I will never not love Batman Forever. Is it a serious examination of a madman in rubber fighting crime and homicidal clowns? Not in the slightest but in the face of grim-dark examinations of a billionaire who wanted to kill an alien god, Batman Forever is easily still one of the best dark knight films ever made.
It may have been a toy commercial that featured Jim Carrey chewing on all the scenery possible, Tommy Lee Jones given an unlimited supply of drugs and yes those damn rubber nipples, but at the same time, the love for the source material is unreal. Here is a movie which isn’t embarrassed by its comic source material, it embraces it.
It’s also home to two of the finest Batman costumes ever created: The beloved Panther suit worn for the majority of the film, and the gorgeous Sonar costume won in the finale. Fun fact about that costume: It was designed by Jose Fernandez, who went on to form Ironhead Studios and create the more recent batsuits as well. The suit itself was inspired by H.R Giger and his signature biomechanical art style, which resulted in the beastly final result.
Anyway, that suit has seldom been seen outside of Batman Forever. There was a cameo in a Looney Tunes live-action movie and Christopher Nolan actually auditioned actors by making them wear it for screen tests, but other than that the costume would only pop up in museum displays. Hot Toys is finally taking a stab at the costume though, as one of their future sixth-scale Batman figures will see Val Kilmer finally get the spotlight. Just look at it, it is beautiful:
Even better, Kilmer’s Batman will also be joined by Chris O’Donnell, who’ll be suited up in his classic rubber acrobat costume:
I can’t fully articulate just how happy this makes me. Nipple jokes aside, the Kilmer costumes are easily amongst my favourite of the Batman wardrobe. The muscles are godly, the design looks intimidating in the shadows and the overall effect is iconic to say the least. Hot Toys has yet to properly announce the figure with a gallery of photos to drool over, but it’s going to be a day one pre-order for me.
Especially if they find the budget to add Kilmer’s organic Batmobile to the catalogue. Because remember, it’s always about the Batmobile. Chicks dig the car.
Last Updated: August 8, 2019
Admiral Chief Umbra
August 12, 2019 at 08:35
How about a Kilmer-suit for Comic-con eh Darryn?
The D
August 12, 2019 at 11:54
Dude, I’ve thought about it in the past but it is suicide. I did the 89 costume a few years back and almost died in all that rubber and there’s even more of it in the BF panther costume. That being said, my Batfleck suit looks aces and if I could use that idea to create a BF Batsuit, I’d be game.