The design of this Batsuit sparked controversary, with one design feature in particular causing quite a controversary – nipples. Why were nipples added to the Batsuit? As a contrast to the bright neon sets of the film, the new suit itself lacked colour, with muted dark gold/bronze used for the chest emblem and a new silver tinted utility belt.
Well, director Schumacher felt the suit needed to convey more sex appeal and had studied statues of Greek Gods for inspiration for his batsuit design
There was also the addition of the Sonar suit worn at the end of the film when he defeated the Riddler (played by Jim Carey). This suit was finished in an iridescent silver-black and a new bat symbol adorned the chest. There was also the new addition of lenses which slid automatically over the eyeholes of the cowl.
Smaller plates of urethane armour with open spaces between them were added as opposed to the previous single piece armour plates seen in Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin and Batman Begins
Schumacher returned with a sequel which was unfortunately met with overwhelmingly negative reviews by viewers. The controversial Batsuit design seen in his original 1995 Batman Forever was updated with a blue iridescent finish, but the overall inspiration of the muscular physique remained.
Again, a second costume known as the “Sonar Ice” armour was worn by the Caped Crusader for the film’s climax against Mr. Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger). The design was almost identical to the Sonar suit from the previous film, but this time using a blue and silver colour scheme. Batman & Robin (1997) marked the end of the Schumacher-helmed series, with many considering this the end of the character itself on the big screen. It was not until eight years later in 2005 that the film series was successfully rebooted.
With his 2005 Batman reboot, director Christopher Nolan instructed his Academy Award®-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming to ignore the designs of the suits made for the previous film adaptations and focus more on recent comic book illustrations. The actual construction and materials used for the suit were very similar to the Burton and Schumacher film iterations. Suits were constructed from a combination of silicone, rubber, and wet-suit Neoprene. Batman’s cape proved to be a challenge as Nolan wanted it to flow in the breeze for scenes when the Caped Crusader was seen walking around, but also take on a rigid appearance when needed. About a dozen different versions of the cape were made, each with a specific purpose during filming.
In Burton and Schumacher’s previous films, the design of the cowl created restrictions in movement. This problem was reduced somewhat with the more flexible cowl seen in Batman Begins, and the mask section was purposefully made to be form fitting so Bale’s expressions could still be clearly identified on screen.
For the second instalment in Nolan’s trilogy, it was decided the Batsuit needed a brand-new design, which was also cleverly incorporated into the on-screen plot. In previous films, the final suits ended up being quite uncomfortable for the actors to wear for multiple days on set and were all made from a combination of silicone, foam-rubber and Neoprene.
For his new trilogy, Nolan had over twenty new concept designs created, with the final design incorporating a more streamlined appearance and used the idea of a suit of armour as inspiration. These plates were then attached to an under suit constructed out of a specialised stretch mesh material which vastly improved the overall comfort of the costume. The neck and head pure portion of the cowl were also cleverly lessly so it was not detectable on screen. This costume design was subsequently used for The Dark Knight Rises, with little to no further updates made.
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