And yet when mentioning the term, Fanboys instantly focus their thoughts on The Joker and The Riddler.
You're the only one who's labeled The Riddler a poor man's Joker. Nobody else.
Yes, and I hated the attention The Riddler received when the time arrived for a new lead villain: "Yay! Another villain who solely threatens the psyche of Batman and no match for him physically!"
It's too bad for you that you hated it, because The Riddler is one of the most popular and iconic Batman villains who earned his status in Batman's rogues gallery. He's not an "event" villain like Hush or Bane who needed some event story to make him notable.
While The Riddler is not an unstable radical and violent anarchist carrying a bazooka, he does carries around the identical aura and delivery The Joker fancies. So while it's apples and oranges, it would be too uncanny for The Riddler to star in a Nolan sequel following The Joker. The general audience wouldn't be able to distinguish the difference between the two.
You have absolutely no basis for such an assumption. You say there the two villains are apples and oranges and then you go on to say the audiences wouldn't have the cop on to be able to distinguish between a villain who embraces chaos and wants to break people's spirits, and another one who challenges Batman with riddles.
Preposterous!
I admire Oswald's political tactics and antics but, at best, I simply see him as a member of the Falcone family. In context, I've never acknowledged him as a massive threat to Batman.
I still don't understand your basis for any of that. The Penguin can run roughshod over Gotham with the most terrible crimes you can think of and avoid getting caught, and you don't see how he can be a major threat?
As a supporting character he could work, but after the Joker was the main villain I don't see any way Riddler could have posed a bigger threat.
Any villain can be made a bigger threat based on how their written, just like how a big threat villain can be reduced in threat level. In the comics the Scarecrow is a major threat, yet Scarecrow was simply made a League lackey in Batman Begins who wasn't even in on the real agenda the LOS was planning, who was taken out by Katie Holmes and her taser.
You're missing my point. To be a compelling and effective cinematic story (especially for a teen-marketed film) it has to engage the audience, you have to make them care about the situation and show some serious threat. For Riddler to use riddles as well as threaten people's safety would seem very similar to some of Joker's threats.
No, it wouldn't. The Joker did not challenge Batman with riddles. He came along and simply created chaos to suit his ends.
The Riddler wouldn't rob a bank, kill all his henchmen in the process, and then burn the money. He wouldn't go to the mob and just make a deal to kill Batman for them. He wouldn't go around killing any mob guys who opposed him by pretending to be dead or feeding them to their own dogs. He wouldn't torture a copycat Batman on TV just to deliver a message. He wouldn't hang mutilated corpses from windows. He wouldn't disguise himself as a Cop to go and kill someone prominent like the Mayor. He wouldn't attack a platoon of SWAT and Cop vehicles with a bazooka. He wouldn't go into a hospital dressed as a nurse to break Harvey Dent. Riddler wouldn't threaten to blow up a hospital just to protect Batman's identity because he thinks Batman completes him. He wouldn't let himself get deliberately captured and then escape using a bomb he put in one of his own thug's stomach. He wouldn't try and force ferries full of people to blow each other up so he can prove they're all like him deep down.
Read this and see that what you got was pure Joker:
http://jokerfans.blogspot.com/2011/03/heath-ledgers-joker-comic-book-to-movie.html
Nothing like the Riddler.
It's not about what he does in the comics or animated episodes, it's about what can be marketed and sold effectively to an audience. The scale has to increase, the threat has to be greater.
That can easily be done with a good script.
Case in point, Bane is being written completely against his nature. Bane doesn't turn Gotham into warring factions against authority. Bane doesn't tackle greedy corporations. Bane doesn't post propaganda all over Gotham.
None of this is Bane's style. We might as well have had Deacon Blackfire as the villain because that is right up his alley. A year ago, if someone said the villain in TDKR is going to divide Gotham up into warring factions against authority, and he's going to tackle greedy corporations, would Bane be the villain who springs to mind when you heard that?
Of course not. I can't even recognize Bane visually in this movie let alone characteristically. So why you think The Riddler could not be made a fresh threat, especially since he's nothing like the Joker anyway, is beyond me.
But that means nothing when trying to create a more impressive and fresher film.
Which can be done with the Riddler because he's a different breed of villain entirely to the Joker.
Thanks for posting that blog post, awesome read! And btw, you couldn't be more spot on about Riddler. Still would love to see what Nolan could of done with him. I can't believe some Batman fans on here quickly forgot what kind of villain he was especially in BTAS which were some of the best episodes.
Thank you. I wrote that blog myself.
.....Riddler and Penguin would sure as hell get more people hyped for this movie than most batman villains.
Its funny how certain fans of other characters want their favorite villains to have the benefit of the doubt despite the fact that said character hasnt been a legitmitate threat in years, yet will down other villains for practically the same reason. riddler and penguin are jokes, but for some reason, guys like black mask and deacon blackfire, for example, are the bees knees?
QFT
