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He is a former Wayne Enterprises employee who faced disillusionment when Bruce Wayne rejected his inventions because they were too questionable, thereby he became a criminal genius who teams up with Two-Face so he can get rich, become Gotham's cleverest carbon based life-form, get his revenge on his former employer Bruce Wayne, and figure out the identity of Batman.
Ed Nygma after having his proposal denied by Bruce Wayne.
Edward Nygma starts out as an employee researcher at Wayne Enterprises who is obsessed with Bruce Wayne. Nygma wanted to use Wayne to test out his invention which was capable of beaming a TV signal directly into someone's brain.
But Bruce rejects his invention and tells Nygma that it "raises too many questions". Angered by Bruce's rejection, Nygma decides to continue on the invention, with or without Bruce's consent. When Stickley discovers Nygma's clandestine overtime, Nygma knocks Stickley unconscious, ties him to a chair, and then uses him to test his device, discovering that he can use it to absorb people's knowledge.
Realizing Wayne was right about it being mind manipulation, Stickley fires Nygma, but Nygma murders Stickley by throwing him out the window to his death, doctors the security tapes to make Stickley's death look like a suicide, and then resigns from Wayne Enterprises; as Nygma absorbed Stickley's intellect, he could mimic his late superior's hand-writing to make the suicide note look real, and he likewise altered Stickley's will to make Nygma the beneficiary of his assets. Everyone except Bruce is convinced that it was a genuine suicide. Indeed, a riddle is left at the scene, which starts Bruce on a path to realizing that Stickley's "suicide" was, in fact, anything but. It is the first of four riddles that Bruce would end up discovering to lead him to the truth.
Becoming the l'homme mystère[]
Nygma was so satisfied with the work of Two-Face on live television at a circus that he took his own take on the criminal underworld as the mastermind known as the Riddler. Using his device, the Riddler finds Two-Face in his lair and proposes a bargain: they will steal production capital to mass-produce the Riddler's invention in order to deduce Batman's true identity and use it to plot his downfall. Two-Face declares that he will flip his coin, with heads accepting the deal, or tails being Riddler's death; Two-Face accepts the deal (with his coin marking heads in favor of the deal).
Riddler and Two-Face forming an alliance.
As a start, both villains steal a lot of capital for Nygma to start his own company, NygmaTech. With that in mind, Nygma mass-produces his NygmaBox inventions and sells them out to people, who find them to be very popular. As part of the marketing, Nygma's true intention was to use his invention to steal the people of Gotham's quotient of intelligence into his own brain, thus making him more intelligent.
He even allows Two-Face to share some of the intelligence so that Two-Face himself can become intelligent. Viewers with his NygmaBox suffer a side effect of reduced intellect, which allowed sceptics to claim that Nygma's device leaves people like brain-dead zombies, but he was able to brush it off by comparing it to the fearmongering around the advent of television itself.
Outbidding Wayne Industries[]
At a business party, Nygma uses his now-successful invention to find out Bruce Wayne's secret identity as the Batman. After a deadly attack by Two-Face, they together watch the things that Wayne "has in his head", finally realizing that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Delighted by this, Two-Face calls the Riddler a genius.
With their knowledge of Batman's true identity finally at hand, Riddler and Two-Face invade Wayne Manor, where Riddler manages to destroy the Batcave. When Two-Face made his move to kill Bruce, the Riddler convinces him otherwise as he placed his final riddle on the doorstep, saying that Bruce won't learn nothing if he's dead. As both Two-Face and the Riddler escape, they kidnap Dr. Chase Meridian to lure Batman and his new sidekick Robin to their lair.
"Now... the real game begins."
Using a battleship like machine while playing a life and death game with Two-Face, Riddler was able to destroy Batman's Batwing and Two-Face send his goons after him and Robin only to lift up his lair. Two-Face then took the opportunity to capture Robin.
Riddler's Downfall[]
Finally coming face-to-face with Batman, Riddler claims that using his invention, he will use it to go to countless TV's across the globe that will feed him 'credit card numbers, bank codes, sexual fantasies and little white lies' into his brain. He, Two-Face and their henchmen then attempt to test Batman by giving out his ultimate riddle ("Can Bruce Wayne and Batman ever truly co-exist?"). To ensure this, the Prince of Puzzles plans on dropping either Dr. Meridian or Robin into two separate watery death traps.
The overload of brainwaves damaging Riddler's mind.
The Riddler then tests Batman that he needs to choose either Chase or Robin to save. Playing wise on this, Batman distracts the Riddler by giving him his own riddle ("I see without seeing. To me, darkness is as clear as daylight. What am I?"). The Riddler scoffs at this by giving the answer ("You're as blind as a bat!"), to which Batman confirms as he uses a Batarang to destroy his big replica of the invention that filters the ocean of brainwaves into a manageable flow, setting off a chain reaction, thus destroying his lair. This action also causes a massive overload of brainwaves to damage Riddler's mind, yet he was still able to press the button to drop both Robin and Chase in revenge; however, Batman manages to save both Chase and Robin from falling. After Two-Face falls to his death in one of the death traps, Batman went back for the Riddler, who is now enfeebled over the overload of brainwaves and has become almost vegetative. Taking pity on his former employee, Batman answered the Riddler's riddle ("You see, I'm both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Not because I have to be. But because I choose to be.").
Riddler defeated.
It is unknown if the Riddler actually understood the answer well or not, but just when Batman was about to take Riddler into custody, Riddler began to scream wildly, petrified as he began to hallucinate a giant bat flying towards him. He is then, afterwards, taken to the authorities and convicted for a life prison sentence in Arkham Asylum. One of the physicians, Dr. Burton, calls Dr. Meridian and tells her that the Riddler would shout that he'd know the true identity of Batman.
Riddler proclaiming that he's Batman while he's in Arkham Asylum.
Dr. Meridian asks who Batman is, but Ed says that she must say "please". When she asks with "please" who Batman is, the Riddler appears saying: "I'm Batman!" as he moves his arms like a flying bat and laughs maniacally, indicating that he has lost his sanity after his defeat. As such, Chase tells Bruce that his secret is safe, citing that Nygma is now a complete lunatic.
Riddler's Riddles[]
In the movie, The Riddler gave Bruce Wayne a series of riddles for him to decipher;
1. If you look at the numbers on my face, you won't find thirteen any place.
Answer: A Clock
2. Tear one off and scratch my head; what once was red is black instead.
Answer: A Match
3. The eight of us go forth, not back, to protect our king from a foe's attack.
Answer: Chess Pawns
4. We're five little items of an everyday sort; you'll find us all in 'a tennis court'.
Answer: Vowels
Each of the riddles contain a number that stands for a letter: the first one (13) stands for M, the next two (1 and 8, forming 18) stands for R, and the last one (5) stands for E. The result spells out "Mr. E", which sounds similar to the word 'mystery', which is a synonym for the word 'enigma'. Those clues would decipher to the Riddler's true identity as Edward Nygma ("Mr. E. Nygma")
When he first tested the Box on his boss Fred Stickley, Edward Nygma asked him a riddle: "What is everything to someone and nothing to anyone else?" The answer was "Your mind" as he taunted him while draining his knowledge.
During the final confrontation, The Riddler gave a riddle to test Batman: "Can Bruce Wayne and Batman ever truly co-exist?" After the Riddler's defeat, Batman finally gave him the answer: "You see, I'm both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Not because I have to be. But because I choose to be."
Appearance[]
He initially appeared as a slender, long haired, red-headed man, who wore glasses. Upon becoming the Riddler, he shortened his hair to a crewcut and dyed it an orange-y red; he wore multiple costumes throughout the film, with the main common denominator being a domino mask, countless question marks, and primarily the colour green - until the end, where he used more silver than green. Most of his costumes were skin-tight, others more like casual attire (just with the Riddler design motif), and one had electronically lit up question marks.
When he established himself as a genius entrepreneur, his obsession with Bruce Wayne remained, despite no longer being his admirer; as such, Edward wore identical business suits, had brunette hair in a slick-backed style like Bruce (most likely a wig), and he even wore a prosthetic mole on his face as to make his imitation more accurate.
His final Riddler outfit reinforced his grandiose ego, since his hair was styled like horns or a crown to show power, the body suit was silver with black and green question marks, with the silver denoting purity and divine power; his domino mask was altered so that one lens was another question mark.
Quotes[]
“
Questions, Mr. Wayne? My work raises too many questions? Why hasn't anybody put you in your place?
„
~ Edward holding a grudge against Bruce.
“
Fred, babe! *You* are fired... or should I say? TERMINATED!
„
~ Nygma murdering his supervisor Fred
“
Hey, Two-Face, teach me how to punch a guy!
„
~ Riddler asking for more hands-on crime advice from Two-Face
“
Yes, yes, yes, Bruce, old man. The press were just wondering how it feels to be outsold, outclassed, out-quaffed and generally outdone in every way.
„
~ Nygma gloating about NygmaTech's success.
“
NO! Don't kill him. If you kill him… he won't learn nothin'.
„
~ Riddler's ego making him stop Two-Face executing Bruce Wayne
“
For if knowledge is power, then a god... am... I. Was that over the top? I can never tell!
„
~ The Riddler
“
Why, why, why... Why can't I kill you? Too many questions. There are too many questions.
„
~ A defeated Riddler lamenting his inability to stop Batman, while also suffering from an overload of brainwaves from Gotham citizens
“
I'M BATMAN!
„
~ Nygma to Dr. Chase Meridan in Arkham Asylum after becoming an insane lunatic, and his last words in the film.
Trivia[]
The Riddler's costume can be seen in the sequel Batman & Robin, in which it is held in the confiscating room at Arkham Asylum along with Two-Face's suit.
According to Jim Carrey, he did not get along with Tommy Lee Jones (who plays Two-Face in the movie). The clashes annoyed director Joel Shumacher (in spite of him praising Carrey's performance) to the extent that he stated he would never again work with either of them. However, Schumacher later worked with Carrey on The Number 23.
Jim Carrey's original idea - to shave a question mark into his scalp - had to be scratched as he was due in court to finalize his divorce.
Jim Carrey helped design a lot of his costumes.
In the earlier drafts of Batman Forever by Lee and Janet Scott Batchler, Riddler's real name was Lyle Heckendorf, and his rival company was called HeckTech, and has a pet rat named Sydney. The Batchlers came up with a scene that was not in the final film where Lyle tests the Box on his landlady. And Joel Schumacher also came up with a scene that was also not in the final film where Lyle stalks Bruce Wayne and Chase Meridian at the charity circus, and stole clothes from a fortune telling leprechaun, which form the basis of the Riddler outfit, and he has magenta hair. Akiva Goldsman later added the Edward Nygma name in the later drafts.
After being used as bait to lure Jack Nicholson into signing on as The Joker in 1989's Batman, Joel Schumacher asked Robin Williams to play The Riddler in Batman Forever with Lee and Janet Scott Batchler writing it with his comedic delivery, and he talked to Akiva Goldsman about The Riddler would do when they're brainstorming in his kitchen. Williams read the script for Batman Forever and loved it. His management wanted $15 million and the percentage of the gross and merchandising, just like Michael Keaton's agency was going to get. Warner Bros. later spent $30 million on both Michael Keaton and Robin Williams, and Jim Carrey was cast as The Riddler instead.
He had a metal cane with a question mark head. This became a common staple of the Riddler in later adaptations.
This version of the Riddler shares many similarities to the Adam West counterpart, especially because of their constantly laughing to highlight their insanity, making jokes while committing crimes and both versions having plans to destroy the Batcave (it's not helping that since Frank Gorshin was one of Jim Carrey's favorite actors, Carrey portrays the character similarly in Batman Forever).
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