.., Batman wore Nike’s in ‘Batman’ (1989)?

Can it be? Did Batman actually fight the Joker wearing 80s sport pumps? Believe it or not.., Yes. In 1989 Nike creative director for productive design Tinker Hatfield headed to London to build a pair of knee high bat-boots for Michael Keaton’s Batman (or 18 pairs to be precise). Basically they were black Nike’s with a boot on top. Batman ended up in running shoes rather than heavy duty leather boots because WB had a deal with Nike who wanted-in on 1989’s biggest movie. Not wanting to see The Bat jump from roof-top to roof-top in an Air Jordan tshirt, lead costume designer Bob Ringwood and his assistant Graham Crurchyard came upon a happy compromise whereby Nike would provide the Bat-sneakers. Check out Graham Cruchyard’s explanation below..,

“Warners have this thing going with Nike, [they asked] can you use any of their sportswear? I talked to Bob (Ringwood) and he said well 80s sportswear isn’t going to fit in with our 1940s look. And then it just came to us. Why don’t they make the bat-boots? They made the bat-boots from scratch based on one of their cross-trainers at the time. Michael (Keaton) and the stunt guys absolutely loved them” Graham Chrurchyard, Assistant costume designer, Batman

So there you have, Batman wore Nike’s throughout the entire movie. Weird movie trivia.