George Clooney’s nipple-enhanced Batman suit can be yours for $40,000

Batman fans will want to own this iconic memorabilia from the film.

One of the most ridiculed costumes in film history could soon be yours: George Clooney’s infamous “bat nipple” suit from Joel Schumacher’s epic 1997 flop Batman & Robin has just sold at auction with a starting bid of $40,000. The form-fitting outfit will be auctioned off as part of Heritage’s Hollywood & Entertainment Signature Auction, July 22-23.

“This is by far the most famous – and infamous – Batman costume ever designed, as evidenced by the fact that all these years later it still makes headlines when Tim Burton and George Clooney are asked about it,” Joe Maddalena, Executive Vice President of Heritage Auctions, Variety said in a statement. “But to his credit, Joel Schumacher never apologized for the ‘bat nipples’. In fact, he once told Vice, “I’m still glad we did.”

“And I’m just as glad that we now have the chance to offer this piece of cinematic history to someone who appreciates the costume as much as Schumacher clearly did,” he added.

The buxom bat suit worn by Clooney, 61, in the Razzie Award-winning film Caped Crusader is made from “cast foam latex, vinyl, resin components, leather and other mixed media elements,” according to the Heritage Auctions website .

The outfit also comes with a “life-size, articulated mannequin” with a “hyper-realistic George Clooney head” and “prosthetic-quality fake eyes” – presumably to keep the ‘Ocean’s 11’ star forever attached to the cinematic disaster.

Potential buyers can place an opening bid on this sartorial laugh in the next 16 days before the end of the auction. No word on whether the auctioneers will accept Clooney’s signature bat credit card.

The costume is one of several nostalgic Batman props up for auction, including Jim Carrey’s Riddler cane from Batman Forever and Jack Nicholson’s purple Joker suit from Tim Burton’s 1989 original classic Batman (the latter has an opening bid of US$65,000 -Dollar). .

Needless to say, the “bat nips” have become something of a punchline in film circles. In a June interview with Empire magazine, original “Batman” director Tim Burton tore up the costume while discussing how the Dark Knight films have become increasingly cheesy since his 1989 classic.

“[Back then] they went the other way. That’s the funny thing about it,” Burton recalled. “But then I thought, ‘Wait a minute. OK. Hold on here a second. You complain about me I’m too weird, I’m too dark, and then you pin nipples on the costume? Go fk yourself.’”

Clooney himself, who has publicly slammed “Batman & Robin” in the past and even declared that he “screwed it up so bad,” poked fun at the teasing couture in a 2021 commercial for Omaze, which supports Clooney’s Foundation for Justice . In the four-minute skit, the “Gravity” star goes on Craigslist to buy a Batman action figure, which he claims is “not the one with the nipples.”

Costume designer Jose Fernandez addressed the often-ridiculed protuberances in a June interview with MEL Magazine, claiming that they worked much better in Schumacher’s first bat film, Batman Forever.

“One of the things I added to Val Kilmer’s suit in ‘Batman Forever’ was the nipples,” explained the designer. “For me it wasn’t a fetish, it was more influenced by Roman armor – like Centurions. And in the comics, the characters always looked like they were naked with spray paint on them – it was all about anatomy and I like to push anatomy.”

Fernandez added that he “had no idea there was going to be so much fuss about it in the end.”

However, the costume creator ultimately blamed Schumacher for freeing the nipple. He explained that the director, who passed away in June 2020, loved the protrusions so much that he decided to give them more prominence in Batman & Robin.

“I didn’t want to do it, but he’s the boss, so we sharpened it, circled it, and it all got kind of ridiculous,” the designer lamented.

Clooney’s caped crusader costume isn’t the only Dark Knight design making waves.

When the first trailer for Matt Reeves’ The Batman was released in August 2020, DC fans were divided over Robert Pattinson’s black eyeliner, which they deliciously dubbed “emo.”

The director has since addressed the Caped Crusader’s macabre mascara in an interview with Esquire.

“You can’t wear a robe and you can’t wear this,” argued the 56-year-old “Cloverfield” director. “All Batmans wear it.”

Reeves was probably referring to the earlier film versions of the Dark Knight wearing black cosmetics around their eyes to prevent a ring of pale skin from appearing in the mask’s eyeholes. That eyeliner would then “magically” disappear when they removed the disguise.