38-year-old Chris Weir is so fascinated with Batman that he spent around $100,000 transforming his large basement into a veritable Batcave, complete with a custom home-theater, a secret entrance and even a life-size Batman suit used by the Dark Knight in the latest trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan.
Chris’ fascination with the caped crusader started at age three, when he and his uncle played Batman and Robin in the yard. Like many other young boys, he spent his childhood years playing with action figures from the Batman universe, and at 14 he bough his first comic book “The Legends of The Dark Knight”, and continued paying for a monthly subscription with his pocket money. Nothing unusual for a young boy, but Weir never really grew out of it. Even as an adult, he kept buying comics, action figures and posters of his favorite superhero, only at one point it just wasn’t enough anymore. He wanted to take his passion for everything Batman to a new level, and when he and his wife decided to look for a new house, Chris got the opportunity he had been waiting for. Weir wanted his very one Batcave so bad that when shopping for houses the deciding factor was always whether their future home would have enough basement space for his dream. In the end, he gave his wife Joanna two options to choose from, one of which happens to be their current home.
At first, the car panel-beating business owner from Middletown, Delaware tried to get a cave-like effect for his basement using wood, chicken-wire and paper mache, but none of these materials yielded the desired results. In the end he discovered styrofoam was perfect for the walls and moved on to decorating his Batcave with proper gadgets and memorabilia. One of the most impressive features of his superhero den is the secret entrance. He went to great lengths to make sure his Batcave opened the same way it did in the 60s Batman series starring Adam West, and even got a replica of the William Shakespeare bust of Wayne Manor. Flipping over the small statue reveals a red button that activates a secret door behind a small display case for Weir’s favorite Batman collectibles.
The Batcave isn’t nearly as cool as the real thing, but Chris is very proud of it. He has installed a small cinema a huge 120-inch cinescope screen and comfortable seats, where he and his family watch movies and cartoons, and also created a special place for his most prized possession – a life-size Batman costume that was featured in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises. It comes complete with Batman’s grappling gun and batarang. Although it cost around $100,000 to build, Chris’ wife Joanna says she’s proud of what he has achieved and says she doesn’t mind the costs as long as they can afford to pay the mortgage. As you can imagine, his kids are pretty happy to have their very own Batcave as well.
Apart from a Batman-themed basement, Chris Weir also has a large collection of memorabilia that includes over 1,000 graphic novels, 200 books, posters, and figurines. Most of them have been bought from the internet and the Batman fanatic estimates they all cost an extra $20,000.
Source: Barcroft Media
