Did You Know Batman Wore Air Jordans?

Let’s face it, aside from Deadpool and Antman, modern superhero flicks are a bit too serious. These days, it seems to be all about dark, disturbing backstories, a larger percentage of battle scenes, and an insanely heavy focus on CGI. For those who grew up in the 90s, things were a little more lively. Superheros had a little bit more color in more ways than one, balancing out gritty stories and scenes with humorous one-liners and the odd soundtrack written by Prince.

Tim Burton kick-started the era in 1989 with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, before returning in 1992 with a sequel stacked with big names. Danny DeVito, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Christopher Walken showed up in Gotham City for Batman Returns, but they weren nowhere near the biggest name to make an appearance — that belongs to Michael Jordan. Of course, we’re not talking about the man himself, but his shoes, whom Nike delivered a special set of Jordan 6s for Bruce Wayne to kick butt in during the filming sessions of 1991.

Designed by Tinker Hatfield and debuted the same year filming commenced, it was the sneaker that Mike was wearing during his crusade to his first elusive NBA Championship. At the same time, the Caped Crusader was kicking ass in Gotham, leaving Jumpman sole prints on the chest of Max Shreck’s goons. For filming, Nike did up the basketball shoes in a murdered-out colorway for Michael Keaton, and added some Batman-level armor north of the tongue for wen you had to fight crime at 5, but had a pickup game at six.

Though we’ve seen a few black Jordan 6s over the years, we’ve never quite gotten a pair that’s dedicated to the film. Alas, Batman’s version of the Air Jordan 6 was never released to the public, though over the years some of the shoes used in the film have surfaced. In 2015, a single right shoe sold on eBay for a whopping $8,100.

It’s definitely not the most famous sneaker in movies, but it’s by far one fo the coolest. After all, the Marty’s Air Mags and Forrest’s Cortez’s kicked nowhere near as much ass as Mike’s carefully hidden kicks.