What's The Riddler's grand plan in The Batman? Robert Pattinson's Dark Knight debut has been delayed until 2022, but the arrival of The Batman's first trailer certainly softened that blow. Matt Reeves' take on Gotham City has been overhauled several times since being green-lit by Warner Bros., and was initially a DCEU installment starring Ben Affleck. The Batman is now essentially a standalone story with Pattinson playing Bruce Wayne in a brutally dark and uncompromising cinematic world, and fans were caught off-guard with the bleak, realistic route Reeves had taken. Despite being one of the most talked-about trailers of the year, the first look at The Batman left plenty to the imagination, and kept the film's biggest plot details obscured.
The Batman will feature several classic villains, including Colin Farrell as Penguin, Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, and John Turturro as Carmine Falcone. The movie's arch-villain, however, will be Paul Dano's Edward Nashton - better known as The Riddler. One of the most famous faces in Batman's Rogues Gallery, Riddler has been portrayed in wildly diverse ways over the years, from fashion-forward jaunty puzzler to a sadistic killer with an intellect to match Bruce Wayne's. Dano's iteration will lean fully into The Riddler's darker tendencies. The Batman's trailer shows the character rigging deadly traps, committing sadistic executions, and leaving his trademark clues at every turn.
The Batman has been predictably secretive about its Riddler so far. The villain's face and costume have yet to be fully unveiled, and Nashton's grand plan is far from transparent. However, trailer footage does offer some insight into the complicated mindset of the new live-action Riddler. Here's what we think his master plan could be in The Batman.
Click here to watch The Batman's Riddler Riddle Explained on YouTube
Matt Reeves' Gotham City Is Corrupt
The tone of any Batman story usually dictates why vigilantism is necessary in that particular version of Gotham City. In the lighter, campier tales, the GCPD are useless, doughnut-munching Chief Wiggums, desperately out of their depth against DC's roster of supervillains. By contrast, the darker Batman's world gets, the more his existence revolves around corruption, rather than comedic incompetence. Police officers taking bribes, local politicians systematically cheating the system for their own gain, and an economy that deliberately maintains the stark class divide between rich and poor. The corruption of Gotham City is the lifeblood of Batman, but only the mature end of the Caped Crusader's canon dares tread such territory.
Unsurprisingly, the corruption of Gotham City is set to play a massive role in The Batman. Riddler's first confirmed victim (in the trailer, at least) is Don Mitchell, the local mayor. The Emerald Enigma has scrawled "No More Lies" across Mitchell's corpse and office, specifically targeting newspaper headlines celebrating the Mayor's successes. This confirms that, at the very least, Gotham's Mayor Mitchell is suspected of corrupt conduct. Additionally, one of Riddler's riddles includes the line "what is the price of your blind eye?" - a fairly obvious nod to bribery within Gotham's upper echelons. Other clues include a heated confrontation between Batman and police officers, and a headline reporting the capture of mob boss Sal Maroni. In DC comic lore, the Maroni and Falcone crime families are heated rivals, so it's possible that Mayor Mitchell has jumped into bed with the latter.
What The Riddler's Riddles Really Mean
Edward Nashton certainly lives up to his name, dropping several Riddles in The Batman's trailer alone. Fortunately, they're some of his simpler pieces. The example on the greetings card reads: "From your secret friend. Whoo? Haven't a clue? Let's play a game just me and you." On one level, the "secret friend" is Riddler addressing Batman through mysterious notes, and the "game" is the bat-and-mouse chase that will play out over the course of the film. However, the image of a cartoon owl on the front of the card, as well as the "whoo?" pun could foreshadow the arrival of the Court of Owls - an ancient secret society comprised of rich elites that continue to rule over Gotham City. If the Court of Owls exist in The Batman, Riddler's "game" could be leading Batman towards discovering the shocking truth.
Inside the greetings card, The Riddler leaves a second puzzle for his pointy-eared playmate to solve - "what does a liar do when they're dead?" The answer to this macabre riddle is "he lies still," which clever people on the internet have since confirmed is the true meaning of the symbols on the bottom of the card. Once again, this darkly amusing gag could have a double meaning. The obvious connotation is Don Mitchell's corpse, currently "lying still" on the floor of his office. However, Riddler might also be hinting that a figure believed to be deceased is somehow still spreading lies. This could be a high-ranking member of the Court of Owls, who faked their death in order to pull the strings of Gotham from behind the scenes.
Riddler's final rhyme, delivered via voiceover goes "if you are justice, please don't lie - what is the price of your blind eye?" In the finished film, the visual context of this riddle will likely make puns of "price" or "blind eye" - perhaps a Gotham judge with dollar signs spray-painted over his eyes, or something similarly gruesome. The deeper, secondary meaning here could relate to Bruce directly, however. Batman considers himself justice, but Bruce Wayne is a member of Gotham's rich upper class - a tad hypocritical, some might suggest. While Bruce uses his wealth to better the world around him, there could be secrets in the Wayne closet that Riddler believes Bruce is turning a "blind eye" to.
The Riddler Wants To Clean Up Gotham City...
Riddler's overriding motivation in The Batman appears to be cleaning Gotham City of corruption - albeit in a manner more violent than Batman is willing to accept. Nashton assassinates his city's corrupt mayor and exposes Mitchell as a liar, leaving no doubt as to why the politician was targeted. He then crashes Don Mitchell's funeral with "DOA" (dead on arrival) painted onto the car. This event was presumably filled with police chiefs, city officials and other well-off types who would also make Riddler's hit-list for one reason or another. Considering his words and actions, Riddler appears to be on a self-appointed crusade to bring an end to the corruption of Gotham City, but is his "grand plan" just to kill as many public figures as possible before getting caught? Riddler is a smart man, and he surely realizes that Don Mitchell will inevitably be replaced by an equally corrupt replacement sooner or later. Nashton can't simply murder the rot out of Gotham - and this is where his Court of Owls obsession could come into play.
The Court of Owls are effectively the root of Gotham's economic and social disparity. They maintain a level of poverty and disorder to consolidate their own power and prosperity, and this ultimate act of corruption drips down to create a web of lies and injustice throughout the city. Riddler's plan, therefore, is probably to end corruption by taking out the Court of Owls.
Exactly why Edward Nashton has taken it upon himself to oppose a shady cabal with a history of assassination isn't yet known. Perhaps Riddler himself is a victim of Gotham's systematic corruption, similar to Arthur Fleck in Joker. Alternatively, Nashton may simply wish to prove his intelligence by any means possible - a traditional trait of the character in DC mythology. By being the man to finally expose and bring down the Court of Owls, Nashton could reasonably claim to have the sharpest mind in the history of Gotham City, and none could deny his supreme intellect. Ending corruption is more likely a means to a selfish end for Riddler, rather than his ultimate goal.
...But Riddler Also Wants To Play With Batman
Another aspect of Riddler's mission appears to personally involve Bruce Wayne, Batman, or both. Initially, The Batman's trailer shows Riddler addressing Gotham's vigilante via cryptic letters addressed to the costumed hero at crime scenes, and this is likely because Batman is the city's only trustworthy figure of justice. If the police and courts are all corrupt, it makes sense that Riddler would turn to an unimpeachable bastion of justice that risks his own life and dresses up like a Bat to help fellow citizens in peril. Riddler probably sees Batman as a like-minded ally, although those sentiments probably aren't reciprocated.
Nashton likely also realizes that going up against the Court of Owls alone is a foolish (and fatal) endeavor. Riddler has never been the most physical Batman villain, so it's smarter to manipulate the city's local crime-fighting renegade to do the heavy lifting in that respect. But if Riddler wants Batman's help, why not just write a letter explaining everything clearly? Nashton's methods play into his ego and "Riddler" persona, but his intention is probably to lead Bruce toward drawing his own conclusions, rather than spelling the conspiracy out in full from the start. If Riddler sent Bruce a full, detailed history of the Court of Owls in the mail, Batman perhaps wouldn't take the information seriously. But if Nashton can lead Batman to uncover the Court's existence for himself, he'll understand precisely how big a shadow hangs over Gotham.
In the closing moments of The Batman's trailer, Riddler's voiceover tells Robert Pattinson's brooding Bruce Wayne "you're a part of this too... you'll see." The Wayne family has a long history with the Court of Owls, with Thomas Wayne uncovering their existence and, naturally, opposing them. The hidden society is also linked to the Wayne murders, thereby making them responsible for creating Batman. If this is what Riddler is referring to in The Batman, he must know Bruce Wayne is Batman's secret identity. This makes sense, as not only does Riddler figure out Bruce's moonlighting in the DC comics, but if Nashton is smart enough to expose the existence of the Court of Owls, figuring out which rich Gothamite has a grudge against criminals and keeps going missing should be easy.
By leading Batman to open his eyes to the Court of Owls' existence, and realizing their role in his parents' deaths, Riddler can point Bruce Wayne towards the Court, then sit back and watch the fireworks. Whether the satisfaction of being "right" is Riddler's endgame, or whether he hopes to occupy into the power vacuum left after the Court's downfall remains to be seen. The Riddler's master plans are rarely straightforward, and that appears to be the case in The Batman too.
