Did You Know Nike Designed Michael Keaton's Batman Bat-Suit Bat-Boots?

There seems to be a governing principle that human history moves in cycles. If you need proof, just look around at the happenings of the past few years and see how comparable they are to highly similar events that occurred during the 20th century.

Or, if you want a smaller, more immediate example, check this out: "Air," a movie about the creation of Nike's popular "Air Jordan" line of footwear, is currently streaming on Amazon Prime, and it both stars and is directed by Ben Affleck. Affleck portrays Bruce Wayne/Batman in the upcoming DC Universe movie, "The Flash." Also starring in that movie is Michael Keaton, who portrays, well, another universe's Bruce Wayne/The Batman. Keaton was famously the first actor to play the role in multiple feature films: 1989's "Batman" and 1992's "Batman Returns."

What connects all of these disparate facts? Why, Bat-Boots, of course. In 1989, Nike helped design the boots which Keaton wore while portraying Batman in that film, and for its sequel in 1992, the company modified the then-most-recent iteration of Air Jordans for the newly redesigned Batsuit. Holy historical recurrence, Batman!

A cursory study of the production of 1989's "Batman" reveals that producer Jon Peters was hellbent on attaching as many gigantic names to the project as he could. For example, the movie features two official soundtrack albums, one by composer Danny Elfman (who was director Tim Burton's choice to score the film), the other by Prince. That Prince collaboration was the eventual result of Peters' original, more ambitious plans for the soundtrack.

According to the liner notes by Jeff Bond for La La Land Records' release of Elfman's complete score, Peters wanted to attach a different pop star to the film's three principal characters: Prince for the Joker, George Michael for Vicki Vale, and Michael Jackson for the Batman. This idea went as far as Prince shooting down the idea of doing a duet with Jackson, and the multiple-personality-themed tune demoed for that duet eventually became the soundtrack's first single, "Batdance."

Another big name Peters saw an opportunity to attach to the movie was Nike, who had surged in popularity upon the introduction of their Air Jordan shoe line in 1984. As assistant costume designer Graham Churchyard explained on one of the film's DVD featurettes:

"Jon Peters came to me one day and said, 'Warners' have this thing going with Nike. Can you use any of their sportswear [in the Bat Suit]'? And I talked to Bob [Ringwood, costume designer], and he said, 'Well, '80s sportswear is not gonna fit in with our 1940s look.' And then it just came to us, that 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."

According to the stuntmen and Keaton himself, the boots were a hit, the Nike design being "a really supportive, comfortable boot."

Given how successful Nike's design was for "Batman"—both in terms of the overall look and the comfort for Michael Keaton—it's no surprise that Nike were asked back when production for the sequel "Batman Returns" got underway.

Although anticipation for 1989's "Batman" was huge, the hype for "Batman Returns" was even bigger thanks to the '89 film's success. Thus, no expense was spared, no marketing tie-in was turned down, and when it came to the redesigned Bat-Suit and Bat-Boots, Nike pulled out all the stops. This time, they based the boot's design on the brand-new Air Jordan VI sneakers, a model that was designed by legendary designer Tinker Hatfield and worn by Michael Jordan himself while winning his first NBA championship in 1991.

As GQ's Jake Woolf described in 2016, the Air Jordans got a special Bat-customization for their big screen debut:

"Nike did up the basketball shoes in a murdered-out colorway and added some Batman-level armor north of the tongue (naturally, they still featured the iconic Jumpman logo on the sole)."

Although the idea of a product tie-in for the hero character's costume sounds awful on paper, Nike proved that they could be a more subtle asset to the character and the films with their designs, in much the same way the OMEGA watch company started outfitting James Bond with their watches beginning with 1995's "Goldeneye."

While the Bat-Suit would, ironically, go on to be the subject of much controversy beginning with the next film in the series, "Batman Forever" — Bat-Nipples, anyone? — it's fun to look back at a design choice that was similarly kooky, if less noticeable. With Bat-Keaton turning up in "The Flash" next month, one can't help but wonder if the cycle of history may repeat again and we'll see the Jumpman logo on his boots.