10 Positives Joel Schumacher Actually Brought To Batman Movies

9. Gotham City Police Headquarters

Tim Burton was not a confessed Batman fan, but he had, however, introduced the Bat-Signal at the end of the first film and used it to summon Batman to Gotham City in Batman Returns.

Even though Burton had established that Gordon had control of the Bat-Signal, it was Schumacher who gave us the first glimpse of police headquarters itself, including Dr. Chase Meridian’s office, in Batman Forever. The offices were portrayed by 1911 Surrogate’s Court, 31 Chambers Street at Center Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, whilst the rooftop housing the Bat-Signal was constructed on the same soundstage at Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, California where Michael Keaton’s Batman had had his rooftop tangle with Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman in Batman Returns.

However, it is notable that the women of Gotham often operated the signal more frequently than Gordon himself. For example, in Batman Forever, Nicole Kidman’s Dr. Chase Meridian used the Bat-Signal as “a beeper” to summon the Caped Crusader to discuss Two-Face’s particular brand of psychoses before getting to her real purpose of flirting with the vigilante.

Then, in Batman & Robin, Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy outdid her by stealing Gordon’s keys to the Bat-Signal and using the brute strength of her henchman, Robert “Jeep” Swenson’s Bane to steal the whole signal. Her reason: to turn it into a Robin Signal so that she could drive a further wedge between the Dynamic Duo.