Batman & Robin is a lot of fun to watch, actually, and I’m tired of pretending it isn’t. Is it an insult to the moody gothic majesty Tim Burton established just a couple of movies before? Of course. Have the cinematic heights reached by Christopher Nolan and Matt Reeves’ later films proven how much it does the Bat-brand a disservice? Oh, you betcha.
And yet Joel Schumacher’s 1997 infamous misfire is still a colorful, kitschy, camp classic. And that’s in large part down to its two villains — Arnold Schwarzenegger and Uma Thurman as the ice pun-pedaling Mr. Freeze and the “femme fatale costumed by RuPaul” icon that is Poison Ivy, respectively. As the ultimate proof that B&R has become a cult favorite, Arnold and Uma just reunited after 27 years — and the internet blew the roof off the Batcave.
Over the weekend, Schwarzenegger made 90s kids everywhere grin like the Joker by sharing a sweet-natured snap of himself and his former co-star Thurman on social media, which appeared to show them sharing a meal at a restaurant. “Freeze and Ivy, reunited,” the Austrian mountain man captioned the pic. “Watch out, Batman.”
Obviously, all the Batman & Robin fans out there found this reunion as cool as can be, with the sight of these two ex-supervillains together warming their frosty hearts. It’s snow joke that there’s really only one correct way to respond to this reunion: with endless puns.
Michael Keaton’s busy promoting Beetlejuice Beetlejuice right now, so this might be Freeze and Ivy’s chance to conquer Gotham City at long last and finally… freeze the city and overrun it with plantlife at the same time? Yeah, that plot hole’s been keeping me up at night my whole life.
Just watch this clip of the first time we saw Arnold and Uma together and try to tell me that’s not peak moviemaking. Even Martin Scorsese would agree that this, this is cinema.
It was Arnold’s own son, Patrick Schwarzenegger, who said what we were all thinking in response to this pic. “Cmon yall gotta come back,” Mr. Freeze Jr. pleaded. From your lips to David Zaslav’s ears, Patrick.
It is just possible that Schwarzenegger’s assembling the Batman villains together behind the scenes. He did memorably team up with Batman Returns‘ Danny DeVito at the Oscars this year, during which the duo challenged Keaton to a rematch. A little while ago the notion of any kind of Batman & Robin resurrection would’ve been absurd, but Keaton did just reprise Batman last year in The Flash. Plus, Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine has proven that even the worst of superhero films can be mined for the weaponized nostalgia that sells tickets these days — see Jennifer Garner returning as Elektra.
James Gunn has the opportunity to do the absolute funniest thing by setting his upcoming Batman reboot, The Brave and the Bold, in the Schumacherverse and then sitting back and watching the internet go as crazy as the inmates of Arkham Asylum. Do we dare to dream it could happen — the iceman cometh… again?
Published: Sep 16, 2024 12:25 pm