This month will mark the 30th anniversary of Batman Returns, Tim Burton‘s heavily German expressionism-influenced sequel to his 1989 Batman. Though it became a hit as expected, parental backlash ensued. Catwoman’s skintight fetish costume — and licking of Batman’s face — came off too kinky for some. (Especially in a Happy Meal toy.) Meanwhile, Penguin becoming a mutant fond of pervy asides about the female characters played a bit creepy. And yet, now that we have a new movie with a Riddler based on the Zodiac killer, they seem tame. Warner Brothers replaced Burton with Joel Schumacher for the third film. But in a new anniversary interview, the director sounds off on one infamous Schumacher Batman call.
Speaking with Empire, Burton notes the hypocrisy of the studio finding his movie excessively kinky, given the nipples and sculpted buttocks of the Batman Forever and Batman and Robin costumes. He says, “I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Okay. Hold on a second here. You complain about me, I’m too weird, I’m too dark, and then you put nipples on the costume? Go [expletive] yourself.’ Seriously.”
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Burton, whose heroes tend to be oddball loners longing to be normal, also pushes back on the notion that he’s just the dark guy. Discussing Batman Returns’ tone, he says, “That represents me in the sense that… that’s how I see things,” he says. “It’s not meant as pure darkness. There’s a mixture. I feel really fondly about it because of the weird experiment that it felt like.”
As for The Batman, which in many ways feels way darker? “I’d like to see it.”
What do you think of Tim Burton’s comments? Sound off with some of your own below.
Recommended Reading: Batman: The Rebirth Deluxe Edition Book 1
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