Riddler in other media
was originally a comic book character and Batman's adversary, but has been substantially adapted from the comics into various forms of media, including feature 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 video game series. He has also been portrayed by Frank Gorshin and John Astin in the 1960s Batman television series, Jim Carrey in the 1995 film Batman Forever, Cory Michael Smith in the FOX television show Gotham, and Paul Dano in the upcoming 2021 film The Batman.
Television
Live action
- The Riddler appears in the 1960s Batman television series and as one of the villains in the theatrical film spin-off. Frank Gorshin portrayed Riddler in the first and third season of the series and the film and John Astin portrayed Riddler in the second season. He made four appearances in season 1 but was reduced to only one appearance per season afterwards. The popular television series was inspired by the first Silver Age appearance of the Riddler, with the premiere episode being an adaptation of Batman #171.
- Frank Gorshin also portrayed the Riddler in Legends of the Superheroes in 1979.
- Edward Nygma is featured in the TV series Gotham, where he is portrayed by Cory Michael Smith. This version is a forensic scientist working for the Gotham City Police Department who has a fondness for expressing findings in the form of riddles. He eventually turns to crime, however, and terrorizes Gotham as the Riddler. The series traces his evolution into a master criminal, as well as his complicated, love–hate relationship with fellow criminal Oswald Cobblepot.
- In the fourth episode of the first season of the NBC series Powerless, the Riddler sends his henchmen to Charm City to steal a weapon from Wayne Security that would allow him to attack Arkham Asylum. One of the Riddler's henchmen dates Emily Locke, who worked for the firm, in an attempt to get close to the weapon. Their plot is foiled when Van Wayne enters the office in a Robin costume and the Riddler's henchmen all scatter, thinking that Batman must be nearby.
Animation
DC animated universe
- The Riddler appears in the DC animated universe, voiced by John Glover. For this version, the producers decided to play against the popular Frank Gorshin image of a cackling trickster to avoid confusion with the Joker, instead portraying the character as a smooth intellectual who presents genuinely challenging puzzles. The series's creators admit they did not use him often because his character often made story plots too long, too complex or too bizarre, and the creators also found it very hard to devise the villain's riddles.
- * Riddler appears in '. The character's design consists of a green suit and a purple mask. In his debut episode "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?", Edward Nygma becomes the Riddler after being unjustly fired by his greedy employer, Dan Mockridge, whom he tries to kill. Despite Batman solving his riddles, he evades capture and later appears in "What Is Reality?", where he returns to delete his identity and locks Commissioner Gordon into a virtual reality world. Batman outsmarts him, however, and finally apprehends the villain by solving his riddle. Unlike the other villains that escaped Arkham Asylum, Riddler is actually released due to good behavior. He returns in the episode "Riddler's Reform", where he works at a toy company and uses his Riddler persona to advertise them and make millions. However, Riddler finds that he cannot control his need to commit riddle-based crimes, and eventually makes a seemingly inescapable deathtrap for Batman. The Dark Knight manages to survive, however and apprehends him. When Batman refuses to tell him how he escaped, Riddler is returned to Arkham, plagued continuously by Batman's survival.
- * Riddler makes cameo appearances in The New Batman Adventures. The character's design is completely different: lacking the hair and mask and dressed in a unitard with a large question mark. In the episode "Over the Edge", Riddler was seen on a talk show with the other Batman villains in Batgirl's nightmare induced by Scarecrow's fear gas. In the episode "Judgement Day", Riddler was among the victims of the vigilante known as The Judge at the time he was crashing a banquet, being crushed by The Judge.
- * Riddler appears in '. In the episode "Knight Time", he is in league with Bane and the Mad Hatter to take advantage of Batman's recent disappearance. However, Riddler is quickly captured by Superman and Robin, being the latter the one who handcuffs him to the cage where he had locked him.
- * Riddler makes a silent cameo appearance on Batman Beyond. In the episode "Black Out", one of Riddler's costumes is seen on display at the Batcave. Mannequins of the Riddler were also seen on display at the Batcave in the episodes "Disappearing Inque", "Splicers" and "Sneak Peek". In the episode, Terry's Friend Dates a Robot", an android drone in the guise of the Riddler fights the new Batman. When asked about Riddler's fate, show's creator Paul Dini jokingly stated that the Riddler retired and started running a men's clothing store with the Mad Hatter as his partner.
- * Riddler was originally planned to appear in the third season of Justice League Unlimited, as a member of the Legion of Doom. Due to the Bat-embargo, this was not possible. This would have been a tribute to his appearance in Challenge of the Super Friends as one of the original 13 members of the Legion of Doom.
- * In a mannequin of the Riddler is seen in the Batcave.
Other shows
- The Riddler made his first appearance in animated form in the Filmation Batman installments have first seen on CBS Saturday Morning in 1968 as part of The Batman/Superman Hour, with Ted Knight providing his voice.
- The Riddler did not appear in the 1977 The New Adventures of Batman episodes. However, he did appear in the show's opening wearing a red version of his outfit. He was also mentioned in the news as being arrested for a crime.
- The Riddler appeared in Hanna-Barbera's
- In 2005, a interpretation of the Riddler debuted in The Batman episode "Riddled", voiced by Robert Englund. This version exhibits a Gothic appearance and is served by henchmen called Riddlemen. The episode "Riddler's Revenge" reveals that Nygma and his partner Julie worked at a university on a device to enhance the human brain. Nygma was approached by a man named Gorman who offered to buy the rights to the invention, but Nygma refused. After the device malfunctioned at a demonstration, Nygma accused Gorman of sabotage. After an attempt to kill Gorman, Nygma fled when Batman rescued him. By the episode "Riddled", Nygma has adopted his Riddler persona. Years later in "Riddler's Revenge", Nygma tried to kill Gorman again, but Batman stopped him and Nygma realized it was not Gorman who sabotaged him but his own partner Julie, who betrayed Nygma out of greed, which broke Nygma's heart.
- The Riddler is featured in , voiced by John Michael Higgins. He is mentioned but not seen during Batman's call to Commissioner Gordon in "Deep Cover For Batman!". In the teaser for "A Bat Divided!", Riddler has a game show 'Riddle Me This' where Booster Gold fails to solve the riddles, harming Batman. Batman eventually frees himself and the two fight Riddler and his henchmen. Batman's riddle to Riddler is "Why are you like a clock in cement" with the answer being "Because your both doing hard time." In the main story of "The Criss Cross Conspiracy!", he was the target of revenge by Batwoman, whom he had humiliated ten years earlier by unmasking her in public.
- The Riddler appears in the Young Justice cartoon series, voiced by Dave Franco. In "Terrors", he is an inmate of Belle Reve who escapes. In "Misplaced", a spell cast by Klarion the Witch Boy, Wotan, Blackbriar Thorn, Felix Faust and Wizard splits the Earth into two dimensions as a diversion to enable Riddler and Sportsmaster to steal an organism from S.T.A.R. Labs. In "Usual Suspect", Riddler joins Cheshire, Mammoth and Shimmer in ambushing the Young Justice Team at a crashed airplane. He did a riddle upon the attack about a type of plant to which Robin answered "Ambush." Riddler is incapacitated by Zatanna and reveals Hugo Strange as a member of the Light.
- The Riddler appears in the DC Nation Shorts, voiced by "Weird Al" Yankovic in the "Riddle Me This!" short. Here he asks the viewers different questions while Batman gets out of the traps answering the questions.
- The Riddler makes a cameo appearance in Teen Titans Go! episode "The Titans Show", where the Control Freak brings him, along with various other supervillains, to take on the Titans.
- The Riddler appears in Justice League Action, voiced by Brent Spiner. This version doesn't wear a mask and has a shaved head. In the episode "E. Nygma, Consulting Detective" after being released from Arkham Asylum, Riddler helps Wonder Woman and Green Arrow find Batman after he was captured by Joker and due to the fact that Joker is stealing his riddle motif. The riddles that Riddler deciphers takes them to Solomon Grundy's cell where Riddler distracts him with a finger trap puzzle, the Iceberg Lounge where the riddle was under Penguin's trick umbrella, and the Gotham Art Museum where Joker gets Wonder Woman trapped. Upon Green Arrow freeing himself from the ribbon trap, he and Wonder Woman save Batman from being cut by the Lady of Justice statue when Joker tempts Riddler to use the voice-activated trap upon solving the Mississippi riddle. Upon Joker being apprehended, it was revealed that Joker did this because Riddler ate his doughnut. As Riddler walked off, he quotes "Riddle me this, Gotham. Who's getting better and better every day in every way? Me."
- The Riddler appears in the web series DC Super Hero Girls, voiced by Yuri Lowenthal. He appears as a student at Super Hero High.
- The Riddler appears in the Harley Quinn animated series, voiced by Jim Rash. In "Til Death Do Us Part", he is incarcerated in Arkham Asylum, but triggers a mass breakout after smuggling in an orange seed for Poison Ivy. He later starts a crime wave before capturing both Batman and Harley Quinn in a death trap to force Joker to save one of them. After the clown prince chooses Batman, Riddler reveals the trap was fake and that he teamed up with Ivy to convince Harley that Joker doesn't love her. Following this, he makes minor sporadic appearances throughout the rest of season one, some of which established him as a member of the Legion of Doom. In the season two premiere, "New Gotham", following the Legion and Gotham's destruction, Riddler formed the Injustice League alongside fellow survivors Two-Face, Bane, Penguin, and Mr. Freeze to take advantage of the chaos and divide what's left of Gotham between them. In the following episode, "Riddle U", after having dealt with Penguin, Harley and her crew go after Riddler next, who's set up shop in Gotham University, upon learning his territory has power and clean water. Along the way, they discover he used kidnapped co-eds as human batteries and receive assistance from Barbara Gordon to take him down before using him to power their mall lair. Despite being able to escape, he chooses not to for the time being as the mall offers several benefits that Gotham's wasteland does not. In the episode "Dye Hard", having become muscular after running on the wheel for an extended time, Riddler is released by Doctor Psycho, who left Harley's crew to seek revenge against them, to steal a mind control helmet so Psycho can strengthen his psionic powers and enslave an army of Parademons to take over Gotham. Despite their best efforts, they are ultimately defeated in the episode "Lovers' Quarrel", and subsequently imprisoned at Arkham in "The Runaway Bridesmaid".
Film
Live-action
- Frank Gorshin reprised his role as the Riddler in the 1966 theatrical film Batman, alongside three other villains from the television series. As in the series, Gorshin's Riddler is wildly unpredictable; calm and calculating at one moment, then deluded and unstable the next. He compulsively sends Batman and Robin clues, which in the film leads to some minor tension with his fellow criminals.
- Jim Carrey portrays the Riddler in the 1995 film Batman Forever. In this version, Edward Nygma is an eccentric and amoral inventor who works at Wayne Enterprises' research and development department and is obsessed with Bruce Wayne. Believes that Wayne has a perfect life because of being wealthy and handsome, Nygma wants to have everything that Wayne has such as looks, wealth, beautiful companions, company, and even his own signal projecting above Gotham City after discovering that Wayne is Batman, strongly suggests that he has a schizophrenic disorder of echopraxia. He also sees his goals as games to win and would not accept any defeat thereby is vain. Nygma invents a device called "the Box" that transmits images directly into the user's mind. He sees it as the next generation of television, but Wayne rejects the idea, as mental manipulation raises concerns over ethics and safety, resulting in Nygma becomes vengeful towards Wayne over the rejection. Nygma ultimately discovers that his device can drain people of their intellect to increase his own intelligence. After killing his supervisor, he compulsively starts sending riddles to Wayne. From the riddles, Wayne's love interest Dr. Chase Maridian correctly diagnosed that Wayne's stalker is dangerously insane, who is obsessive with homicidal tendencies, seeking to best Wayne through challenge before he kills him. He dons the Riddler identity, allies himself with Two-Face and steals vast amounts of money and jewels to fund his own company, Nygmatech, and mass-produce his invention. The devices transfer the stolen information to a gigantic Mother Box on Claw Island, where it is planted in the Riddler's mind, though the overload of information slowly begins to damage his already unstable mind. In the process, he learns that Wayne is Batman. He and Two-Face raid Wayne Manor, destroy the Batcave, and kidnap Meridian, and his new crimefighting partner Robin. In the film's climactic scene, Riddler's compulsion to defeat Batman instead of killing him immediately after discovering his identity proves to be his undoing; Batman destroys the Mother Box, causing the information in it to flow unregulated into the Riddler's head, damaging his brain irreparably even after a neurosurgery. The Riddler is locked up in Arkham Asylum, and his schizophrenia and damaged brain cause him to live in a delusion that he himself is Batman as revealed when being visited by Dr. Meridian. The Riddler's costume later appears with Two-Face's in the sequel, Batman & Robin, in the background of a scene in Arkham Asylum.
- Paul Dano is currently cast as Edward Nashton / The Riddler in Matt Reeves' upcoming film The Batman.
Animation
- The Riddler makes a cameo appearance in the animated film ', with his vocal effects provided by Bruce Timm. In a flashback scene, he attempts to rob a museum but he is defeated by Batman and Robin.
- The Riddler appears in the animated film ', an adaptation of the video game ', with Rob Paulsen reprising his role.
- The Riddler appears in the animated movie ', voiced by Matthew Gray Gubler. Batman rescues Riddler from a black ops assassination led by Amanda Waller and has him incarcerated at Arkham Asylum. Waller forms the Suicide Squad to infiltrate Arkham Asylum in order to retrieve a memory stick containing information of all Suicide Squad members in Riddler's cane, though her real motive is to kill the Riddler, as he is the only person who knows how to deactivate the bombs that are surgically attached to the spines of the Suicide Squad members. He reveals this knowledge to Killer Frost when she is sent to kill him on Waller's instruction. The Suicide Squad then agree to spare the Riddler in exchange for his help, and most are able to deactivate their bombs with the use of a device intended for electroshock therapy. Only Black Spider and King Shark are killed by Waller when she realizes what has happened. When everyone notices that the man wearing the "Black Spider" costume is still alive, the amused Riddler deduces that he is in fact, Batman. He is quickly subdued after trying to shoot Batman but escapes after the freed Joker sets all the patients of Arkham loose.
- The Riddler appears in ' and its sequel Batman vs. Two-Face, voiced by Wally Wingert, reprising his role from the Arkham video games.
- The Riddler appears in The Lego Batman Movie, voiced by Conan O'Brien. He was one of the villains invading the Gotham Energy facility. While he was on the road, he placed a giant question mark in front of an unsuspecting driver. After the driver stopped his car, Riddler tears his left arm off with his cane, leaving the car to be hit by a truck that Captain Boomerang and Two-Face has stolen. He later invades Commissioner Gordon's retirement party with the other villains, but Joker has them all surrender to the police. Confused, Riddler asks "Riddle me this. What just happened?" He later breaks out of Arkham Asylum and teams up with Batman to save the city from the Phantom Zone inmates that Joker released and keep Gotham City from coming apart over the void.
- The Brave and the Bold version of the Riddler appears in ', with John Michael Higgins reprising his role. Riddler is revealed to have started his career as a lab assistant to Professor Milo and seeks to revive a dimensional portal project he was involved in.
- The Riddler appears , voiced by Geoffrey Arend. Like in the comics, Riddler deduced Batman's identity as Bruce Wayne while using a Lazarus Pit to cure his untreatable brain tumor. The movie deviates from the comic with Riddler taking on the identity of Hush instead of his doctor Tommy Elliot due to his lack of respect among other villains. He then manipulated numerous villains in a series of schemes to destroy Batman on multiple fronts while having Clayface assume his identity to make it appear he has been incarcerated in Arkham. But when the plan fails, Riddler kidnaps Catwoman to lure Batman to an abandoned factory and overpower him with his newly enhanced strength. But a freed Catwoman helps Batman push Riddler over a vat of molten metal, with the Riddler killed by Catwoman cutting the rope to prevent Batman from endangering himself when he attempts to rescue the villain.
Video games
''Batman: Arkham''
The Riddler is prominently featured in all four primary installments of the Batman: Arkham video game series, where he is voiced by Wally Wingert. In addition to serving as one of the many supervillains that Batman has to apprehend, his presence provides much of the puzzle solving content found in each game.- While the Riddler does not make a physical appearance in the series' first entry, ', he hacks into Batman's communication system early on in the story and persistently challenges the Dark Knight to solve various riddles located throughout Arkham Island and its various facilities. When Batman deciphers all of the Riddler's challenges, he is able to triangulate the Riddler's location in Gotham City and the villain is subsequently arrested by the police. Audiotapes of Arkham psychiatrists' interview sessions with the Riddler can also be found in the game, which reveals that when Edward Nashton won a riddle-solving contest at school, his abusive father accused him of cheating and proceeded to beat him, resulting in his obsession with riddles as a way to prove his intellectual superiority.
- The Riddler makes his first physical appearance in the sequel, '. He, along with all of the other villains in Gotham, is captured and sent to Professor Hugo Strange's Arkham City, a lawless and walled city whose inmate inhabitants are free to wreak havoc. The Riddler kidnaps former Arkham guard Aaron Cash's medical protection team from the church, places them in deathtraps and threatens to murder them in order to force Batman to solve his riddles scattered throughout Arkham City. To discover the locations of Riddler's various trophies, challenges, and riddles, Batman interrogates his henchmen, who are embedded with gangs working for the Joker, the Penguin and Two-Face. At certain intervals, when Batman deciphers enough "challenges", the location of a room containing one of the Riddler's hostages is revealed, after which the Dark Knight must outwit the deadly traps within the chamber. The freed hostage then gives Batman a sequence of numbers from the Riddler, which correlates to a radio frequency that, once tuned in, will either give Batman a new location or tell him to find more trophies. After saving five hostages and completing 400 challenges, Oracle manages to discern the location of the Riddler's hideout. Once inside the Riddler's base of operations, Batman observes that the remaining hostages are trapped in a prolonged cycle of torture: they must continuously walk along a path or the explosives strapped to their heads will detonate. Batman must then avoid walking in front of each hostage until he reaches and manages to incapacitate the Riddler. The Riddler also plays a major role in the game's challenge mode, which is called "Riddler's Revenge". Various challenge maps show him having numerous henchmen working for him, including TYGER Guards, Ra's al Ghul's ninja assassins, Mr. Hammer and his twin Mr. Sickle, a Titan-empowered henchman, and even Black Mask.
- The Riddler's Enigma identity is featured in the prequel game '. Edward Nashton is described as a police consultant and apparent head of the GCPD's Cybercrime unit. Here, he has yet to take up the mantle of the Riddler and is known only as "Enigma". In the game, he has set up a series of signal jammers throughout Gotham City to disrupt the Batplane as well as Batman's own hacking transmitter. He plots to blackmail several of Gotham's most prominent citizens, in the hopes of making Gotham a better place by getting rid of those who are corrupt, although in the process risking the lives of several innocent people. Enigma also has several informants and pieces of extortion recordings scattered throughout Gotham, which Batman must uncover and decode in place of the Riddler trophies of previous games. His encounter with Batman prompts Edward to go into hiding and develop his identity as the Riddler; he hints to this as he calls Batman "quite the riddle".
- In ', during the chaos caused by the Scarecrow, the Riddler has set up several new challenges for his Riddler Trophies, some of which call on Batman to perform in the Batmobile. He captures Catwoman at one point to use as a hostage to make Batman play his game-Catwoman trapped in an old orphanage wearing an explosive collar that can only be deactivated by a series of keys that will be provided when certain riddles and challenges are solved-but Batman frees her. After solving all the riddles, the Riddler has a final showdown with Batman and Catwoman in his Riddler Mech and using his army of robots, the Riddler claiming in the aftermath that Catwoman's aid was cheating and Batman 'should' have been able to hack the robots' complex operating systems rather than just beat them up. In the prison following Scarecrow exposing Batman's true identity, the Riddler is the only one that refuses to accept that Bruce Wayne is Batman, incapable of accepting that his past theories were wrong. In the "Catwoman's Revenge" DLC, Catwoman infiltrates the Riddler's headquarters for payback after he kidnapped her, just as he is using his phone call from prison to remotely activate his army of robots. Catwoman defeats the Riddler's armed thugs and robots and transfers all his money to her bank account before leaving his factory to self-destruct.
- The Riddler appears as a playable character in the mobile game Batman: Arkham Underworld, voiced again by Wally Wingert. He is the first supervillain the player unlocks, wielding a sawed-off shotgun and his cane, which he can use to electrocute enemies, create holograms, and sabotage electronic devices. He can also bring in two of his robotic minions for assistance.
''Lego Batman''
- The Riddler is a character in ' with his vocal effects provided by Tom Kenny. He is one of the three masterminds of the Arkham breakout, along with the Joker and The Penguin. He leads Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy and Clayface, with the goal of stealing the contents of the Gotham Gold Reserve. Each member manages to steal a specific item--Clayface gets a key, Mr. Freeze gets a freeze cannon, Poison Ivy gets some mutated vine seeds and Two-Face gets a super laser—before being defeated by Batman and Robin, until only he and Two-Face remain. He breaks into the gold reserve easily and then controls a bolt-blasting machine to stop Batman and Robin, but they defeat him by destroying the gold in the boxes and building boards out of them to reflect his bolts back at him and arrest him. In this game, his trademarked question-mark cane grants him the ability to exert mind control over marked targets, or to confuse other characters if they are close enough.
- The Riddler appears in ' voiced by Rob Paulsen impersonating Jim Carrey's interpretation of the character. He is one of the five villains to raid Bruce Wayne's Man of the Year award ceremony. He flees with Two-Face, the Joker and the Penguin when Batman arrives, leaving Harley Quinn to cover their flight. He appears as a boss in the level "Theatrical Pursuits" and is arrested, but he breaks out of prison with multiple other villains after Lex Luthor frees them all. He is later an optional boss fight and unlockable character found on top of Wayne Tower. His catchphrase is "Riddle me this, Batman. Why won't you leave me ALONE?" making him the only map boss that mentions Batman by name.
- The Riddler appears as a playable character in , voiced by Roger Craig Smith. He appears in a side quest where he hides a bomb for Mister Mxyzptlk to find and gives clues in a riddle. A trophy in the PlayStation 3 version called Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert requires the player to play as him in the Batcave.
- The Riddler appears in Lego Dimensions, voiced again by Roger Craig Smith. When allied with Lord Vortech, he has taken over Middle-Earth from The Lord of the Rings and fights the heroes alongside a Balrog. After he is defeated, the Riddler is cornered on a cliff, where he falls off after Gollum accidentally grabs his leg climbing up.
- The Riddler appears as a playable character in Lego DC Super-Villains, with Wally Wingert reprising his role from the Arkham series.
Other games
- The Riddler is a boss in ' for the Game Boy, The Adventures of Batman & Robin for the SNES, The Adventures of Batman & Robin for the Sega CD and various video game adaptations of Batman Forever. The SNES game had the Riddler reusing the Riddle of the Minotaur Maze from "If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich?" and the chessboard from "What Is Reality?". In the Sega CD game, which had fully animated cutscenes, John Glover reprised his role as the Riddler. In the PC game Toxic Chill, the Riddler teams up with Mr. Freeze.
- The Riddler appears in DC Universe Online voiced by Shannon McCormick. A chain of quests leads the players on the hero campaign to solve one of his riddles in order to talk to him. In the game, Riddler is a detective hiding from the Joker. When Joker sends Deathstroke to kill Riddler, the players help Query and Echo protect him. When Deathstroke is defeated, Riddler mentions that Joker never made the payment transfer. Before departing to another location, Riddler has the players tell Batman that Joker is working with T. O. Morrow on a new Joker venom.
- The Riddler is referenced in the game Gotham City Impostors. Players are able to unlock a Riddler-inspired pattern for their weapons, depicting the iconic green background with purple questions dotted around it.
- The Riddler makes a cameo appearance in '. In the Arkham Asylum level, if one of the characters is thrown through the cell door on the right side of the second tier, they will be attacked by Two-Face, Killer Croc, Penguin, and Riddler before being punched by Croc into the next tier of the Arkham arena.
- The Riddler appears as a boss in the video game ', voiced by Jason Spisak. During the Team's mission in Gotham City, led by Nightwing, they investigate the disappearance of Helena Sandsmark and the Riddler's securing of a piece of an ancient statue. They track down Sandsmark in Haley's Circus, but the Riddler uses a device to use Psimon's psychic powers on the team. When his scheme fails, he traps the heroes in his lair in the sewers, forcing them to participate in a deadly game show full of traps and obstacles. The Riddler eventually fights off the heroes and is defeated. It is later revealed that Riddler's pieces were a fake and he willingly served as a distraction to allow Klarion the Witch Boy to steal the real pieces.
- The Riddler appears in Telltale Games' ', voiced by Robin Atkin Downes. This version of the character is never explicitly identified as "Edward Nygma", though Catwoman does refer to him as "Eddie." He is also significantly older than Batman and is known as "Gotham's original costumed criminal", who operated whilst the city was controlled by Thomas Wayne and Carmine Falcone. Despite being 60 years old, he is a skilled hand-to-hand combatant and mainly uses bartitsu with his cane. A former employee of the Agency's scientific division SANCTUS, he was the only surviving human test subject during experimentation with the "LOTUS virus"; the bioweapon maintained Riddler's youth but also drove him insane. Riddler makes his debut in the first episode of the series, titled "The Enigma". After disappearing for many years, Riddler returns to Gotham as the leader of the Pact, a criminal group that plots an attack on SANCTUS's labs to steal the LOTUS virus. In his own revenge scheme, Riddler also plans to murder members of the Agency via homing missiles guided by a distinct radio signal. He also begins targeting the vigilante Batman, which inadvertently results in Lucius Fox’s death when a decoded puzzle box triggers a missile strike on Wayne Enterprises. After Batman defeats Riddler, the latter is assassinated by Fox's daughter, Tiffany, using a poison-shooting drone. Riddler's dying words are "They broke the pact," leading Batman to initially believe his partners had betrayed him. His corpse is later recovered by the Pact to create biometric keys to bypass SANCTUS security and create a usable version of the LOTUS virus. Riddler's body is later destroyed by Amanda Waller and his blood is taken by the Agency to create their own version of the virus, though the samples are ultimately destroyed by Agent Iman Avesta, much to the dismay of both Waller and Harley Quinn.
Spoofs and parodies
- In the Tiny Toon Adventures episode "Inside Plucky Duck", a cartoon called "Bat's All, Folks!" parodied the Riddler as the Question Mark. He attacks Bat-Duck by asking "How can you tell if an elephant's been in your bed?" Bat-Duck asks "African elephant or Indian?" to which he quotes "Gee, I don't know" and is defeated by Bat-Duck. Gogo Dodo also dresses as the Riddler after quoting a famous line from Hamlet in the pilot episode "The Looney Beginning".
- Frank Gorshin and Adam West parodied the 1994 film Interview with the Vampire as their 1960s Batman characters in a short film for The MTV Movie Awards, with West portraying Brad Pitt's vampire and Gorshin as Christian Slater's interviewer.
- Meredith Stepien played the Riddler in StarKid Productions production of Holy Musical B@man!.
- An episode of Drawn Together entitled "Captain Girl" featured a villain called the Mad Libber, a parody of the Riddler mixed with Mad Libs.
- An episode of "Badman", a CollegeHumor parody of "Batman", features Batman finding a kidnapped Rachel Dawes held hostage by the Riddler. He gets frustrated with Batman's stupidity over not solving his simple riddle and tries shooting him, but one of the bullets bounces off Batman's armor and hits him.
- The Riddler appears in the "Superhero Speed Dating" sketch of Movie 43, portrayed by Will Carlough. He was revealed to be at the speed dating establishment posing as Supergirl.
- A box with the Riddler's question mark appears in a Garfield comic on December 12, 2010.
- A brief Robot Chicken sketch features the Riddler at home with his family. He poses a riddle asking someone to pass the salt and his wife angrily berates him for his needless complications. In another sketch featuring the Justice League and the Legion of Doom teaming up to defeat Starro the Conqueror, the Riddler refuses to attack until someone acknowledges his riddling, prompting the giant starfish to crush him.
- In The Venture Bros. episode "The Better Man", Jefferson Twilight is shown training with cardboard cut-outs of various villains. One of those cutouts turns out to be of author Matthew Lesko. Jefferson explains that he mistook him for The Riddler because they both wear suits with question marks on them. The Alchemist then says Lesko is actually a good guy because in his books, he gives advice on how to get free money from the US government.
Action figures
- Riddler has made several appearances as an action figure as part of Kenner's , Legends of Batman, and Batman: Knight Force Ninjas lines; Mattel's The Batman line; and Art Asylum's minimates line. He has also been produced as a HeroClix. Five different Riddler figures were produced for the 1995 Batman Forever line, including a Target exclusive and one that says phrases from the film.
- The Riddler is one of the rarest of Pacipa's Super Amigos line, the Argentinian version of Kenner's Super Powers Collection. He is a repainted Green Lantern figure that was only released in South America. He was also part of the line of action figures called the DC Comics SuperHeroes from Toy Biz.
- Three versions of the Riddler have appeared in the DC Direct line, two based on his first appearance and one based on his look in the "Hush" storyline. The Japanese toy company Yamato has also produced a figure of him.
- Mattel has included two versions of the character in its DC Universe toyline; one in his classic costume, and another in his current costume.
- In 1974, the Mego company released two Riddler figures; one was 8" tall with a cloth outfit for the World's Greatest Superheroes line of toys, the other was a smaller figure which was molded rubber over the wire for the Bend 'n Flex line. In 1975 and 1976, Mego also released the 8" tall Fist Fighting Riddler which was basically the same as the 1974 figure except it had a mechanism which allowed a child move a lever on the figure's back to make the arms swing.
- Bearbrick released a DC Superpowers Riddler which was released at 2013 San Diego ComicCon by Medicom Toy which was limited to only 1500.
- DC Direct has released a Riddler figure in the Batman: Arkham City line.
Music
- During his time on the 1960s television series, Frank Gorshin recorded an album with a song titled "The Riddler", in which he sings of his obsession with puzzles. He performed a musical parody of the character on Dean Martin's variety show in 1966.
- A 1966 album by The Marketts titled The Batman Theme featured a Dick Glasser instrumental song titled "The Riddler".
- A song based on the character titled "The Riddler" was performed by rapper Method Man, and was featured on the Batman Forever soundtrack.
- The Riddler makes an appearance in the video of the Nik Kershaw 1984 song "The Riddle".
- The symphonic metal band Nightwish recorded a song called "The Riddler" on their album Oceanborn.
- Composer Mohammed Fairouz wrote a piano suite based on Batman's rogues gallery. The final movement is titled "The Riddler".
Attractions
- The Riddler's Revenge, the world's tallest and fastest stand-up roller coaster, is themed after the Riddler. It is located in Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California.
- The Riddler Revenge, a pendulum ride, located at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, TX
- Mind Bender is a roller-coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia outside Atlanta, first built in 1978, that in 1997 was re-themed to match the Riddler, after the park built alongside it. Mind Bender was given a green paint scheme and its trains were painted black and covered with question marks. The coaster had originally been silver, then was later painted brown.
- La Venganza del Enigma at Parque Warner Madrid is a drop tower painted in Riddler's motif and colors.
- "Riddle Me This" at Six Flags America, is a Round Up painted in Riddler's colors, purple and green.