Let’s compare Paul Dano’s Riddler in The Batman to the one from Batman: Earth One and break down why the latter was much more terrifying.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for The Batman, now in theaters.
One of the scariest things about Paul Dano’s Riddler in The Batman was how sympathetic he was. He killed off elites, hoping to remove the corruption that festered in Gotham for decades, even starting a movement online that not even Heath Ledger’s Joker could rustle up in The Dark Knight.
In a sense, many saw Riddler, the forgotten orphan, as the hero in this story and the Bat as someone trying to stop a freedom fighter who wanted social justice, equality, and to cleanse the city. However, while it’s ironic this Riddler shared a lot in common with his namesake from Batman: Earth One, the latter was way more terrifying.
This is all due to the main principle they pivoted on. Dano’s Riddler had a code at the end of the day, and he played within the confines of that book. He took out the people who broke Gotham financially, exposing the lies of the Waynes and Carmine Falcone to set an example. However, he didn’t deviate from the plan, which made him a warped man of honor. It’s why he let himself get arrested in the finale, to become a martyr of sorts when he went into Arkham Asylum.
Granted, he bombed and flooded the city, unleashing his cult as well, but he never broke the rules he set up with the Dark Knight. In that sense, as angry as the Caped Crusader was, he knew Riddler was a man of his word which did allow him to save and rebuild a damaged city in the end after gleaning the right intel from the fiend.
Earth One’s Riddler, however, was more unpredictable, not to mention he lied in his crusade from Geoff Johns and Gary Frank. He seemed to be killing the elites who ran Gotham’s corruption ring after Penguin died in Vol. 1, but this was a front. Riddler just wanted to murder them to play a game and unmask the Bat. This made him selfish, coming from a place of ego, viewing the Bat as a problem as opposed to Dano’s Riddler who saw the vigilante as a partner.
It’s best summed up in how Earth One’s Riddler blew up a subway even after Batman solved a cryptic puzzle. He just couldn’t handle losing and knew this would screw his trap up to figure out who was under the cape and cowl. At this point, the beleaguered Bat realized he was dealing with a petty child.
Admittedly, Dano’s Riddler was also a spoiled brat in wanting recognition for healing Gotham but he was still genuine. Earth One’s Riddler merely came off as a Joker hybrid who flouted rules and was less calculating and more rash. Thus, with this petulance, the latter turned into an unrestrained agent of chaos. It’s why a tired Bruce and Alfred were barely able to stop him, with Killer Croc attacking Riddler in the sewers in a stroke of luck to give the Bat the win. If not, Riddler would have blown the city up, breaking Bruce along the way in a terrorist game he altered on the fly.
To see how Dano’s Riddler compares to Earth One’s, The Batman is in theaters now.
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