Produced long before the Christopher Reeve portrayal of the Clark Kent/Superman character in “Superman the movie”, other men-in-tights portrayals of the superhero appeared in the 1966 live action TV series “Batman”.
Early to Recent Film and Video Presentations of Batman
Presented here in the photograph playing Batman and Robin were Adam West and Burt Ward from the old “Batman” TV show. Somewhat a parody and tongue-in-cheek presentation, the show was a big hit with general audiences yet the visual portrayals were not equal to the better comics portrayals of Carmine Infantinos artwork of this same time period. A partial Infantino Showcase cover is printed from that time period also. (Find a better example of Infantino artwork).
Robin’s costume was by far more faithful to the original costume than the more complex aspects of his mentor’s costume. Though some ratios were skewed the gloves, tunic, (non-scalloped) shorts, boots, belt, cape and mask resemble the comic version in great detail.
Batman, the undeniably the dominant character of the duo had the least faithful presentation. His inadequate fiberglass shell covered with shiny satin cowl had extremely contrived features. The cowl clearly had pasted on ears, painted on eyebrows, and an oddly painted articulated nose that left a lot to be desired when compared with the comic original. The grey supplex spandex leggings and shirt were consistent with the comic book. An example of inferior construction, Carmine Infantino’s cowl did not extent below the cape as it appears on West. When the cowl presentation appeared differently in the latter part of the decade it was probably influenced by the TV show.
Speaking of problems with the costume, Batman’s chest emblem is way too low. Yet, in terms of comic presentation ratios, I do believe the utility belt was the most successful aspect of Batman’s costume even though the costume designer chose to dispense with the belt buckle in favor of what may have been a clasp. That said the different stylistic secondary bat emblem on the belt clasp seems shoddy, redundant, and ultimately unnecessary. The gloves unlike Robin’s seem poorly crafted and almost feminine; which is amazing given how many of the feminine aspects of Robin’s costume exist. Batman’s boots are equally poor yet they are far more masculine than Robin’s historic pixie boots.
This presentation clearly demonstrates evidence that this genre was not respected then as it is today. When I say: “regarded seriously”, I mean the adventures was not presented realistically and seriously in live action as it is presented in the comic book. The TV show presents the television drama as a comedic farce. But not being regarded seriously does not mean it was not influential. This ironic/tongue-in-cheek presentation of Batman was so popular that it would captivate audiences for decades. In the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s the West/Ward team was sought after many times to reprise their roles in alternate TV shows.
Like the George Reeve representation, Adam West was an unusually long-waisted actor. This resulted in a shorts and belt combination that was clothing-wise as “high wasted” as the previous super hero presentation. Then again it may only appear that way due to that era’s modesty regarding this area. Technically proving again that superhero anatomy again did not always translate onto real bodies the way it so easily did in the artistically drawn comics. And speaking of physical attributes Adam West unlike Christopher Reeve obviously wasn’t inspired by the bodybuilding actors of the same time period and seemed to do very little to try to match the well-defined physiques of the costumed super hero. Yet I have no idea whether West did anything to maintain his acceptably modest and functional physique.
Directed by Tim Burton and costume designed by Bob Ringwood for in Warner Bros. Pictures in 1989, “Batman the Movie”, and later informally dubbed “Batman 1”, would make up for many of the un ambitious aspects of the Batman TV show. Drawing inspiration from a range of comic book influences from Neal Adams, Jim Aparo, and Frank Miller’s illustrations Including writing and narrative ideas; the movie aimed to reinvent the character.
Starring Michael Keaton, this Batman attempted to match the comics’ presentation better than any previous version. Incidentally this costume was the hottest and most difficult to move within than any before it; still it was in terms of the character’s silhouette (the outline of the character) the most accurate.
This version of the costume had no distracting painted on attributes, and in molding the mask was never more authentic. Even the chest insignia was placed in the correct spot. The actual bat graphic of the emblem is strangely far more stylistically gothic than one might expect of a Batman graphic (see West examples). But I think this a problem of design excess not accident. Designing the overall suit so that the emblem is visible when the cape is closed is also a crime of excess because it so deliberately and subjectively deviates from the comic’s example.
Uniquely this suit actually intended to innovate the Batman costume from outside of the comic book world he was traditionally presented in. At the time this kind of creative license was previously unheard of in comic and fanboy culture. This costume even dispensed with the blue and gray leotard all together diminishing colorful highlights of graphic book presentation. Instead providing, one color for the entire suit makes the eye travel freely and quickly. Many of the comic’s artist community find the yellow (sometimes gold) belt and chest emblem to be a shocking visual interruption of the logically dark uniform.
I have mentioned before that the translation of comic features was not always as smooth moving from paper comic book to filmed portrait. One of the more unique transitions that had to be mastered was moving a character from illustrator’s drawing boards to a plausible photographic presentation of the character. Aiming for a modern symbolization, Batman’s costume never intended to recreate an actual bat. Marvel creative wizard, Stan Lee actually proposed this realistic version of Batman’s mask in a temporary “Just imagine” series for DC comics . Sure it was a scarier interpretation, but it was not the Batman we know.
Miller’s “Return of the Dark Knight”, described Batman’s cape as making a leather like flapping sound. In all previous filmed versions the cape always had bat-like scallops. Tim Burton’s Batman carried this theme one step further, the movie version was made of a material that thematically corresponded to the suggested material as well. A new film innovation the new cape had a leather-like bat wing appearance.
Speaking of innovations and changes in expectations pertaining to the translation of the character from comics to film there are even more dramatic changes to take account of. Well respected in the Hollywood community of the time, Michael Keaton wasn’t an exact replica of Bruce Wayne or Batman. It was director Tim Burton who demanded that acting expertise over shadow physical attributes. That said the actor’s chin and neck were less than the heroic square jaw formula presented in the comics, so the cowl and costume was designed to remedy some of the actor’s actual physical features that were less than conventional.
One can understand how dynamic this vision was when you account for Reeve’s innovation of projecting a super hero body, and how he influenced expectations that a superhero physique needed to accompany the costume. To address this expectation the designers of the Batman movie, purely molded the costume to give the impression that the actor was athletic and physically built for super heroic action. This simulation was not new. Actually historically molded breastplates were made for Cuirass Roman warriors to make them look equally fearsome in battle. Below see two replica examples of these defensive designs.
For anyone who believes this costuming intervention was purely cosmetic, you have to recognize another creative innovation in its inception. Audiences now expected great acting talent to accompany the performance presentation of these roles, so in a way audiences were accepting of fake muscled suits in exchange for inclusion of actually talented actors.
Yet there were some counter intuitive aspects to the design as well. Despite the perfect appearance, Keaton claimed due to the molded rubber he could not turn his head when wearing the cowl. This kind of exact yet impractical cowl was an odd concession for an action hero.
Similar and consistent with the set design style, the over-articulated and possibly over designed boots and belt were the least successful attribute of the costume. Extending the exteriors and interiors of the sets onto the costume was and possibly over zealous and unusual attempt at environmental consistency.
Comic book fans always complained that both Batman and Superman’s shorts were a pre-fifties comics convention that had lost its relevance. Different and better than the comic, Tim Burton’s Batman had no articulated shorts.
Regardless of these idiosyncrasies the overall costume was a long awaited treat for actual comic fans.
In retrospect we can thank the Batman TV show for a number of assets to the genre. Choreographed fight scenes, creativity in sets, costumes, and character definition, unique camera angles, and of course the use of irony and tongue and cheek humor in a genre that was frequently incapable these entertainment highlights. Today all of these characteristics may be built upon so that we are able to see innovations in form, materials, construction and the actor’s physique as we have all seen in the Tim Burton redefinition of the character. With all of these to theatrical innovations for what we expect of cinematic performances in this medium and we also have a wide template for change in this filmic genre.
Information pertaining to the Batman movie and TV series costumes were found at:
http://www.realarmorofgod.com/store/html/Products/Armor/Roman-Armor/Muscle-Cuirass-V-145.html
For images of Stan Lee’s costume interpretation of Batman: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Imagine...
http://www.aurorahistoryboutique.com/ahb_medievalArmor.htm
Image from the Batman and Robin image from the TV show: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059968/
Images by illustrators in this order: Neal Adams, Jim Aparo and Frank Miller
Batman character likeness TM and copyright 2010 DC Comics. All rights reserved.
Batman the Movie character likeness TM and copyright 2010 Warner Bros. All rights reserved.
