20 of the Worst Superhero Costumes

George Clooney as Batman (Image via Warner Bros.)

3. Joel Schumacher’s Batman

You already know what I’m going to say, don’t you? If you’ve been blessed with the chance to witness George Clooney’s turn as Batman, then you’re more than well aware of the bat-codpiece. In fact, the bat-junk was probably so distracting that you almost missed the bat-nipples, didn’t you?

No, of course you didn’t miss the bat-nipples. Even if you’ve only seen bits and pieces of 1997’s Batman & Robin, such costume details are surely seared into your neural pathways.

To be fair to director Joel Schumacher, it was very likely that he was shooting for something like self-aware camp. Alas, critics and audiences alike came up with the same verdict — it’s just a bad movie. Camp, after all, only succeeds when there’s a depth to its stories and characters. In the words of Chris O’Donnell, who played Batman’s completely platonic friend Robin, “I felt like I was making a kid’s toy commercial”.

As much as people seem to despise Batman & Robin, the molded muscles and, ahem, other built-up regions are enshrined in satire. Even George Clooney has been realistic about his appearance in the film. According to him, upon meeting Adam West, the first television Batman, Clooney said that “I apologized to him. Sorry about the nipples on the suit.”