The Dark Knight Rises Riddle Me This: The Riddler Characterization Thread

[Ratcrawler]

Spectacular.

This is literally the first interpretation that I've heard that really makes me excited to see the Riddler adapted into the Nolan-verse.

Thank you.

Wow, thanks. Whenever I put up a semi-original revamp idea, I expect to be ripped 10 ways from sunday

Yeah, the idea is a bit of a Zodiac/Jigsaw combo but I think it works. Maybe he targets the faculty of Gotham's worst school, or some MTV like studio resPonsible for mind-numbingly stupid programming. Maybe he kills them or instead empties their bank accounts and erases their identities. (profits himself) I haven't got the sPecifics down.

Also, he wants his public persona to be E. Nygma but the media dubs him "The Riddler" in following with The Joker. He hates this.

 

[I Am The Knight]

Wow, thanks. Whenever I put up a semi-original revamp idea, I expect to be ripped 10 ways from sunday

Yeah, the idea is a bit of a Zodiac/Jigsaw combo but I think it works. Maybe he targets the faculty of Gotham's worst school, or some MTV like studio resPonsible for mind-numbingly stupid programming. Maybe he kills them or instead empties their bank accounts and erases their identities. (profits himself) I haven't got the sPecifics down.

Also, he wants his public persona to be E. Nygma but the media dubs him "The Riddler" in following with The Joker. He hates this.

This is what I thought you meant in my previous post, in terms of gimmick: Jigsaw. So he targets the stupid and the shallow, Saw style, and forces them to play a game of wits for survival?

 

[Ronny Shade]

It is definitly a different take on Riddler that doesn't deviate far from the original character. I do like it overall. However his motives do feel to be that of Posion Ivy/ Rahs Al Ghul.

TDK taught me the lesson that in order to make a villain truly engaging, he has to in some ways be the hero.

 

[Two-Face]

Nolan can do Riddler like Kevin Spacey's character in Se7en.

 

[Ronny Shade]

Yeah. but less gruesome.

Give Riddler some beef with the police force...like they didn't solve his wife's murder or something and he'll commit crimes to baffle them. Then he gets obsessed with Batman and does them for him.

This could really work, making him sympathetic and menacing at the same time.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Yeah. but less gruesome.

Give Riddler some beef with the police force...like they didn't solve his wife's murder or something and he'll commit crimes to baffle them. Then he gets obsessed with Batman and does them for him.

This could really work, making him sympathetic and menacing at the same time.

Yea. "You couldn't solve the murder of my wife!! Now try and solve this!!"

Something like that anyway.

 

[Crook]

I see absolutely no correlation between the two. In fact, that quote highlights the ridiculousness of the concept.

 

[I Am The Knight]

"You couldn't solve the murder of my wife!! Now try and solve this, you bastards!!" *Raises fist*

Fixed, LOL

 

[Ronny Shade]

beautiful

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Fixed, LOL

Epicness!!

 

[stlblues84]

Did anyone happen to catch Criminal Minds last night? Jason Alexander portrayal of a puzzle obsessed killer is exactly the style and characterization of how I want Riddler to be portrayed in a movie, minus the look. But his voice, his calm nature, and the clues he left were in my mind perfect.

Again, not what he looked like, but if you can take someone, give him the riddler's look, and then make him act like that character from last night, that's one creepy dude.

 

[The Guard]

All these new takes on The Riddler, as interesting as they are, almost completely deviate from the original character quite a bit. What does "survival of the fittest" have to do with The Riddler?

"You're not smart, so you die"?

I fail to see how making The Riddler into Apocalypse makes sense. Not sure how that would work in the context of a Batman story. He should leave riddles because he likes the challenge involved, and because he is compelled to taunt people with his intelligence, and have some broader ambitions beyond that for his place in Gotham and the world, and his relationship with Batman. The same reason he's always had.

Sans the bank robberies.

 

[Ronny Shade]

I guess I never really liked the Riddler.

 

[CaptainClown]

TDK taught me the lesson that in order to make a villain truly engaging, he has to in some ways be the hero.

Well thats the way to write all villains. Except for truely evil villains like The Joker who don't see any heroic acts in anything they do.

 

[Ratcrawler]

It's not so much a "you're not smart so you die." thing as much of a "you're supposed to be smart considering the position that your in but instead, you're just making everybody dumber." Doesn't role off the tongue as well but you get it.

As far as the look goes, I'm probably in the minority here but I kind of liked The Batman's. Not that I'm suggesting it for the movie but I don't much care for the door to door salesman look. I'm playing around with a look in mind involving a tight green mesh shirt over a torso covered with question mark tattoos. Bowler hat would be nice too.

 

[stlblues84]

All these new takes on The Riddler, as interesting as they are, almost completely deviate from the original character quite a bit. What does "survival of the fittest" have to do with The Riddler?

"You're not smart, so you die"?

I fail to see how making The Riddler into Apocalypse makes sense. Not sure how that would work in the context of a Batman story. He should leave riddles because he likes the challenge involved, and because he is compelled to taunt people with his intelligence, and have some broader ambitions beyond that for his place in Gotham and the world, and his relationship with Batman. The same reason he's always had.

Sans the bank robberies.

I agree. I want him to have a God complex. Meaning he thinks he is so much smarter than society, that he can even leave clues and knows you can't beat him.

He should also be very subtle, soft toned, and never shaken.

 

[Mindreaper21]

From the Gotham Times

"Dent Cannot Be Believed"
So now Assistant District Attorney Harvey Dent pretends to turn upside-down the city, speaking of truth, justice and so on. Should we believe him? I think not. The more he's posing as a man of justice, the more it means he is corrupted like every powerful man in the city.

Right now Dent seems different from the others, but that is only part of the game, so he can get power by the fools who support him. A man who comes in the darkest moments to save the situation exists only in fables; in real life, people like that have always had other (bad) intentions.

Edward Nashton
Granton Beach

Ok, so what can we expect for The Riddler to be like based on this? Right now he resides at a beach, but what could possibly make him want to go to Gotham? He still refers to himself as Nashton, so there is no total transformation yet. We know that Nolan won't have him trying to figure out who Batman is, that was done already and Nolan is not the type of guy to do what was done already. Nolan would also take the darkest and most meaningful aspects of The Riddler's history, as he did with the other characters. The Riddler makes a reference of "the game", so you better believe there will be some BTAS aspects in Nolan's version. The Riddler has always been a thief as well as a killer. The Riddler comes off as very inteligent, but since he thinks that the "Powerful men" of Gotham are corrupted, I'm sure that The Riddler won't be someone working for the FBI or anything totally important. Most likely he will have a job somewhat above average. Maybe he wants to take down the "powerful" (wealthy) people of Gotham. (or maybe he just doesn't like Dent lol) Either way, it all comes down to Batman playing The Riddler's deadly game. But what kind of "game" could The Riddler have in mind?...I hope that this movie would somewhat like "The Prestige"/ "se7en" where we, ourselves, are searching for clues along with Batman. The story being seen through the eyes of both Batman and The Riddler. The answers being revealed at the very end of the movie. Filled with action, suspence, and MR. E . I hope that The Riddler will also be calm and creepy like he was in BTAS (another example being Hannibal Lector).

 

[CaptainClown]

he sounds more like a paranoid

 

[Mindreaper21]

he sounds more like a paranoid

Through the letter?

 

[CaptainClown]

ya through the letter

 

[kid dropper]

i got the impression "granton beach" was a district in gotham, like brighton beach, or rockaway beach in brooklyn

 

[ThePoisonPuppet]

Yeah Granton Beach is probably just a neighborhood and should not be read into.

Also, the Riddler could still be a man of authority like an FBI or cop or someone. If you read between the lines in the letter, he might have that thought pattern because that is how HE is. Kind of like how Dent admitted you die a hero or become a villain.

Another possible route would be to make him an ex cop or FBI and disgusted with the way they were so he became a P.I.

 

[protoctista]

I dount think the letter was written by Nolan, authorised by Nolan or even considered by Nolan.

It was just part of the marketing process to give fans continued cock tease.

 

[Ronny Shade]

Well thats the way to write all villains. Except for truely evil villains like The Joker who don't see any heroic acts in anything they do.

The Joker was very heroic in TDK

 

[CaptainClown]

The Joker was very heroic in TDK

no, he didn't view what he was doing as being heroic. The Joker knows he is evil and finds no redeeming quality in his actions, he just does what he does.