The Batman is back and he's angrier and more vengeful than ever thanks to director Matt Reeves' take. His version of the Cape Crusader is so pitch black, he might as well rename Batman, the Darker Knight. Of course, to complement this kind of transition for the Batman, his rogues' gallery also has to be equally disturbed or disturbing; Matt Reeves' version of the Riddler takes that cake.
It's a far cry compared to the Riddler's first outing, which is Batman Forever in 1995. That one was portrayed by Jim Carrey while 2022's The Batman Riddler stars Paul Dano. Which one of them represents their comic book character better though? Is it Carrey's misunderstood maniac, or Dano's genius serial killer? Here's where both actors win as Riddler in the Batman franchise.
8 Screen Presence: Tie
It's safe to say that both Riddlers in their own respective films steal any scene they grace with their presence. Jim Carry's Riddler is mostly just the actor being his typical exalted caricature but there are few complaints about that since Jim Carrey somewhat fits the profile of the comic book character.
Meanwhile, Paul Dano's Riddler is also just the actor being a culmination of his past subtly eccentric characters. He doesn't appear as much as Jim Carrey's Riddler but when did, he never sank back into the foreground despite how normal-looking his unmasked Riddler is.
7 Faithfulness To The Comics: Jim Carrey Wins
As for just how loyal these Riddlers are to their comic book counterpart, this one has to go to Jim Carrey. While Paul Dano's Zodiac Killer-esque Riddler is spine-chilling, the Riddler wasn't really that messed up or impactful in the comic books. In fact, some faithful animation adaptations have even relegated the Riddler to a joke villain tier.
Jim Carry's Riddler, on the other hand, comes with all the villain's energy (sometimes too excessively) and captures the Riddler's boastful showmanship and flair. His Riddler even took the original comic book name, which is Edward Nygma compared to The Batman's Edward Nashton.
6 Chemistry With Batman: Paul Dano Wins
While Jim Carrey's Riddler was more bombastic and more or less faithful to the comic book version, one cannot deny the violent tension between Robert Pattinson's Batman and Paul Dano's Riddler. They don't exactly share a decent amount of screen time in the film, but when they did, it easily became a peak moment for The Batman.
The Riddler in Batman Forever was mostly just a fly buzzing around Batman's ears and didn't even feel like he was intellectually equal or superior to Val Kilmer's Batman. Paul Dano's Riddler toys with the Batman like he was an action figure and the fact that they have a similar film origin story made their encounter all the more significant.
5 Schemes & Transgressions: Paul Dano Wins
So which Riddler was actually good at Riddlering? Again, it goes to Paul Dano for having an actual plan for Gotham that was neither outlandish nor impractical. Jim Carrey's Riddler's plan was to download information from Gotham citizens' minds to learn Batman's true identity and possibly use that to control the whole city. Even Saturday-morning cartoon villains were more ambitious than that.
Paul Dano's Riddler was out to vengefully tear Gotham apart by manipulating Batman and killing numerous officials. He didn't care much about Batman's true identity and only wanted to cause as much realistic damage as possible. At the very least, his plan was clear and didn't rely on Hollywood pseudo-science.
4 Relevance: Paul Dano Wins
The thing about Riddler as a villain is that he didn't exactly age well past the digital era. Google's more of an enemy to him than Batman. That's why a lot of Batman comics shied away from featuring him anymore and the same can be said for the films. However, the new spin on Paul Dano's Riddler breathed new life into the character.
Instead of making him close to the riddle-obsessed annoyance in the old comic books, Paul Dano's Riddler became a mirror of some of the most perturbing terror plotters of today's society. He was a technological whiz who plotted his attacks online out of some misguided ideals. Sounds way too familiar these days.
3 Competence: Paul Dano Wins
Jim Carrey's Riddler had one goal in mind and that is to leak out Batman's identity and/or control Gotham using his inventions. It didn't work out well because he was too busy making faces with Two-Face and lounging about in their super-secret villain hideout.
Then there's Paul Dano's Riddler who actually won depending on the perspective. Because part of his plan was to reveal Gotham's festering underbelly before badly scarring the whole city wide open. The bonus was getting Batman to appreciate what he did but that failed. Even so, this Riddler won against Batman in so many ways and the only battle where Batman won was in fighting his own demons, and it took a pile of dead bodies and rubble for him to realize that.
2 Costume: Jim Carrey Wins
As ridiculous as Jim Carrey's Riddler is, one has to hand it to the costume department for replicating Riddler on the big screen. Seeing him in Batman Forever, there's no other interpretation to be had or mistake to be made; he is Riddler, complete with the neon green onesie, cane, and hat.
Paul Dano's Riddler opted for the more serious approach but his Riddler ended up looking like another Batman villain named Hush. Hush also wore similar clothing and even had a mask that looked like what was worn by Paul Dano's Riddler. His costume didn't exactly do justice for his name or nature, seeing as it belonged to another Batman villain.
1 Winner: Paul Dano's Riddler
Despite Jim Carrey's Riddler's better costume and faithfulness to the source material, Paul Dano still pulls ahead thanks to a smarter and more modern Riddler. Moreover, he's a Batman villain who won and managed to do damage both to Batman and Gotham on so many levels.
Thus, all can be forgiven despite some of Paul Dano's Riddler's shortcomings, particularly in its place and identity among Batman's rogues' gallery. Suffice to say, Paul Dano's Riddler was more than enough to dethrone Jim Carrey's Riddler though it wasn't really much of a throne anyway.