Riddler (DC Comics) Character Review
The Riddler is a fictional Character, a comic book supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. He usually appears as an enemy of Batman. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Dick Sprang, the character first appeared in Detective Comics (1948). In 2009, the Riddler was ranked as IGN's 59th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time. More about Riddler (DC Comics) Character Review - keep on reading !!
Fictional Character Biography
The Riddler's criminal modus operandi
is so deeply ingrained into his personality that he is virtually
powerless to stop himself from acting it out (as shown in his fourth
comic book appearance). He cannot simply kill his opponents when he has
the upper hand; he has to put them in a deathtrap
to see if he can devise a life and death intellectual challenge that
the hero cannot solve and escape. However, unlike many of Batman's themed
enemies, Riddler's compulsion is quite flexible, allowing him to commit
any crime as long as he can describe it in a riddle or puzzle.
After a teacher announces that a contest will be held over who can solve a puzzle the fastest, a young Edward Nigma (or Nashton
at the time, according to some writers) sets his sights on winning
this, craving the glory and satisfaction that will come with the
victory. He sneaks into the school one night, takes the puzzle out of
the teacher's desk, and practices it until he is able to solve it in
under a minute. As predicted, he wins the contest and is given a book
about riddles as a prize. His cheating rewarded, Edward embraced the
mastery of puzzles of all kinds, eventually becoming a carnival employee
who excelled at cheating his customers out of their money with his
bizarre puzzles and mind games. He soon finds himself longing for
greater challenges and thrills, and dons the guise of the Riddler to
challenge Batman, who he believes could possibly be a worthy adversary
for him.
In Batman: The Long Halloween, the Riddler appears as an informant. He first appears when Carmine "The Roman" Falcone hires him to figure out who the Holiday Killer
is. Falcone eventually loses his patience with the Riddler, however,
and orders his daughter, Sophia, to force him to leave. Upon exiting
Falcone's office, Holiday attacks the Riddler, but for some reason
leaves him alive. The attack was planned to coincide with the holiday of
April Fool's,
and several items pertaining to it were left at the scene. This may be
why the Riddler was left alive, as matters are traditionally reversed on
the holiday. He appeared again in the same chapter of the story in
which Harvey Dent (Two-Face)
is disfigured, when Batman comes to him for information about the
attack. He plays a slightly larger role in the story's sequel, Batman: Dark Victory, in which Batman turns to him to figure out the significance of the lost games of hangman that are left at the scenes of the Hangman killer's crimes. He later showed up as a member of Two-Face's jury during the Hangman's trial.
In Catwoman: When in Rome, he joins Selina Kyle on a trip to Italy
in search of his fellow rogue's origins. It is there that he
manipulates her into believing that some of Batman's most dangerous foes
are after her. He has his henchmen employ several gimmicks and weapons
used by the Scarecrow, Mr. Freeze, and the Joker to achieve this. He hopes to extract Batman's real identity from her, but to his dismay, she actually doesn't know or care.
The Riddler appears in The Question series, being convinced to become a "big-time villain" by a prostitute
he meets on a bus. He hijacks the bus and begins asking riddles,
killing and robbing anyone that gets them wrong. The Question quickly
subdues him by asking him philosophical riddles in return. He is outwitted and has a mental breakdown before being set free as a reward for getting one last riddle right.
In the one-shot "Riddler and the Riddle Factory", the Riddler becomes
the host of an underground game show that focuses on digging up dirt on
celebrities. Many of the famous people that he humiliates end up
committing suicide shortly afterwards, suggesting that perhaps the
Riddler did more than just inspire their deaths. In the end, his actions
turn out to be a front for his attempts to find the hidden treasures of
"Scarface" Scarelli, a Gotham City gangster who lived long before Batman's reign of crimefighting.
In the three-part Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight storyline "The Primal Riddle", written by Steve Englehart,
the Riddler engineers one of his greatest deathtraps: Batman is thrown
into a narrow pit that is slowly filling up with water. The walls are
electrically wired, and a set of bumpers are the only thing that
prevents the water from touching the walls and causing Batman to die by
electrocution. The only options Batman appears to have are death by
electrocution and death by drowning, but as always, Batman manages to
tamper with the trap's design and develop a route of escape.
The Riddler has a working relationship with the Cluemaster,
although he initially resents the villain for seemingly copying his
modus operandi. In their first encounter, he sets his fellow rogue up
with a bomb and sends Batman off chasing riddles that would lead to its
defusing, as well as away from his real plan: to steal a vast amount of
priceless baseball merchandise. The two team up on a few occasions afterwards, and work together on a
big scheme shortly before Cluemaster's apparent death in the pages of The Suicide Squad.
After Harley Quinn briefly breaks free of her devotion to the Joker, she attempts to hold up a large party at Wayne Manor,
only to find that the Riddler is targeting the building also. The two
gangs engage in a firefight, but Harley gains the upper hand when Big Barda
(who was secretly allied with her at the time) interrupts the conflict
and captures the Riddler and his men. During the storyline, the Riddler
makes constant allusions to a "mystery" that is hidden within the
mansion, and after his apprehension, damage done to the building causes
the entrance to the Batcave to open. The Riddler sees this, and then
declares that he has "solved the riddle of Wayne Manor".
During this period, he attacks Black Canary and Green Arrow in Star City, and he is easily defeated. This event helps lay the foundations for Riddler's future confrontations with Green Arrow.
During a crisis caused when Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth
was broken, resulting in the laws of truth breaking down and causing
reality to be shaped by the perceptions of individuals, one of the
symptoms was when Batman found himself unable to solve any of the
Riddler's riddles, but was nevertheless still able to defeat the Riddler
as the Riddler himself couldn't solve the riddles either – most likely
reflecting the public idea of the Riddler's puzzles being insoluble –
claiming that he managed to "improvise" to defeat the Riddler. His low
reputation among heroes and villains was reflected when the Flash (Wally West) noted that Batman having trouble with the Riddler was a clear sign that the world was ending..
Powers and Abilities (the Riddler)
The Riddler possesses extreme originality in decoding and formulating
puzzles of all kinds. His deductive ability perfused his role of
private detective when he was reformed, during which he was shown to
have investigative skills that rival those of the Dark Knight.
Like most of Batman's enemies (and Batman himself) The Riddler has no
superhuman abilities, but is a highly cunning criminal strategist. He
is not especially talented in fisticuffs (although his endurance has
grown from having to engage in them over the years), but sometimes
employs weaponry that exploits his gimmick, such as exploding jigsaw
pieces, his infamous question mark cane, known to house a wide variety
of technological devices and weapons, and question mark shaped pistols.
He is shown to be skilled with engineering and technology, confronting
Batman and Robin with unique and elaborate deathtraps. He is also well
known for being Batman's most intelligent adversary.
In Other Media (Film/Movie)
- Jim Carrey portrayed The Riddler as one of the main antagonists in Batman Forever along with Two-Face. This version of Riddler returns to the more mad trickster-oriented version portrayed in the original comics and in Frank Gorshin's version in the 1960s series. Edward Nygma is an employee of Wayne Enterprises who invents a device called "The Box" that transmits images directly into the user's mind. Nygma sees it as the next generation of television, but Bruce Wayne rejects the idea, as mental manipulation raises "too many ethical questions". Nygma ultimately discovers that his device can increase his own intelligence and, after killing his supervisor, he allies himself with Two-Face and discovers that Wayne is Batman, taking on the mantle of The Riddler. However, before they can kill Batman, his Box is damaged, causing the intelligence he gained to be siphoned back out. Following Two-Face's death, the Riddler is locked up in Arkham, and he yells for hours that he knows who Batman is, saying that he is Batman.
- In the fourth film, Batman & Robin, The Riddler's uniform can be seen in Arkham Asylum.
- The Riddler makes a brief cameo in a flashback in the DC Animated Original Movie Batman: Under the Red Hood. He attempts to rob a museum, but he is defeated by Jason Todd (the second Robin) after he and Batman take down his henchmen. Although Bruce Timm receives screen credit for voicing him, he has no lines but simply grunts.
- The Riddler was rumored by actor Gary Oldman to be one of the main villains of The Dark Knight Rises during the film's early conceptual stages until the official announcement of Bane. Following the film's release, director Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale's ex-publicist claimed that the studio had originally considered Leonardo DiCaprio for the role of the Riddler, partially based on the well-known rivalry between Bale and DiCaprio.
- Frank Gorshin reprised his role as the Riddler in the 1966 film Batman, alongside three other villains from the TV series. As in the series, Gorshin's Riddler is calm and calculating at one moment, then wild and unstable the next. He compulsively sends Batman and Robin clues, which in the film leads to some minor tension with his fellow criminals.
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