50 Fun Facts About The Riddler

Which writer scripted the Riddler's 1948 debut, drawn by Dick Sprang?

Bill Finger co-created Batman and wrote his early adventures without a byline. Only in 2015, four decades after his death, did DC agree to credit him alongside Bob Kane.

In which comic book series did the Riddler make his debut in 1948?

Detective Comics, where Batman first appeared in issue 27, introduced the Riddler in issue 140 as a minor foe. It took the 1960s TV series to turn him into a star villain.

In his 1948 debut, the Riddler posted his first clue as which kind of puzzle on a giant sign?

A crossword on a giant electric sign spelled out 'banquet', sending Batman to a charity dinner while the Riddler flooded a nearby bank. Said aloud, the clue was 'bank wet'.

In Batman Forever, the Riddler teams up with which other Gotham villain?

Two-Face is already terrorising Gotham when Nygma walks into his lair with a brain-draining gadget and an offer: fund it with a crime spree, and they can both get what they want.

What headwear does the Riddler commonly pair with his green suit?

A bowler hat and question-marked suit were created for the 1960s TV series, not the comics, which only later borrowed the look back from the screen.

Which three-word line does the Riddler commonly say before posing a puzzle?

Riddle me this is far older than the villain: 'riddle' was once a verb meaning 'solve', and the phrase was in print as a plain request for an answer centuries before Batman.

In the 1978 cartoon Challenge of the Superfriends, the Riddler belongs to which team of villains?

The Legion of Doom could not use Batman's best-known foes, which a rival studio's Batman cartoon had claimed, so the Riddler and the Scarecrow took Gotham's seats, and the rival show went without them.

In the Riddler's origin story, what prize did he win as a boy for solving a school puzzle fastest?

A book of riddles was his reward for cheating: he had broken into the school at night to practise the puzzle, and the prize set him on a lifetime of rigged games.

Before turning to crime, where did the Riddler work, cheating customers with rigged puzzles?

A carnival booth was his first racket: customers paid to try a puzzle he had fixed so that nobody could win, until the small takings bored him and he went looking for Batman.

In The Long Halloween, the Riddler works as an informant for which crime boss?

Carmine Falcone loses patience and has him thrown out on April 1. The Holiday killer, waiting outside, fires a string of shots that leave him deliberately unharmed: an April Fool's joke.

In Batman: Hush, the Riddler used a Lazarus Pit to cure himself of what?

A brain tumor, and the cure was for sale: he offered the same treatment to Thomas Elliot, whose mother had cancer too, which is how the two villains' schemes became entangled.

In Hush, the Riddler had Clayface impersonate which former Robin?

Jason Todd's return from the grave was Clayface in disguise, or so readers were told. A later story, Under the Hood, revealed the real Todd was alive and had been in the fight himself.

In the Hush storyline, what does the Riddler work out during his spell in a Lazarus Pit?

Batman's secret identity came to him in the madness that follows the Pit, yet the knowledge was useless: Batman pointed out that a riddle everyone can answer is worthless, so he would never tell.

Which villain did the Riddler at first resent as a copycat of his own criminal gimmick?

Cluemaster, a failed game show host, so annoyed him that at their first meeting the Riddler rigged his rival with a bomb and sent Batman chasing riddles to defuse it, as cover for a heist. They later became partners.

After waking from his coma, the reformed Riddler took up which profession?

A private detective with a taste for publicity: his first case proved that a photo tying Bruce Wayne to a murder showed an impostor, and for a while he worked alongside Batman.

The Riddler's henchwoman Query works alongside a partner named what?

Echo and Query are the Riddler's enforcers, whom he says he recruited from an underground club called Pandora's Box. One tie-in comic renamed the pair Quiz and Query.

In DC's 2011 New 52 relaunch, the redesigned Riddler first wore his question mark as what?

A green mohawk, shaved into the shape of his symbol, when he turned up as an Arkham inmate in Batman #1. The look did not last: later stories returned him to a more traditional style.

In the Batman: Arkham games, what does the Riddler scatter across each map for Batman to collect?

Trophies, tucked into hard-to-reach corners as proof of his genius. Finish every challenge in the first game and Batman can trace the Riddler's signal and send the police to arrest him.

In a 2017 comic, which villain answers the Riddler's offer of partnership by shooting him in the stomach?

The Joker's bullet started the War of Jokes and Riddles: the Riddler limped away, carved a question mark around the wound, and the two raised rival armies of villains to fight over Gotham.

Which joke villain is born when the Riddler poisons Charles Brown's young son in a 2017 Batman story?

Kite Man is what the grieving father becomes, and his civilian name is a wink at Charlie Brown, the Peanuts kid forever flying kites into trees.

Who plays the Riddler as a masked serial killer in The Batman (2022)?

Paul Dano stayed with the part after filming: he wrote a six-issue prequel comic, The Riddler: Year One, telling how his character became a killer.

Who originated the live-action Riddler on TV in 1966 and earned an Emmy nomination?

Frank Gorshin, a nightclub impressionist, made the part such a hit that a minor comic-book villain became one of Batman's permanent enemies.

Who played the Riddler during the 1966 series' second season?

John Astin, TV's Gomez Addams, stepped in for a single two-part story when the usual actor's agents demanded more money. The original Riddler was furious but returned for season three.

In The Batman (2022), the Riddler's hatred of the Wayne family goes back to his childhood in what?

An orphanage founded with Wayne money left him cold and forgotten once corrupt officials siphoned off its funds, while the orphaned Bruce grew up rich across town.

In the 1966 Batman film, the Riddler and three fellow villains kidnap a world council by turning its members into what?

Dust, made with a kidnapped inventor's dehydrator. A sneeze later mixes the piles, so when Batman restores the delegates they come back speaking one another's languages.

On Fox's Gotham, Edward Nygma starts out in what job at the GCPD?

A forensic scientist who cannot resist presenting his findings to the detectives as riddles, long before he turns to crime and takes the name.

Which actor played Edward Nygma on Gotham?

Cory Michael Smith played him for all five seasons, starting as an awkward, riddle-loving colleague with an unrequited crush. His Nygma kills more than once before he ever calls himself the Riddler.

On Gotham, Nygma has a complicated love-hate relationship with which fellow criminal?

Oswald Cobblepot frees him to run his campaign for mayor, falls for him, and secretly has Nygma's girlfriend killed. Nygma shoots him at the docks; Oswald later has him frozen as a nightclub centrepiece.

Which Smallville actor voiced the Riddler in Batman: The Animated Series?

John Glover's Riddler was written as a smooth intellectual, not a cackling trickster, so that he would not resemble the show's giggling clown.

In Batman: The Animated Series, what was Nygma's job before his boss Daniel Mockridge fired him?

A video game developer who designed a hit for his boss's company and was sacked when he sued for royalties. Two years later he came back as the Riddler to take his revenge.

Which horror icon voiced the Gothic-styled Riddler in The Batman (2004)?

Robert Englund, the screen's Freddy Krueger, voiced a Riddler who blames a businessman for wrecking his brain-boosting invention, only to learn that the research partner he trusted had sabotaged it.

Which late-night talk-show host voiced the Riddler in The Lego Batman Movie?

Conan O'Brien voiced him as one of the Gotham rogues who give themselves up to the police early on, then end the film fighting alongside Batman to save the city.

In the Harley Quinn animated series, the Riddler gets engaged to which villain?

Clock King accepts his proposal in the show's Valentine's Day special, and the two punctual, puzzle-loving villains go on to marry.

Which accessory does the Riddler usually carry into his crimes?

A cane with a question-mark handle, and it is more than a prop: in the comics the staff houses a whole arsenal of hidden gadgets and weapons.

In Batman: Arkham Origins, the young future Riddler operates under which alias?

Enigma is the name he hides behind while running the police cybercrime unit and secretly hoarding blackmail on Gotham's most powerful citizens. The Riddler persona comes later.

In Batman: Arkham Knight, the Riddler coerces Batman by putting an explosive collar on whom?

Catwoman can be freed only with keys won from his challenges. Once he is in jail she breaks into his lair, empties his bank account and leaves the place to self-destruct.

Who played Edward Nygma in the 1995 film Batman Forever?

Jim Carrey got the role in June 1994 only after Robin Williams, for whom the part had been written, reportedly turned it down.

In Batman Forever, what is Nygma's brainwave-stealing device called?

The Box beamed television straight into viewers' heads while secretly draining their brainwaves into Nygma's own, making him cleverer with every set sold in Gotham.

In Batman Forever, Edward Nygma starts out as an inventor at which company?

Wayne Enterprises is where he shows Bruce Wayne his brainwave device. When Wayne turns it down as unsafe, the rejected inventor quits and makes outwitting his former boss his mission.

Which pop star did director Joel Schumacher say lobbied hard to play the Riddler in Batman Forever?

Michael Jackson was turned down by Schumacher, one name on a long list of rumoured candidates that ran from Robin Williams to Kelsey Grammer and Steve Martin.

Which Batman Forever co-star told the Riddler actor 'I cannot sanction your buffoonery'?

Tommy Lee Jones got up from his restaurant table, hugged his co-star and told him 'I hate you' before delivering the line, the night before their biggest scene together. The director later said Jones felt threatened by him.

The Riddler of The Batman (2022) is partly based on which real-life murderer?

The Zodiac Killer taunted police and newspapers with ciphers, and director Matt Reeves likened his Riddler to him for the same habit of speaking through codes and riddles.

What is the Riddler's day job in The Batman (2022)?

A forensic accountant is paid to follow hidden money, which is how he traced the payments tying Gotham's top officials to organised crime.

In The Batman (2022), the Riddler's oddly worded clue 'You are el rata alada' hides what?

A web address: said aloud, 'you are el' gives URL, and when Batman types in rataalada.com he finds the Riddler waiting for him in a live chat.

Who is the Riddler's first victim in The Batman (2022)?

Mayor Don Mitchell Jr. is beaten to death at home with a carpet tool on Halloween night, while his wife and son are out trick-or-treating, and the killer leaves a message addressed to Batman.

In The Batman (2022), how does the Riddler kill the city's top crime boss moments after police arrest him?

With a sniper rifle, from a window above the street, as the handcuffed mobster is led out. Soon afterwards the Riddler is in custody himself, with the last stage of his plan already in motion.

In The Batman (2022), the Riddler plans to flood Gotham by bombing what?

The sea wall around Gotham is blown open by van bombs he planted before his arrest, and as the water pours in his online followers attack the new mayor's victory rally.

The Riddler's Revenge roller coaster is found at which Six Flags park?

Magic Mountain rebuilt the ride's surroundings in 2017 as Metropolis, so a coaster named for one of Batman's enemies now stands in Superman's home city.

Comedian Hasan Minhaj voiced the Riddler in Batman Unburied, a podcast on which platform?

Spotify made Batman Unburied the first of a run of DC audio dramas, and its Riddler went on to get a spin-off of his own, The Riddler: Secrets in the Dark.

In the Batman: Arkham games, what surname was the Riddler born with?

Nashton is his birth name in the games, which give him a father who beat him for supposedly cheating in a riddle contest and left him desperate to prove he is the cleverest man alive.