Hot Toys Announce Batman Returns License

[jye4ever]

I didn't even know there was a Batman Returns.

Those years were a blur.

 

[lava206]

Actually I watched the 89 batman today and when the goon is peeling off the mask and vale takes the picture, when they yell "shoot her" if you look at Bruce laying on the ground you can see that his mask is pretty well removed

 

[TragicCracker]

In fact, the '89 suit is the only suit to get messed up and damaged isn't it?

No. At the start of TDK, the BEGINS suit is pretty beat up. The BEGINS suit even lost its sheen and sleekeness in that film, giving the appearance of wear and tear after over a year of crime fighting between BEGINS and the start of TDK.

I too prefer the B89 suit due to it's roughness, and worn / beat up armor look. I also like the idea of Batman having one, maybe two at max armor's to take care of ... the suits in Returns look like a coset full of COSTUMES and not armor. B89 is my favorite Bat suit, period though. But in The Dark Knight they definitely made the armor from the first film to the second appear to be worn and no longer pristine.

And let us not forget in that one the suit is seen ripped, and he's bloody after the dog bite. It can be seen right before he makes the leap onto Scarecrow's van.

It all plays into the grounded reality of the Nolan verse. Something I felt the initial B89 film had, while just taking place in a more surreal, gothic setting of a Gotham City.

 

[haytil]

No. At the start of TDK, the BEGINS suit is pretty beat up. The BEGINS suit even lost its sheen and sleekeness in that film, giving the appearance of wear and tear after over a year of crime fighting between BEGINS and the start of TDK.

I too prefer the B89 suit due to it's roughness, and worn / beat up armor look. I also like the idea of Batman having one, maybe two at max armor's to take care of ... the suits in Returns look like a coset full of COSTUMES and not armor. B89 is my favorite Bat suit, period though. But in The Dark Knight they definitely made the armor from the first film to the second appear to be worn and no longer pristine.

And let us not forget in that one the suit is seen ripped, and he's bloody after the dog bite. It can be seen right before he makes the leap onto Scarecrow's van.

It all plays into the grounded reality of the Nolan verse. Something I felt the initial B89 film had, while just taking place in a more surreal, gothic setting of a Gotham City.

That's why I like my two Batman Begins figures being different.

The OC Batman has a shinier quality, while the Toyfair Exclusive has a duller quality. So one represents him from "Batman Begins," the other from "The Dark Knight" (and is the reason I hang the grappling gun from his belt, to make him look weighted down, as he did in the movie).

I also use the Bruce sculpt on the "Batman Begins" version, holding the cowl, for added variety.

 

[TragicCracker]

That's why I like my two Batman Begins figures being different.

The OC Batman has a shinier quality, while the Toyfair Exclusive has a duller quality. So one represents him from "Batman Begins," the other from "The Dark Knight" (and is the reason I hang the grappling gun from his belt, to make him look weighted down, as he did in the movie)

Makes perfect sense. Because there is clear cut visual difference between the fresh custom suit from BEGINS and the worn down suit at the start of The Dark Knight.

Easily my three favorite Bat-suits

1) B89
2) TDK / RISES
3) BEGINS

Batman Begins could've been even better I feel if the suit was the same durable, stronger looking material that the TDK suit was made of ... so imposing, even in harsher lighting conditions. I just CAN'T STAND the over designed, motor cross inspired lower body design.

I was fortunate enough to be on set for both BEGINS and TDK, as I live in Chicago. The BEGINS suit looked nice, but TDK looked significantly more intimidating in real life. It looked like legit para-military garb.

Also spoke to the suit's designer, who worked on all the films, from B89 forward (name is Graham Curchyard) and he said the BEGINS suit would get scuffed really easily. And that they didn't have to do much to give it that worn / beat in look that you see at the start of the movie. I personally prefer it looking that way at the start of the film. It's very gritty.

 

[TheFiend]

He's got one suit. What you see in that vault and arsenal is what he's got. Why would he only use the vault for one suit if he had more.

In Returns he has a ****ing drawbridge and an armory full of stuff!

.

That scene always makes me chuckle. He has a whole closet full of the same suit and he pushes 4 or 5 over and grabs one out of the middle. They're all the same.

I didn't even know there was a Batman Returns.

Those years were a blur.

What are you doing here? I thought you gave up on all this stuff.

 

[Otomofan]

Since we're discussing the Returns suit...

I feel dumb cause I never realized the gloves were different. All these years I believed he had the same gloves as in the 89 film, with the metal gauntlet part.

But apparently not! The gloves were just "naked!" Anyone have a decent comparison shot of the 89 vs Returns gloves?

 

[Hydeous]

That scene always makes me chuckle. He has a whole closet full of the same suit and he pushes 4 or 5 over and grabs one out of the middle. They're all the same.

 

[jye4ever]

That scene always makes me chuckle. He has a whole closet full of the same suit and he pushes 4 or 5 over and grabs one out of the middle. They're all the same.



What are you doing here? I thought you gave up on all this stuff.

I just flew in for the weekend.

 

[VintijDroidGutzz]

That scene always makes me chuckle. He has a whole closet full of the same suit and he pushes 4 or 5 over and grabs one out of the middle. They're all the same.

I thought it was because the ones on the left needed dry cleaning..

 

[Rodan]

That scene always makes me chuckle. He has a whole closet full of the same suit and he pushes 4 or 5 over and grabs one out of the middle. They're all the same.

maybe he have one per day... and that scene was on wednesday

 

[surforia]

Makes perfect sense. Because there is clear cut visual difference between the fresh custom suit from BEGINS and the worn down suit at the start of The Dark Knight.

Easily my three favorite Bat-suits

1) B89
2) TDK / RISES
3) BEGINS

Batman Begins could've been even better I feel if the suit was the same durable, stronger looking material that the TDK suit was made of ... so imposing, even in harsher lighting conditions. I just CAN'T STAND the over designed, motor cross inspired lower body design.

I was fortunate enough to be on set for both BEGINS and TDK, as I live in Chicago. The BEGINS suit looked nice, but TDK looked significantly more intimidating in real life. It looked like legit para-military garb.

Also spoke to the suit's designer, who worked on all the films, from B89 forward (name is Graham Curchyard) and he said the BEGINS suit would get scuffed really easily. And that they didn't have to do much to give it that worn / beat in look that you see at the start of the movie. I personally prefer it looking that way at the start of the film. It's very gritty.

Thanks for sharing this. I just looked up Graham Churchyard on IMDB and yeah, he was the costume designer for both '89 suit and the Nolan suits. Looks like he wasn't involved in BR, BF or B&R (maybe he had the magic touch, huh?). Would love to know his story - pretty sweet job to have.

 

[Darth Zangetsu]

That scene always makes me chuckle. He has a whole closet full of the same suit and he pushes 4 or 5 over and grabs one out of the middle. They're all the same.



To quote the great Sterling Archer, "Are they all black or are some a slightly darker black?"

Obviously Bruce Wayne and Archer can afford to shop at the same stores. Heck, in the beginning of Returns Bruce is clearly wearing a Tactical Turtleneck... The Tactleneck!

 

[DarkMagic]

Thanks for sharing this. I just looked up Graham Churchyard on IMDB and yeah, he was the costume designer for both '89 suit and the Nolan suits. Looks like he wasn't involved in BR, BF or B&R (maybe he had the magic touch, huh?). Would love to know his story - pretty sweet job to have.

To be accurate, he was the "costume fx supervisor" on the Nolan films and the "assistant costume designer" on Batman '89. Not a small part of the costume team by any means, to be sure, but I thought it was weird that I never heard of him before, since I knew that Bob Ringwood designed the '89 suit and Lindy Hemming designed the costumes for the Nolan films. Of course they were the "team leaders" of the costume departments, and they get the official "costume designer" credit, so it's entirely possible that Graham's contributions were very significant....but he was not "the" costume designer of the '89 and Nolan suits.

 

[jye4ever]

I only use a max of 3 boxers any given week.

I'm Batman.

 

[Russell1982]

Graham churchyard was on the special features to 89 batman and batman begins and the dark knight, can't remember about the other films. I always got the impression that hemming and ringwood sort of designed the suits and then churchyard worked with them in working out how to actually make them. Could be wrong though. I also got the impression he seemed like a nice guy. Always noticed his name on stuff after seeing him years ago on the 89 special features.

 

[DarkMagic]

^ I think that makes sense too. When I read "costume fx supervisor" and think of how that could be different from designer, I'm thinking it's the designer's job to come up with the final look based on the script and what the director wants, and it's the "costume fx supervisor's" job to handle all of the well...costume effects like the open gliding cape etc...and make sure that final look also looks good on film. Things like the mentioned minimizing the appearance scuff marks, and weird folds and stretches of the material that would make it look too much like a prop.

I remember Nolan saying that one of the reasons he liked the TDK/R suit better than the BB suit is that it holds up its look well even under the bright light of daylight in TDKR, while the BB suit wouldn't look as good if it was well lit.

 

[TragicCracker]

Excuse me Graham wasn't the "suit designer" obviously those nods go to Ringwood and Hemming, respectively. I apologize if my brief and quick, albeit technically wrong summarization of Churchyard's role in the design process ruffled the feathers of accuracy hounds.

I'm sure Graham played more of a major role on the Nolan films. He was older, more experienced, and was obviously on the great Bob Ringwood's staff for the first film ... which really broke ground with the costume taken seriously on the silver screen. Graham also was the one traveling with the things, and was taking care of them, maintenance, etc.

And yes, he was absolutely very likable and personable. At the time I was posting on a site called SuperHeroHype and I started talking to him about what fans at the time expected out of the reboot (Batman Begins) suit.

I explained how a lot of people wanted a cloth suit, with more flexibility that featured the black and grey color tones and he thought that was very interesting.

I insisted to him I was not one of those people. I feel the Batman is most threatening and logical to be dressed in all black, and that improved flexibility is nice but there needs to be visual proof to the audience of some form of armor.

 

[DarkMagic]

Excuse me Graham wasn't the "suit designer" obviously those nods go to Ringwood and Hemming, respectively. I apologize if my brief and quick, albeit technically wrong summarization of Churchyard's role in the design process ruffled the feathers of accuracy hounds.

I'm sure Graham played more of a major role on the Nolan films. He was older, more experienced, and was obviously on the great Bob Ringwood's staff for the first film ... which really broke ground with the costume taken seriously on the silver screen. Graham also was the one traveling with the things, and was taking care of them, maintenance, etc.

And yes, he was absolutely very likable and personable. At the time I was posting on a site called SuperHeroHype and I started talking to him about what fans at the time expected out of the reboot (Batman Begins) suit.

I explained how a lot of people wanted a cloth suit, with more flexibility that featured the black and grey color tones and he thought that was very interesting.

I insisted to him I was not one of those people. I feel the Batman is most threatening and logical to be dressed in all black, and that improved flexibility is nice but there needs to be visual proof to the audience of some form of armor.

Sorry, I knew I ran the risk of sounding like an accuracy hound fanboy in pointing out that he wasn't the costume designer proper. Didn't mean to come across as a hair-splitting stickler, (there's enough of that already!) just thought the right costume designer credit was no small detail.

I promise you though, I'm not a know-it-all...clear evidence of that is that I hadn't even heard of him before today and he's had so much experience on the costume departments of the Bat-films. And like I said, I don't doubt that his contribution was very significant, especially since he was asked back to work on so many of them. I'm glad you had a chance to speak with him and that he was a cool guy.

 

[TragicCracker]

DarkMagic,

I wasn't trying to sound like my post was dripping with sarcasm. I appreciate the correction.