George Clooney's Hilarious Story About 'Painful' Filming In The Batman Suit Is Not About The Bat Nipples For Once

If we could just put aside all of the perceived coolness of being an actor who’s chosen to bring a beloved superhero character to life on the big screen (as many will do for the 2026 movie schedule), it’s kinda obvious that there are some potential drawbacks. I’m sure that at least one of the actors in our upcoming superhero movies will have a few complaints about their costume, as they seem to be infamously difficult to wear. Well, while everyone likes to go on and on about George Clooney’s Batman nipples, he’s got a hilarious story about how “painful” filming Batman & Robin was, and it’s got nothing to do with that part of the suit’s design.

What Did George Clooney Say About His Batman Suit Being ‘Painful’?

To be blunt, while there was a lot of hope when George Clooney stepped up to portray Bruce Wayne/Batman, the resulting film, Batman & Robin, didn’t really set the fandom on fire. In fact, the Jay Kelly star has done everything from apologize for the 1997 movie, to poking a lot of fun at it, while also noting that its commercial and critical failure led to him becoming a movie star.

Of course, more people might be likely to give Clooney grace for his performance as the Dark Knight (which he briefly reprised - sans costume - in The Flash) had they known just what he put up with when it came to his nipple-fied costume. As he recently told Variety, “it was not the most fun shoot, because of the suit,” and then he explained:

Egad. Not great, right? I can imagine that there are worse conditions to try and act like a superhero under, but I’m sure this situation still wasn’t very helpful when it came time to do pretty much anything when Clooney was fully Batted up.

We did, of course, see him move around in his Batsuit, but most of his movements do appear rather stiff. While it’s clear that being in costume wasn’t his favorite thing, we’ve heard other superhero suit horror stories. Paul Bettany admitted that he “flipped out” once while wearing his Vision costume on WandaVision, and how 2005 Fantastic Four actor Michael Chiklis became so “panicked” and “claustrophobic” in his The Thing costume that he almost quit…until he got tips from a psychiatrist on how to cope.

I think we can all agree that none of these are exactly dream workday scenarios, so it really says a lot that Clooney and many of his live-action superhero co-horts were able to deliver any kind of believable performances at all.