Today we have sad news: legendary artist H.R. Giger has died. Giger was a master of surreal, disturbing, thought-provoking art– and his influence on cinema is renowned. Without Giger, we would not have the alien designs from the many Alien films.

But did you know that Giger also designed one of the Batmobiles?

Earlier today Zack Snyder released his Batmobile image (along with Ben Affleck as Batman), and it more or less is what you expect a Batmobile to look like.

But in 1994, Giger was asked to design the new Batmobile for Joel Schumacher’s Batman Forever. According to Batmobile Art:

“[Giger’s] unique “X” shaped design was to include articulated front legs/mandibles, retractable fins, and gatling gun emplacements on each of the four pods on the sides of the vehicle. The design also combined side and forward intake ports with organinic spines and a central pod connecting the four legs.”

Here are his designs:

Of course, anyone who has seen Batman Forever knows that this is not the design they went with in the final film.

This is what we got:

Giger’s idea was just too drastically different for the filmmakers. It’s a shame, because I would’ve loved to have seen an H.R. Giger Batmobile in action.

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