10 Best Live Action Movie Batsuits
The best batsuits, ranked.
"The Dark Knight," "The Caped Crusader," "Vengeance..." The Batman has had a few different names over the years. But according to how he's been depicted within the comic books since his debut in 1939, he hasn't had much change in his fashion sense.
With the exception of some strange stories involving altered light spectrums, and a brightly coloured Batman of Zur-En-Arrh, he's remained largely the same on the page. He's usually depicted as caped in blue or black, wearing a grey body suit on to the chest of which is a bat-shaped emblem. Add to that a yellow belt holding up his trunks, and a face hidden behind a duel-horned cowl. Plus, Batman, like so many of his colleagues, prefers to wear his underwear on the outside...
Sure there has been the odd change; the bat symbol has been stuck inside a yellow oval from time to time, and the cape and cowl have varied between blue-black and black-blue over the years. But really, these are minor changes to an overall look that has consistently been the batsuit for over eight decades.
His live action appearance is a different story. Indeed, the basics are all there (the ears, the cape, the belt, etc.) but Batman's overall design has been at the behest of the filmmakers. Some have been close in look to their comic book counterparts, whilst others... not so much.
After all, the comic book iteration's appearance doesn't exactly leap off the page and on to film quite so well... or does he? With all of his varied looks over the years, surely there's more to the Batman's look than how much he reflects the comics? So, let's explore the top 10 batsuits that have appeared in live action.
10. Val Kilmer's "Panther Suit" - Batman Forever
Perhaps it is time that we take another look at the "panther" suit of Batman Forever. Kilmer's first batsuit from the his only appearance as The Dark Knight gets much derision for the baffling addition of... (sigh) nipples. We get it; director Joel Schumacher wanted the caped crusader to have a statuesque Greek God abs-for-days aesthetic to him. But nipples on a man are pretty much useless anyway, so why include them on a Bat-man...
However, when you look at them in the movie, they are actually pretty unnoticeable. In fact, you really do have to be looking for them to be honest--and if you do that, then you overlook the fact that this suit is actually pretty cool. All the Keaton-Kilmer-Clooney-era's suits were essentially heavy rubber sculpts on a neoprene under-suit. Yet the "Forever" suit might be the first that actually looked mobile on-screen, and thus more nimble during the fight scenes. That isn't to say it's anywhere near brilliant, but Batman's lack of mobility in costume wasn't quite as apparent thanks to the lighter material used in its construction.
On closer inspection, the panther suit sort-of looks similar to Michael Keaton's new suit in the upcoming "Flash" movie, something that the actor said donning again was "shockingly normal." Let's just be grateful that one doesn't have nipples...