New revelations regarding Riddler's Paul Dano, Riddler (real name Edward Nashton) is on a crusade to bring down Gotham's corrupt elite, one high-profile corpse at a time. Riddler takes special interest in Bruce Wayne, leaving a series of cryptic messages that Gotham's billionaire vigilante will feverishly attempt to decode.
There's little doubt Paul Dano is playing Riddler in The Batman. His green outfit is adorned with question marks, he leaves puzzling clues at crime scenes, and Pattinson refers to Riddler by name in The Batman's trailer footage. Nevertheless, DC fans have pointed out several curious parallels to Hush - a villain created by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee in 2003. Nashton's face mask is essentially a green version of Hush's famous bandages, and Dano's character is notably more direct in his violence than typical depictions of the Emerald Enigma - an approach Hush would approve of.
Fresh details about Riddler's The Batman origin story might've just cemented the movie's Hush connection. The Batman's Riddler might just be a movie version of Hush.
Adding even more weight to the theory, Riddler and Hush's DC comic history is deeply interwoven. When Thomas Elliot began a campaign of terror against Batman, Riddler served as his partner in crime, forming a deadly duo that almost brought the Dark Knight down. Though Riddler never actually was Hush (in the comics, at least), his considerable intellect allowed Elliot to finally have revenge following a long-standing grudge against the Wayne family. Paul Dano clearly does play Riddler in The Batman, but Matt Reeves could be mashing up the classic green baddie with the more modern Hush, making "Edward Nashton" a hybrid where the best qualities of both villains are rolled into one, rather than Riddler and Hush forging a two-man alliance.
Riddler's messages in The Batman. Sneaking Hush into a Batman movie under the cover of Riddler would represent a hugely ambitious hush-up for Matt Reeves, and a deception worthy of Nashton himself. The more we learn about Riddler's new origin, the more that connection begins to look legit.
