Hey guys, I’m Kya and on this episode of ‘Yellow Spandex,’
I’m finally back with more Nanananana Batman.
We’ve already covered the Caped Crusader’s exploits in animation,
And with ‘Justice League’ on the horizon, we thought it was time to take a look at
Batman’s Live-Action Evolution.
After Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman in 1939,
It only took four years for the Dark Knight to get his first live action adventure,
a 1943 serial simply called ‘Batman.’
Yes, Batman! Clad in the somber costume which has struck terror to the heart of many a swaggering denizen of the underworld!
The costume was accurate to the comics at the time,
Even if the poster has it colored bright red for some reason.
But in terms of execution, I could probably get a better Batsuit at Party City.
But it’s the 40’s so it’s fine.
Lolno, not really.
It’s so baggy and wrinkly, and Batman’s ears look like two floppy devil horns.
I mean, at least his mask fits.
I can’t say the same about the sequel, 1949’s ‘Batman and Robin,’
where it’s constantly sliding down Batman’s face.
They're getting away in their car!
Batman! How did you get here?
Never mind that, let's get to that cabin!
Batman Batman Batman... Feels like that Jaden Smith song right now.
Have you not seen this?
[OFFSCREEN] Batman Batman Batman
No live-action Batman costume will ever top Jaden Smith's white Batman costume.
These serials weren’t Batman’s best look,
But twenty years later, a series of popular revival screenings were a direct inspiration for the ‘Batman’ TV show of the
1960s.
For the first Batsuit ever seen in living color,
The designers turned toward the “new look” Batman that had just debuted in the comics.
That’s where the yellow oval behind the bat logo was introduced,
And the bright blue and grey color scheme was the perfect match for the campy 1966 series.
True, Robin. It was noble of that animal to hurl himself into the path of that final torpedo.
He gave his life for ours!
Unlike the later Batmen, Adam West didn’t need any molded rubber and fake muscles to pull off the Caped Crusader.
Pure. West.
But he did require a hard fiberglass shell underneath his cowl.
The front of the mask was painted black, to mimic the shading used by artists at the time,
And the look was completed with two happy little eyebrows and some tiny mouse ears.
I don't know why they needed to add that.
It’s one of TV’s most iconic costumes, which makes it a shame the originals are in such bad shape.
The silk material reacted badly under the studio lights,
And you can actually see the color change over the course of the series.
Today, the surviving screen-used costumes are completely purple.
After Frank Miller’s ‘The Dark Knight Returns’ brought the Caped Crusader back to his gritty roots,
moviegoers were introduced to a brand new Batman for the
‘90s.
Tim Burton’s 1989 ‘Batman’ movie was actually the first Batman that I was introduced to, live-action wise.
I'm Batman.
And I saw it AFTER I saw NIghtmare Before Christmas and fell in love with Burton there.
So a Burton Batman was like a match made in heaven for me.
Anyways, Burton and designer Bob Ringwood wanted to get far away from the colorful spandex look from the comics,
And their Batman sure as hell wasn’t going to wear his underwear on the outside.
So they ditched all the color outside of the belt and symbol,
and they molded the costume out of black latex rubber.
That was a huge innovation by itself,
I mean, the last big superhero franchise was the Christopher Reeves ‘Superman’ series,
And that costume was just plain old cloth.
Since Michael Keaton didn’t exactly have the physique of a ninja warrior,
all that latex let them sculpt muscles directly into the suit..
They couldn’t recreate Batman’s blank white eyes traditionally used in the comics,
But some black makeup underneath the mask was a clever compromise that’s been used in every Batman movie since.
The giant rubber cowl looked incredible, but it introduced one teeny problem:
It was impossible for Keaton to move his head.
It's just like, no movement. At all.
Now beat up a bunch of attacking henchmen without moving your head.
Don't try that at home, kids.
It was impossible for Keaton to move his head.
On top of that, the suit was extremely heavy, hot, and uncomfortable.
[DISGUSTING GROANS AND NOISES]
Things didn’t improve much for 'Batman Returns.'
The process used to build the suit stayed the same,
While the design ditched the muscled look for angular Art Deco armor. Classy.
Burton wanted the costume to look like an Oscar statue, and it had just as much mobility.
'Batman Forever' went back to the anatomical look and then some.
I am, of course, referring to the BAT NIPPLES.
What's wrong?
I’m not gonna go into why this is a whole thing and why that whole thing is bad.
You guys know it’s a thing.
I know it’s a thing.
If you want to blame someone blame director Joel Schumacher.
Inspired by ancient Greek statues, he wanted the costume to feel more natural and animalistic.
I don’t know how giant bulging codpieces and lingering butt shots help with that, but you do you Joel.
When the movie starts, Batman’s costume looks a lot like the original 1989 version.
By the end, he replaces it with an all-black Sonar Suit with a bigger bat symbol,
So kids would have an additional Batman figure to buy.
The word of the day, kids is toyetic.
That’s a tradition Schumacher would continue with ‘Batman and Robin.’
The initial suit is nothing to write home about, except that the nipples got even more prominent.
You look like someone who could really use some rubber nipples!
Call the police.
Free the Batnipple, I guess.
But this silvery Arctic Attack suit at the end is a complete abomination.
I’m especially not down with the hot-rod grilles in his cowl.
Like, I get that you wanna sell more toys,
But can’t you sell good looking toys? Like I didn’t even want this as a kid.
Who defends this city? Batman and Robin!
The legend, the Dark Knight, the Bat unleashes an ambush attack!
The damage was done, and the Batman film franchise was dead in the water.
At least, until the
2000s.
For ‘Batman Begins,’ director Christopher Nolan wanted to create a costume that was both frightening and functional.
The movie itself devotes a lot of time explaining Batman’s uniform,
From the military exoskeleton to the sword-slicing blades on his gauntlets.
Behind the scenes, they didn’t really have the time or budget to experiment with any radical new techniques,
So they stuck to the tried-and-true method of latex rubber.
It gives you this huge neck, like a panther, this feral look where you look like you're gonna pounce.
Which meant that Christian Bale joined the ranks of Batmen who had to move their whole torso to look around.
HELP ME! HELP ME!
The crew paid extra close attention to the cape,
Since in the last few Batman movies it was basically a big heavy lump of latex rubber.
They wanted a material that would billow and flow the way it did in the comics,
And since it didn’t exist, they had to invent their own.
Inspired by experimental military memory fabric,
Hold up-- This sounds so cool. Batman's cape needs to billow in the wind.
It needs to be long, threatening, and look like wings when he jumps down. Priorities!
Inspired by experimental military memory fabric, they took some high-quality parachute silk and flocked it with tiny fibers to give it a velveteen look.
The ‘Begins’ suit was a good start, but at the end of the day it still looked like a rubber suit.
Up to this point, every onscreen Batman was just wearing material that pretended to be armor.
When seen up close, or lit the wrong way, the illusion was shattered.
For the last two films in the trilogy, Nolan and crew redesigned the costume from the ground up.
Inspired by modern motorcycle gear, they placed carbon fiber armored plates on top of flexible crumple zones.
In other words, Batman could actually leap and run and fight like a ninja,
instead of just lumbering around throwing punches in a rubber suit.
Can't move your head, though.
Help me!
Also, in a landmark achievement in the history of cinema,
Batman was finally able to move his head!
Chris wanted to be able to see movement of the head, which has never happened with any of the Batman movies.
He's always had to move his shoulders to be able to see.
With ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ Nolan fully achieved his goal of a realistic, functional Batsuit that still pays tribute to the comics.
He even found a plausible way to incorporate the traditional white-eye look.
I didn’t think it was possible for Hollywood to top the Nolanverse costume,
But then I got a look at Ben Affleck’s Batman in the
DCEU.
Say what you will about ‘Batman v. Superman,’
Take a bucket of piss and call it Granny's Peach Tea.
But that costume is goddamn on point.
It was such a breath of fresh air to see the classic two-tone grey and black look brought to life on screen.
Sadly, his outer underwear seem to be gone forever, but I’ll live.
Director Zack Snyder wanted to showcase Batman’s sheer power, muscle and size,
As opposed to armor and stealthy gadgets.
So costume designer Michael Wilkinson created the uniform out of a thin carbon-fiber weave that emphasized Batman’s brawn.
With tiny ears and-- I'm sorry, the tiny ears kill me.
They're not that tiny.
They're like comically tiny.
a giant bat symbol, the costume is clearly inspired by Frank Miller’s older, bulkier Batman in ‘The Dark Knight Returns.’
And if the regular suit didn’t make it clear,
Bruce also busts out some powered armor that’s straight out of his comic showdown with Superman,
complete with glowing white eyes.
It’s cool. It’s just so dope.
It also marks the first time that the Batsuit has been rendered primarily with digital effects.
In ‘Justice League,’ the Dark Knight is gonna be back in blue for the first time since the ‘60s,
In addition to rocking a heavy-duty tactical Batsuit.
It’s a little busier than the classic comic look he had in ‘Batman v Superman,’
But I can dig it, It looks like a costume from the ‘Arkham’ games,
Just with a terrible set of goggles Zack Snyder snagged from Nite Owl.
That's what happens when you let a man direct multiple comic book movies.
He's just like "I'mma take this prop. Can I borrow this prop? Thanks guys, I'll give it back. No I won't. Cool."
It’s a little too close to the toyetic Schumacher costumes for my liking,
But as we’ve seen in this episode, Batman’s design is flexible.
From grey pajamas to all-black armor,
the iconic elements of the Batsuit endure through every era.