Justice League’s Zack Snyder has been showing off Ben Affleck’s new ‘tactical’ suit from the upcoming film. How does it compare to the caped crusader’s top outfits from the past?

Batman has always been defined by his Batwear. Tim Burton ushered in a new era for Gotham’s dark knight by jettisoning the familiar colour scheme sported by Adam West in the much-loved 1960s show in favour of typically gothic black and an armored, musclebound look. George Clooney’s awful Batnipples, intended as a paean to classical visions of the gods, came to define the floundering Joel Schumacher years. With Ben Affleck sporting a new goggled look in the upcoming Justice League, we look back at Batman’s classiest capes and darkest sartorial disasters.

Adam West’s ‘straight outta Toys R Us costume

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Adam West in 1966’s Batman. Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

The camp tone of the 1966-68 show and its 1966 spin-off movie heavily inspired West’s outfit, featuring a short cape because the actor’s co-stars kept stepping on it in slapstick-inspired action scenes, and painted-on eyebrows (serving to give the dark knight an eternally surprised expression), presumably to avoid the expense of moulding the caped crusader’s brow-line into the famous cowl. To be fair to West and the show’s writers, it is hard to look menacing when you’re wearing your underpants over a pair of tights, so a comic approach was probably advisable. And at least Batman’s bargain bin gold utility belt always seemed to contain exactly the right weapon of choice to take down the relevant member of the caped crusader’s rogues’ gallery.

Michael Keaton’s rigid ebony musclesuit

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Michael Keaton in 1989’s Batman. Photograph: Warner Bros/Sportsphoto Ltd./Allstar

Five-foot-10, 160-pound Keaton might not have been the obvious choice to play Gotham’s terrifying defender in the Tim Burton films, but who needs endless trips to the gym and a diet of raw eggs and protein powder when moulded rubber muscles and a fearsomely beaky cowl can serve just as well? Nevertheless, with the new black Batsuit featuring a design based on unyielding foam rubber that extended to his skull, the actor was faced with a whole new set of problems. Legend has it that the caped crusader’s famous “hero turn” in 1989’s Batman and its 1991 sequel Batman Returns came about because Keaton simply had no alternative. The rigid suit meant he was physically incapable of turning his head.

The ‘Batnipple’ years: Val Kilmer and George Clooney

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Alicia Silverstone, George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell in 1997’s Batman & Robin. Photograph: Warner Bros/Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

Gorgeous George might be best known for ruining the dark knight for a generation with those superimposed nipples in 1997’s execrable Batman & Robin, but Kilmer had them first (if not quite so pronounced) in 1995’s almost equally hideous Batman Forever. Clooney definitely wins the prize for worst Batman suit of all time, however, in the shape of the silver and blue outfit worn by our hero and his Batpals in the denouement of Joel Schumacher’s much-maligned final turn in the director’s chair. This time there are not just nipples on show, but an enormous sculpted, excruciatingly outlined Batcodpiece. We should also mention that a different version of the suit features pop-out ice skates, essential for taking on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Mr Freeze, or simply terrifying small children at your local rink.

Christian Bale’s high-tech body armor

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Christian Bale proves he can turn his head in 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises. Photograph: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock

A welcome return to sanity arrived in the shape of Christopher Nolan’s tech-inspired Batsuits for the Dark Knight trilogy, supposedly based on a discontinued Wayne Enterprises design for an armored military bodysuit that Bruce Wayne initially just paints black and sticks a Batsymbol on in 2005’s Batman Begins. But the most sensible revolution, after close to two decades of caped crusaders who are unable to really turn their heads, came with 2008’s The Dark Knight. Apparently at the behest of Christian Bale, who found the costume uncomfortable, Morgan Freeman’s Lucius Fox simply develops a cowl that’s only loosely connected to the rest of the suit. Yes, it only took 19 years for Batman and his team to work out the importance of flexibility and actual peripheral vision when risking one’s life every night on the grim and bloody streets of Gotham.

Ben Affleck’s twin Dark Knight Returns-inspired outfits

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill in Batman v Superman. Photograph: Clay Enos/AP

If West’s fabric-based suit, which has often been retained for the comics, makes the actor look slightly pudgy when compared to the statuesque physicality of some of his successors, Affleck was preposterously accused of being fat when he first pulled on his new Dark Knight Returns-inspired costume, supposedly made from a mix of kevlar and titanium but still with a cloth-like appearance, for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

The truth is that a return to the woven look of Bill Finger-era Bats required the new dark knight to be in ridiculously impressive shape. A rather easier pitch was the movie’s mech-suit, inspired by the armor worn by Batman for his battle with Superman in Frank Miller’s seminal 1986 graphic novel.

Batfleck’s new “tactical Batsuit” for Justice League

ZackSnyder (@ZackSnyder) Homestretch. Last day filming Batman in the new Tactical Batsuit.#JusticeLeague #Batman pic.twitter.com/GMJ9aoYVKJ

And now here’s a third suit for Batfleck, which really is approaching Edna Mode levels of sartorial superhero extravagance. This one will be rolled out for Snyder’s Justice League and reminds us of the begoggled look sported by Patrick Wilson’s Nite Owl in Snyder’s splendid 2009 superhero epic Watchmen. Rumour has it that it features additional metal plating to allow Batman to take more of a pounding from his enemies, which sounds like a good idea after one of those Gotham scumbags managed to plunge a knife straight through the dark knight’s costume and into his arm last time out.