Riddler’s Story From ‘The Batman’ Continues in New Comic

The Batman saw Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne face off with an all-new and extremely dark version of one of Batman’s oldest villains: The Riddler. Gone was the green leotard with question marks, gone were the incessant giggles that marked most screen versions of the character, from Frank Gorshin to Jim Carrey. This Riddler — whose real name is Edward Nashton instead of the more comic book-y Edward Nygma — was played by Paul Dano as a deranged psychopath who wears a strange mask over his face and covers his victims in duct tape.

As part of his preparations for the role, Dano and director Matt Reeves spent a lot of time talking about Nashton’s motivations and backstory, including elements of his life that never made it onto the screen. Dano was so intrigued by what they came up with, he decided to turn the material into a comic book of its own. His The Riddler: Year One debuts on comics shops today, with art from Stevan Subic.

In the video below, you can see Dano and Reeves discussing their concept of the Riddler, and how that eventually became a comic book of its own. “To really geek out about Batman and the history, it really gripped me, the idea,” Dano explains.

Here is the official description of the comic:

As depicted in Matt Reeves’s hit movie The Batman, the Riddler wasn’t simply an amusing eccentric with an affinity for wordplay and baffling clues, but as terrifying a villain as any in the annals of the Dark Knight. Here you can see Edward Nashton evolve into the menace known as the Riddler. How did an unknown forensic accountant uncover the dark secrets of Gotham’s underworld and come so close to bringing down the entire city? This six-issue miniseries is an immediate prequel to The Batman—the detailed, disturbing, and at times shocking story of a man with nothing to lose.

The first issue of Dano’s The Riddler: Year One is available now. The mini-series will run for six installments.