On the Batman movie poster, there is a very subtle concealed Riddler feature. Paul Dano plays the renowned riddling Batman villain in Matt Reeves’ dark and brutal new Caped Crusader drama.
The Riddler was a significant nemesis of Batman in the early DC comic books, alongside The Joker, The Penguin, and others. Frank Gorshin, who played the nefarious figure in the 1960s Batman television series, was the first to bring him to life in a campy way on screen.
For the first time on the big screen, Jim Carrey played The Riddler in Batman Forever. The character has appeared in a variety of media, from Gotham to the animated Harley Quinn TV show. It’s safe to say, though, that The Riddler will not look like he has in previous on-screen appearances when he returns for The Batman.
Indeed, Dano’s Riddler is largely forgotten in the marketing materials and trailers for The Batman. The Batman’s newest image doesn’t show the villain at all, but a hidden detail reveals at how important he is to the film. The mask and beard stubble of Robert Pattinson’s Batman are prominently featured on the poster. Focusing on Batman’s eye, on the other hand, reveals the Riddler’s hidden message: the character’s characteristic question mark symbol.
Several trailers have featured that question mark.
Meanwhile, according to Screenrant, the Riddler has only been spotted a few times, most recently in a photo that depicts the character looking more like a crazed serial killer or a forest-dwelling anti-government doomsday prepper than a Batman foe. Surprisingly, the new Riddler’s non-comic-book aesthetic suggests that Reeves and his team are going for something different from previous big-screen Batman adaptations. It’ll be interesting to see if the new, less campy Riddler is indeed a terrifying adversary for Pattinson’s gloomy Kurt Cobain-inspired hermit Bruce Wayne.
