The Riddler General Information Real name: Edward Nigma (Sometimes uses Nygma or Nashton.) First Appearance:
His real name–Edward Nigma–is a pun itself; an “enigma” is a person or thing that is difficult to understand. With this self-conscious use of an elaborate gimmick, the Riddler’s crimes are often theatrical and ostentatious.
The Riddler ( Edward Nigma, later Edward Nygma and Edward Nashton) is a supervillain appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared in Detective Comics #140 (October 1948), created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang.
The Riddler made an appearance in Batman, vol. 2, #21, the opening book of the ” Zero Year ” arc, where his surname is changed from Edward Nigma or Nashton to Nygma. The Riddler later appears in both the second and third chapters of the “Zero Year” storyline.
But later DC continuity, following the “Crisis on Infinite Earths” event, established his birth name as Edward Nashton. Later, this version of the character would change his surname to Nigma in order to fit his supervillain persona, but it seems Reeves has embraced the more grounded “Nashton” for Paul Dano’s Riddler in The Batman.
Nygma became the Riddler and set his sights on ruling Gotham’s underworld. Edward Nigma was abused by his father and was very intelligent, so he felt a compulsive need to always tell the truth but would do so through riddles.
Who voices the Riddler?
He has been adapted for media including films, television series, and video games. The Riddler has been voiced by John Glover in the DC animated universe, Robert Englund in The Batman and Wally Wingert in the Batman: Arkham video game series.
He first appeared in Detective Comics #140 (October 1948). The Riddler is commonly depicted as a criminal mastermind in Gotham City who takes delight in incorporating riddles and puzzles into his schemes, leaving them as clues for the authorities to solve.
In Catwoman: When in Rome, he joins Selina Kyle on a trip to Italy in search of his fellow rogue’s origins. It is there that he manipulates her into believing that some of Batman’s most dangerous foes are after her. He has his henchmen employ several gimmicks and weapons used by the Scarecrow, Mr. Freeze and the Joker to achieve this. He hopes to extract Batman’s real identity from her, but to his dismay, she actually doesn’t know or care. The Riddler appears in The Question series, being convinced to become a “big-time villain” by a prostitute he meets on a bus. He hijacks the bus and begins asking riddles, killing and robbing anyone that gets them wrong. Question quickly subdues him by asking him philosophical riddles in return. He is outwitted and has a mental breakdown before being set free as a reward for getting one last riddle right. In the one-shot “Riddler: The Riddle Factory”, the Riddler becomes the host of an underground game show that focuses on digging up dirt on celebrities. Many of the famous people that he humiliates end up committing suicide shortly afterward, suggesting that perhaps Riddler did more than just inspire their deaths. In the end, his actions turn out to be a front for his attempts to find the hidden treasures of “Scarface” Scarpelli, a Gotham City gangster who lived long before Batman’s reign of crimefighting.
The walls are electrically wired, and a set of bumpers are the only thing that prevents the water from touching the walls and causing Batman to die by electrocution . The only options Batman appears to have are death by electrocution and death by drowning, but as always, Batman manages to tamper with the trap’s design and develop a route of escape. After Harley Quinn briefly breaks free of her devotion to the Joker, she attempts to hold up a large party at Wayne Manor, only to find that the Riddler is targeting the building also. The two gangs engage in a firefight, but Harley gains the upper hand when Big Barda (who was secretly allied with her at the time) interrupts the conflict and captures the Riddler and his men. During the storyline, Riddler makes constant allusions to a “mystery” that is hidden within the mansion, and after his apprehension, damage done to the building causes the entrance to the Batcave to open. Riddler sees this, and then declares that he has “solved the riddle of Wayne Manor”. During this period, he attacks Black Canary and Green Arrow in Star City, and he is easily defeated. This event helps lay the foundations for Riddler’s future confrontations with Green Arrow.
His low reputation among heroes and villains was reflected when the Flash noted that Batman having trouble with Riddler was a clear sign that the world was ending.
In Detective Comics #822, the first of a series of issues written by veteran Batman writer Paul Dini, the Riddler returns, having spent much of the previous year in a coma due to brain damage after being struck in the head by Shining Knight.
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In the eight-part story arc “The War of Jokes and Riddles”, commencing with Batman Vol. 3 #25, flashbacks to a year after the events of ” Zero Year ” have Batman recounting the details of a war between Riddler and Joker.
Who is the Riddler in Batman?
Though, naturally, I prefer to think of them as riddles.”. The Riddler, ( Edward “E.” Nigma, also spelled Nygma by some writers), is an enemy of Batman. Created by writer Bill Finger and artist Dick Sprang, he first appeared in Detective Comics #140 (October 1948).
During the party, an old friend of Bruce’s falls overboard and is mauled to death by sharks.
Thomas Elliot ‘s mother. Riddler used one of Ra’s Al Ghul ‘s Lazarus Pits to rid himself of the disease, and offered Elliot the chance to cure his mother as well, provided he paid a large sum of money. However, Elliot was in fact eager for his mother to die in order to inherit her fortune. Elliot, who went on to secretly become the masked criminal known as Hush, explained that he would only give Riddler the money he wanted if Riddler played along with his “game” to get revenge on his childhood friend Bruce Wayne; Riddler agreed, and the two of them set Killer Croc, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, The Joker, Clayface (Johnny Williams), and Scarecrow out to destroy Batman, with Ra’s and Talia Al Ghul, Lady Shiva (In Ra’s’s employ) and Superman (Temporarily under Ivy’s control) being temporarily drawn into the scheme as well.
Batman decided that one of the clues was too easily unraveled and must’ve been a false lead. Thus, the other clue must predict the scene of the Riddler’s next crime. Solving the latest riddle, Batman rushed to the scene of the crime and caught the Riddler red-handed in the middle of a robbery, easily apprehending him.
In Detective Comics #797-799 the Riddler faces a great humiliation at the hands of Poison Ivy in the storyline entitled “Low”, which took place the same time as “War Games” In this encounter, the Riddler would seek shelter from Ivy only to be humiliated.
Jim Carrey played the Riddler in the 1995 film Batman Forever with Gorshin as his inspiration, although the concurrent Batman: The Animated Series p
referred to show the character as a calmer, intellectual egotist, more obsessed with proving his own cleverness than in creating puzzles.
In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Batman first mentions Riddler in a call to Commissioner Gordon that he halted Riddler’s “crossword puzzle crime spree”, but Riddler does not appear.
What is the Riddler’s real name?
In the New Earth version, the Riddler’s real name was Edward Nashton before he changed it to Edward Nigma for a new goal in life. However, in most other versions, he was born as Edward Nigma, Edward Nygma, E. Nigma, or Edward E. Nigma. Jonah Hill was rumored to be in talks for the Riddler before Paul Dano was cast.
Riddler in The Batman Universe will be the fifth live-action incarnation of the character following incarnations portrayed by Frank Gorshin, John Astin, Jim Carrey, and Cory Michael Smith.
