I never knew H.R. Giger was pitched to design concepts for Batman Forever, but new images have leaked of a Batmobile design by the artist behind Alien's iconic Xenomorph. It's as disturbing as you'd imagine from the mind of a visionary artist whose work is dominated by sexual imaginary and biomechanical design.
The Swiss artist made his name in the 1970s but after Alien found regular work in Hollywood as the go-to artist when director's needed something, well, alien. You can catch-up on his work in our feature on H.R. Giger's iconic designs.
The artist's other movie designs include the alien on Species and work on the infamous unfilmed Dune adaptation by Alejandro Jodorowsky, which also included art from Mobius (Jean Giraud) and Chris Foss. But Batman Forever seems a stretch, although Batman's suit did have fake nipples, so perhaps the signs were there. Take a look at the H.R. Giger Batmobile designs below.
(Image credit: DC Comics / Warner Bros.)
(Image credit: DC Comics / Warner Bros)
(Image credit: DC Comics / Warner Bros)
It's a peculiar design, and it in many ways shows restraint from the artist known for his sexualised imagery. The familiar mix of biological and mechanical elements are visible, as is an imaginative take on the famous vehicle. It's a car in all but name and Giger references using shears or scissors as a design motif in his sketches, revealing how concept art can play on familiar forms.
The design dates from 1994 when the artist was commissioned for his Batman Forever vision, and it's a design that includes legs and mandibles, retractable fins and organic spines. It's a creature not a car and feels about as Giger-like as you would imagine.
This design comes and goes out of the internet's conscience but this new set of images shows a basic 3D model (by Leon Cor) of then H.R. Giger Batmobile. The suggestion is Batman villain Scarecrow was meant to feature in Batman Forever and this version of the Caped Crusaders car would have been a nightmarish illusion. I actually really like the 'Gigermobile', though it's probably more suited to a video game than a mainstream movie.
Ian Dean is Editor, Digital Arts & 3D at Creativebloq, and the former editor of many leading magazines. These titles included ImagineFX, 3D World and leading video game title Official PlayStation Magazine. In his early career he wrote for music and film magazines including Uncut and SFX. Ian launched Xbox magazine X360 and edited PlayStation World. For Creative Bloq, Ian combines his experiences to bring the latest news on AI, digital art and video game art and tech, and more to Creative Bloq, and in his spare time he doodles in Procreate, ArtRage, and Rebelle while finding time to play Xbox and PS5. He's also a keen Cricut user and laser cutter fan, and is currently crafting on Glowforge and xTools M1.
