What’s green, speaks in riddles, and is considered one of Gotham’s quirkiest villains?
We have no idea, but hey look! Paul Dano will be playing Riddler in the long-in-production bat-flick, The Batman, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The new superhero detective movie is meant to include a large cast of villains and Gothamites, according to filmmaker Matt Reeves, with Riddler simply the latest one to be added. (Zoë Kravitz was also revealed as Catwoman this week.)
Dano’s Riddler will be named Edward Nashton, who in the comics later changes his last name to Nygma when he adopts his beguiling trivia-app-esque persona. Corey Michael Smith was the most recent actor to play a version of Ed Nygma on Fox’s Gotham series, and of course who could forget this guy:
Further rumors speculated that Jonah Hill was being courted for a role as The Penguin, although Hill reportedly dropped out earlier this week.
If The Batman is really going to go all “sinister six” on the character then may we suggest the addition of Clayface? We hear that Clayface is in town!
The Batman is currently set to debut in June 2021.
Why can’t we have new villains? Riddler and Penguin again sound boring.
Ron Perlman as Clayface! Well, he’s done it before.
@1/Sunspear: But we’ve never had a faithful live-action depiction of Riddler or Penguin in feature film, at least besides Batman (1966). The ’90s feature versions of both characters were highly revisionist. Penguin isn’t some freakish sewer mutant, he’s a comical-looking fellow whose debonair-eccentric appearance masks a ruthless criminal mastermind. And Riddler isn’t some cackling, hyperactive Joker wannabe, he’s a cool, intellectual master planner and manipulator with an intellect rivaling Batman’s. Both characters have potential that their previous movie appearances failed to fulfill.
@CLB: yeah, you’re right that it will hinge on the execution and characterization. I still want different villains that aren’t always on the same roster. Having said that, can’t think offhand who I’d nominate for the slot. Hush is coming on Batwoman. Prometheus and R’as Al Ghul appeared on Arrow. Poison Ivy, Riddler, and Penguin (among others) on Gotham. Black Mask (played by Ewan McGregor) arrives in Birds of Prey.
Clayface? Solomon Grundy? Maybe go full on Court of Owls. Adapt a more contemporary story; maybe even the Batman Who Laughs.
@4/Sunspear: Kite-Man. Hell yeah.
Condiment King.
And Dano is a great choice for Riddler.
@3 CLB I believe Gotham’s sexy-nerd take on the Riddler is close-ish to what you want.
Re: re-using villains… Since they’ve had many movies with multiple Bat-antagonists, I think all of the big name ones have already been used unless you count Deadshot maybe, but a version of Deadshot was already in Suicide Squad, and the amazing-marksman archetype was also used by Daredevil’s Bullseye in the movies.
Of the unused ones, I think I’d like to see Talia+Damian, except that would require an older Batman probably.
@7/vinsentient: I gave up on Gotham after the first season, but its portrayal of Nygma there was incredibly wrong. They turned him into a split personality like Two-Face, as well as a homicidal maniac, neither of which fit the Riddler. That’s my whole point, that Batman Forever was completely wrong to make the Riddler a Joker-clone madman. The Riddler is not insane. His only mental illness in the comics is a behavioral disorder, a compulsion to leave clues for his crimes in an attempt to outwit the police and Batman. But he’s supposed to be cunning and calculating, a sophisticated intellect that can nearly match Batman, the World’s Greatest Detective. Batman: The Animated Series basically got him right, aside from its unfortunate attempts to ’90s-ize him by making him a video game-themed villain. John Glover was an ideal choice to voice the Riddler there and would’ve been fantastic in the role in live action.
Basically the Riddler as I want to see him is a morally inverted Sherlock Holmes — a genius with a compulsive need to challenge himself and keep his mind occupied, but one who satisfies that need by committing crimes rather than solving them. Also a narcissist who’s desperate to prove his superiority and doesn’t care who he hurts in doing so.
@CLB and magnus: there are a lot of lame-os in the top 100 bat-villains. I’d hate to see the morts in the second 100. Maybe it’s why they stick with the top 10 so much, or keep retreading the top 5. Don’t think I even want to see the new Catwoman at this point, though.
And listen to this slightly batty comment from Battinson from io9:
“Batman’s not a hero, though. He’s a complicated character. I don’t think I could ever play a real hero — there’s always got to be something a little bit wrong. I think it’s because one of my eyes is smaller than the other one.
I love the director, Matt Reeves, and it’s a dope character. His morality is a little bit off. He’s not the golden boy, unlike almost every other comic-book character. There is a simplicity to his worldview, but where it sits is strange, which allows you to have more scope with the character.”
Hole mackerel!
@9/Sunspear: It doesn’t matter what the actor thinks of the character, as long as he performs the script the way the director tells him to.
9)
I fail to see what is batty about his statement. Seems on point for who Batman is, a weird moralizing dude who dresses like a bat.
@Connie Williamson: it’s the bit where the actor says his eyes aren’t symmetrical. He’s less than perfect (wink).
Reminds me of the moral alignment system in City of Heroes/Villains, where Heroes could transition to Vigilantes and Villains to Rogues. Batman is a vigilante, of course. Pattinson isn’t wrong, but if they go grimdark again…
I think Pattinson just means that Batman isn’t a pure, classically perfect hero type, but a more flawed and complicated character. He’s defining “hero” rather narrowly, and he underestimates the amount of nuance and gray areas in superheroes in general, but he’s just saying the role gives him something to sink his teeth into as an actor.
@8 CLB maybe I should have specified the *final* season of Gotham. In that season, Riddler is pretty close to integrating his personalities IIRC, he is mostly Riddler with only a leavening of Ed left. And he is definitely an arrogant, narcissistic genius.
But I understand if the hallucinations and split personalities turned you off.