When King Robert Baratheon (may the Seven have him in his glory) exclaimed that “It’s more useless than nipples in a breastplate!”, Many fans of Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire must have been checked. Others, however, knew that the rejection of the fans for Batman Forever knew no borders, and was capable of reaching the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
Because, indeed, one of the most contentious points of Joel Schumacher’s film was the striking pectoral detail that the suits of Val Kilmer as ‘Bats’ and Chris O’Donnell as Robin wore. Now, 26 years after the film was released in 1995, new collector figures released by Hot Toys (via io9 ) eliminate this little breast problem … but only in the case of the Bat-Man.
Kilmer’s Batman is spared showing off nippled because the designers have depicted him wearing his so-called ‘Sonar Suit’, an element of the movie’s wardrobe that lacked this detail.
Less luck has Chris O’Donnell as Robin. His sculpture not only continues to have front buttons, but it has also awakened a buzz on social networks due to how much it carries under the belt. Or, what is the same, that it looks like an imposing package.
In 2017, the late Schumacher justified Batman and Robin’s ‘bat-nipples’ in his films by claiming that they had been inspired by statues from classical antiquity. In Batman and Robin, with George Clooney taking over from Kilmer in the role, this detail became even more exaggerated.
But, although the filmmaker apologized, we understand that this continues to arouse rejection. When you’re the Dark Knight and Lord of the Night of Gotham City, it has to be very hard for supervillains to ask if you’ve caught cold.