The mysterious Riddler, played by the wildly talented Paul Dano in the recently released The Batman is getting his own "Year One" treatment at Riddler: Year One, the comic will act as a spin-off to the popular Matt Reeves film.
The Riddler, real name Edward Nygma (né Nashton), was introduced in 1948 as a Gotham-based criminal and quickly became a classic in Batman's rogues gallery, often being portrayed as a goofy but violent enemy of Bruce Wayne. In recent years the Riddler has become much darker in the comics, as most comic villains have, becoming a major part of several deadly attacks on Gothamites and attempting to kill Batman and his peers multiple times over. However Riddler: Year One will clearly feature a much different Riddler, a more grounded and sociopathic villain, terrifyingly portrayed by Paul Dano in The Batman.
In a press release, dark and deranged role of the Riddler. Matt Reeves has already stated that he specifically wrote his version of the Riddler with Dano in mind, so it is clear that Dano has had a huge hand in shaping who the Riddler would become on screen, and clearly grew so attached to the character that he is now writing an entire comic book based on the violent serial killer.
The DC press release goes on to say:
This series explores the background of how ant Edward Nashton went from a simple Gotham City nobody to becoming Batman’s nemesis, setting them on a collision course in the blockbuster feature film.
The 1987 story Batman: Year One written by Frank Miller is critically acclaimed and was one of Reeves' influences for The Batman, so it is no surprise that Dano's Riddler series will also be inspired by the classic. Batman: Year One follows Bruce Wayne's first year as Batman and the development of this persona. It looks like Dano will be exploring what events and triggers in Nashton's life, like the trauma he experienced as a neglected orphan, will transform him into the Dark Knight's first major nemesis. A major part of The Batman involved Riddler's puzzles and clues, many of which were used on the "dark web" website that DC created as part of their marketing for the movie, and one has to wonder how involved Dano was with fleshing out the backstory of his character before and during filming.
Dano is not the first live-action DC actor to be hired to write a comic about the character they portrayed, with Danny DeVito writing a story about the Penguin in Gotham City Villains Anniversary Giant (2021), and clearly DC has realized that fans love it when this happens. The Batman, which is still in theaters, has received critical and commercial success and much of that has to do with how engaging and terrifying Dano's portrayal of Riddler was, making him seem like a sociopathic but brilliant "everyman," with realistic comparisons to current day manifestations of alt-right provocateurs on the internet. Make sure to go see Paul Dano in Matt Reeves' The Batman and then pick up DC Comics' Riddler: Year One written by the enigma himself, when it debuts in October 2022.
