Paul Dano’s Riddler might be controversial in some fan circles, because it’s wildly unfaithful to the source material. But it’s a delightfully grounded, terrifyingly realistic take on the character. This Riddler has more in common with the Zodiac Killer than any green-spandex-clad puzzler from the comics. While the Riddler is brought to justice at the end of The Batman, he’s left alive, stewing in a cell in Arkham Asylum, with a “comeback story” promised by a fellow prisoner with a creepy smile and a maniacal laugh. Batman fans likely haven’t seen the last of Dano’s Riddler.
The Riddler’s future in this Bat-verse was teased toward the end of the movie with the introduction of Barry Keoghan’s Joker. But the Joker shouldn’t be the main villain of the first sequel. There are already too many Jokers as it is. This Batman series should build up to the Joker reveal like Thanos in the MCU. Recruiting the Riddler for whatever scheme he’s cooking up is, hopefully, the first step in a much larger plan that will reveal itself later down the line. The Batman 3 can bring in the Joker as the big bad of the trilogy, but The Batman 2 should utilize one of the many iconic villains that have yet to be adapted for the big screen.
According to Den of Geek, Robert Pattinson is hoping to see the Court of Owls included in The Batman 2. The Court of Owls is a secret society run by the wealthy elite that has been pulling Gotham’s puppet-strings from the shadows since colonial times. The Court checks off everything that The Batman sequel’s antagonist needs: biting “eat the rich” satire, a trail of clues to follow, an even bigger threat to Gotham than the previous villain, and a role for that villain – the Riddler – in the sequel’s plot. Since the Court abducts child performers from the circus and trains them as assassins, this storyline would even set up a great origin story for a grounded take on Robin.
The Batman 2 Could Homage Silence Of The Lambs
Like The Dark Knight’s Joker, The Batman’s Riddler makes a few compelling arguments. They’re both sadistic terrorists, but their philosophies are somewhat valid. Heath Ledger’s Clown Prince of Crime uses his reign of terror to try to prove that civilization is a thin facade over humanity’s true nature. Dano’s Riddler uses a series of brutal murders to strike fear into the corrupt cops and politicians of Gotham. Throughout The Batman, the Riddler launched a blood-soaked crusade against corruption and class inequality. He knew more about public figures like the mayor and the police commissioner than even their closest friends knew. If there was a secret society of rich Gothamites controlling the city, this Riddler would’ve known about it. So, when the Bat stumbles upon evidence of the Court of Owls’ secret stranglehold on Gotham, he might be forced to pay the Riddler a visit in Arkham.
This dynamic could loosely adapt the iconic Batman comic The Long Halloween. The Batman has been compared to Se7en, but The Long Halloween’s dynamic of a crimefighter consulting with one imprisoned villain while chasing another one still at large would allow director Matt Reeves to evoke a different ‘90s horror classic in the sequel: The Silence of the Lambs. The dark, gruesome tone of The Long Halloween has been a bigger influence on previous Batman movies than the actual plot, but the narrative framework presents the perfect opportunity to bring back the Riddler in The Batman 2.
In The Long Halloween, Gotham is terrorized by the Holiday Killer – a serial killer who strikes once a month, always on a holiday – and Batman consults with an imprisoned Calendar Man (not unlike FBI rookie Clarice Starling’s confrontations with convicted serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs), who gives him a series of cryptic clues pointing to Holiday’s identity. In the sequel to The Batman, the still-imprisoned Riddler could fill Calendar Man’s role from The Long Halloween, giving the Dark Knight hints and riddles from behind bars at Arkham to help with his investigation into the Court of Owls.
The Court Of Owls Is The Perfect Sequel Villain
One of the most notable things about The Batman is its horror sensibility. With overt homages to Se7en and Saw and tension-building techniques borrowed from Psycho and Halloween, The Batman shares the horror sensibility of Reeves’ early work. If the sequel follows The Long Halloween too closely, it’ll end up rehashing the first film. The Batman is a terrific serial killer movie, but the sequel should avoid introducing a character like Holiday or Calendar Man and repeating the serial killer storyline.
The Court of Owls is the perfect replacement for having another serial killer. The cult storyline is a chance to explore another horror subgenre through the lens of a grisly hard-boiled detective noir with clues to investigate and truths to unmask. The Batman 2 could present its creepy cultists in the same chilling light as movies like Kill List and The Void. A Court of Owls storyline could explore the anti-corruption themes of the first movie in more depth without feeling repetitive.
Exploring Batman & Riddler’s Dynamic In More Depth
While The Batman’s interrogation scene isn’t quite as intense or captivating as The Dark Knight’s iconic interrogation sequence, it does create an interesting dynamic between the hero and the villain. The Riddler’s meeting with Batman at Arkham Asylum doesn’t go at all how he thinks it will. He feels a kindred spirit with Batman and thinks he’s been acting as a secret ally throughout his murderous rampage. Batman is horrified that the Riddler considers him a friend and believes that they’re one and the same. He calls the Riddler “a pathetic psychopath,” but he’s talking to his own reflection in the glass as much as he’s talking to the handcuffed serial killer sitting behind it. There’s no shot of the Bat’s reflection in the glass to hammer home the symbolism, but there’s a telling moment in which Batman repeatedly punches an image of himself.
Batman sees more of himself in the Riddler than he’d like to admit. Now that the Arkham interrogation scene has introduced that notion, the sequel can dig into it more with a series of Hannibal/Clarice-style conversations between the bars of a prison cell. In The Long Halloween, this Silence of the Lambs dynamic forced the Bat to reluctantly cooperate with one villain in Arkham while chasing another villain out on the streets. Batman movies have occasionally dabbled in bringing back familiar villains from previous films, like the Scarecrow’s role as a judge in Bane’s new-world Gotham in The Dark Knight Rises, but this is a chance for a returning villain to make a real impact.