From the building-sized statues that dot Gotham City to Poison Ivy’s technicolor hideout, these movies are packed to the brim with incredible window dressing. Joel Schumacher wanted his Batman movies to feel like cartoons, and the sets were a big part of that. The world this Batman lives in feels just heightened enough to be surreal, but still grounded enough to make be relatable. To celebrate his work in the DC universe, Inverse’s entertainment team reflects on some of the best, most memorable, and goofiest moments in Joel Schumacher’s Batman movies.īarbara Ling’s production design took Schumacher’s vision of maximalism and color and brought it to life through a return to the old school methods of matte paintings and miniatures. Schumacher died Monday, and the world stopped to remember the loud, unapologetic visionary that was Joel Schumacher. (If you’re still a hater, check out this video.)

The result? Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, two of the most polarizing superhero movies ever made. He directed Brat Pack movies, musicals, and, for two fantastic movies, he took the reins of the Batman franchise. Batman Forever became one of the biggest hits of 1995, but that wouldn't be the end of its story.Joel Schumacher was never one to do things by halves. The movie also introduced Dick Grayson as Robin, played by Chris O'Donnell, and returned its thematic focus to the guilt Bruce Wayne's long held over the murder of his parents.

The movie recast Michael Keaton (who will return as his version of Batman in The Flash) with Val Kilmer, and brought in Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey as Two-Face and The Riddler, the latter injecting a great deal of humor into the film as the biggest comedic star in the world throughout the '90s and into the early '2000s. and Schumacher gave the series a noticeable makeover from where it began under Burton's direction. Released in the summer of 1995, Batman Forever marked a move into lighter territory for the Batman movie franchise after the backlash to the grimness of Tim Burton's Batman Returns in 1992. Fans have rallied on social media for the release of the late Joel Schumacher's original cut of Batman Forever.

Batman forever movie cards