Christin Bale in the Dark Knight

Christian Bale’s Batman Costume Is A Better Villain Than Ra’s al Ghul, The Joker, Or Bane

Holy Rusted Metal Batman!
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And here I was, happy that Batman could finally turn his head from left to right on film. Turns out Christian Bale had some serious breathing issues thanks to his Batsuit in Christopher Nolan’s trilogy. Read on to find out exactly why his suit was a problem as well another issue Andrew Garfield had with his costume in The Amazing Spider-Man

I’ve done my fair share of uncomfortable cosplay and while I don’t have experience in what it’s like to wear a rubber suit of any kind, I’d imagine it’s not like wearing your favorite pajamas.

“When it gets cold the cowl is extremely tight, and it gets better the warmer I get it; it becomes more flexible. But after a couple of takes I was trying to breathe properly in my nose,” Bale told Huffington Post UK. “I was starting to see stars and I said ‘I have to take this off’. And thank God on this one I can—on Batman Begins I couldn’t—so I had to get inside because I couldn’t let anybody see me without the cowl. It never looks how it feels. It’s so weird.”

Yeesh. But Bale isn’t the only actor who’s had potential serious health issues thanks to their costume. Star Trek: Voyager’s Jeri Ryan had a difficult time when she first stepped on set as Seven of Nine. Her form-fitting body suit was a little too form-fitting for her to breath, pressing against her carotid artery, which caused her to pass out. They also had to shut down production for almost a half hour when she needed to use the restroom.

Speaking of which, Amazing Spider-Man’s Garfield recently went on record about his own human needs as they pertain to his costume.

“We’re going to make it easier for me to piss. That’s number one,” he told MTV when speaking about improvements to the suit for the next film. “They didn’t really consider that, the whole bodily functions thing. But next time we will remember that I’m human.”

(via Blastr)


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Jill Pantozzi
Jill Pantozzi is a pop-culture journalist and host who writes about all things nerdy and beyond! She’s Editor in Chief of the geek girl culture site The Mary Sue (Abrams Media Network), and hosts her own blog “Has Boobs, Reads Comics” (TheNerdyBird.com). She co-hosts the Crazy Sexy Geeks podcast along with superhero historian Alan Kistler, contributed to a book of essays titled “Chicks Read Comics,” (Mad Norwegian Press) and had her first comic book story in the IDW anthology, “Womanthology.” In 2012, she was featured on National Geographic’s "Comic Store Heroes," a documentary on the lives of comic book fans and the following year she was one of many Batman fans profiled in the documentary, "Legends of the Knight."