WARNING: This article contains spoilers for The Batman.
Both Batman Forever and The Batman featured the Riddler, and there's a similar element in how the films used the villain. Released in 1995, Batman Forever saw Batman being recast for the first time while the film brought together rising star Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones in the roles of Riddler and Two-Face. 27 years later, one of the smartest villains from Batman's rogue's gallery has returned to theaters, now played by Paul Dano.
Once again leaning into the darker and more violent side of Batman, The Batman took the Dark Knight back to his roots with a classic detective story. Robert Pattinson was chosen by Matt Reeves to play this younger Batman, and a stellar cast filled out the rest of the film's roles, including Jeffrey Wright as James Gordon, Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kule, and John Turturro as Carmine Falcone. Inspired by stories like Year One and The Long Halloween, The Batman brought an unexplored side of not just Batman but his villains to the big screen.
Paul Dano's Riddler and Jim Carrey's Riddler couldn't be more different, but one of the former’s last scenes in The Batman was very reminiscent of Edward Nygma's final appearance in Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever. In Batman Forever, Edward Nygma announces to everyone that he knows who Batman is. However, it was nothing more than a psychotic break from Nygma, who had had his mind melted by his own device. Just as in Joel Schumacher's film, Robert Pattinson's Batman had to run towards Arkham after suspecting that the Riddler (going by his original name, Edward Nashton, in Reeves' film) might know his true identity. In The Batman, the whole atmosphere of the conversation between Batman and the Riddler in Arkham indicated that the villain knew who the man behind the mask was, but that ended up being just the movie playing with the audiences’ expectations. In both Batman Forever and The Batman, audiences were led to believe, at least for a few minutes, that the Riddler would expose Batman's identity. The main difference is that, in the case of Batman Forever, the Riddler actually got to discover Batman's identity. In The Batman, the Riddler separated the images of spoiled orphan Bruce Wayne and violent vigilante Batman so much that the connection between the two went unnoticed by his intellect.
Riddler's Obsession With The Batman Also Mimics Nigma's Bruce Wayne Infatuation
While Paul Dano's and Jim Carrey's Riddlers are quite different, there is another element that both versions share: the villain's obsession with both Batman and Bruce Wayne. In an interesting parallel, Paul Dano's Riddler idolized and was inspired by Batman in the same way that Jim Carrey's Riddler admired and even envied Bruce Wayne. In different ways, both Batman Forever and The Batman created a somewhat personal connection between hero and villain.
In The Batman, the Riddler idolizing Batman proved how Bruce Wayne still wasn't really making a difference in Gotham and was instead inspiring more violence and anarchy in the city. It’s exactly in the conversation between Batman and Riddler at Arkham Asylum that Batman begins to realize his crusade in Gotham was having the opposite effect of what he had imagined. In Batman Forever, wanting to be better and more famous than Bruce Wayne was what inspired Edward Nygma to use the money acquired from the Riddler's crimes to invest in a TV box project that would dominate Gotham and make him the biggest businessman in town.
It's interesting how two interpretations of the same character spread across The Batman and Batman Forever that were fundamentally so different ended up sharing similarities, even if not intentionally. Batman and his world benefit from reinterpretations, and The Batman's success at the box office proves it. Paul Dano's Riddler didn't get to say "riddle me this", but he did manage to shine as a grounded, scary villain.
