An incredibly long treatise on how much Riddler Caped Crusader sucks, sorry Zatanna followers.
Ah, Riddler Caped Crusader...
I have one main thought on him and it's that they took inspiration from the wrong main character from Casino.
First off, I know that the writers did an actual reference there and based him off Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death, a noir film Frank Gorshin was taking inspiration from for his Riddler portrayal in the 60s.
I don't really care. It's a neat reference, but a character needs to be more than just an in-joke if they get this much screentime. Joker is a good example. He's based off Conrad Veidt, he's a serious, grim Joker who smiles but hardly laughs-- but he still uses Joker gas. He likes endless nihilism, he's a sadist, he still feels like the Joker. A dour, noir Joker, but still the Joker.
Riddler?
Guy says one pineapple grenade joke and then goes back to shooting people. He's an idiot. He's not the Riddler. He's Black Mask in Riddler's clothes.
I'd like to compare this to the other Caped Crusader villains. Did they make Harley not a psychiatrist? No. Did they make Gentleman Ghost not rob people and not be a ghost? No. Did they make Penguin not a crime boss, even when they genderswapped her? No!
Why did Riddler get an entirely new personality and new job and lose his gimmick outright? If it was just one or the other it could even work (it's a thing in Caped Crusader to switch motives or personality) but the problem with Riddler is that they lost his gimmick too, the one thing all other antagonists kept.
It makes him feel empty, because without the cerebral mind games he's basically just a mobster movie archetype. The Nicky from Casino. The Tommy DeVito from Goodfellas. Tony Montana without the redeeming qualities. The hothead who feels invincible and dies because of his own hubris.
Which if you've seen any actual mobster movie, has probably been done better in anything else you've seen, because it's not crammed sporadically in ten episodes. And because those mobsters probably had more interesting dialogue, because they'd often get some wit. This Riddler? Zilch.
When Riddler is around, the mobsters have left Gotham. He's a post-supervillain arrival, he's not a Falcone. The Falcones are a shoe-in for mobster movie archetypes too, but they don't put Carmine Falcone in a lizard coat and say he's Killer Croc because that subverts your expectations!
There's just nothing to Riddler besides the mob archetype. How interesting is he as a character, by himself?... uh, he's stupid and evil and even more evil and so one-note that he just gets shot and dies in Episode 7 because Joker needed that extra screentime to do something actually interesting.
What makes him special? The fact that he'd kill all friends? The fact that he's brutal and rules his new empire on his own whims? That's... not a unique personality. That would probably be the same as Oswalda with more bullets, and Oswalda got her gimmick in her water emphasis, which set her apart from just being another mobster.
Taking away Riddler's gimmick isn't just removing a funny voice and 'Riddle me This!' scene, it's literally stripping him of anything to distinguish himself from just another goon with a gun.
What maddens me more is that he could still be a mobster, the idea of him being a mobster isn't bad, it's that they took the most boring way out of it! When I say they took the wrong inspiration from Casino, I mean he should be an Ace Rothstein, or to use a real-life (more real life, Casino is based on real life) example, Meyer Lansky.
If they wanted to do a Riddler, he should've been a numbers man, an organizer. A mobster who keeps the books running, the cash rolling in, and everything in tip-top shape in the pyramid.
He should be called the Riddler because he orders people 'riddled' with bullets, not because he is the one riddling people because that also makes Thorne look like a moron for putting him in any authority for longer than twelve seconds.
How much more into the gimmick would that be? Infinitely! He could get frustrated at Batman knocking down his pyramid of crime, then suddenly chomping at the bit to be more involved with 'the Bat' because he's finally got a match with his brains!
Mobsters aren't known for being smart! Mobsters are often people who go into crime because an actual, societally-benefitting job isn't in their interests!
No wonder a different version of the Riddler would be obsessed, because for once someone gets his obscure book references, for once he has someone who can pick up wordplay, because they didn't quit fifth grade to harass shopkeepers.
For once he has met someone in his line of work that has more than just a trigger finger, an actual brain, and a sharp one, an educated one!
It could be so great, but they just missed it entirely!
Said it perfectly really! Saw a video on YouTube yesterday about caped crusader riddler and he was getting praise, it did make me think that his whole inferiority thing wasn’t horrible but the key factor of Eddie is still missing. His intelligence and the value he puts on it. It’s his skill his one key, his ego is based on it cause it’s the one thing that can get him what he wants and the one thing no one else (besides Batman) can beat him at.
Watching bewitched the tv show and every episode I’m screaming at my screen that Samantha’s mom is right and what’s his name husband should be begging for forgiveness for his stupid idiocy. Live laugh love witch on ✨
controversial stance but i do wish i could live forever. i certainly live like i'm going to live forever. i take my time. realistically however my lifespan is dreadfully limited and there are things i've "been meaning to do" that i will never get around to. the Emoji Movie came out almost 10 years ago. in all that time on any random day i could've decided to sit down and watch it, and i did not. how many more decades will slip by like this? conceivably, it could be all the decades i have left. watching the Emoji Movie would not be, after all, a crucial use of my time. much better things to do. i could easily postpone it over and over and over until my final breath where it may not even register to me that i never did watch the Emoji Movie. no great loss, certainly; and yet i find myself intrigued by Patrick Stewart's involvement
Okay current thoughts on caped crusader. I like it but why is Eddie soooooo dumb. Now it’s still a good character but as a Riddler he pisses me off. Barely any riddles, no brains, he wears green but so what.
Bruce Timm when I get you Bruce Timm when I get you
We all know how Eddie has had a lot of hair colours... Red, black, brown, hell even bald!! Do you think we'll ever get a blonde Riddler? What do you think about this possibility (not asking you to draw it BUUUT it would be cool if you did👀👀👀)
Good question, I think the closest we’ll get in media is that sandy dirty blonde in like the Cape Crusader or Frank Gorshin’s light colored hair. Then again I think those count as a brown. But then again nothing is impossible. That would just mean his character world have to shine through. I personally dont think its a fit. Blonde in my mind is usually for seduction, innocence, heroics or authoritative personalities. And i just don’t thinks those are very Riddler. (Maybe authoritative) I could draw the most Riddler looking man that ever riddled and I just dont think it fits. Them again maybe I’m just enough of a designer for that kind of challenge. However, I can certainly have fun trying.
(Sorry my tablet posted early and half finished.)
Over all not my kinda look. But fun and not impossible.
