If you go to a fancy dress party and look for someone who has dressed up as a superhero for the evening then you can be pretty sure that it will be a Batman costume that you see. Out of all of the comic strip heroes from over the years few have had quite the same appeal as Batman. Of course, you are bound to come across the odd Superman but the Caped Crusader just seems to have a greater overall appeal. Perhaps it is because with a Batman costume you don’t have to wear your underpants on the outside of your trousers to attain authenticity… Unless, that is, you are styling your outfit on the camp Batman series of the sixties of course. Since the days of Adam West the Batman costume has changed considerably. When the original outfit is compared with the one worn by Christian Bale in 2008’s ‘The Dark Knight’ the difference is immediately obvious.

Some things about the style of the Caped Crusader’s dress sense have remained relatively unchanged over the years. He still has the scallop edged cape and the eye mask with the pointed ears on top but in other ways the Batman costume of yesteryear has undergone some major changes. If anything, it is now far more masculine in its overall appearance. The alterations quickly became apparent with the release of ‘Batman’ in 1989.

Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson brought a far more sombre version of the hero to the big screen. The movie was essentially very dark and even its lighter moments were more cynical than anything that had been seen previously. The new Batman costume was more like body armour in its appearance than the skin-tight grey spandex of the nineteen sixties television series. This was to be the new direction that the look of the Dark Knight was to take. With the release of each subsequent movie the Batman costume took on a more Gothic feel. The body armour slant continued, exaggerating contours and muscles on the hero.

If you go to a fancy dress party and look for someone who has dressed up as a superhero for the evening then you can be pretty sure that it will be a Batman costume that you see. Out of all of the comic strip heroes from over the years few have had quite the same appeal as Batman. Of course, you are bound to come across the odd Superman but the Caped Crusader just seems to have a greater overall appeal. Perhaps it is because with a Batman costume you don’t have to wear your underpants on the outside of your trousers to attain authenticity… Unless, that is, you are styling your outfit on the camp Batman series of the sixties of course. Since the days of Adam West the Batman costume has changed considerably. When the original outfit is compared with the one worn by Christian Bale in 2008’s ‘The Dark Knight’ the difference is immediately obvious.

Some things about the style of the Caped Crusader’s dress sense have remained relatively unchanged over the years. He still has the scallop edged cape and the eye mask with the pointed ears on top but in other ways the Batman costume of yesteryear has undergone some major changes. If anything, it is now far more masculine in its overall appearance. The alterations quickly became apparent with the release of ‘Batman’ in 1989.

With ‘Batman Returns’ in 1992 and 1995’s ‘Batman Forever’ the outfit remained virtually identical, the emphasis still remaining on armor rather than fabric and also a mid-section complete with abdominal muscle that harked back to the natural physique featured in the comics of the past. This makes Batman look tough but the only drawback is a severe restriction of movement. The Batman costumes in the recent movies must hamper the hero with his movements in a similar way to the knights of old in their metal armour. In the comic, Batman’s movement was very fluid, graceful and acrobatic. When you are decked out in Teflon, Kevlar or the like this isn’t going to be happening.

The next evolution in costume design came in 1997 with ‘Batman and Robin’. If you talk to any loyal fan of Batman then you will find that this is a touchy subject… All of the outfits in this movie, not just Batman’s, verge on being fetish clothing. It was even more armoured and, to add insult to injury, it featured prominent ‘bat-nipples’.

Fans were compensated in 2005 with ‘Batman Begins’ when costume design reverted back to a more 1989 ‘Batman’ feel. By now, the suit was basically black apart from Batman’s utility belt. This style then continued into ‘The Dark Knight’ in 2008.

Most followers of Batman would probably say that they are reasonably satisfied with the Bat-suit at present but what direction costume designers will take next is anyone’s guess.

Then there is The Riddler. Between 1967 and 1968 during the ‘Batman’ series the character was played by both Frank Gorshin and John Astin. In 1995 Jim Carrey became The Riddler for ‘Batman Forever’. The Riddler, as his name suggests, is obsessed with riddles. He frequently sends complicated clues to both Batman and the police before committing a crime. The Riddler is always dressed in a green outfit with a domino mask. A lot of the time he is accompanied by two female accomplices named Echo and Query.

Our last enemy of Batman is Mister Freeze. He first appeared in Detective Comics as ‘Mister Zero’ and wasn’t a particularly dangerous character. However, after appearing in the ‘Batman’ series of the sixties on several different occasions he became ‘Mister Freeze’, a far more serious threat to our hero. He is a mad scientist who just so happens to have a great understanding of cryonics. To survive anywhere except for a special refrigeration unit, Mister Freeze is forced to wear a special suit to keep him sufficiently cold. His suit gives him superhuman strength and he uses weapons of his own invention that harness cold in destructive ways. In 1997’s ‘Batman and Robin’ he was played by the well cast Arnold Schwarzenegger.

So, as you can see, Batman has his work cut out. And remember…these are just a few of many, many more.

In May 1939 ‘Detective Comics’ created a character that would go on to become a household name not just in America but all over the world. That character was Batman (aka ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘The Caped Crusader’). Over the last seventy years he has starred in numerous comics, graphic novels, books, movies and video games. During this time the Batman persona has, in most ways, remained much the same since his conception. The Batman costumes that have been worn, however, have steadily and sometimes dramatically evolved.

The evolution of Batman costumes began within his first year of life. The first things to change were the ears on the costume- they became longer. In July 1939 the utility belt was introduced to his outfit. Despite some minor changes the Batman costumes remained pretty much the same then until 1964. They were just basic, Grey figure-clinging suits with a cape and mask. At one point, D.C. were actually starting to give serious consideration to dropping Batman completely due to sales of the comic slumping so dramatically. Something had to be done and some changes were made to several things in the comic including the Batman costumes. The bat symbol on the costumes’ chest was given a yellow background the shape of the cape was changed.

1966 brought the TV series of ‘Batman’ to our screens. The batman costumes during this period stayed pretty much the same. With the show finally being axed in 1968, after 120 episodes, D.C. tried to re-establish the darker side of Batman. This was only evident in comic form until 1989 when Tim Burton released his ‘Batman’ movie. It was at this point that batman costumes began to become far more ‘body-armour’ orientated. The other big difference was the loss of the yellow and black symbol on the chest.