Robin star in Batman claims he was given pills to 'shrink up' after complaint about his 'very large bulge'

The actor who played Robin in the original Batman series claims he was once given pills to 'shrink up' after some complaints about his very 'large bulge'.

It's not the worst complaint that you could receive, and it could even be taken as a compliment.

You may know Batman as Christian Bale, Robert Pattinson, Michael Keaton or even Will Arnett.

But before all of that, Batman was a TV series in the 1960s as the first live-action version of the Dark Knight.

Adam West played Batman, and Burt Ward played his trusty sidekick Robin on the ABC series from 1966-1968.

Their tight, lycra suits are still iconic today as some of the earliest superhero costumes, with kids yearning to have their own set.

However, some groups at the time didn't approve of how exposed his downstairs area was on television.

Ward, now 78, revealed to Page Six that the Catholic League of Decency filed a formal complaint with the network, saying that Robin 'had a very large bulge for television.'

ABC

Ward also assured that the complaint was directed at him and not the Batman himself, adding: “With Adam they put Turkish towels in his undershorts."

Apparently, the complaint was taken very seriously, with the studio escalating it to the point where a doctor allegedly prescribed medication to Ward which he said would 'shrink me up.'

Despite this, the Robin actor was sceptical of the long-term effects of the pills, and stopped taking them almost straight away.

He explained: “I took them for three days and then I decided that they can probably keep me from having children.

“I stopped doing that and I just used my cape to cover it,” Ward revealed - maybe eagle-eyed Batman fans can spot this in the series.

Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images

As a huge TV star at just 20 years old, Ward revealed that he didn't spend his money on booze and drugs.

He insists that he 'never smoked, drank or did drugs', which meant that he 'never went to a bar' in his life.

Ward stated that he did enjoy his fame though: "It's not to say I didn't go out and have a good time but I never went out and did what you think Hollywood [celebrities] do. I was a straight-A student at UCLA."

In fact, he claims that the dean was disappointed when he left in his third year to pursue the role, as she thought he could have become a nuclear physicist with his exceptional grades.

There's an interesting titbit for you, lycra-wearing Robin with the big bulge could have been the next Oppenheimer.