History Fridge / TheBatman2022

* Riddler and Batman are presented as parallels to each other in many ways, and one aspect is how they both use stealth. Batman dresses in black and uses the darkness as a tool so he can go unseen. The Riddler, meanwhile, wears a costume you can buy at any army surplus store. Outside the costume, [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse he looks like an ordinary nerdy guy you wouldn't look twice at]], [[BeneathNotice which he also uses to his advantage]].

* The CollectiveIdentity that Riddler's followers use at the climax of the film is a clever way of emphasizing the JokerImmunity nature of the Riddler (and future Batman villains), as well as explaining why Batman has a ThouShaltNotKill rule despite living in a city of serial killers and terrorists. Anyone could be the Riddler. It doesn't matter if Edward Nashton is killed or arrested. He’s gained enough notoriety to inspire future copycats to continue his agenda, and his costume is cheap enough for anyone to make. For Batman to fight this seemingly immortal foe, he has to be a symbol of hope to give people something positive to look up to, rather than remain a feared vigilante who inspires future killers like the Riddler.

* While it initially doesn't make sense that even the Riddler doesn't realize that Bruce and Batman are one and the same, especially considering that Bruce's mannerisms don't change much in or out of costume, bear in mind that Bruce has been described as a recluse by Alfred. Even if his behavior is obvious, nobody sees him often enough outside costume to make that realization. Indeed, Bruce only ever makes 2 public appearances as 'Bruce Wayne' outside of Wayne Manor in the film, the first at the funeral, wherein he makes it clear that he's only going because it affords him an opportunity to find the Riddler observing the aftermath of his crime, and he remains pointedly quiet and withdrawn for most of it, only speaking to Falcone and Cobblepot when he winds up getting too close to them and draws Falcone's attention, and to Bella Reál when she approaches him to ask for his aid in doing more for the city. On both occasions, Bruce uses a lower, slightly hesitant and withdrawn pitch to his speaking to sell the idea that he's a ShrinkingViolet and avoid Falcone's goons recognising his voice as Batman. When Gordon and Martinez run into him he avoids speaking at all to avoid the same outcome. The second time he makes such an appearance is after Riddler exposes the AwfulTruth about his family and Alfred's hospitalised by his bomb, and it's arguable that Bruce is in such a bad state of mind that he's not keeping up pretences anymore, speaking more openly and naturally to Falcone this time, only able to keep his wits about him enough to go 'out of costume' because he recognises Falcone will be more forthcoming to Bruce than to Batman. Bruce lacks any of the ironclad defences and army of goons that Falcone has in the Iceberg Lounge, but unlike him, he's so reclusive to the public ''at all'' that Riddler was forced to go for a similarly indirect method of trying to kill him, simply because he doesn't appear in public whenever possible.

* For his first three victims, Riddler attacked and killed them in person. However, he sends a bomb to Bruce instead. This is for the same reason he could not target Falcone directly. Both he and Bruce are described as recluses, meaning their public movements are unknown to Riddler. Bruce spends most of his time in the Batcave without going to work, and Falcone hides in the Iceberg Lounge.

* In hindsight, it became clear that the Riddler thought he was helping Batman in his crusade against crime and corruption, with his riddles exposing the drug busting conspiracy and their ringleader, Carmine Falcone. So why doesn't Batman realize it until the Riddler flat out explained it to him? First, the fact the Riddler murdered people and half-orphaned the corrupt mayor's innocent boy would have colored Batman's perception of the Riddler as just a killer that needs to be brought to justice, since murder is murder (which is why Batman refuses to let Selina kill anyone in her quest for vengeance). Second, because the Riddler made Bruce Wayne one of his targets, and the fact that he seemed to know what Batman is about to do, Batman became paranoid that the Riddler knew his secret identity and was planning a mind game to utterly screw with him.
* Bruce Wayne's background as the [[ShelteredAristocrat sheltered heir to a vast fortune]] actually ended up hindering him several times throughout his investigation. If he'd had even a cursory knowledge of Spanish, he would have instantly recognized that "el rata alada" was grammatically incorrect, and he did not even know what type of tool Riddler had used to murder Don Mitchell nor its significance until it was pointed out to him by Martinez. This resonates with his alter ego's unintended influence on people like Riddler and his followers, and indicates how both Batman and Bruce Wayne need to refine their methods to truly help Gotham and its citizens.

*** There's also the fact that a letter bomb is ''the only way'' Riddler can actually realistically attempt to kill Bruce with his limited resources and the latter's reclusiveness. Unlike any of the other targets, Bruce lives alone in a penthouse suite atop the city, a location that Riddler can’t approach in person to give him a more personalized/symbolic demise. Even Falcone, whom he spends a great deal of the movie exposing in order to kill him when he's most vulnerable and without protection, is somebody he was able to physically get close to due to the shadiness of his base of operations being centred in the lower sections of the town. A remote bomb being smuggled into the building is the only way Riddler can threaten Bruce's life, and even he seems to consider it a long shot. Unlike any of his other targets, his overall plan doesn't actually require Bruce to die, and he manages to somewhat achieve his goal of smearing mud on the Wayne name regardless through his viral messaging afterwards, upset that Bruce survived, but apparently aware such an indirect method might not kill him, and planning to proceed in either case. Noticeably, Bruce is the last 'victim' he sends a message to the Batman through, and the message essentially says 'see you in Arkham (when you catch me)', showing that he saved the murder attempt he had the least control over for last, so success or failure wouldn't impact his plans much either way.

** There's also some literary symbolism in Riddler referring to Arkham as "Hell," and his intent that he and Batman would watch the Gotham's destruction safe within its walls. [[Literature/ParadiseLost Better to rule in Hell then serve in Heaven. . .]]

** The Mayor has his head bashed in and is then slowly suffocated under a 'mask' of duct-tape whilst he's unable to defend himself, probably only barely aware of what's happening and unable to breathe properly once his air supply is sealed off.

* Riddler and Batman are presented as parallels to each other in many ways, and one aspect is how they both use stealth. Batman dresses in black and uses the darkness as a tool so he can go unseen. The Riddler, meanwhile, wears a costume you can buy at any army surplus store. Outside the costume, [[TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse he looks like an ordinary nerdy guy you wouldn't look twice at]], which he also uses to his advantage.

** It’s rather fortunate that the Wayne killer remains ambiguous. Bruce's sudden interest in his parents' deaths when Falcone and Alfred bring up potential suspects heavily implies that he is thinking of delivering a special kind of vengeance upon the culprit, one that would break his moral code, and in the scene after Alfred stresses that no one knows who killed the Waynes, Selina indirectly learns that her mother was personally killed by Carmine Falcone, which naturally sends her on a single-minded quest of revenge to assassinate Falcone. Selina shows what would happen if Batman had known who the killer was.

** For Bella Reál, she is less a target for her own actions and more as the final blow against Gotham itself. Once the bombs go off, the city floods, and without intervention it would slowly destabilise over the coming months, its citizens turning on each other as their food and resources run low and the city slowly eats itself alive, waiting to die in horrible conditions without hope of relief like Riddler did. With Reál dead, there would be no unifying figure to calm and lead the citizens to start rebuilding the city, and it could have only slowly succumb to decay as the days go by.

* The finale of the Riddler causing Gotham to become flooded has two metaphorical meanings. It "washes away" the corruption of Gotham, and it gives it the chance for rebirth (aka renewal) through destruction. The irony is that he sees this as a destructive act, and while it is, it is also an act that sets the stage for Batman's change of heart and the city rebuilding itself. He was very much HoistByHisOwnPetard.

* The CollectiveIdentity that Riddler's followers use at the climax of the film is a clever way of emphasizing the JokerImmunity nature of the Riddler (and future Batman villains), as well as explaining why Batman has a ThouShaltNotKill rule despite living in a city of serial killers and terrorists. Anyone could be the Riddler. It doesn't matter if Edward Nashton is killed or arrested. He has gained enough notoriety to inspire future copycats to continue his agenda, and his costume is cheap enough for anyone to make. For Batman to fight this seemingly immortal foe, he has to be a symbol of hope to give people something positive to look up to, rather than remain a feared vigilante who inspires future killers like the Riddler.

* Falcone wears incredibly dark sunglasses even at night. While he can (or rather, has to in order for the plot to continue after Selina attacks him) see without them, this heavily implies one of two things: they’re part of his image, or they indicate he has major vision problems. Given how he established himself from corruptly cooperating with the police and DA, it makes sense: he’s overcompensating the process of establishing his image as a Don. Given one of Riddler’s clues-to DA Gil, who essentially created Falcone none the less-is how “justice is blind”, his possible vision problems also mirror how he is backed by the corrupted form of justice in Gotham.

* There is also symbolism in the fact that, while the stick-up artist and the vandal are freaked out by the Bat-Signal and the Joker thugs aren't, it's specifically the ''latter'' who Batman targets. He doesn't go after the vandal making a political statement (albeit a destructive one) or the presumably impoverished hoodlum holding up a bodega out of desperation; he's going after those who are themselves going out of their way to target and hurt innocent people for their own sadistic pleasure. Thus symbolising that while Batman's actions might be having counterproductive effects, his intentions are still good and he is at least aiming at the 'right' targets; he just needs to find a better and more productive way of doing so.

** It is rather fortunate that the Wayne killer remains ambiguous. Bruce's sudden interest in his parents' deaths when Falcone and Alfred bring up potential suspects heavily implies that he is thinking of delivering a special kind of vengeance upon the culprit, one that would break his moral code, and in the scene after Alfred stresses that no one knows who killed the Waynes, Selina indirectly learns that her mother was personally killed by Carmine Falcone, which naturally sends her on a single-minded quest of revenge to assassinate Falcone. Selina shows what would happen if Batman had known who the killer was.

*** There's also the fact that a letter bomb is ''the only way'' Riddler can actually realistically attempt to kill Bruce with his limited resources and the latter's reclusiveness. Unlike any of the other targets, Bruce lives alone in a penthouse suite atop the city, a location that Riddler cannot approach in person to give him a more personalised/symbolic demise. Even Falcone, whom he spends a great deal of the movie exposing in order to kill him when he's most vulnerable and without protection, is somebody he was able to physically get close to due to the shadiness of his base of operations being centred in the lower sections of the town. A remote bomb being smuggled into the building is the only way Riddler can threaten Bruce's life, and even he seems to consider it a long shot. Unlike any of his other targets, his overall plan doesn't actually require Bruce to die, and he manages to somewhat achieve his goal of smearing mud on the Wayne name regardless through his viral messaging afterwards, upset that Bruce survived, but apparently aware such an indirect method might not kill him, and planning to proceed in either case. Noticeably, Bruce is the last 'victim' he sends a message to the Batman through, and the message essentially says 'see you in Arkham (when you catch me)', showing that he saved the murder attempt he had the least control over for last, so success or failure wouldn't impact his plans much either way.

** For District Attorney Colson, he straps a bomb collar around the D.A.'s neck and then sends him to the mayor's funeral for a live public trial for his crimes, crashing a vehicle spraypainted D.O.A. (Dead on Arrival) into the church. He, acting as the prosecutor, forces the D.A. to answer for three things: first for justice denied, second for the price of bribes, and the third for the rat's name that he is protecting. Additionally, the bomb collar ready to blow his head off may also be a VisualPun on the D.A. being Mr. LooseLips and losing control of himself in this precarious situation.

** For Mayor-elect Bella Reál and Gotham itself, the Riddler plans to destroy the seawall and let the seawater flood Gotham, mocking Reál's campaign for ''real'' change (as he believes there can be no real change for Gotham except through destruction) and ridding the city of its filth with the same methods used to exterminate rats: drowning in their nests. Then he has his followers dress up like him and gun down the survivors, ensuring that the only people who will ultimately live are the Riddler's chosen people (aka [[ItsAllAboutMe himself]]). This assassination attempt symbolically fails (along with Bruce Wayne's), because neither Bella Reál nor Bruce Wayne were corrupt people who deserve what's coming for them.
** Each death also has an ironic little twist depending on the (intended) victim's profession and/or role in the city. The Mayor is a politician, essentially both the 'head' of the city and, as its main political representative, its 'face'; he gets his head bashed in and covered up with tape, rendering him faceless and removing the city's 'head'. The Police Commissioner is supposed to lock criminals in jail; he gets his head locked in a 'cage' (essentially a mini-jail) and viciously torn into by 'rats' (often used to symbolise crime). The District Attorney prosecutes criminals and questions witnesses in court; he gets subjected to his own mini-trial, complete with cross-examination. Bruce Wayne is a playboy billionaire surrounded by wealth and possessions; his 'death' comes to him in the form of a gift. Finally, Carmine Falcone is the overboss of the criminal underworld; his fate is to be violently gunned down in the street as if he were a nobody, or a random street criminal in the wrong place at the wrong time.
* The Riddler's CriminalMindGames come to a stop with his attempted killing of Bruce Wayne, his last message simply saying 'See You in Hell'. At first, this seems to be because Riddler is taunting Batman with his knowledge of his SecretIdentity, but on a repeat watch, it's actually because ''Batman already has all the clues he needs'' to solve the identity of the 'Rat with Wings'. Riddler just aired the AwfulTruth about the Wayne Family's connections to Falcone after his letter bomb failed to kill Bruce, and how the Renewal fund has been funding criminal activity in Gotham for years. Riddler has been killing off all the corrupt governmental figures attached to the Maroni drugs bust, he confirmed to Batman via their conversation through the URL code that Penguin ''wasn't'' the informant, he knows Batman will have discovered that the drug trades in Gotham are still ongoing by investigating the case, and he just revealed that Falcone is one of those who also profited from the corruption alongside his targets. To Riddler's mind, Batman should follow the money to Falcone and realise that he's the only common link remaining, the one who would have benefited most from Sal Maroni getting taken down, and thus the one who informed on him to take control over Gotham's underworld. What he ''doesn't'' see coming is that Batman will go get answers from Falcone as Bruce Wayne, and be too hurt by the revelations over his family's DarkSecret to do any investigating. Ultimately, because Riddler was [[ComplexityAddiction too roundabout in his puzzles to Batman]] and overestimated his ability to decode the correct answers immediately, his plan hit a dead end until Selina's [[MugglesDoItBetter tangential investigation]] into the simpler murder of Annika unearthed the answer by chance.
** Also, at the time "See You In Hell" seems to be a taunting death threat. When he's imprisoned, however, the Riddler comments that Arkham is as close a place as he can imagine to Hell. He's actually referring to the location of his planned meeting with Batman.
* Batman giving Colson the answer to a riddle and not having the Riddler accuse Colson of cheating seems like an OOC moment, until you remember that, at that point, Riddler believes he and Batman are on the same side. With this in mind, the “game” comes off more as an interrogation, with the Riddler acting as an intimidating ‘bad cop’ while Batman, being the ‘good cop’, allows Colson to elaborate on his answers.

* Though subtle, this incarnation of Riddler has some comparisons with another less-physical but brilliantly-minded Batman villain, the ClockKing. Specifically, most of his various Saw-esque traps and plans revolve around the concept of the victim's 'time running out' whilst they wait to die, analogous to his own experiences in the OrphanageOfFear wherein many of the children could do nothing but wait to die from their horrible living conditions.

* In most adaptations, Gordon is completely incorruptible and morally pure, but this film emphasizes the moral and legal ambiguity of working with a violent vigilante. Several cops correctly say Batman is jeopardizing evidence, which could cause lots of problems in Gotham's already-corrupt courts, and Gordon helps Batman abduct and question suspects, conduct unauthorized surveillance, and leaks vital evidence the cops can't legally use to the press, which gives him the plausible deniability to act on it. Under normal circumstances, these would all be very bad things, but the movie implies [[GreyAndBlackMorality it's the only way he can work around the system's corruption]].

* Ironically, the Riddler’s plan to flood Gotham would do exactly the opposite of his plan to target the rich and powerful through sheer Fridge Logic: the buildings most likely to survive are skyscrapers and penthouses, typically owned by the rich and powerful, whereas most buildings which lower income people live in would likely be far shorter, dooming them to the flood waters. This is best exemplified by the Penguin looking down at flooded city from the safety and comfort of Falcone's newly vacated headquarters while the traumatized civilians are huddling on the rooftops waiting for the National Guard helicopters to rescue them.

* Ironically, the Riddler’s plan to flood Gotham would do exactly the opposite of his plan to target the rich and powerful through sheer Fridge Logic: the buildings most likely to survive are skyscrapers and penthouses, typically owned by the rich and powerful, whereas most buildings which lower income people live in would likely be far shorter, dooming them to the flood waters.

* The beginning of the movie establishes that the bat-signal is effectively another of Batman’s scare tactics; it makes criminals paranoid by showing that he’s aware of some crime and is now about to go stop it, making it seem like he could be ''anywhere''. [[spoiler: So naturally Riddler and his followers, who are all inspired in some part by Batman’s vigilantism, take a similar approach in the end and all of them dress as the Riddler, making it seem like he’s ''everywhere''.]]

** Its also symbolic of his CharacterDevelopment as he starts to realize he can't fix Gotham through violence alone. His first attempt to enter the club is to fight his way in, which fails almost immediately, while the methods he uses in his second and third visit are subtler and more indirect, and are far more successful for it.

** Its also symbolic of his CharacterDevelopment as he starts to realize he can't fix Gotham through violence alone. His first attempt to enter the club is to fight his way in, which fails almost immediately, whereas his later two attempts are subtler and more indirect, and are far more successful for it.