Batman Forever Costume Designer Explains Inspiration for Controversial Nipples on Batsuit

With Batman Forever, director Joel Schumacher took over the franchise from original director Tim Burton and brought with him some changes to the tone of the series. While the previous films leaned much more into the gothic elements of the character, Schumacher injected some camp and a sense of whimsy, resulting in various upgrades and changes to established elements of the series. One of these changes was to add defined nipples to Val Kilmer’s Batsuit, a controversial change to the costume, though designer Jose Fernandez recently expressed his motivation for the design and how it was meant to serve as a reference to ancient armor.

“With Val Kilmer’s suit in Batman Forever, the nipples were one of those things that I added,” Fernandez shared with MEL. “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.”

Despite the stylistic choice, not all audiences appreciated the homage, while Schumacher fully supported the decision, to the point that he requested George Clooney’s Batsuit in Batman & Robin feature even more prominent nipples.

“Well, in the first one, they were just a little blob of clay. It was subtle — it was a blip,” the designer recalled. “But for Batman & Robin, Joel Schumacher loved the nipples, so he said, ‘Let’s showcase them.’ Schumacher wanted them sharpened, like, with points. They were also circled, both outer and inner — it was all made into a feature of the Batsuit. I didn’t want to do it, but he’s the boss, so we sharpened them, circled them and it all became kind of ridiculous.”

The filmmakers behind that film did end up drawing a line at including nipples on Alicia Silverstone’s Batgirl costume.

The designer pointed out, “With Alicia Silverstone, they wanted nipples on her too. They said, ‘If the guys have nipples, the girls should have nipples, too.’ After I sculpted it though, everybody realized, maybe not. It was a bit obscene, so we took the nipples off.”

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Batman & Robin, while Robert Pattinson is expected to star in a sequel to this year’s The Batman.

What did you think of the decision? Let us know in the comments below!