Podcast / The Codot Verse

The CodotVerse is a fanmade Batman/DC Universe series of audio plays written by Canadian voice actor husband and wife team Codot (known as VoiceBoss on Tumblr) and Dee, unofficially starting in 2012 with the first Riddler Case Files as a Character Blog, but with the twist that Codot would also voice the answers in-character as Edward Nygma. In the 101st entry, this would later expand to include storylines involving multiple characters as well as other blogs such as a similar one with Jonathan Crane. In 2018, all the series were re-organized into one series collectively known as Rogues, with all the previous blogs being retired and redirected towards one organized blog.

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The CodotVerse includes

• The Riddler Case Files ^note technically officially starts on #101 (2012-2018)
  • End of Days (2016)
  • Lock-Up's Lockdown (2017)
• Dr. Jonathan Crane, MD (2016-2018)
• Gotham City Police Department (2016-2018)
• Rogues (2018-ongoing)
  • Season 1 (2018-2022)
  • Best Served Cold (2019)
  • Regicide (upcoming)

The CodotVerse contains examples of:

• Accent Adaptation:
  • Jonathan Crane is given a rather thick Georgian accent; something that no official portrayals have, usually either given a standard American or British accent.
  • Dick Grayson also has a noticeable English accent acquired from spending most of his life up until meeting Bruce Wayne traveling across Europe.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Downplayed. The Joker isn't nicer, exactly, but he does love Harley and treats her better than in most versions.
  • Jason gets along far better with the Batfamily as opposed to most versions. According to Word of God, he has a better relationship with Tim in particular and was more understanding of why Tim became Robin.
• Adaptational Sexuality: In the canon comics, Edward is stated to be bisexual. In the podcast, he’s biromantic asexual with a neutral view of sex.
• Affectionate Nickname: Edward calls his sister Susan “Zu Zu”.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Harley apparently had a thing for supervillains long before she met the Joker.
• Aroused by Their Voice: Women keep having this reaction to Jonathan, much to Edward's bafflement. (It doesn't help that his own henchgirls feel this way.)
• Audience Participation: There are three Halloween events where listeners have to participate that would decide how the story ends:
  • "End of Days": Edward has been kidnapped, and the listeners must help Jonathan solve ten riddles to find out where he is. However, if they get three wrong, Edward dies.
  • "Lock-Up's Lockdown": Listeners must vote on who Edward brings with him to the final confrontation with Scarecrow and Bolton. But there's a catch: they must choose wisely, because Scarecrow and/or Edward can die depending on the team formed.
  • "Best Served Cold": To save Nora, listeners must help Edward answer riddles given to him by Brainiac to increase her chances of recovering. Any wrong answer will decrease her chances, and Victor has made it clear Edward will die if Nora does.
• The Atoner: Father Muldoon is genuinely remorseful for the fact that he wasn't able to stop Jack Nashton from abusing his children (especially Edward who would later grow up into becoming The Riddler) and tries to make amends with Edward, isn't having any of it.
• Bad Boss: Oswald Cobblepot is no-holds-barred regarding most of his subordinates, to the point of straight-up declaring them his property.
• Big Brother Instinct: Edward straight-up calls his sister Susan his one weakness due to being his Morality Pet, even if he had to leave her alone with their abusive parents.
• Big "WHAT?!": Edward when Jonathan confesses to sleeping with Harleen at least twice in the past.
• Bilingual Bonus: Much of Lucenzo’s dialogue is in untranslated Italian.
• Black Sheep: Edward is the one for the Nashton family due to being The Riddler.
• Bound and Gagged: Not actually gagged (although Jonathan is so pissed at Edward that he might as well be), but knowing that Jonathan is not gonna come willingly, Edward and Waylon force Jonathan into a straitjacket on the car ride home.
• Butt-Monkey: Jervis Tetch, especially in House of Mystery.
• Bystander Syndrome: Edward calls out his childhood pastor Father Muldoon for what he perceived as not noticing the obvious signs of child abuse he was experiencing, something Muldoon deeply regrets.
• Calling the Old Man Out: Jack Nashton gets a long overdue one in Episode 12.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: Edward to his father most of the time due to having that much contempt for him.
• The Cassandra: John Constantine in the House of Mystery event.
• Character Blog: Most of the series started out as these, although this has mostly been retired as of fairly early on Rogues. Although Codot still does in-character answers on his blog on occasion, they're presumably non-canon.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting:
  • Alastor Sharpe noticeably sounds very much like Tim Curry.
  • Vic Sage has some obvious influence from Jeffrey Combs's performance in Justice League.
• Conspicuous Gloves: Edward is pretty much never seen (for lack of a better word) without his purple gloves even when out of costume.
• Conspiracy Theorist: Vic Sage, whose beliefs are pretty outlandish even in a science fiction universe with actual conspiracies.
• Darker and Edgier: Starting with Season 4, the podcast gets far more plot oriented, with the listener questions being dropped and the stakes getting higher.
• Distressed Dude:
  • Edward gets this once a season for the first three seasons: getting kidnapped by Joker in Season 1, being held hostage by Lex Luthor in Season 2 and kidnapped and tortured by Hush in Season 3.
  • Jonathan and Lyle Bolton are held captive by Professor Pyg in Season 4.
• The Ending Changes Everything: The epilogue of "Lock-Up’s Lockdown" completely upends the plot: Edward learns that Ikky’s murder was faked. She was kidnapped and replaced with a different dead crow. Jervis was manipulated into aiding Bolton, who did partly to get revenge on Jonathan for operating on him and partly because someone else entirely had plans involving Jonathan.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Edward would sometimes react to darker listener questions with disgust or bafflement, especially one that asked if he'd ever committed sexual assault.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Susan is the only person who Edward will admit that he loves. He goes to great lengths to keep her and her family safe and she works to stay in contact with him despite what he’s done.
• Freudian Excuse Denial: During Edward's massive "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards his father he declares that while being abused as a child didn't help matters, that he's the person he is regardless of what his father did to him.
  Edward: You provided the genetic material necessary to create me, but you get no credit for making me the man I am today. If I were in any way influenced by your parenting skills, I’d be sucking dick on a street corner, begging every man who smacks my face to let me call him "Daddy". Everything I am is down to me. You think I regret anything I’ve done? The lives I’ve destroyed, the people I’ve killed? I’ve always done exactly what I wanted to do. And as for you - you are naught but shit on my shoe, and today is the day that I finally wipe you off.
• Good Shepherd: Father Muldoon is an otherwise good man, but was unfortunately deceived by Jack Nashton into not knowing he was a domestic abuser.
• Government Conspiracy: It’s revealed that Lyle Bolton was working for Amanda Waller.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Lex Luthor. As president, his persecution of nonhuman superheroes has left Batman scrambling to cover multiple cities and Oswald fighting to maintain control of Arkham.
• Hollywood Atheist: This version of Edward to a T, partially due to religious trauma and his fixation on logic.
• Hospital Hottie: Edward exploits this trope by flirting with a nurse his father is attracted to just to further fuck with him. He also had sex with said nurse, much to Jonathan’s shock.
• I Have No Son!: Apparently whenever the people of Edward's hometown see him on the news as The Riddler, his parents claim that their son is dead and that they're not the same person.
• I'm a Humanitarian: This version of Lazlo Valentin (renamed Lucenzo Valentino) also has a tendency for cannibalism and one time made Jonathan unwittingly partake in it.
• Irish Priest: Father Muldoon
• Kick the Dog:
  • Literally in this case, as Bolton ends up killing Ichabod, Jonathan's pet crow. except not really.
  • Don't cross Edward Nygma if you're happily married...
• Jock Dad, Nerd Son: Jack Nashton and Edward are a pretty obvious example.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Ichabod, Jonathan’s beloved pet crow. When she appears to have been murdered, Jonathan completely loses his control over Scarecrow and goes on a killing spree.
• Named by the Adaptation: The Music Meister's real name has yet to be given in official media, but is given as Alastor Sharpe here.
• Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: Being a criminally insane felon hasn't exactly helped Edward's parents view of him. Not that Edward cares either way.
• Mayor Pain: Cobblepot is clearly of the evil variety, being actually scarily good at his job (at least on the surface) even seemingly had actually done the task of turning Arkham Asylum around.
• Minnesota Nice: Very much inverted with Jack Nashton, thick Minnesotan accent but a bigoted Jerkass albeit he was pretty good at hiding it from people.
• Missing Mom: Jonathan killed his father, but his mother’s whereabouts are unknown after leaving the family when Jonathan was eleven.
• Mugging the Monster: Edward and Jonathan are approached by a mugger in Metropolis, although they quickly turn the tables on him.
• Mundane Luxury: Waylon is incredibly grateful for Edward for the simple gesture of letting him sleep in a bed and use the bathtub, both things he hasn't received in years despite the fact that the two were staying in an upscale hotel.
• Noodle Incident:
  • When Captain Boomerang arrives at Arkham, he and Edward are on a first name basis and clearly know each other from somewhere.
  • Bane reveals to Edward that he’s wanted in Mexico, but what Edward did there that resulted in that is never revealed.
  • Harley mentions that the last time Jonathan lost control of Scarecrow, he nearly killed her.
• Not Quite Dead: Ikky survived Lyle’s attack, but Edward withheld it from Jonathan. Jonathan wasn’t happy.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Edward dismisses the Joker early on, saying that he's far from the threat he's often made out to be and is more of a nuisance. And then the Joker pays him a visit with a crowbar...
• The One Where Everyone Dies: The House of Mystery event. Good thing there's a Reset Button.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: The Joker claims to have called "dibs" on killing Ed, and is outraged when Clayface tries to beat him to it.
• Only Sane Man: Susan is the most stable of the Nashton family.
• Perky Female Minion: Query and Echo, though they're much less devoted to their boss than the trope usually implies.
• Politically Incorrect Villain:
  • Among being a general Jerkass, Jack Nashton calls his son several homophobic slurs, and has a Stay in the Kitchen attitude when it comes to women.
  • Captain Boomerang shows shades of this, hitting on Poison Ivy and telling her that he’ll “set her straight” after Edward tells him that Ivy is a lesbian.
• Precision F-Strike: In "End of Days", after Jonathan opens the black box, a music box starts playing "Hush Little Baby", and he mutters "son of a bitch" as he realizes Thomas Eliot is behind the kidnapping.
• Pretty Boy: Edward’s looks are often commented on favorably, with a cop from his hometown calling him “pretty like your ma.”
• Previously on…: Episode 18 opens this way as a signal that "yes we have remembered the main plot".
• Retired Outlaw: Mr. Freeze and Killer Croc (or at least, they're trying.)
• Road Trip Plot: A good chunk of Rogues Season 1 is spent on the trip to get Jonathan back to Gotham, sure there is the stuff with Oswald Cobblepot and Task Force X on the side, but most of the first eighteen episodes are focused more on character development than the conspiracy.
• The Runaway: Edward ran away from home to escape Jackie’s abuse when he was a teenager.
• Sanity Slippage: Starting with the events of "Lockup’s Lockdown", Jonathan’s mental state starts going downhill as Scarecrow starts to take over. He eventually flees Gotham, resulting in Edward looking for him.
• Self-Made Orphan: After Edward speculates that he did so, Jonathan confirms that he killed his own father. Edward later confesses that he's had patricidal thoughts at an early age, and the only reason he doesn't do it on his hospital bed is that he thinks killing would be too good for him.
• Shameful Strip: Edward and Jonathan turn the tables on a Metropolis mugger by forcing him to strip at gunpoint before gassing him with fear toxin to make the experience even more humiliating.
• Shout-Out:
  • Jonathan jokingly uses the phrase "frontier psychiatry" on the mugger at one point.
• Southern-Fried Genius: Crane is as Georgian as a peach, but no less intelligent than his canon counterparts.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Edward is stated to resemble his mother, with his father’s red hair.
• There Is Only One Bed: Straight up lampshaded in Episode 11, although they defy it by having Jonathan sleep in the bathtub.
• Spot the Imposter: Done by insulting Clayface's ego.
• Trumplica: Lex Luthor is a blatant Trump parody, both being a wealthy businessman and placing a “superhero ban”.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Ed has to be forced by Jonathan to thank his fans for saving his life.
• Useless Bystander Parent: Edward and Susan’s mother did little to stop Jackie’s abuse.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: As the series progresses, Edward and Jonathan become more friendly to each other, but still clash constantly.
• Villain Protagonist: Most of the series focus on the point of view of Gotham's criminal underworld, only occasionally cutting to the heroes; most notably Edward Nygma being more or less the main protagonist.
• Villain with Good Publicity:
  • Jackie Nashton publicly acted as a salt of the earth man while privately beating and berating his son.
  • Oswald after becoming elected Mayor.
• What the Hell, Hero?: More like "Villainous Hero", but Jonathan is not happy to learn that Edward didn't tell him Ikky was alive sooner.
• You Have Failed Me: Edward gives one to Query and Echo for forgetting to tell him about the expired tags on his car which while ''incredibly'' minor got spotted by a cop when he was transporting a convicted felon across state lines. For good measure, he makes Query break Echo's thumbs as punishment for this, although fortunately Edward is called away by Oswald before it could occur.

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