Leaked Artwork Reveals The Batman’s Riddler, And It’s Not What You Expect
New concept art gives us a better look at what to expect from The Batman's Riddler.
This article is more than 2 years old
It is such a treat to get to learn more about how any new Batman series is going to develop the villains. Today, we have some leaked pictures of Riddler concept art designs that give us a real look at how this classic villain is going to appear in The Batman. The final word from Twitter? The design was inspired by the Zodiac Killer. It’s creepy. It’s ominous. It’s promising big things for The Batman and the March, 2022 release date seems very far away.
Okay, here is the leaked concept art for The Batman’s Riddler.
The image comes from a promotional calendar for The Batman planned to be sold in 2022. Merchandise often ends up leaking early, giving us a peek at what’s happening behind the scenes. It’s being placed beside the one image we have so far of Riddler from the trailer, which you can get a closer look at below.
Paul Dano is playing Riddler for The Batman. So far, we haven’t had so much as a peek of him without the mask on, which is likely intentional. The mask keeps him an unsettling unknown. That seems to be where we’re going with his character. While we don’t know much about the plot of the film, we know that Colin Farrell is playing The Penguin, Zoë Kravitz is Catwoman, and Paul Dano is Riddler. Writer/director Matt Reeves has said that this movie will show off more of Batman’s skills as a detective, so there’s likely a mystery element to the plot. With the creepy Zodiac Killer mask, it seems like Paul Dano’s Riddler may be up to dark crimes that Batman will be solving.
One of the best things about Batman movies is the villains. Joker, Catwoman, Bane, Mr. Freeze, Harley Quinn, Penguin, Poison Icy, Riddler. These characters are iconic, developed, and so much fun. Learning who the villains are in The Batman, who is playing them, and what they’re style on these classic villains is going to be is always exciting for any DC fan.
This time around, we know that writer and director Matt Reeves is bringing some of these classic characters in at the beginning of their villain journey. So, Catwoman will be called Selina Kyle. Penguin is Oswald Cobblepot. And Riddler is Edward Nashton. The significance comes in more than for just their names. This means that in The Batman we’re going to be exploring how they become the villains we know, exploring their motivations and what makes them tick. Now, this leaked concept art tells us that what makes Riddler tick is going to be the dark vibes of a killer. It seems likely that his early journey to becoming the villain we know is going to involve some unsettling murders.
While a lot of people are in love with the closer look at the ideas behind Riddler’s mask for The Batman, others are making fun of it. It’s easy to understand. The mask looks homemade. This is a similar reaction to what we’ve seen of Selina Kyle’s Catwoman mask in the trailer. However, after the trailer came out, Matt Reeves said that this is an early look at their journeys. They’re making their costumes at home. It was said that Selina Kyle’s Catwoman suit is going to look more sophisticated later on in the movie. It’s possible the same may happen for Riddler, though his mask does look more polished than we saw for Selina Kyle in the trailer. His character has had the time to think through putting on goggles, presumably to protect against blood splatter. This is certainly a far cry from Jim Carrey’s costume for Riddler. It definitely sets us up to expect big, dark things from The Batman.
