the ‘90s.

Batman Begins and The Dark Knight

Finally, a return to the dark gritty style – thank you Christopher Nolan. These suits appear to be more practical based, that is, designed to protect the wearer not just to make them look like a pretty boy (take note Clooney and Kilmer).

And there you have it, The Evolution of the Batsuit.

According to the latest industry news, it appears the next film Dark Knight Rises will see Batman retain the same suit from the previous film. Really Batman? It’s 2012, that suit is so 2008, somebody call Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (does anybody even remember that series?), I’m talking old school Oprah makeover time!

-Alex