Spoiler Warning: The BatmanThough Robert Pattinson’s version of Gotham’s Caped Crusader opts for a more detective work heavy, slinks through dark rainy alleyways type of superheroism, The Batman was anything but subtle during its immediate theatrical run. A successful box office return that would make even Heath Ledger’s Joker himself reconsider his anti-capitalist antics, combined with a wealth of positive reviews that would make Jack Nicholson’s iteration of the clown prince of crime respect its artistic merit, has already cemented this gritty adaptation a place amid the already impressive Batman flick archives.
Arguably the most important facet of any installment in the Batman franchise is a good ol’ fashioned villain. Batman didn’t master myriad martial arts, hone his detective skills, and engineer a particularly shocking new Bat-toy not to open up a can of bat-justice on a baddy. Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood, Little Miss Sunshine) puts in a stellar performance as The Riddler. His depiction, in keeping with The Batman’s broody, bone-chilling aesthetic, is of a psychologically unhinged serial killer who targets members of Gotham’s upper crust. Dano’s turn as The Riddler stands out among a crowd of equally impressive performances too numerous to list without them occupying the bulk of this article. Any moviegoer has to have left The Batman with one question on their mind; will The Riddler return in any upcoming installments?
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Gotham Still Has Some Reckoning to Do
Warner Bros. Pictures
We all kind of got The Riddler. Of course, it was difficult to see the benefit gleaned from some of the gnarlier tortures Paul Dano’s Riddler inflicted on his victims. Still, in the more abstract sense, we, as audience members, were meant to experience some level of sympathy with the damaged Edward Nashton. We learn of his tragic upbringing as an orphan in the ruthless underbelly of Gotham City. If that wasn’t enough, those who find themselves in the cross-hairs of his horrific attacks are sufficiently murky of character to bring about justifications of The Riddler’s actions from certain viewers. In light of the mass casualties The Riddler likely inflicted on Gotham’s innocent at the film’s conclusion, his sympathy has undoubtedly worn thin on viewers. However, given a possible return in upcoming movies, who wouldn’t appreciate seeing a few of the more corrupt in Gotham’s upper strata get a brutal lesson in class politics at the hands of the Riddler?
Riddler’s Watery Legacy Lives On
Given the uniquely moist state in which Gotham City finds itself at the end of The Batman, one might feel that the next foe for Pattinson’s caped crusader should come from the Aquaman universe. Jokes aside, the current situation in Gotham leaves the viewer flooded with emotion. Jokes aside once again, Riddler left Gotham very literally underwater. Worse than that, his terrorist attack took a sledgehammer to the already crumbling political structure of the city.
RELATED:The Batman’s Paul Dano Explains Why the Riddler Probably Plays Wordle
In a voice-over at The Batman’s conclusion, the caped crusader explains that martial law was declared. Without delving into the details, it means, particularly in an enfeebled Gotham City, that a lot of bad people will soon be vying for supremacy. Can Riddler find a niche in the newly minted hellscape that is Gotham? Perhaps the state of lawlessness will enable Dano’s Riddler and another, to-be-discussed-in-a-paragraph-below detainee of the Arkham correctional system to escape incarceration.
That Scene at the End…Yeah, That Scene
It happened. Though audiences have been treated to a fair few versions of Gotham’s Clown Prince of Crime in recent years, our last glimpse at Paul Dano’s Riddler, confined to a padded prison cell, comes with a twist – the twisted laugh of the Joker. Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) will tackle this coveted role in future installments of the franchise. Audiences can speculate which new direction the Joker character will be taken in subsequent films. This teaser almost certainly guarantees that Paul Dano will have a role in the clown’s plans for Gotham’s destruction.
The New Scarecrow
DC Comics
To end on a brief little tidbit about the Batman universe, the only villain to make an appearance in every installment of The Dark Knight trilogy was Cillian Murphy (Inception, Peaky Blinders), appearing in all three films as The Scarecrow, a villainous psychologist. Murphy’s Scarecrow first attempts to poison the water supply. He is arrested in The Dark Knight but gets to return as a kangaroo court judge in The Dark Knight Rises. Might the creators of The Batman take a note from their predecessor in the field of caped crusader adaptation Christopher Nolan and give Paul Dano’s Riddler, who, much like The Scarecrow, was the primary threat of this film, a trilogy-spanning arc?
RELATED: The Batman’s Paul Dano Discusses His Intense, Scary Version of The Riddler
If you’re reading this, whatever big-wig is in charge at the DC cinematic universe headquarters, the fans demand that Paul Dano’s Riddler break from his confinement at Gotham’s most notorious prison. We insist on more twisted word games, and we look forward even more to whatever Saw-like contraptions Edward can whip up in The Batman’s sequels. Give us Dano, or give us death.
