One of the most asinine arguments I've heard in favor of this "Army Surplus dumpster diver" look is "How could anyone take him seriously if he was some weirdo covered in question marks?" And like. Look. I'm not even a Batfan, but even I know that Batman is A) superhero fiction and B) filled with absolute ridiculousness.
You're gonna look me straight in the eye and say a dude dressed in green & black question marks is somehow less valid than a guy in literal clown makeup? Or a lady who controls plants? Or a guy RAISED BY PENGUINS? Or a mf'in SHARKMAN? But yeah, some guy dressed like this:
is somehow "ruining" the tone of Batman? Read your fucking comic books, pals. First of all, comics- especially ones like Batman (and DC/Marvel in general) should never take themselves too seriously. They're popcorn flicks. Blockbusters. Not Intellectual Cinema.
And second, did you ever think of the effect of cognitive/visual dissonance? You have some grim gritty serious no-fun-allowed BS premise and then some ponce in a flashy green suit shows up and throws everything into chaos. He'd be scary because he doesn't look like a serious threat.
But also, again, movies like this are allowed to be FUN. They don't have to be some extra dark-filtered, desaturated, demoralizing grim-fest. Riddler, like many other Bat-villains, is supposed to be over-the-top. He's supposed to have style. Pizzazz. PRESENTATION!
I've also seen it argued that the new Riddler is supposed to be modeled on the Zodiac Killer, which is, uh... certainly a take. A "take it to the trash bin and leave it there." Because WTF? "Well, he used cyphers, too, so it's the same thing!" No. No, it isn't. Not even a little bit. But if that really is the gimmick they're going with it's a HUGE step down in story development for Ed Nygma. You don't have to ground comic characters in "reality" because they aren't fucking real.
Ye gods, just let the word nerd wear his silly green suit and stop trying to make comic books realistic. It's far more fun when they aren't.
Oh, but I forgot. Fun is the mind-killer. Fun is the little death that brings total obliteration. *yawn* Whatever, dudes.
