Matt Reeves' The Batman has one Riddler detail that makes him a scarier villain than even Heath Ledger's iconic Joker. The Riddler is played by Paul Dano in The Batman, who faces off against Robert Pattinson's younger iteration of the Caped Crusader. Dano's Riddler is the second major iteration of the character in live-action filmmaking after iconic actor Jim Carrey played a much less grounded version of the Batman villain in 1995's Batman Forever.
Dano is considered one of the best parts of The Batman, thanks to his chilling performance. Due to this, he has largely been compared to another iconic villain performance from Batman's live-action past, Heath Ledger's Joker from 2008's The Dark Knight. Ledger's performance is widely regarded as one of the best villainous turns of all time, earning him a posthumous Academy Award for Best ing Actor. Despite Ledger's performance and the iconic nature of it, Dano's Riddler in The Batman has one detail that makes him even scarier than The Dark Knight's Joker.
Which Killers Inspired The Batman's Riddler
Dano's performance, and Reeves' writing of Riddler, were predominantly based on real-world serial killers. The most overt, obvious serial killer that inspired the Riddler is the Zodiac killer. Matt Reeves himself stated in a The Batman's Riddler emulates the Zodiac killer's real-world crimes from the 1960s. While the Zodiac killer is the main real-life murderer that Reeves cited as an influence for Riddler, there are some others who could apply.
Another of these criminals is the Golden State Killer. Joseph James DeAngelo, the Golden State Killer, committed a number of awful crimes in the 1970s and 1980s and often left clues and hints for the police in reference to his next crime. Another real-life killer that may have inspired the Riddler is Jack the Ripper. While Jack the Ripper did not go to the extent of leaving clues like the Zodiac or the Golden State Killer, he did supposedly write letters to the police detailing his intentions of future crimes and details of already committed ones, similar to Paul Dano's the Riddler, who constantly taunts Batman throughout the film.
Joker & Riddler Are Scary In Different Ways
While Riddler's inspirations can make him a bit more realistically frightening than the Joker due to the real-world crimes committed that were similar, Joker is also scary in a much different way. This is largely due to Ledger's performance and the unhinged, psychopathic way the Joker was portrayed. While Dano certainly brought similarities to his Riddler in The Batman, that character was more linked to a forgotten, pained orphan who wants to spread his pain to others. This, and his links to real-world murderers, made the Riddler imbue fear in both audiences watching The Batman and its citizens of Gotham.
Conversely, the Joker's maniacal, anarchist plan of simply wanting to watch the world order burn to the ground was sinister for other reasons. While the Riddler's motivations and crimes felt more personal, Joker's crimes lacked any kind of motivation, emotionally or otherwise. Joker was not in it for the money or a grudge, he simply was an unhinged man who wanted to burn society to the ground and did not care who he had to hurt or kill to do it. These different elements are what make Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight and The Batman's Riddler two of the more terrifying live-action villains of Batman on film.
