Credit: AP Photo/Matt Sayles

The prolific director has died of cancer at 80 years old.

Joel Schumacher, one of the most well-known directors of the modern age of cinema passed away Monday morning after a year-long battle with cancer. He was 80 years old.

Schumacher was well-known for a variety of major Hollywood blockbusters, including “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “The Lost Boys,” and “Falling Down, as well as film adaptations of the John Grisham novels, “The Client” and “A Time to Kill.”

Of his more infamous productions include his work with DC Comics, namely Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. These films were regarded as failures at the time and drew flak for their treatment of the Batman setting, but have since obtained something of a cult following for their campiness comparable to the old Batman TV show with Adam West.

“I just know that I’ll always go down over the nipples on Batman starting with ‘Batman Forever,'” Schumacher said in a 2017 interview with Vice.

Credit: Comic Book Movie

A graduate of the Parsons School of Design at New School University, Schumacher began his career as a costume designer, working with Woody Allen on Sleeper, then moving up to a writer role with “The Wiz” and “Car Wash,” and finally landing in the directorial chair with several TV movies, followed by “The Incredible Shrinking Woman” and “D.C. Cab.”

Schumacher was partially responsible for launching the careers of several famous actors and actresses, including Demi Moore, Rob Lowe and Kiefer Sutherland.

Schumacher, being gay, was a proud advocate of LGBTQ+ rights. In a comment reminiscing on his past with Schumacher, producer-director Bryan Fuller said “his visibility mattered, nipples and all.”