History Headscratchers / BatmanForever

* Why cast a grown man to play a teenager? If you're going to choose an older actor to play a teenager, why not cast an 16-18 year old for the part?

** The movie portrays it more as a "shot in the dark". Bruce has had all but one of these riddles for days and figured out that the only connection between them was the numbers, so the "1 and 8 are 18" thing was more of an "eh, probably rubbish, but let's try it", and as it happens it was true (and of course, Nygma designed it to be so). It's just an intuitive guess on his part, and by luck it happens to be right, but it isn't ''that'' much of a stretch considering he's spent days pondering them already and in the scene in question seemed prepared to spend the rest of the night throwing out random ideas and seeing what stuck, though at least now he saw that the numbers were the key.

** It's a movie shortcut. Running through the other options he would have got N.H.E or M.A.N (arguably at least meaning something) but M.R.E gives you a better standing since Mr. E is obviously more specific than MAN and when you say it outloud the "mystery" is a pretty easy conclusion to make. The point being we're not given Bruce's internal process but only the result of the deduction in the movie.

* In the scene after Chase has been captured and the Batcave has been destroyed, Alfred and Bruce have all the riddles he's been sent gathered and are trying to deduce a pattern. They deduce that each one has a number (12, 1, 8 & 5), and that each one correlates to a letter of the alphabet (M, A, H & E). Why on earth would Bruce just throw out that 1 & 8 could be put together to make 18 and thusly stand for R to make M R E? Like, out of any of the numbers you could put together, you just decide "Oh, I'll put the middle ones together and that'll solve the riddle"? I understand he's Batman and he's been sent riddles by the Riddler, but still. It always seemed like too much of an ass-pull.

* What was the point of the SONAR Batsuit at the end of the movie? He threw a grappling hook at a Mook while being grappled himself by another mook at the beginning, he clearly doesn't need SONAR for throwing a Batarang at a ''giant obvious weakpoint'' in Nygma's lair. TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot as well, since he could have used the SONAR for finding Robin after being jettisoned into the water. Alas.

* Batman states in the scene where Chase tries to seduce him that he knows Two-Face's obsession with his coin could be exploited as a weakness. So why does Batman not only wait half a dozen encounters with Two-Face later to use the trick, but wait until it was a lethal situation and decide not to follow up the distraction with one of the mook-rangling gadgets we've seen him use earlier in the movie that could safely rope Two-Face to one of the nearby steel beams?

* What was Edward's fascination with leaving riddles? All we hear about it is that he does it because he's obsessed with Bruce, but why is he so attached to riddles? Why not just notes of admiration and/or hatred? I get that eventually he has to become the Riddler, but still...

* What was Edward's fascination with leaving riddles? All we hear about it is that he does it because he's obsessed with Bruce, but why riddles? Why not just notes of admiration and/or hatred?

** The Novelization has some lawyers bring this up to Bruce, but he says taking Nygma to court would look too much like sour grapes. And, though this is implied and not stated outright, he wants to give Nygma enough rope to hang himself.

*** He did it because both he and Dick have now seen their parents murdered by a maniac in front of their eyes. Bruce probably gives a lot of money and support to orphans and charities, but he took in Dick because what happened there hit close to home.

** He had just invented it and hadn't filed for a patent yet, and Bruce Wayne himself said that the company didn't want to get involved in brain-wave technology.

* Why the hell does Gotham City have its own currency?
** Did nobody ''notice'' Edward Nygma chatting rather amiably with Two-Face at the penthouse party?

** Lampshaded by the {{Novelization}}. Bruce's corporate lawyers advise him of this and tell him to take Nygma to court, but Bruce declines; he says it would look too much like "sour grapes." And, although this is implied and not stated outright, he wants to give Nygma enough rope to hang himself.

** The problem is, Wayne Manor seems to be in the middle of nowhere. Even if the Manor grounds are entirely safe (as it happens, they aren't), it still looks like its a mile or two away from the rest of civilization.

*** Not to mention this is Wayne Manor - justified or not, people would probably be more comfortable being there as the Wayne family were well known, well liked, and lacking in any sort of scandal. Given that this Bruce was also more aware of the need to be Bruce as well as Batman, he's probably also started to make efforts to avoid seeming like a complete idiot with no day job.

* In the movie, there is a scene where Two-Face keeps flipping his coin until he gets a result he wants. In the comics, a key element of his split personality is that he unquestioningly accepts the result of a single coin toss concerning any decision he makes.