Since the news that Nicole Kidman was joining Spider-Man 4, I’ve found myself reminding friends that this won’t be her first foray into the world of superhero movies. In fact, judging from some of her interviews, the actress seems to be a fan of the genre and has already appeared in two prominent DC franchises. One of those roles is that of Dr. Chase Meridian in Batman Forever, which happens to be celebrating its 30th anniversary. Hence, it’s time to talk about how her outing in this colorful version of Gotham City shows Kidman can handle whatever Brand New Day throws her way.
After two wonderful contributions from Director Tim Burton with Michael Keaton as the titular hero, Warner Bros. decided it was time for a change, and the franchise shifted to a lighter tone, adding a whole array of new colors to flood Gotham with. Merchandise sales were important, and Batman Forever might be the most toyetic out of any Batman film. This shift didn’t mean there was no room for a little romance, and the sex appeal was certainly alive and well, also.
Enter: Dr. Chase Meridian, a doctor of Psychology, brought in to help the city, currently consulting on the Two-Face case, where her expertise in studying multiple personality disorders (called Dissociative Identity Disorder now) should prove quite useful. However, she’ll end up answering more questions about a new villain known as the Riddler, and her mind is truly set on studying Batman. Too bad the city’s savior doesn’t seem that impressed, having read her work and calling it insightful, but naïve. Ouch. Chase responded properly, pointing out she was flattered to have caught his attention.
Nicole Kidman’s Batman Forever performance is one of the movie’s highlights
This is when the flirting starts. Chase is an intelligent woman, quite capable. We see her boxing at one point, and she even manages to fight off a couple of Two-Face’s goons with Bruce before becoming overwhelmed. She’s still the love interest, however, transfixed on Batman until she gets to know Bruce Wayne properly. It’s all a little messy. Most viewers don’t believe she takes her job too seriously – not to mention the potential ethics violations – being so focused on her own pursuits (oh right, her name is Chase) and just incredibly horny, enough to where people almost have to force her to talk about work.
It gets a bit ridiculous. To think that Chase somehow gains access to the roof of the police station and uses a signal that’s supposed to be meant for emergencies so she can lure her prey in, wearing this slinky black dress that could be almost anyone’s Kryptonite, all so she can feed him a softball line about Two-Face I’m sure Chase knew Batman had figured out. It’s almost too much. The good doctor’s seduction doesn’t seem to work, well, much; they were quite close. Gordon spoils the fun anyway, causing Chase to pull her coat back on. This is where we realize these two are going to be flirting the whole time, bluntly, but the real chemistry is between her and Bruce in their scenes, and she isn’t scared away by his weird giant bat nightmares.
Some people like to say that she’s so over the top because this character is a gay man’s idea (referring to Director Joel Schumacher) of what he thinks straight men want to see in their life, and I think that director was on to something — no lies detected. In many ways, Batman Forever’s defense is in that Schumacher was attempting to take Burton’s work and meld it with the show he loved, Batman ’66, and if that truly was his goal, he succeeded. Not just in the color and humor, but perhaps in how an aggressive love interest from that show might react toward our hero with a 1995 mentality.
“You like strong women. I’ve done my homework. Or do I need skin-tight vinyl and a whip?”
― Dr. Chase Meridian to Batman
Meridian is also just the right kind of unstable for Bruce. She fantasizes about Batman and obsesses over him before realizing her true feelings about Bruce. Chase also admits that she’s always been attracted to bad boys, so a dark and brooding superhero seems to be the next step in her kink ladder. The good doctor knows what Batman likes, hints at having looked into his relationship with Catwoman, and even helps him make a breakthrough psychologically toward the end. I like to think she knew their relationship was doomed from her research, like all of his previous loves, but had to give it a shot anyway, as the ending makes it seem like they both want it to work out.
Dr. Chase Meridian is a memorable character who works in the film, especially considering she was created for it and not taken from any part of the source material. She would find her way to the comics years later and even show up in the recent Gotham Knights television show. In Batman Forever, her characterization tries to break past just being the love interest, even though that’s the part that hits viewers over the head. We see her as a tool to try and approach notions of the duality between Batman and Bruce, helping to figure himself out and finally have some form of catharsis for his emotional anguish when it comes to his parents and what he’s just witnessed happen to Dick Grayson, which obviously hits close to home. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t seem as interested in taking the extra time to explore those ideas, so for anyone watching casually, her importance feels extremely limited. Chase is shown briefly to be concerned, tender, compassionate, and sympathetic, as well as intuitive and a bit detached, but all of those things are overshadowed by radiant sexuality.
How Kidman can channel that energy into Spider-Man 4
Looking forward to Brand New Day, it’s likely that Kidman won’t be playing the same type of character. There’s little chance that she’ll be trying to seduce Spider-Man, at least not in the traditional sense. Her role appears to be that of a villain, and it’s not hard to think she might be playing mind games. This foe could lure him away with the seduction of other things, like power, or maybe even attempt to help him deal with or fix some of the mistakes from the last film, for her benefit, of course. I doubt she’s Mephisto, but many of Spidey’s rogues enjoy forcing him to make deals with the devil. A key part that stands out about the actress’ portrayal of Dr. Meridian is, but requires some extra reading, is how she approached the role, and she’ll likely bring that same dedication and energy to a more complex antagonist, something that could provide the perfect combination for her.
It’s rumored that early in Batman Forever’s production, around when they were still trying to get Michael Keaton to stay on board, Schumacher was looking to cast Rene Russo. I’m glad that didn’t happen. I think Kidman was almost perfect for this role. Most people like to quote the part where Kidman said she took the role, “Because I get to kiss Batman,” when there was more to that. She says it isn’t about the paycheck, but also hoping to contribute something a little different to these big blockbuster films. She appreciates the genre and wants to enhance it if she can, which is why I’m giving her a chance in Spider-Man 4. She doesn’t mind being the love interest and supporting the hero, but the actress also wants more out of these roles, to “get to do the cool stuff.”
