The character theme by Michael Giacchino for Paul Dano's The Riddler in Matt Reeves' The Batman has officially been released. The Dark Knight is about to be reinterpreted once again, this time with Robert Pattinson donning the iconic cape and cowl. While it won't be an origin story, The Batman will tell the tale of Bruce Wayne's second year as Gotham City's protector. As Batman is reimagined, so are some of his iconic foes, including DC villains like Penguin and The Riddler. However, Dano's Riddler is set to have a much darker approach.
While there have only been a handful of live-action interpretations of The Riddler, Dano's iteration is a completely different animal. Since day one when marketing kicked off, The Batman has given just glimpses of Edward Nashton's portrayal in the film. All trailers that have been released depict Reeves' approach to The Riddler as a Zodiac Killer-like figure. The film is also going to great lengths of avoiding showing Dano's face, and putting more emphasis on Riddler's voice to make him as intimidating as possible.
As The Batman is less than a month away from releasing in theaters, Warner Bros. (via its WaterTower Music) has released the official character score for The Riddler. Composed by Giacchino, the theme comes only a few weeks after the studio debuted The Batman's main music for the titular hero himself. Listen to the full soundtrack below, which is also available on other platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music:
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Given that Dano's Riddler is so completely different from past actors like Cory Michael Smith and Jim Carrey, Giacchino's theme is on a whole other level. Despite how The Batman is depicting The Riddler as a terrorist, it's chilling to hear the score come with a very playful element at first. It's also reminiscent of what composer Hans Zimmer did for The Joker in The Dark Knight, which slowly builds up to the intense central melody. Similar to the main score for the Caped Crusader, The Riddler's soundtrack has some beats akin to Batman: The Animated Series while also being a new product in its own right. Whether or not Giacchino used the animated show as an inspiration is unclear, but it wouldn't be shocking if that were the case. Previous incarnations of The Riddler have mostly been played up for comedic beats, which is why the character has never had a memorable score until now.
All in all, Giacchino has composed a haunting theme for The Riddler that will be difficult to forget once The Batman arrives in theaters. At this point, it wouldn't be a surprise if the next score to come out is for Zoë Kravitz's Selina Kyle/Catwoman. If Reeves and Giacchino are following the same pattern, then it's possible that the next theme will be released in two weeks, which was the time period between the two latest themes. With The Riddler's score released, Warner Bros. is continuing to sell The Batman as a very unique and twisted DC movie, but most importantly, a new take on The Dark Knight's universe.
Source: Michael Giacchino/WaterTower Music
