George Clooney's 'Batman & Robin' Nipple Suit Hits Auction With Starting Bid of $40,000

The infamous costume worn by George Clooney in Joel Schumacher's 'Batman & Robin' will soon be auctioned. And the set nipple costume is just the tip of the "Batman" memorabilia available to bid on.

As part of Heritage Auctions' Hollywood & Entertainment Signature Auction July 22-23, iconic "Batman" props from the 90s will be available for purchase. Jim Carrey's Riddler cane in 'Batman Forever' has a starting bid of $8,000 and Jack Nicholson's purple Joker costume in Tim Burton's 'Batman' can be yours for at least $65,000.

Still, the crown jewel of the collection remains the nipple costume, which opens at $40,000 and is expected to bid a lot more. The 1997 Batman costume is made of molded foam latex, vinyl, resin components and leather, according to the auction house. The costume was "all painted, finished and expertly assembled on a life-size mannequin with a hyper-realistic George Clooney head and prosthetic-grade fake eyes".

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Costume pieces include the hero's signature cowl, full-length superhero cape with 2-cape clips, muscle tunic with "Batman" icon on the chest, muscle tights, gloves with spiked and finned and knee-high character boots."

Heritage Auction's Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena called the costume "by far the most famous and infamous Batman costume ever designed", in part because of the ongoing debate over its side campaign involving Burton, Clooney and Schumacher.

"To his credit, Joel Schumacher never apologized for 'bat nipples.' In fact, he once said, 'I'm still glad we did,'" said Joe Maddalena. "And I'm equally happy that we now have the chance to offer this piece of movie history to someone who can appreciate the costume as much as Schumacher clearly did."

Schumacher previously joked that the bat nipples would be on his "tombstone". The prolific director died in 2020 at the age of 80.

"Batman & Robin" costume designer Jose Fernandez went into great detail about the design decision to "feature" Batman's nipples on screen.

"It wasn't a fetish for me, it was more like Roman armor - like the Centurions," Fernandez told MEL Magazine. "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."

He added, "For 'Batman & Robin,' Joel Schumacher loved the nipples, so he said, 'Let's show them.' Schumacher wanted them to be sharp, like with spikes. They were circled too , both exterior and interior - it was all turned into a feature of the suit. I didn't want to do it, but he's the boss, so we sharpened them, circled them and it all got a little ridiculous. "

"Batman Returns" director Tim Burton also criticized Schumacher's "Batman Forever," released after the studio was disappointed with Burton's bleak take on Gotham Knight. "I was like, 'Wait a minute. Okay. Wait a second here. You're complaining about me, I'm too weird, I'm too brunette, and then you put nipples on the costume? Fuck you "Burton told Empire magazine. "Seriously. So yeah, I think that's why I didn't finish [making a third movie]…"

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