Batman has fought several villains over the years. One of these villains is The Batman Arkham Knight Riddler. He is known as Edward Nigma, Edward Nashton, or Edward Nygma. The Riddler is a fictional supervillain that is one of Batman’s foes.

He appeared in American comic books published by DC comics. Bill Finger and Dick Sprang created the fictional character. He first appeared in Detective Comics #140 (October 1948).

Edward Nygma has commonly depicted a sinister criminal mastermind. He takes delight in infusing puzzles and riddles into his heinous schemes. He leaves them as clues for authorities to pick up on if they’re smart enough. 

The Riddler is also one of the most enduring villains that Batman faces and makes up part of Batman’s rogue gallery’s collection. 

The character was ranked as the 59th Greatest Comic Book Villain in 2009 by IGN. 

Since its creation, the character has been prevalent and adapted for games, TV series, films, and comics. 

He is a villain that possesses a Genius-level intellect. The riddler is a criminal mastermind that is also skilled in the use of his question mark-shaped staff.

He is a skilled engineer, computer programmer, and escape artist

He is able to utilize complex riddles, puzzles, and lethal traps. 

Riddler Appearances & Voicing

The Riddler has been voiced by several actors.

John Glover in the DC animated universe, Robert Englund in The Batman, and Wally Wingert in the Batman: Arkham video game series. He has also been portrayed in live-action 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 television series Gotham, and Paul Dano in the forthcoming film The Batman that is set to be released in 2022. 

Batman Arkham Knight Riddler is a Career Criminal

The Riddler is known to have a keen obsession with puzzles, riddles and even word games. He uses these in his antiquities when doing villainous things. The character is also known to overstate his intellectual superiority. He also warns both the police and Batman by sending them clues. He perceives this as a game and a puzzle that should delight the intellectually talented. 

His name is a pun itself, Edward Nigma (Enigma – a person or thing that is difficult to understand). 

The Riddler’s crimes are flamboyant and he is usually depicted as a less violent villain that Batman faces as opposed to his other major villains. Such as Two Face, Joker and others. 

The Riddler is depicted as wearing a domino mask that is either with a green Unitard or a green suit and a bowler hat. The unitard usually has question marks designed all over it while the green suit sometimes does too. 

Based on an alternate costume design that was requested by actor Frank Gorshin in the 1960s Batman live action TV series. A black, green, or purple question mark serves as his visual motif. 

Batman Arkham Knight Riddler Origin Story 

The Riddler’s origin story begins with him being fascinated with puzzles at an early age. Edward or The Riddler was not yet born. His teacher announces a contest of who can solve a puzzle the fastest. Edward sets his sights on winning this prize.

However, he is not doing it for the prize. Based on the character’s previous description, you can guess that he is in it for recognition as his crimes are flamboyant and showy. He wants the glory and the recognition that comes with this victory.

Because of this, he breaks into the school later that night and practices the puzzle until he can solve it in under a minute.  He eventually wins the contest due to his cheating and is given a riddles book as the prize. 

Edward becomes a master of puzzles and riddles. He becomes a carnival employee that enjoys cheating customers of their money with mind games and puzzles. 

He attains mastery of puzzles and games after that incident and he finds himself yearning for more thrills, so he takes on the Riddler’s costume and challenges Batman, Gotham’s Knight. 

Lastyly, he believes Batman to be a worthy adversary and proceeds to make his move. 

Riddler first tries to impress the crime-fighters (Batman & Robin) with his infamous double-entry Riddle Clues. Of course, they are not impressed and then tried to kill them both in a booby-trapped glass maze on a pier after he had sealed the door so they couldn’t leave the structure before it exploded.

 As expected, Batman and Robin can escape, and the Riddler “vanishing” after getting knocked into the sea by the explosion, leaving only his trademark “?” floating in the water.

Other Appearances 

In Batman: The Long Halloween, the Riddler appears as an informant in this issue. The Riddler is hired by Carmine “The Roman” Falcone. He is said to know the Identity of the Holiday Killer. Falcone wants fibs information but eventually loses his patience with Riddler and has his daughter throw him out on the 1st of April. 

Outside Falcone’s home, Nygma is confronted by the holiday killer who fires several shots at him without harming him due to it being April Fool’s. He also leaves several items about their identity at the scene. This may be why the killer leaves the Riddler alive.

Some say as matters are traditionally reversed on holiday. He appeared again in the same chapter of the story in which Harvey Dent is disfigured.

 When Batman comes to him for information about the attack, he is seen in this chapter. He plays a more pronounced role in the sequel of this story, Batman: Dark Victory. 

 In this story, Batman turns to him to figure out the significance of the lost games of hangman left at the Hangman killer’s crimes scenes scenes. He later showed up as a member of Two-Face’s jury during the Hangman’s trial.

The Riddler and Batman have a history of sometimes working together and being enemies.